How Effective is Our Prison System?
America only has 4% of the total global population but over 25% of the world's prisoner population. This means, if my maths is correct, that if the U.S. had 20% of the world's population, then it'll have over 120% of the world's entire prison population, including its own.
I hope they give out tetanus shots
Currently, almost 1% of the nation's population is incarcerated. To put that into perspective: if you walk into a room of a hundred people, it'd be very likely that one of them is in prison, statistically speaking, especially if that room is located in a prison. Of these prisoners, 93% are male, which therefore implies that only 7% of prisons have shower floors that are not littered with used soap due to people being too afraid to pick them up.
With such high imprisonment rates, one would be inclined to ask what is the purpose of putting someone behind bars and how beneficial is it to society as a whole?
Justifications for Incarceration
There are three common reasons why criminals are sent to prison for which I could come up with a joke, and one other one:
We just have to climb over the barbed wire fence and then another barbed wire fence and then one more barbed wire fence and voila, we've broken into prison...shit! Wrong way!
- Rehabilitation - Perhaps the loftiest of these goals is the hope that sending someone to prison will reform them as a person. This murderer + time in prison = noble laureate idea has proven to be a little too optimistic in practice.
- Incapacitation - Imprisoning those who have a track record of endangering others prevents them from harming anyone further. Other than inmates, of course, but we don't give a shit about them. And maybe the guards, but they knew what they were signing up for. And the rest of the population, when they're released. But other than that no one can possibly be harmed.
- Retribution - Ah, good old fashioned punishment for the sake of punishment. The mere knowledge that someone who's wronged us or someone we love or someone we don't love, is rotting away in a cell somewhere, just fills our hearts with joy and warmth.
- Deterrence - The threat of imprisonment for certain criminal acts should, in theory, deter people from committing those acts. In practice, with the highest prison population in the world, it's hard to argue that incarceration is an effective deterrent. Feel free to come up with your own punchline here if you want.
Cost and Effectiveness
Maintaining the number one spot for putting people behind bars certainly doesn't come cheap and the U.S. spends over $100,000 per inmate, per year to outdo the competition. This comes to a cool $75 billion dollars annually. For the price of attending Harvard per inmate, you'd expect luxury accommodation and 5 star services right?
Well if you consider working a menial job for $1-$5 a day in an overcrowded facility 5 star luxury, then yes. You may also be upgraded to the presidential suite where you get your own private quarters with no access to sunlight for 23 hours a day, at the whim of the guards. Solitary confinement is widely regarded internationally as a form of torture but 80,000 american prisoners are kept in these cells at the sole discretion of their correctional officers. Many privately ran prisons have government contracts that guarantee occupancy levels of over 90%. It's like if your local doctor had a quota for pancreatic cancer diagnoses that they must meet just so surgeons can earn more money.
Some luxury cells come with extra high ceilings, probably to make it harder for you to hang yourself; the warden hates paperwork
After being forced to perform slave labor in a tumultuous and often tortuous environment, one would expect there to be measures in place for them to assimilate back into mainstream society when they're released right? Yeah you've probably caught on to my sarcastic leading questions by now, but in case you haven't, the answer is no. Quite the opposite: a criminal conviction on your record makes it almost impossible for you to procure employment. On top of social ostracization, ex-convicts are usually ineligible for welfare, food stamps, student loans or public housing, so it's small wonder over 70% of them turn to crime again. Well at least there are only a little over a million of them released a year, phew.
Conclusion
I am not denying the horrors of some crimes, but forcing over 2 million people into a perpetual cycle of being in and out of the prison system is not an effective solution.
There is a temptation to think that the best way to reduce crime is to punish the criminals harshly, but this is like saying the best way to clean your ass is to eat foods that cause constipation. In real life, the Batman approach to being tough on crime comes at a really high cost to society. Like a smoke alarm that goes off after the entire neighborhood has been reduced to ashes, lawmakers are finally starting to become aware of this, but there's a lot of work ahead of us yet.
Sources
Punishing Fails, Rehabilitation Works
Mass Incarceration in the US
Can Felons Get Welfare?
Shocking Facts About The US Prison System
That was a little dark, hopefully I get to write something a little more light-hearted next time. If you enjoyed this post please Upvote, Resteem and Follow me @trafalgar for more funny articles
Coming from someone who has been to prison twice and several different county correctional centers, it is more driven by profits. The government profits by having trumped up charges on first time offenders and forcing them to take a plea deal. Private companies overcharge for commissary by large percentages. Also the living conditions are usually very poor and inhumane. The entire prison system has too many moving parts for a radical change to ever be felt. One thing is for sure slavery is alive and well!!!!! So is prison really effective?? Well that depends on what outcome you are looking for. If you are looking for someone to be scared into ever committing crime again than prison can work in some cases but NOT all!!! Rehabilitation is basically impossible with our gang infested prisons. Rehabilitation only works for those who have been incarcerated for a long time and even then most of then revert to their old ways once released. I believe that a good support system and guidance is all anyone will ever need to rehabilitate themselves. And prison is the worst support system there is!!!!!
