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Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

themarshallproject.org

41–50 of 104 posts

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#41

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

> The system is working as intended. Wrong. The intentions of the ruling class are not to oppress others but merely to protect their own interests, which is a far more difficult matter to confront. The fundamental basis of capitalism, being the state's violent protection of the right to accumulate capital, defines the predominant motives of oppression. Members of the ruling class have little choice but to expand thei…

> The intentions of the ruling class are not to oppress others but merely to protect their own interests

You're exactly right. But oppression is a useful tool to protect one's interest. Demoralizing people and showing them that you have them by the balls is an effective tactic. "Oh, you want to come at me? Have you seen our prison system? It's not worth it, not in a thousand years"

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jails are also used to force plea deals. see torture island aka rikers

Right. The idea that pleas are anything except compelled when they come from the imprisoned is farcical.

Sorry. You shouldn't be able to waive your right to a jury trial. Everyone should go through the trial even when they are dead to rights guilty. The state should have to prove to a jury that they did their job convicting you.

Plea deals become implied threats. Take this cheaper deal or we'll throw this massive set of stuff at you. Remember Aaron Swartz?

You wipe that out by wiping out plea deals.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#43
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The system is working as intended. Wrong. The intentions of the ruling class are not to oppress others but merely to protect their own interests, which is a far more difficult matter to confront. The fundamental basis of capitalism, being the state's violent protection of the right to accumulate capital, defines the predominant motives of oppression. Members of the ruling class have little choice but to expand thei…

No, that's not really accurate. Crime and punishment are part of an important narrative in American conservatism. Making prisoners suffer, especially black prisoners, is viewed as a plus, and that creates a climate where overt cruelty is condoned and even encouraged. The article talks about Jim Crow juries, unconstitutional jury rulings where the defendant gets convicted even when the jury is split. These were create…

This brings back memories of Tank (1984) which was my first contact with the concept of prison violence as an 8 year old. The movie itself is rather B-ish, but it was still the first time I realized that police dealing with judges and the prison system is a rather horrifying concept which would literally require military force to actually win against...

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#44
post #35

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

[flagged]

> From wikipedia on recidivism "According to an April 2011 report by the Pew Center on the States, the average national recidivism rate for released prisoners is 43%." If 43% of all prisoners are re-arrested after they are released, then you can make a pretty good assumption that they were not committing crime they would have, if they were not locked up.

Or you could assume that the current prison system, in the States, is actually making recidivism rates worse by treating its inmates in such an inhumane way - hurt people hurt people.

One could discriminate between the two assumptions by comparing its recidivism rates with recidivism rates in the rest of the world.

> As you know, though, different crimes are punished in different ways, which makes sense.

Different crimes are punished in different ways. In most of the civilized world, punishment ranges from fines to more-or-less harsh limitations of one's freedom of movement. I don't remember corporal punishment being one of the possible consequences for theft.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#45

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

Non violent and violent offenders should be treated differently. Hurting someone’s car is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. The author of this article killed someone. Making sure he is comfy is a bit disrespectful to the deceased and their family.

I don’t know all the details but it has always seemed a bit messed up that someone can hurt or kill you and your societies main concern would be how to rehabilitate that person.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#46
post #35

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

[flagged]

Have kids grow up in terrible families (in part due to the government shitting on poors), put them in a cell for how they turn out, torture them and then expect them to become a better person who is ready for "normy life" from the terrible childhood + torturing in jail.

The US is probably the only developed country in the world where this line of thinking is accepted as "yep, makes sense, pretty good approach"?

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#48
I always have trouble with posts like these, the comments are full of people who ask why prisons exist, and seem to imply they would rather crime and criminal behavior not be punished at all.

They also chafe at the idea that prisons should be allowed to inhibit their inhabitants’ freedom in anyway. As if prison should actually be a really nice free hotel that we send people who commit murder and rape.

I totally get that someone can sound eloquent in written form, especially if a professional editor spends some time cleaning up the grammar, etc. but that doesn’t change the fact that this particular person ended someone else’s life in cold blood and is now whining about not being able to send his daughter poems in stanza form. The other guy can’t send anything to his daughter at all because he’s dead. Maybe you should recognize you deserve to be punished.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#49
post #35

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

[flagged]

Are you implying that a girl would be unable to steal someone's car, or was that an accidentally misandristic comment?

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#50
post #32

The only thing I know about prisons in the US is from what I’ve seen in movies so I’m shocked to read that inmates need to pay, per page, to access and send content like blog posts, newspapers, books, music and movies. Questions going through my mind: Is it known what are the software and hardware capabilities of these JPay / kiosks? If I have an app that’s already in the App Store and Google Play, how can I make it…

Jails and prisons don't let prisoners have net access.. Unless the jail or prison gets a cut. Typically a large, large company comes in and offers cash to the jail, and offers to foot all the hardware bill, and the support costs. The inmates have access, paying per minute. Seen as a wonderful revenue stream for the jail, and suddenly the free visits to the jail stop, but the "televisits" start at $20 or something.
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