At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

Post by kofejnik » Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

consp wrote: post #195

rahimnathwani wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those stats are based on a tiny fraction of the US prison population. From elsewhere on that site, that agency is responsible for "158,012 Inmates".

Only statistic which I could find on short notice (literally first google result ...) but considering it's federal, I trust a small sample size more than random numbers from someone on the internet without quotation, especially if they are off by an order of magnitude from other countries. The clue is: It looks like the numbers are reversed which would make a lot more sense.

  - 606k violent
  - 142k drug
  - 159k property
  - 124k public order (which includes 42k weapons and 18k DUI)

Post by SoftTalker » Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 9:12 PM UTC

metadat wrote: post #68

wizofaus wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not clear how that's relevant to the comment you were replying to, unless you're suggesting that being jailed for minor controlled substance offenses is far more common in the US than the many other developed countries with similar laws?

Correct. It's a statistic many people are not aware of. Additionally, if you look at the racial breakdown of who's incarcerated in the USA, it's disproportionately black relative to number of blacks per capita residing in the country. Blacks are incarcerated at 5x the rate of whites, and make up 40% of all incarcerated individuals. This is insane.

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 9:15 PM UTC

shakezula wrote: post #92

Years ago, I got a speeding ticket. I worked nights at the time, and the office to make the payment at had very strange hours because it was from a tiny town. My schedule made it difficult to make it over to the office during open hours, and one of the times I tried it was closed randomly over lunch because again, small town. (I learned later there was only one person who ran the whole office.) A day after my speedin…

Post by __derek__ » Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 9:17 PM UTC

xfitm3 wrote: post #64

standardUser wrote: post #13

What drives me absolutely insane about stories like this is that so many of the people suffering under these policies are guilty of little more than market participation. The government strains, at extraordinary expense, to pretend they can stop drugs from being made, bought and sold, but they can't. They simply can't. Countless laws, countless billions of dollars and countless ruined lives later, drugs are no less p…

Portugal is an excellent role model, there are numerous studies on their approach to drugs[0]. While I am not an expert on the subject the model is morally appealing to me, and I believe public order is maintained. Begin researching on your own if you're interested in this subject. I feel for anyone who loves a drug user. Separately I just learned fentanyl test strips are not legal in all 50 states. Given that fentan…

Post by sillystuff » Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 9:18 PM UTC

kortilla wrote: post #188

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and, you know, profit.

There isn’t enough profit there though for that to be the driving force. Prisons as an industry make far less than industries with little to no political sway for even trivial protectionist policies.