Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Germany are about 1/3 people in prison because they used a train or bus without ticket. If you can't pay you will end up in prison. Imagine how much money this does cost.
> In Germany are about 1/3 people in prison because they used a train or bus without ticket. I think this could be read two ways: > In Germany, 1/3 of the total population is in prison because they used a train or bus without a ticket. > In Germany, 1/3 of the total prison population is there because they used a train or bus without a ticket. I suspect you mean the second, just noting that it could be misunderstood.…
NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
221–230 of 410 posts
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Going a step further, we can reduce costs by funding social services that help prevent people from ending up in prison in the first place. I agree with your assessment of our Calvinist thinking.
In Germany are about 1/3 people in prison because they used a train or bus without ticket. If you can't pay you will end up in prison. Imagine how much money this does cost.
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sadly population
This is wildly inaccurate. The population of Germany is about 84m. The total prison population in Germany is 56557. [1] What are you talking about? [1]: https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/germany
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#224I 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.…
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#225I 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.…
I'm not a theologian, but my understanding is that 5-point Calvinism actually claims all people are bad (total depravity of Man) and that Christians shouldn't think they're better than other people, since it's not the person's choice if they believe in God or not (irresistible grace). Though, maybe in practice Calvinism deviates from theory.
Obviously not everyone believes all of it to the same extent, and they may have a softer padding between these beliefs and how they act within the real world, but based on my experience (30+ years of living in small Calvinist communities) most people who take the title Calvinist, and even most who rather take the label Reformed (because Calvinism has earned its bad name) do believe this to a fair extent.
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The kinds of people in there" are not very different from you or me and treating them as other is merely a cognitive opioid to comfort ourselves with treating prisoners with cruelty.
There are some in prison that screwed up and want to change. Many in prison would slit a throat, scam, mug, assault, rape etc without any kind of remorse. These people are not like you and I. Some of these do some variation of “find Jesus” and try and change. Many do not. Or they take decades to change ways. At Some point dangerous people need to be locked away. Fear of punishment is the only thing that keeps a small…
There's very little about people who are imprisoned that justify depriving them of being able to communicate with people who aren't imprisoned. For one, how will they communicate if they are being raped, physically abused, or medically neglected by the prison?
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, and the operators of prisons have never been known to collude with judges. /s
I don’t know of a single argument that can’t be dismantled with “right, and people have never been found to cheat the system?”… Is judges colluding with prison operators a frequent and normal occurrence? The US prison system is bad, but to my knowledge these things are the exception.
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the public supports "reform," sure. Just half the country wants reform that looks like more privatization, harsher sentences, less probation/parole, more pre-trial incarceration, fewer books available, lower cost/quality food, fewer medical services available, etc. etc. Trump actually took a big step in the right direction with the First Step Act and the GOP was... chilly to it, to say the least.
I don’t actually think half the country supports all the things you said. Some people are for harsher sentences, sure, but if they had the option of a compromise where the sentences were slightly longer but the conditions much better I suspect they might accept such a compromise.
The reality is that some people view prison as a punitive system, and others do not. These people can agree or disagree on specific reforms but fundamentally it's very hard to see eye-to-eye because they are operating toward totally different goals.
Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions
#229I 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
#230I 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.…
Thought experiment: Imagine that instead of that, we identified people likely to become criminals, using all that new fangled crime prediction AI that police forces are so excited about. Then just given them say half that amount as UBI, so $50,000/year and say you can have this as long as you don't do crime. Peoples lives improve, less crime, save money.