Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, and this sounds like it gives states all the wrong incentives.
Is it any more wrong than fines?
Yes, fines are governed by the 8th amendment which requires they not be excessive.
At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
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Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#12No post body was provided.
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#13What drives me absolutely insane about stories like this is that so many of the people suffering under these policies are guilty of little more than market participation. The government strains, at extraordinary expense, to pretend they can stop drugs from being made, bought and sold, but they can't. They simply can't. Countless laws, countless billions of dollars and countless ruined lives later, drugs are no less popular or accessible than they ever were in the past. The government gave it their best shot, failed in spectacular fashion over generations, and anyone who still supports this approach is either hopelessly brainwashed or, maybe, just not very smart.
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#14Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#15I've come to expect this. Hopefully the larger message with the student loan debt forgiveness isn't that they are forgiving 10k in student debt, or even that the people complaining about it had millions in PPP loans forgiven... but instead that they forgave near a trillion in PPP loans, some wealthy individuals having several million forgiven, but the most they can afford for low-income students is 10k.
Leave it to America to reward the rich and shit on the poor.
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#16Every day I find new reason to believe the American penal system unconscionable. Not only is slavery permitted, the US is the subject of the ire of the United Nations over it (the ILO, specifically). For-profit prisons with state minimum occupancy clauses. Charging prisoners for their time there. And one of the highest incarceration levels and worst recidivism rates in the world. What exactly is the point of any of t…
Making money of course! Once you realise that the idea of jail is to make money for the people who run the jails it makes sense.
It's not about public safety or rehab or reintegration into society. It was always about making money.
Jail operators have every incentive to keep inmates "dangerous" and encourage them to rescind once they get out, because then the prison gets a new customer.
The only group who can "directly compete" with the prison industry is the death penalty industry. Because when an inmate is sent to death sentence, they can no longer be a customer for the prison industry.
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#17[deleted]
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#18Every day I find new reason to believe the American penal system unconscionable. Not only is slavery permitted, the US is the subject of the ire of the United Nations over it (the ILO, specifically). For-profit prisons with state minimum occupancy clauses. Charging prisoners for their time there. And one of the highest incarceration levels and worst recidivism rates in the world. What exactly is the point of any of t…
Quoted post unavailable.
The reality is that there are so many crimes in the United States that the set itself is uncountable. There have been a number of attempts to count. I guarantee you that you have, today alone, accrued enough legal liability to put you away for the rest of your life.
Part of what makes this difficult to even count in the first place are bills like the Lacey act which makes it a felony for you to violate any other countries fish and wildlife laws - if you ever came into possession of a dead lobster less than 6 inches long for any reason - felony.
What happens is the folks who end up in prison haven't accrued any more of less liability - instead they drew attention.
If you'd like to learn more I recommend Three Felonies a Day. [1]
I guess the question I have for you is why aren't you in prison now? Why did you choose to commit all those crimes, and what makes you exempt?
Further if your argument is then 'well I shouldn't be in prison because I didn't get caught' - now you're no longer arguing that these people shouldn't have 'done crimes' your argument is they should have been better at it?
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#19>All but two states have so-called “pay-to-stay” laws that make prisoners pay for their time behind bars What? Had no idea about this whatsoever and I consider myself a well-read person. Damn.
I too knew nothing about this and honestly find that frightening. How many other grotesquely perverse laws are on the books?
Someone needs to create a hall of shame for these laws index by federal and for every state.
This is perverse on so many levels. It’s not only ongoing punishment but it disincentivizes people from getting their lives in order and probably increases recidivism rates quite a bit. So in the end I wouldn’t be surprised if it costs more.
Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
#20When I toured the Tower of London I was told this happened to many improsined in the dungeon there. People would sometimes be held indefinietely for small crimes as they wouldn't be able to pay off their initial "accomodation". It seemed an insanely unfair practice and even though I knew US prison system is fucked, I had no idea it was this bad.