Nope, Rick doesn't even know them, let alone what they were in prison for, more mouths to feed, and a possible threat to the group.

 

Prisioners can mean future enforcement for the group - especially men...
Why kill two good men (which Axel and Oscar seem to be) when they can gain your trust (over time, yes...) and be a part of your very small group? That makes no sense to me, especially in a ZA where groups will fight each to survive. You'd be killing precious human resources...

 

I don't know about you, but in a world gone to shit, I'm not going to waste my time and risk the lives of my group waiting to see if the prisoners are "good men". Because if you're wrong it could mean your kids life or the life of another group member. It's a tough world.

 

If I were Rick and in that situation, I would have thrown morals out the window, because, well, in the ZA, morals will most likely get you killed. Therefore I personally would have killed them all the second Tomas started acting the fool (which he did VERY early on). There's no telling which ones are good (Axel) and which ones are bad (Tomas).

 

Considering the chances are you're gonna lose men anyway, that's a risk you're gonna have to take, unless you wanna end up with a very small group easily attacked by major ones. Especially prisioners who have no link to other survival groups may be assets to you in the future. It depends on why they're in the prison anyway, and they'd know alone they wouldn't survive. Yes, the world is tough, but in TWD the major enemies are large groups of men... It's your choice. In a prison we could control, we could actually afford to watch these prisioners and see more and less what we could expect from them. Any slight danger, kill them, otherwise they're work force worth taking for me...

 

Axel is a good guy. I'm pretty sure Oscar is aswell.

 

Agreed. The two remaining prisons are more valuable as manpower and the threat they pose is dimished for several reasons (they are a smaller group, without firearms, and have seen what Rick will do to keep his group safe, not to mention Rick can lock off different parts of the prison with the keys he has, which means he can quarantine them if need be). The prisoners have much more to lose, they don't have the surivial skills or equipment necessary to leave the prison and threatening Rick's group only ensures their own demise. Working together keeps both groups safe from outside threats.

 

I'm okay with how they left things with Axel and the other guy. I felt sorry for Big Tiny; he seemed like a gentle giant. I don't feel bad for the two who were killed in the least. However (and this is a BIG however), when Rick and his group encounter the Governor on his turf, I fully anticipate at least one of the regular cast members to be treated in the same manner for exactly the same reasons.

 

Yeah, but how is Rick supposed to know that? Ultimately, I think he has so far handled the situation well.

 

Rick shoulda measured the risks vs the benefits, and realized that Oscar and Axel are more of a benefit to the survival of the group than the risk which they might very well handle. What is the worse that Axel and Oscar can do? Rape Lori? Rape Beth? At the first sign of that it is Goodbye for their lives, and they won't be that stupid.

Axel wants to live, he won't do anything that would set Rick on a killing rampage. As for Oscar, he seemed very concerned about his kids and wife, he might want to try to survive and search for them.

 

I'm a firm believer that big groups will get you killed. I wouldn't be in a group if I had a choice. Not a large one anyway. I have wilderness survival skills. I can be dropped into the wilderness with nothing and survive. That's where I would go with my wife and a few others with the same set of skills. I wouldn't have to worry about larger groups attacking me. Bandit types will stay closer to where you're average survivor will be and that's not the wilderness. But if I found myself in Rick's position, keeping prisoners alive isn't a risk I would have to take. And I wouldn't take it.

 

Not to mention that's two extra mouths to feed. It may seem like a lot of food stored in that cafeteria, but it'll go quick...

 

I don't think the food is much of a concern if they are willing to plant and search.

 

its spring so they can plant food, and always hunt.

Yes i can feel bad for those 2 prisoners left. hell i can feel kinda bad for the 2 got that killed (still would kill them) but i can feel bad for someone who hides in the cafeteria for 10 months, finally gets freedom , but freedom is running out into the wild of zombie or staying in "your" prison and then they get killed. that would suck, they deserved dealth , but still sucks for their situation.

 

I know I'm just saying is all. Haha

 

Yeah... I feel bad for them...but not that bad. The world has ended... thats never a good time to make fast friends.

 

Old time farming and hunting is a hard life.

 

Well Rick didn't kill them, he just locked them in another block (I know Ricks group is in C-Block). By doing this there is still the possibility that Rick may allow them into his group at a later time. Let them sort of prove themselves.

 

So is surviving the ZA.