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NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

theintercept.com

121–130 of 410 posts

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#121
post #81

I feel like the prison system is the victim of perverse incentives. The goal given to them is "house this person securely for a specific length of time at the lowest cost possible ". They are rewarded for cutting costs. But the total cost we pay is the cost to imprison this person the second and third time when they re-offend. It's the policing costs when they're homeless because they can't find housing or get a job.…

Regarding the recidivism in this analysis [1], the US doesn't look totally out of place vs European countries that consider prison's core reason to be rehabilitation (e.g. Denmark, Germany).

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6743246/

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why work for either? I mean, money, obviously, but if you can get paid to code porn you can get paid to code for a lot of other things too. Edit: Ah, I didn't realize this was a safe space for perverts who hate women. Cool. Cool cool cool. Very cool. Why am I even surprised?

What's wrong with pornography?

Most people will respond with "immorality" or likewise.

What it amounts to is badly interpreted bible verses by the 3 Abrahamic religions as a means of social control over the taboo of sex.

As someone who follows the old religions, I see this everywhere. The men are expected to be open to sex, but women who do are seen as whores. But, that's where the taboo of sexwork comes from.

And to link it back to the article, Calvinism ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism ) is the primary and dominant reason why prisons are as brutish as they are. The basic gist of this form of Protestant Christianity is that 'you are predestined to be a horrible person and predestined to be in prison, so we have the right to treat you inhumanely as possible because you deserve it'. Capitalist monopoly forces also have a bearing here in the price gouging, but the basic infrastructure of a prison is brutish because "you deserve it", in a Calvinist sense.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#123

There are many federal protections for mail. This sounds unplausible.

Hahaha. During COVID, our warden just flat refused to receive mail, because they couldn't 'lose' peoples compassionate release requests when received via certified mail like they did when you tried to use the internal 'grievance process' system that somehow had an 80% loss rate that the courts were just fine with. Oh, and if you had a problem with the grievance process? The BOP and Courts require... you guessed it... that you follow the grievance process to address. You can't even get access to the courts until you exhaust the grievance process which takes 3-6 months and minimum $24 in postage (a lot when you make $5 a month) and another $10-20 in copier fees.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#124
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a pretty huge difference between corrections officers working for the department of corrections and police officers working for the police department.

And a huge similarity: they are given power over people and routinely use this power to harm, rather than help heal. Our 4-yr old has police trauma from police coming to bother us about them playing outside naked because traumatized older people ignorant of other cultures won't stop calling them. Instead of visiting those people, they harass a child and parents for something that's legal. The child has nightmare of p…

> And a huge similarity: they are given power over people and routinely use this power to harm, rather than help heal. Our 4-yr old has police trauma from police coming to bother us about them playing outside naked

That's horrible and I'm really sorry to hear it. I've let our daughter play outside naked and I'd be absolutely livid if law enforcement bothered us about it.

But that still has nothing to do with jails scanning mail (or even police "corruption").

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#125
post #81

I feel like the prison system is the victim of perverse incentives. The goal given to them is "house this person securely for a specific length of time at the lowest cost possible ". They are rewarded for cutting costs. But the total cost we pay is the cost to imprison this person the second and third time when they re-offend. It's the policing costs when they're homeless because they can't find housing or get a job.…

Even though I'm not a fan of private prisons, I wonder what would happen if they had a contract that gave bonuses for every year a former inmate stayed out of jail? Maybe that's already been tried.

Utopian: Ex-cons lead happy and productive lives with relevant and in-demand skills. Education system is extended.

Dystopian: Ex-cons learn how to evade capture. Law enforcement and enforcement capability is gutted, through lobbying.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the entire body of porn in existence, is it closer to 2% or 51% that is trafficking-implicated? Is "some"? Yes. Is "most"? I seriously doubt it.

[flagged]

I’ve communicated no judgement that I’m OK with the subset that is. Since you’ve accused me of being OK with it, I’ll now respond to unambiguously and strenuously deny that accusation.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#127
post #81

I feel like the prison system is the victim of perverse incentives. The goal given to them is "house this person securely for a specific length of time at the lowest cost possible ". They are rewarded for cutting costs. But the total cost we pay is the cost to imprison this person the second and third time when they re-offend. It's the policing costs when they're homeless because they can't find housing or get a job.…

Even though I'm not a fan of private prisons, I wonder what would happen if they had a contract that gave bonuses for every year a former inmate stayed out of jail? Maybe that's already been tried.

The bonus would have to be higher than what they earn from an inmate.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the first part of the claim - many people indeed do consider porn immoral, for whatever personal reasons they have. I may disagree with them, but your statement is still valid, and more power to them as long as they keep it to themselves. I do not understand the second part of the claim, that "most porn has connection to sex trafficking". This seems a fairly strong statement (there's a huge amount of por…

Agreed we shouldn't speak so broadly, but let's not be naive here. Part of the reason California legalized adult filmmaking was to reduce trafficking. In California they have agents, everywhere else they have pimps. Just one example: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/adult-film-performer-pl...

Pimps are not neccesarily traffickers.

It might be hard to digest but a large majority of people in the industry go in by choice. We should have tougher law enforcement to weed out the bad apples, but that is difficult since this isssue seems to involve two things that are extremely nebulous and difficult to weigh. Sex and morality.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the first part of the claim - many people indeed do consider porn immoral, for whatever personal reasons they have. I may disagree with them, but your statement is still valid, and more power to them as long as they keep it to themselves. I do not understand the second part of the claim, that "most porn has connection to sex trafficking". This seems a fairly strong statement (there's a huge amount of por…

Agreed we shouldn't speak so broadly, but let's not be naive here. Part of the reason California legalized adult filmmaking was to reduce trafficking. In California they have agents, everywhere else they have pimps. Just one example: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/adult-film-performer-pl...

precision =/= naivety

if you're going to make a strong claim like "most porn has connection to sex trafficking", you should have strong evidence to back that up

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#130

I'm sure reducing prisoner contact with loved ones will surely reduce crime! /s

I mean, to be cynical: those friends and family didn't stop them committing (serious) crimes in the first place. Maybe prison SHOULD be time for a clean break with bad influences...
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