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

themarshallproject.org

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

#71

Post by crooked-v »

troupe wrote: post #55
vinaypai wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The root cause is that a huge portion of the US population sees prisons entirely from a punitive point of view. Want to reduce prison sentences? Improve conditions? You're soft on crime!

> Improve conditions? It seems like there might be room for improving conditions in ways that will help prevent them from being back in prison later. Education and working in a way that develops skills are two ways that come to mind.

There are plenty of people who oppose those, too, because it's time not spent making the prisoners feel bad.

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

#72

Post by MandieD »

bsder wrote: post #42
woodruffw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If everyone had to go through a jury trial (which I kind of agree that they should), what's your threshold for allowing them to remain out of jail before trial? How much are you willing to give jurors as a stipend for missing work? How much do you want to spend fitting out new courtrooms? Because if all three are not extremely generous by current US standards, you're going to be forcing innocent/kind of guilty people to sit in jail for years waiting for their trials - we don't have nearly enough judges, jury members or court capacity to give everyone the speedy trial with a jury of their peers.

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

#73

Post by bavila »

morelisp wrote: post #57
vxNsr wrote: post #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 t…

> ended someone else’s life in cold blood As he's convicted of 2nd degree murder, this is precisely what he did not do.

That's not necessarily true in all jurisdictions, as the elements defining degrees of murder are not universal. But, interestingly, in the case of Michigan (which applies here), you may be correct, insofar as a "premediated killing" is construed as a killing performed "in cold blood".

Michigan's statutes indicate that first degree murder includes any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. [1] Whereas second degree murder includes all "other kinds" of murder which do not fall under the specifically enumerated conduct rising to the level of first degree murder. [2]

While the second degree murder statute does not expressly describe what circumstances would precipitate those "other kinds" of murder, the statute outlining the scoring system for crimes involving "intent to kill" suggests that second degree murder would be committed where the offender had unpremeditated intent to kill or created a very high risk of death knowing that death was the probable result. [3]

---

[1] http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(cdcjvuv1er3twxx1crhz3tb3))/...

[2] http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(cdcjvuv1er3twxx1crhz3tb3))/...

[3] http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(cdcjvuv1er3twxx1crhz3tb3))/...

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

#74

Post by morelisp »

bavila wrote: post #73
morelisp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ended someone else’s life in cold blood As he's convicted of 2nd degree murder, this is precisely what he did not do.

That's not necessarily true in all jurisdictions, as the elements defining degrees of murder are not universal. But, interestingly, in the case of Michigan (which applies here), you may be correct, insofar as a "premediated killing" is construed as a killing performed "in cold blood". Michigan's statutes indicate that first degree murder includes any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. [1] Whereas second d…

[flagged]

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

#75

Post by bavila »

morelisp wrote: post #74
bavila wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not necessarily true in all jurisdictions, as the elements defining degrees of murder are not universal. But, interestingly, in the case of Michigan (which applies here), you may be correct, insofar as a "premediated killing" is construed as a killing performed "in cold blood". Michigan's statutes indicate that first degree murder includes any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. [1] Whereas second d…

[flagged]

Are we not allowed to simply have academic conversations and raise points for the personal education and edification of others (and not necessarily limited to those who are the immediate parties to a conversation, but also with respect to the community at large)? What's the problem exactly? Sorry for offending you.

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

#76

Post by rootusrootus »

mftrhu wrote: post #44
skrbjc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[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 Stat…

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

Here you go. Looks like the US is not any kind of outlier. Some places do worse.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivis...

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

#77

Post by afthonos »

isodev wrote: 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…

US prisons are a hellscape. For any question you may have, the answer is “whatever is most convenient and cheapest, irrespective of any cost in living quality, dignity, or health of the inmates, unless it would be fun or satisfying to make them suffer, in which case do that. ”

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

#78

Post by the_af »

telotortium wrote: post #18
the_af wrote: post #5

This particular inmate has more posts in that site. This one discusses a cancer scare for which he didn't pursue an examination because of the degrading way they treat inmates with medical conditions in prison: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/28/i-m-having-a-c... His last post is from July 2022. I wonder if he is still alive.

Seems to be. Parole date is 2030, and he's only 38 years old: https://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumb... In for second degree murder.

> In for second degree murder

Yes, this is mentioned in TFA.

To be clear, I think medical treatment without humiliation is warranted even for murderers.

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

#79

Post by Aunche »

caditinpiscinam wrote: post #8

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,…

If the purpose of prisons was to torture prisoners, then they would beat all prisoners with moderate severity rather than a few prisoners with heavy severity. The system that's working intended in your examples are unions protecting bad officers. It's another example of why we shouldn't have public sector unions.

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

#80

Post by akira2501 »

avazhi wrote: post #51

[flagged]

Communication with families on the outside are a critical part of avoiding recidivism once the inmate is released. This is a mechanism the prison industrial complex uses to ensure that the inmates are not rehabilitated and are highly likely to return.

Likewise, if you take someone as a prisoner, you take then into _your_ custody. You are responsible for that person. You are literally their custodian now. You have an obligation to ensure that their rights are being protected. How we expect for profit institutions to do this on behalf of the state is entirely beyond me.

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