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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

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supporters say the collections are a legitimate way for states to recoup millions of taxpayer dollars spent on prisons and jails. Wait there are supporters of this? You're telling me if I asked 100 people on the street, there'd be someone that said "oh yeah this is a pretty fair and reasonable law to charge the inmates 5-star hotel prices"??

Yes. Americans are often selfish, savage and cruel. Not all of them, but enough.

>Americans are often selfish, savage and cruel.

Sorry but wtf?! Read Manufacturing Consent. Don't demonize us. We're not down with this shit.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#342
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. It's a statistic many people are not aware of. Additionally, if you look at the racial breakdown of who's incarcerated in the USA, it's disproportionately black relative to number of blacks per capita residing in the country. Blacks are incarcerated at 5x the rate of whites, and make up 40% of all incarcerated individuals. This is insane.

If you're implying that blacks incarcerated at 5x the rate of population is evidence of racism, then is men being incarcerated at 10x their population rate evidence of sexism? Or is there other factors?

I'd say it is. As in, a significant part of the reason men are likely to commit more crimes than women is due to social expectations around how men should act vs how women should. But there's no denying significant biological differences play a part too. The problem with trying to discern whether biological differences play a part in explaining incarceration rates between different "races" is there's no reliable method for objectively determining someone's race.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Synthetics are more potent and technically the opposite of impure. They’re also sourced from China, a geopolitical adversary where political figures routinely point to the opium wars and revenge for that period on the west.

I don't get your point. If we want to save lives, let's stop forcing people to buy drugs from black markets. Lives will be saved if people aren't forced to buy unknown drugs and essentially "guess" what the right dose might be. That's how most deaths from illegal drugs occur. There is a separate issue of doctors over-prescribing dangerous drugs and people abusing those drugs. I think preventing those overdoses and de…

“Forced to buy”?

You understand what “addictive substances” means , right? Your solution to protecting a population from being hooked on drugs is . . . Give them more and without restriction?

Sometimes the naïveté in the tech community amazes me.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Lol. Let’s pull the stats on stabbing or blunt force trauma and ban baseball knives, kitchen knives and nail clippers as well ? Terrorists ran people over with vehicles. So of course, renting a Uhaul van now has to come with a lengthy background check? The absurdity of the comparison astounds me, and I’m willing to bet, would certainly astonish you were you to step outside the bubble you seem to be in. Have you…

I don't know what ax you're grinding, but if you want less dead people from drugs, stop supporting laws that force people to engage with violent underground marketplaces to buy impure drugs of unknown origin.

Let me explain how civil conversation works. You put forth an assertion, and usually, a good response has a counterpoint, seriously or in jest to show you that your position may have not considered the whole thing.

When you draw an absolute line saying drug abuse has no victims, I laugh and point out other “crimes” that do and by your logic are thus different and must be banned.

Now, if you make another point about “forcing people to buy from violent underground marketplaces”, this is where your original comment becomes entirely irrelevant and you’re projecting some unsubstantiated paranoia of yours as a factual argument.

These are addictive substances. Many if not most of them leave permanent psychological scars and inhibit normal human functioning in ways that, unlike naturally occurring substances such as coffee are considered DETRIMENTAL to societal health and safety. By limiting exposure of society to synthetics or dangerous drugs, we limit their harm.

Your argument seems to be everyone in the US population wakes up everyday thinking “where can I get five ks of that sweet sweet Birria” ?

Stop acting like a dickhead if you don’t have any experience with rehabilitating the victims of these idiotic policies you’re proposing and go outside your moms basement once in a while.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea behind student loan forgiveness isn't that they only benefit a subset of the country, but that better education benefits the entire country.

They already have the education if they are in debt. Time to pay it off like everybody else.

That restricts their options to find work that adequately utilizes their education.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Americans are often selfish, savage and cruel. Not all of them, but enough.

>Americans are often selfish, savage and cruel. Sorry but wtf?! Read Manufacturing Consent . Don't demonize us. We're not down with this shit.

Many are, particularly conservatives. Many aren't, and, well, that's good, but there's a significant enough majority who are and so the status quo prevails.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#347

Years ago, I got a speeding ticket. I worked nights at the time, and the office to make the payment at had very strange hours because it was from a tiny town. My schedule made it difficult to make it over to the office during open hours, and one of the times I tried it was closed randomly over lunch because again, small town. (I learned later there was only one person who ran the whole office.) A day after my speedin…

> It taught me a serious lesson about the law: They exist only for power and profit. I understand your frustration, but the law does not exist ONLY (or at all, if I'm being honest) for power and profit. The law exists to provide each person with a baseline to guide their interactions, whether it be between them and other individuals, or between them and their government. Now, obviously you have abuses and especially…

> That's just a symptom of a lack of oversight by we, the people (chiefly).

So your argument is that it is not the fault of the people who are paid to do this job, out of our tax money, but it is somehow our fault, even though your average person has literally no input whatsoever into any of this?

That's just false.

I mean, almost 90% of Americans live in a non-swing state where their vote is entirely meaningless.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a clear lack of empathy. I mean, sure, the person did something wrong. But have they stopped being human? Where is the humanity in squeezing every penny out of someone already broken and poor ($250/day is more than what many Americans earn in a day). Then taking away 50% of any hope/real shot at living they have. This sounds like profiteering at their expense. (Edit: this is evil). Jail time and a permanent reco…

I agree that what happened to him should not have happened. But we're the ones who let this stuff happen. We're the ones who vote in the people (or neglect to vote them out) who put these policies in place.

"Vote harder! The criminals who steal from you aren't to blame - you, the victim, are!"

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#349

What 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 p…

> The government strains, at extraordinary expense, to pretend they can stop drugs from being made, bought and sold, but they can't.

Sure they could. They just don't try because the current system is very very good for them.

Other countries like Portugal and the Netherlands have done a fantastic job on lowering their drug use rate dramatically.

And it's very simple - they treat drug consumption as a medical problem, first and foremost. Possessing drugs, any drugs, for your own personal consumption is _not_ a crime in either place.

Indeed, both countries go out of their way to provide facilities for addicts where they can safely take their drug and get medical treatment and counseling with no fear of being arrested.

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If the United States wanted to end the drug war, they could simply look at the examples that worked and copied them. But they are much more interested in oppressing hapless addicts and jailing them.

Re: At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The police don't know who that man was, or why he was on property that didn't belong to him. They're not mind readers Exactly. They're aren't mind readers but they made a decision that he was commiting a crime or about to commit one. They escalated it, not him.

> They're aren't mind readers but they made a decision that he was commiting a crime or about to commit one. They escalated it, not him. No, actually that's not what they decided. They decided that, before they just walk away from their SWORN DUTY to investigate without knowing who he was or whether he actually belonged at that property, they would actually do their jobs and find that out that information by doing a…

> walk away from their SWORN DUTY to investigate

No, police have no "sworn duty" to investigate - you literally made this up out of your head.

“I, (state name), do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties of (state position) of the State of Texas, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of Texas, so help me God.”

"I do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the position of ______________________ according to the best of my ability and perform my duties in a manner consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York."

They're all like this.

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No, seeing a black guy watering flowers is not grounds for anything, even if they are someone else's flowers. I cannot believe I have to make this point.

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