Its good that people with inside knowledge such as yourself can back up some of these facts
I 100% agree with this!
I am happy that someone who I assume never been to prison takes the time to discuss this topic. Most people don't care. I can tell you are a good person!!!! Steem On!!!!!
thank you very much
I think it's an important topic that deserves to be on people's minds
Maybe we can do an interview. Give the readers an inside view.
I don't really know how to conduct one
but if you write a short piece giving an insider view on what prison is like, i'll give it a full vote up (before the bots start auto flagging me down)
just send me a comment to one of my posts when you've submitted it
https://steemit.com/life/@mrviquez/prison-life-and-a-non-effective-prison-system
Ok sounds good......I can do that.
Thanks for the idea it seems to be doing well!!!!!
Submitted my piece on prison life.
Hi all from australia. i have spent time in a west australian womens prison just 3 weeks to begin with and then about 4 months down the track a longer 6 month 'stint' for the same or similar crimes. i was 24 at the time and it was for drug related offences.. jail did not offer any form of assistance when it came to succeeding in life after conviction 4 years down the track reffered to the court system again as drugs continue to play a major role in helping me destroy myself have requested a court diversion which is aimed at helping the young offender tackle their drug issues however the system has a lot o flaws and faults.. and the war on drugs in australia , western australia especialy, is beyond a joke... ppl are recieving life sentences for aything over an ounce of meth i believe(i'll dbl check that) i feel that the the legal system is failing us. pls keep an eye out, im yet to post but i intend to share my journey as a nearly 30yo female with a meth addiction goesthrough rehab and counselling and is at the mercy of the court system and surounded by drugs and all i know is hustle tries to become someone who can help to educate kids before they even face the temptation and try and prevent our children making the mistakes i did by learning from mine
@ mrviquez I agree big time...c.r.e.a.m. Industrial prisons who are on the stock market? Private police stations who can take your car for drug possession. I even heard the make big money with telephone calls from the prisoners.
So of course they don;t want to change the drugs laws. Most of them are there because of drugs. It's a money making system.
Dont forget the race element, it's no secret that "black drugs" carry harsher sentences than "white drugs" for no discernible reason, that black folk statistically get longer sentences and are statistically more likely to be targeted for search. Prison industrial complex targets poor and vulnerable groups>kids from those groups grow up missing fathers and in constant economic instability>those kids grow up to commit more crime>they go to prison leaving their kids fatherless.
Lather, rinse, repeat, profit.
@jimithyashford I agree it's crazy, But still I also get ha raced by the cops. Even though Im white. Its a race and class thing.
I agree completely with you @markush! Foreigners get less harsher sentences here (Kenya) especially if they happen to be loaded. This is to avoid having their lawyers flood our prisons because their rights need to be 'critically' observed to avoid chaos with their state ambassadors.
I'd like to add that I agree with you that the prison system is a huge success if the intended goal is to disguise slavery as a public service and extort those who do not have the benefit of society looking out for them, since most believe that only criminals (defined as bad people or bad people who do bad things) go to prison, but that's not the case. Many in prison are there because they committed an act not sanctioned by the state, but harmed no one. I'd also like to add that it's not just commissary that is over-priced (if you're talking simply about snacks and hygiene needs), but communication to loved ones in prison is incredibly expensive. I only spent a couple of weeks in a county jail and my family spent (if memory serves) $30 for a 10 minute talk time phone card. That was in 2011, so my recollection may be incorrect, but I do remember the cost was ludicrous.
I'd also like to highlight the inhumane conditions. The food was sub par and the amounts were too small. Most days for lunch we were given a peanut butter sandwich and a single piece of fruit, and the staff, were often openly hostile despite being a "model prisoner". I was there for growing my own cannabis, and it was a particularly bitter pill to swallow, to be governed by guards that were obviously using steroids, and always itching for a reason to become violent. A few stand out as potentially being decent people (aside from working in human trafficking) but most were more deserving of being on the other side of the bars more than many of the inmates.
Thanks for the in depth comment. I agree and you are right the price of phone calls is astronomical!!!
