The 5 Highest-Paid California State Employees All Work in the Prison System, Make Over $500,000 Per Year
https://www.laweekly.com/news/the-5-highest-paid-california-...
At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
81–90 of 457 posts
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Scandinavia is a bad example; that only works when you have a culturally and racially homogeneous society.
Still wrong; Scandinavian countries have high immigration rates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Sweden#Current_...
and because of those population changes, the old ways of short incarceration and rehabilitation have stopped working...
2014, NOTE - Before the Great Migration
"With prisoner numbers falling and jails closing, Swedish criminal justice works, says director-general Nils Öberg" https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/26/prison-swede...
2018, A few years AFTER the Great Migration
"Sweden's rapidly filling prisons – capacity has jumped from 85 percent to 95 percent in just four years – is a problem officials had predicted." https://www.thelocal.se/20180712/violence-on-the-rise-in-swe...
"Sweden rape: Most convicted attackers foreign-born, says TV" ... " he SVT programme revealed that in cases where the victim did not know the attacker, the proportion of foreign-born offenders was more than 80%. " https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45269764
you get the picture...
I hope this is not too sensitive to post here on HN, as I know these facts goes against many of the beliefs many of you hold. But why be afraid of facts? They may tell you something you didn't knew before.
The truth is out there.
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. None of the things you listed are anywhere near a free market in the US. You've created a compelling argument against government intervention, actually. 2. I agree with the second point. The US government officially does, too. Prison should be about rehabilitation and not retribution. It's just that the government doesn't act like it agrees.
So why isn't it a free market in the USA when free markets is clearly seen as the way things should be? Why doesn't lack of free market trigger a demand for reform of the sectors but only hand-waving excuses/acceptance? When credit card companies in Europe started to price gouge with high fees the EU responded by putting a cap on fees. Why does the US government not respond by putting a cap on prices for hospital tre…
Might as well ask why there isn’t peace on earth given that’s clearly seen as the way things should be. Not always easy to achieve.
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#84Not commenting on the specific numbers, but maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that a year of college costs less than food, housing, healthcare, security, and programs combined?
When it comes to prison, it's more like:
"food", "housing", "healthcare" and "security".
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#85Not commenting on the specific numbers, but maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that a year of college costs less than food, housing, healthcare, security, and programs combined?
How interesting to witness common sense in a non-sensical world.
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a non-American, what I find mostly surprising are these two things: 1) that a society that mostly believes that a system of private businesses competing in a free market is the be all and end all of optimal resource allocation end up having the most expensive health care, higher education and apparently, prison system in the world; that this fact does not trigger more thought and discussion; 2) that despite incarc…
1. None of the things you listed are anywhere near a free market in the US. You've created a compelling argument against government intervention, actually. 2. I agree with the second point. The US government officially does, too. Prison should be about rehabilitation and not retribution. It's just that the government doesn't act like it agrees.
>1. None of the things you listed are anywhere near a free market in the US.
A, the "no true Scotsman".
The main thing (except insistence on dogma) free market adherents have with leftists (and their similar: "Stalinism/Maoism/Pol-Potism/Tsaucescuism/Titoism/DDR-ism/etc wasn't real socialism" defense).
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#87It costs $1240 per year in Ukraine. Why not make a deal with Ukraine and house them there? (Assuming we at the same time stop jailing people for drug related crimes which should require medical rehab instead)
Or to the Netherlands, like Norway did.
"Due to lack of space, more than 1,000 inmates in Norway are waiting to be placed in prisons, where they are often assigned to individual cells. To solve the problem, Norway has leased Norgerhaven prison from the Netherlands." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/01/norwegian-inma...
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
What if the crime rate overall (and cost to the tax payer) ended up being substantially reduced with this system, would you still be against it?
Why should the crime rate end up reduced when you pay people to commit crime? AshishBora's point was that crime rate overall would increase, as there's a clear financial incentive to start committing crime. Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect
No, it's only going to happen for all the people who would become criminals. Would you become a criminal if I paid you $75k for life afterwards, assuming the court found you were in poverty and needed the money (probably most criminals). I for one know I absolutely would not commit crimes no matter how much money you paid me.
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
If this is a compelling argument against gouvernment intervention, then why does it work so much better in europe where all three sectors are state-owned? The best example is switzerland, where the costs are a fraction of the costs in the U.S ( and which is not a "socialist" country at all).
Switzerland doesn't lead the world in pharmaceutical development. Our health system has been captured by special interests specifically because we have let it grow so big. Whenever I bring up this point I see downvotes. What I would love instead is a counter example of a country whose largest economic sectors do not capture the government and then have a huge hand in dictating policy in those sectors. Our government…
Switzerland doesn't lead the world in pharmaceutical development.
Uhh, Roche? (which also owns Genentech)
Novartis?
Re: At $75K, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. None of the things you listed are anywhere near a free market in the US. You've created a compelling argument against government intervention, actually. 2. I agree with the second point. The US government officially does, too. Prison should be about rehabilitation and not retribution. It's just that the government doesn't act like it agrees.
If this is a compelling argument against gouvernment intervention, then why does it work so much better in europe where all three sectors are state-owned? The best example is switzerland, where the costs are a fraction of the costs in the U.S ( and which is not a "socialist" country at all).
AFAIK healthcare (insurance companies and many hospitals) are private in Switzerland.