by Elizabeth J. Swasey

About the author: Elizabeth J. Swasey is a contributor to American Guardian, the official journal of the National Rifle Association.

Richard Speck, a drifter convicted of murdering eight student nurses in the summer of 1966 in Chicago, was serving a “life” sentence in the Illinois Statesville Correctional Center. A few years ago, while making an X-rated home movie in prison, Speck turned to the camera and said: “If they knew how much fun I was having, they would turn me loose.”

In some prisons today, violent criminals enjoy tennis, basketball, and even handball courts that are so state-of-the-art, few public schools could afford them. Murderers, rapists, and robbers in prison get the type of martial arts lessons that parents pay dearly for every month. And in some prisons, VCR movie rentals are...