I tried to edit my previous reply but the app kept freezing so I'll add it here. Regarding the other inhumane conditions, our facility was set up with a pod structure, meaning Pod A would have an area that contained approximately 16-20 cells with a 4 person capacity. The cell I was in had no less than 6 inmates at any given time with 2 or more residents sleeping on the concrete floor. I don't know how many pods the facility contained (I wasn't privy to a tour of my new domicile) but I suspect each of them consisted of the same conditions. I have a very clear memory of an inmate being injected into the pod I was in only to be relocated because there were no cells with enough space available for him to throw a mat on the floor to sleep.
And this next violation of human/civil rights struck a chord so deep in me that it still resonates nearly a decade later.
One Sunday, we were locked in our cells while a local minister stood in the dining area and proceded to give an unsolicited sermon. I complained, loudly, that I wasn't interested in being force fed a religious message to which the response was, in summary, "you can sit quietly while I (the minister) preach my message, or you can spend the next hour in isolation". Isolation, mind you, was a holding cell about 7 ft. long, & 4 ft. wide with a concrete slab extending from the wall that ran the length of the cell. As you can imagine it was a cold room and I would not have been allowed to take the mat or pillow I had been issued for my duration in the facility.
Being more rebellious than intelligent, I suffered through the backwoods sermon and immediately began requesting alternative religious literature. The specific book I requested was the Satanic Bible (which as a side note isn't what most people would think it is). My requests were never addressed, thus I never received a copy of my "preferred" religious text.
I agree with you. jesus came to set the prisoners free so that they can be healed. Rehab is possible under the right conditions.
For deterrence I would say prison or any other punishment will only work if the person you're trying to deter has more to lose than to gain by their activities. This depends on the circumstances and a person living relatively comfortable probably wouldn't want to risk going to prison, but the less comfortable a person is living the less they have to lose and more risk they have to take to change their condition. In some environments, young people are getting killed, or are homeless, etc, and in those environments going to prison isn't worse than the alternatives from a rational perspective. Most will think it's better to be alive in prison than to be dead, and a lot of people will think being in prison is less of a punishment than being homeless with no where to go.
Very good! Thanks for this info!
i agree, the prison system is americas best tax dollars at work, more and more are becoming private
I spent time locked up too. Once you are in, the rest of society basically forgets about you. It is an interesting experience and many people can take it as some sort of a lesson learned but mostly that doesn't happen.
Followed for your thought out response. I like to see that people put effort and time into their posts rather than cmnd p
good point.I am glad that we can get insight from someone like you.
Owning a Prison is a brilliant way to hire contract labor, to build widgets, without the shipping costs of having your product made in Asia. Your contractors are amenable to whatever pittance they earn so they can upgrade their shivs and buy a pack of smokes.
There is a lot of turnover in your staff tho. Each contractor has their own contract length. Even with the turnover being so high, don't worry most of these employees tend to come back to you quite quickly, looking for more work.
yes it's a terribly corrupt system with misaligned incentives
Thanks. Really good article.
Milking the system and people out of their money! US loves putting people in prisons no?
It's a real shame
having profit incentives aligned with maximising the number of people locked up is not something that society needs
That's true! It's unfathomable to think that so many people are locked up! But who known how many more in prison offshore.
Photo Credit: pixabay
Right now, no one can actually say how many laws are on the books in the United States and how many regulations, which have the same force of law are in effect.
Some estimate that 40,000 new law are passed each year at the state and federal level. It is estimated that the average person commits 3 felonies a day.
This is what the face of tyranny looks like and the prison population is starting to reflect this today.
22% of people in prison are there for drugs. When you declare a "War on Drugs" it really is the state declaring a "War on People", as it is the people who go to prison.
A total of 77% (including the 22% in for drugs) of people in prison are incarcerated for non-violent offenses against the state.
So out of a million prisoners 3/4 are regarded as non-violent. This number has doubled since 1977. It is not surprising, since no one person can know the law and therefore be expected to obey it.
In fairness, a lot, perhaps most of the non-violent offenders have committed crimes worthy of some punishment. Warehousing people in prisons with the rapists, murderers and other serious felons is not the way to get justice for society and can lead to the needless creation of career criminals.
There are better smarter ways to run a society. Unfortunately, criminals are every politicians "Whipping Boy" and no politicians are ever sanctioned for advocating "Getting Tough on Crime". The human cost to the prisoner and society at large is never considered in these kindergarten level arguments.
