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How I got here

pthorpe92.github.io

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Re: How I got here

#31

Post by sitkack »

rendall wrote: post #8
oooyay wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private prisons are problematic in their own right, but they only make up 8% of the total prison population at the state and federal level. imo, we (the citizens) are to blame for constantly championing a system of accountability that believes accountability is putting a man in a box and taking every future opportunity he doesn't know yet away from him. You can certainly blame those in power, and they share some blam…

Agreed. It's not "powers that be" that impose this system on Americans, it's we Americans ourselves. We vote for politicians who are tough on crime - meaning long prison sentences, unsafe conditions, no robust public defense.

All true, but we also don’t rehabilitate. Prisoners should come out better then they went in not worse.

Re: How I got here

#32

Post by kelnos »

gavinhoward wrote: post #13
dleslie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are reasonable suggestions for organizations to support, at the bottom of the post.

Yes, though supporting an organization always feels like expecting someone else to do the hard work. I'd like to do more.

Have you considered writing to some of these organizations and asking them if you can volunteer your time?

Re: How I got here

#33

Post by cvz »

edgyquant wrote: post #11
macintux wrote: post #2

I hate to quote so much of the post—it's well worth a read—but I think it's bookended by two very different experiences that convey so much about the U.S. prison system. > A few years later, I left prison with $0 in my pocket (lawyers and commissary are expensive, and nobody pays you what they owe you when you come in), to a rooming house with hallways that smelled like crack-smoke and were filled with parole officer…

So he chose to go back to a life of crime and we’re supposed to feel bad for him? There’s a reason he was able to make 20k in a weekend, it’s a high risk high reward business and I have no sympathy for someone who skirts societal norms and makes a shit ton of money in the process while plenty of people suck it up and earn the 10.50 until they can get back out in their own. This guy and his entire post reeks of entitl…

He's not asking for sympathy. The entire article is about how he ended up where he is now, how the prison he's at now has saved him from a life of crime by giving him a meaningful chance at a career, that this is an anomaly, and that it shouldn't be.

Re: How I got here

#34

Post by k1ns »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #14
k1ns wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprises that rely on a consistent population. They have no incentive to rehabilitate, in fact it's the opposite. What I don't understand is how a country with so many advantages like the USA could come up with arguably the worst prison system in the world. As a citizen, it's embarrassing that this is accepted by those in power as a good solution.

Serious question: does this come from real first hand experience of knowledge of the issue or are you simply repeating the NYT/the Atlantic/Vox etc.? My understanding is that about 8% of US prisons are privately owned. Perhaps that's not a good thing, but I don't think it is at all correct to say that "prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprise" when the actual number is so low. I have also heard this narrative for…

Yes, my introduction to the world of commercial software development was an internship at a company that built products for prisons.

To be clear, I said "prisons...are for-profit enterprises", not "all prisons are privately owned". Even state-owned prisons are cash cows for the prison industry. I'm not interested in what narrative you identify with, I'm stating a fact.

Re: How I got here

#35

Post by k1ns »

sitkack wrote: post #31
rendall wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. It's not "powers that be" that impose this system on Americans, it's we Americans ourselves. We vote for politicians who are tough on crime - meaning long prison sentences, unsafe conditions, no robust public defense.

All true, but we also don’t rehabilitate. Prisoners should come out better then they went in not worse.

My main concern exactly.

Re: How I got here

#36

Post by [deleted] »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #14
k1ns wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprises that rely on a consistent population. They have no incentive to rehabilitate, in fact it's the opposite. What I don't understand is how a country with so many advantages like the USA could come up with arguably the worst prison system in the world. As a citizen, it's embarrassing that this is accepted by those in power as a good solution.

Serious question: does this come from real first hand experience of knowledge of the issue or are you simply repeating the NYT/the Atlantic/Vox etc.? My understanding is that about 8% of US prisons are privately owned. Perhaps that's not a good thing, but I don't think it is at all correct to say that "prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprise" when the actual number is so low. I have also heard this narrative for…

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#37

Post by chroma »

k1ns wrote: post #30
oooyay wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private prisons are problematic in their own right, but they only make up 8% of the total prison population at the state and federal level. imo, we (the citizens) are to blame for constantly championing a system of accountability that believes accountability is putting a man in a box and taking every future opportunity he doesn't know yet away from him. You can certainly blame those in power, and they share some blam…

I said "prisons...are for-profit enterprises", not "prisons are privately owned". Government-owned prisons still rely on, and provide revenue to, companies specifically designed to profit from the prison population.

That’s true of everything in an economy. It’s also true that Norway’s prisons rely on, and provide revenue to, companies specifically designed to profit from the prison population. Is a prison suddenly better if a government worker builds the bars rather than a contractor?

Re: How I got here

#39

Post by gavinray »

next_xibalba wrote: post #17
edgyquant wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he chose to go back to a life of crime and we’re supposed to feel bad for him? There’s a reason he was able to make 20k in a weekend, it’s a high risk high reward business and I have no sympathy for someone who skirts societal norms and makes a shit ton of money in the process while plenty of people suck it up and earn the 10.50 until they can get back out in their own. This guy and his entire post reeks of entitl…

[flagged]

  > He had his chances to be a productive, tax paying member of society and he blew it
I love this thought that people in the US with felony convictions can just go out and be: "productive, tax paying member of society".

I'll place a wager that if you called and ask them if they even HIRE felons, they'll tell you "No, as a matter of corporate policy."

So, what then -- work for $10/hr so that you can barely make rent in your project housing and spend your entire life a single injury or natural disaster away from financial insolvency and homelessness?

That's a bleak existence to even think about, much less spend a lifetime living.

The US criminal justice system is fundamentally broken, and we DO NOT AFFORD convicted felons the opportunity to have a decent life as a normal member of society.

Re: How I got here

#40

Post by oh_sigh »

causality0 wrote: post #10

I don't at all care for the way in which he mentions his crimes were nonviolent and tells us about being arrested for dealing ecstasy (a drug with little taboo associated with it) while skipping over the fact he's currently in prison for dealing choke-on-your-own-vomit synthetic opiods, not cute party drugs. That stuff killed a coworker's son a few years ago. Died right in his own recliner.

He also completely glosses over why he was really in solitary confinement. I guarantee it is not merely because of his "influence".
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