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NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

theintercept.com

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Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#51

Post by gambiting »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #31

Hmmm, this one seems Ok / good idea? The bad part is jails that try to replace in person visits with paid video calls. Besides obvious humanitarian part, preserving inmates ties to family and community is obviously important for eventual reintegration and for reducing offense rates of inmate's children. But here? A letter is a letter and free individuals don't get much physical mail anymore. There are obvious angles…

>>Hmmm, this one seems Ok / good idea?

Did you read the article? It explicitly says several other US states have already done this, and it hasn't reduced the prevelance of drugs in the system. So I really don't see why this is a "good idea"?

>>inmates don't have a right to privacy, for good reasons.

They do though. It's severely limited, but it exists. Article also mentions this, if you read it?

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#52

Post by epicureanideal »

ethanbond wrote: post #19
epicureanideal wrote: post #8

Somehow the left has become incredibly radical about every other issue, but isn't dealing with the basics like this, which have been discussed for many decades and most of the public would support reforming?

Most of the public supports "reform," sure. Just half the country wants reform that looks like more privatization, harsher sentences, less probation/parole, more pre-trial incarceration, fewer books available, lower cost/quality food, fewer medical services available, etc. etc. Trump actually took a big step in the right direction with the First Step Act and the GOP was... chilly to it, to say the least.

I don’t actually think half the country supports all the things you said. Some people are for harsher sentences, sure, but if they had the option of a compromise where the sentences were slightly longer but the conditions much better I suspect they might accept such a compromise.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#53

Post by flerchin »

sokoloff wrote: post #33
flerchin wrote: post #23

I cannot imagine being a software dev for these projects. I'd rather work on a porn-site.

What’s wrong with working on a porn site? I’d feel better about working on a porn site than at least one of FAANGs.

Nothing really wrong with working on a porn site, but I might hesitate to bring it up with my family members.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#54

Post by gambiting »

warning26 wrote: post #40
jkingsman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel sad after reading this comment. People in prison are still people. Many of them have committed crimes against society; some are imprisoned unjustly; all are deserving of human dignity and love. People in prison have families, children, loved ones, and it's an undeniable fact that strong social support networks reduce recidivism. People in prison are not monsters. They're people. I won't deny that illicit subst…

> Many of them have committed crimes against society […] all are deserving of human dignity and love If someone deprived another of dignity via a crime (say, via sexual assault or murder), why should that person be deserving of any dignity themselves?

Because how we treat others speaks a lot about ourselves. This is the shortest TLDR on a philosophical argument going on literally for millenia. It's the same reason why prisoners are given a mattress to sleep on and warm water to wash with, even though you could argue many of them don't deserve even that.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#55

Post by D13Fd »

Buttons840 wrote: post #37

I was thinking the other day about how jails are powerful in all the wrong ways. Inmates harm each other and their crimes are not always prosecuted. Guards beat someone to death and no charges are ever filed. Prisons have the power to hide crimes when convenient, but don't have the power to stop gang activity and drugs inside the prison. This is what corrupted power looks like. Police departments are often the same.

> Police departments are often the same.

I don't know understand why some people online seem to so often want to steer discussions towards how the police are so awful.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#56

Post by ceejayoz »

rando404 wrote: post #43
ceejayoz wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On Friday night while sorting mail in the Bronx, the officer's hands went numb despite wearing gloves. Workers administered Narcan, a drug used to help reverse an overdose, and sent her to the hospital. She was treated and released. Fentanyl. Does. Not. Work. Like. That. Cops are having panic attacks, not fentanyl exposures - in most cases the described symptoms don't even match fentanyl's effects. https://www.nyti…

[dead]

> In a Washington DC jail, on March 15, 2018, at least a dozen employees became sick when a package arrived in the facility mailroom containing what was first thought to be fentanyl, but later determined to be synthetic cannabinoid. At least seven of the effected employees, who suffered from dizziness and breathing difficulties, were taken to the hospital for treatment. (Coffin, 2018)

That's almost certainly another panic attack. As the NYT article mentions, "mass psychogenic illness". What form of synthetic marijuana makes an entire room of people go into respiratory trouble just from being in the same room?

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#57

Post by BigRedDog1669 »

D13Fd wrote: post #55
Buttons840 wrote: post #37

I was thinking the other day about how jails are powerful in all the wrong ways. Inmates harm each other and their crimes are not always prosecuted. Guards beat someone to death and no charges are ever filed. Prisons have the power to hide crimes when convenient, but don't have the power to stop gang activity and drugs inside the prison. This is what corrupted power looks like. Police departments are often the same.

> Police departments are often the same. I don't know understand why some people online seem to so often want to steer discussions towards how the police are so awful.

It seems pretty relevant here. Both prisons and the police are part of the government monopoly on violence.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#58

Post by bobkazamakis »

D13Fd wrote: post #55
Buttons840 wrote: post #37

I was thinking the other day about how jails are powerful in all the wrong ways. Inmates harm each other and their crimes are not always prosecuted. Guards beat someone to death and no charges are ever filed. Prisons have the power to hide crimes when convenient, but don't have the power to stop gang activity and drugs inside the prison. This is what corrupted power looks like. Police departments are often the same.

> Police departments are often the same. I don't know understand why some people online seem to so often want to steer discussions towards how the police are so awful.

I dont understand why some people online want to take every opportunity to defend class traitors.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#59

Post by i80and »

D13Fd wrote: post #55
Buttons840 wrote: post #37

I was thinking the other day about how jails are powerful in all the wrong ways. Inmates harm each other and their crimes are not always prosecuted. Guards beat someone to death and no charges are ever filed. Prisons have the power to hide crimes when convenient, but don't have the power to stop gang activity and drugs inside the prison. This is what corrupted power looks like. Police departments are often the same.

> Police departments are often the same. I don't know understand why some people online seem to so often want to steer discussions towards how the police are so awful.

This is pretty directly relevant to the article.

Re: NYC jails want to ban physical mail, then privatize scanning of digital versions

#60

Post by brianwawok »

flerchin wrote: post #53
sokoloff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with working on a porn site? I’d feel better about working on a porn site than at least one of FAANGs.

Nothing really wrong with working on a porn site, but I might hesitate to bring it up with my family members.

Can also get a little weird in interviews.
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