Unfortunately, real adults in leadership positions are rare in politics.
it's honestly a sham
I didn't mention the war on drugs but that's definitely part of the problem
but it deserves its own article
this is what happens when an entire industry emerges around maximising imprisonment rates while shaving costs
Please make note that the 13th Amendment specifically allows for involuntary servitude specifically as punishment for a crime. Also make note that throughout history, for racist reasons, the prison was used as a way to continue slavery and as a new kind of plantation. Slaves who were freed were then arrested for vagrancy and other poverty related crimes, sent to prison, and forced to work indefinitely. This is all documented in the history books for those who don't remember.
References
Documentary:
yup, they get paid like $1-$5 a day
would have been bad in the 60s
Still pretty average on STEEMIT though hahaha
whistles innocently
Present company excluded
I definitely don't remember because I am in my early 30's but a picture says more than a thousand words. History is a messed up thing. That is why it's important now to look towards the future so we don't say "jeez what the hell were we thinking believing THAT was OK?"
I was at a bank conducting my my business. A women enters the bank and ask to withdrawal 100% of her money and close her account.
Her reason was that Bank of America, finances and profits from the private prison system. It was really fun to listen to the branch manager try to unsuccessfully talk her out of closing her account.
"The Journey Toward True Liberty Begins When One Person Shouts - NO!!!". - Clear Shado
I would Upvote the hell out of that woman!!
I think you said something interesting that is probably the entire root cause to this issue and that's simply "what is the role of a government in deciding appropriate punishment for morally subjective laws?" Like a guy goes to jail for more than 5 years for any quantity of marijuana is stupid and unnecessary. A prostitute sure does not need prison to get her 'back on track.' Drug addicts are hurting themselves and are already in a prison of life circumstance. The system is totally jacked up from the floor to the ceiling and I just think I made that saying up. But you know what I mean. I think there are such better ways to turn bad behaviors into a better society one-by-one and not having sentencing rules is a good start. Takes away context entirely and robs good people who broke the law an opportunity at a second chance.
@trafalgar, youve mention war on drugs. Is ot particularly in philippines or globally? Cause if in here in philippines most of the suspects not getting into imprisonment nor prosecution but directly into their graves. That how our new adminiatration work on the problem. Criminals esp. Drug related cases having themselves killed. I mean criminal vs. Criminal .. And we dont blame the president for that cause we see the improvement of the society. I also want your opinion how you see philippines when it comes to war on drugs.
I'll probably write an article about the philippines one day when I've done more research
the world's a complicated place, I don't think there are easy answers but encouraging the killing of drug dealers is probably not the best way to progress. It's still all relative to the environment, the philippines is going through a difficult development phase
Looking forward to that article @trafalgar 😊.. Anyways i like all the article your writing.
If it's true that hate destroys love then it is also true that love destroys hate.
What if prisoners had to love their way to freedom. Make them care and help and hug and learn woudl def be constructive.
Drug addictz should be patients not criminals.
1 out of every 2 lawyers on earth is american
People relatively well off can afford to hire lawyers to give them advice on what rules not to break. The rest of us are on our own and have to learn trial and error. Depending on who were are, where we live, what we look like, we might get a slap on the wrist or the harsh treatment.
True but ai don't think no that's why rich people don't go to jail. I don't think they get advice on how not to break rules but more of don't do this or that because the punishment isn't harsh which leads them to not risk their lives for a certain reward. For the poor the do not have to He money to always color in the lines. If you are hungry even the Bible says it isn't not stealing if you are starving, it is our nature. We should not punish those who do 'crime' to merely survive.
Well said. Don't forget in Los Angeles the biggest gangsters are the cops and they purposefully inject drugs in the getthos.
nice one and quite interesting..especially the area
quote
On top of social ostracization, ex-convicts are usually ineligible for welfare, food stamps, student loans or public housing, so it's small wonder over 70% of them turn to crime again.
unquote
this reminds me why most of the former prison inmates prefer to turn back to crime to be sent back to prison, as such, they get to be taken care of by public funds. The US prison system is ovebloated and i wonder if the number will ever reduce since private capitalists are cashing in on humans tenants as such, they are indirectly as the maxists will say benefactors of the system...
on a lighter note, US prison system is a far cry as regards what is obtainable in developing worlds where prison cells are more like nazi era concentration camps where prisoners enter and turn into hardened criminals. the way forward, most crimes of which people are incarcerated can be removed like drug issues related to marijuana and the likes, depopulation of the prison will help save enough funds which shd be directed to other sectors.
thanks for this thought provoking article, am new here and following you already and hope you follow me too as i have quite a number of good contents to share...thanks
This is a real shame
a revolving door in the prison system that profits from the number of inmates at the expense of society at large
you can say it again! a shame and ironically the private owners have powerful lobbysts who ensures the status quo is maintained...
