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California bans private prisons

theguardian.com

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Re: California bans private prisons

#71

Post by pavel_lishin »

sremani wrote: post #36
creaghpatr wrote: post #4

>Servin said that while the new law was a significant victory, there was one other thing immigrants rights groups were concerned about. When several sheriffs’ departments canceled their contracts to house Ice detainees last year, instead of freeing the detainees, Ice moved many of them to prisons in Colorado and Hawaii. Is this something that people against private prisons believe...that they just release all the pri…

The idea that a special interest that is financially powerful and interested in high prison population, may inject wrong incentives into the society is real and understandable. But we also have other side of the equation - politicians willing to expand definition of "crime" to placate people's fears and emotions combined with prosecutors willing to throw the book to make and example and build a career on it, all whil…

Wouldn't the better solution to these priorities be shrinking down those definitions of crime, and not filling up the prisons we've got, rather than building bigger ones?

Re: California bans private prisons

#72

Post by spoiledtechie »

llarsson wrote: post #24

Good riddance. The whole premise of private, for-profit, prisons has always seemed deeply troubling to me. The focus of a healthy prison system should be to rehabilitate people and help them turn their lives around so that they contribute positively to society. That can take years of hard work by the individual, and require assistance from professionals (therapists, teachers, ...). A for-profit company by definition…

I would recommend you do some research on this topic. Your giving talking points produced by mainstream talking heads.

When in fact, research points to private prisons being better at dropping incarceration rates through the programs offered at them. Therefore increasing ones chance at correct rehabilitation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249718665_A_Compara...

Re: California bans private prisons

#73

Post by lukev »

sremani wrote: post #36
creaghpatr wrote: post #4

>Servin said that while the new law was a significant victory, there was one other thing immigrants rights groups were concerned about. When several sheriffs’ departments canceled their contracts to house Ice detainees last year, instead of freeing the detainees, Ice moved many of them to prisons in Colorado and Hawaii. Is this something that people against private prisons believe...that they just release all the pri…

The idea that a special interest that is financially powerful and interested in high prison population, may inject wrong incentives into the society is real and understandable. But we also have other side of the equation - politicians willing to expand definition of "crime" to placate people's fears and emotions combined with prosecutors willing to throw the book to make and example and build a career on it, all whil…

Rather than building enough prisons, what if they just set target incarceration rates, built capacity for that, and then required that the justice system sentence and parole accordingly?

There's no reason to have over half a percentage of point of the entire population in prison. Almost no other country in the world does this.

Capping incarceration rates not only prevents prison overcrowding, but is a forcing function for policy changes that actually lower crime, as well as alternative sentencing options for non-violent crime (which almost always have better outcomes.)

Re: California bans private prisons

#74

Post by spoiledtechie »

I would recommend you do some research on this topic. Your giving talking points produced by mainstream talking heads.

When in fact, research points to private prisons being better at dropping incarceration rates through the programs offered at them. Therefore increasing ones chance at correct rehabilitation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249718665_A_Compara...

Re: California bans private prisons

#75

Post by spoiledtechie »

I would recommend you do some research on this topic. Your giving a talking point produced by mainstream talking heads.

When in fact, research points to private prisons being better at dropping incarceration rates through the programs offered at them. Therefore increasing ones chance at correct rehabilitation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249718665_A_Compara...

Re: California bans private prisons

#76

Post by happytoexplain »

creaghpatr wrote: post #4

>Servin said that while the new law was a significant victory, there was one other thing immigrants rights groups were concerned about. When several sheriffs’ departments canceled their contracts to house Ice detainees last year, instead of freeing the detainees, Ice moved many of them to prisons in Colorado and Hawaii. Is this something that people against private prisons believe...that they just release all the pri…

The distance from the quote to your question seems like a pretty large leap.

Re: California bans private prisons

#77

Post by anigbrowl »

SilasX wrote: post #25
cjensen wrote: post #7

The cynic and me sees this as a win... for the prison guards union. It seems to me that whether public or private, prisons should have good, independent oversight. Pretending that the "profit motive" is the biggest issue overlooks the horrific abuses committed by guards in California's public prisons.

You're right. People scream bloody murder about "omg! This means a financial incentive for imprisonment" and then ignore how the exact same thing happens with public prisons, in particular how prison guard organizations pushed for Three Strikes to pad demand for their work -- same dynamic. http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/the_undue_influen... And IMHO is bizarrely inconsistent outrage. Want to make a profit…

I'm an abolitionist* and agree with many of your points, but the political leverage to do a 'big bang' reform of the entire criminal justice/carceral system at once doesn't currently exist, nor are there neatly packaged answers for all of the complex problems. , so in the meantime we're still working within an incrementalist framework.

* as in that's the political position I hold, I wasn't involved in any way with this initiative or attempting to take credit or provide insider perspective on it.

Re: California bans private prisons

#78

Post by KingMachiavelli »

> The contracts for these four prisons expire in 2023 and cannot be renewed under AB32, except to comply with a federal court order to reduce crowding in state-run facilities.

Hmm, something tells me these will end up being renewed considering getting budget approval and completing construction in 3 years is basically impossible so unless Californa has some prisons with spare space or in-progress new construction. OR, even better, reduces it's prison population... we may still have some private prisons for a while.

Still fantastic news.

Re: California bans private prisons

#79

Post by spoiledtechie »

blancheneige wrote: post #22

>Two of Ice’s largest immigrant detention centers in California Can somebody explain to a legal immigrant why The Guardian keeps omitting the illegal part over twelve times throughout the article?

I'm not sure what you're getting at. The term illegal is expressed in Oxford and Merriam Webster.

Its also expressed and used quite a lot in legal documents and written law.

Neither mean to use it as a racist term.

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