The Viewing Habits of Massachusetts Inmates

Jonathan Saltzman has an interesting piece in the Globe today about how Massachusetts inmates are prohibited from viewing R-rated films. He wrote:

So prisoners can forget about Tim Burton’s well-reviewed but bloody version of the Stephen Sondheim musical about a mad, murderous barber, “Sweeney Todd,” and the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s wartime love story, “Atonement,” among countless other popular R-rated movies. And don’t even mention “American Gangster.”

This is a good point. We’ve heard rumblings ourselves about potential riots in Walpole and Bridgewater resulting from hardened criminals not seeing enough musicals and love stories. Walking by Cedar Junction just the other day, I could’ve sworn I heard somebody yell, “Give me Sondheim, or give me death!”