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Arnie weighs up the options
17/08/2004 11:51 - (SA)
Ione - California's bodybuilder-turned-governor is considering giving weightlifting equipment back to inmates, who have been barred from using weights since 1997.
"We talked about that several times," Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday after touring his first prison since becoming governor last fall. "As you know, in the '70s I used to go around and visit almost all the prisons in California, and youth facilities, to promote weight training for inmates."
But access to weights was made a privilege for well-behaving inmates in 1995, when the state cut out what some viewed as perks, and weights were removed in 1997.
One argument was bulked-up inmates posed too great a danger to guards or citizens if they escaped or were released from prison, Schwarzenegger said.
But he said his administration is re-evaluating that decision.
"I don't want to put weight training in here if that's not really what everyone wants and if they think it's counterproductive, only because I believe in weight training," Schwarzenegger said.
"I have to have an open mind about all those things. There's a lot of things that I believed (as a citizen), but now I'm working with the professionals."
- AP
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