Interesting and funny at the same time!
Really looking forward to another story.
thanks for having a read sneakydevill
Up-voted and sorry I didn't get to this sooner - a little preoccupied with TEAM AUSTRALIA.
There is something wrong with the world atm - which is resulting in all these crimes being committed? If a land is abundant with opportunity my guess is the crime wouldn't exist.
However, in my mind and not a lot will change this - the purpose of prison is should not 'retribution' or 'rehabilitation;' but 'justice'. Justice must be seen to be done for the benefit of the victim and as an example to the community.
Great post again Trafalgar - SirKnight.
hi sirknight thanks for having a look
is team australia a tag or a chat?
Sorry Trafalgar - we have both the tag here 'teamaustralia' and a chat room at steem.chat if this is what you mean...? But most we are tag.
hello i found you on team australia and i am australian -- i am now following and i upvoted your story -- keep rockin -David
thanks for taking a look
I love that you wrote this. Thanks for bringing awareness to this atrocity. My housemate is really passionate about "smashing prisons," as she calls it. There is actually currently a hunger strike going on at Folsom Prison because they are asking for humane treatment!
Yes, I definitely think the system could do with some improvement
you just can't align profits with incarceration, it doesn't work
Its fucked up.
This article is somewhat myopic because the prison system cannot correct for the cultural shifts that have occurred over the past 50 years of broken families, single-parent households, and fatherlessness. The article assumes that the measure of "effectiveness" is the role of the prison system to "reform" people when the real reformation needs to occur primarily in the culture. All one has to do is look at the 1965 Moynihan Report to find the correlation between fatherlessness and increase in delinquency and disdain for authority that leads to confrontation with the police resulting to higher arrests and jail time. All of this was predicted 50 years ago. One can make the Marxist argument about the private prison system and "Capitalism" but that is nothing more than a deflection from the underlying causes of rising incarceration.
I welcome dissenting voices
I think the often cited benefits of the traditional family is unfairly comparing a relationship that is not working out and likely to break up with a functional family. If we force relationships that are not working out to remain together, would that guarantee a better environment for the child? That is the pertinent question. Forcing bad relationships don't automatically make them healthy, and comparing them to healthy ones is an unhelpful bias.
More to the point, I do feel that having strong corporate profit incentives align with maximising the number of people incarcerated is perhaps not the way to go about it.
Your argument apes the typical cliche presented by Cultural Marxists for the past 50 years who stated aim is the dissolution of the nuclear family. The idea that divorce should be "easy" because a "bad"marriage harms the children. However the statistic do not show this to be the case. Prior to "no-fault" divorce, there needed to be a valid "A" justification for marriage dissolution. The "A" being one of the following: abuse, adultery, addition, and abandonment. However with no-fault the predominate reason for divorce is the rather narcissistic "dissatisfaction" and the real concerns of children be damned. Rather than try to find some measure of reconciliation, the culture encourage acrimony as well as alimony and the statistic show that children fair much better in a nuclear family than in a split up family usually without fathers.
In addition to divorce you also have the high rate of out of wedlock births. Today in the Black community a whopping 73% of children are born out of wedlock and nearly two-thirds of Black children grow up never having ANY contact with the biological fathers.
As I pointed out in my previous post, the correlation of delinquency and fatherlessness was made 50 years ago in the Moynihan Report. Much of the dysfunction we see today was predicted in this report and this correlates to the rise in criminality and the increase in the prison population.
Prison is the consequence of Cultural Marxism that encourages broken families and fatherlessness and until this is address we cannot look to the system of incarceration to make up for what families should be providing to children.
You are covering for a greedy police state that profits from incarcerating as many people as possible, while simultaneously victim blaming the very people being targeted by the prison industrial complex. How many of those broken families do you think were destroyed by locking up non-violent drug offenders? Marxism and fatherlessness didn't lock up all those people. Racist cops and judges did. The cognitive dissonance it must take some of you right-wingers to accept fascism while claiming to support liberty and small government is mind-blowing.
It is a strong system and hard for a German to judge but I get the impression too many get to jail for "minor" things - in my country the system is shit too - here they focus on a try to integrate criminals back to society when they get out (a tricky topic). Also the life imprisonment in Germany means 15 years - that is it - in your and other countries life is life - I do think for certain crime life imprisonment should be much longer.
I guess its a case of the grass being greener on the other side, especially if you're in prison :)
But I do think a profit based incarceration scheme is problematic
agreed - here it is not profit based (I think at least - but who knows what public is giving to 3rd parties), all in public hands (not sure that is good but different topic)
Absoultely.
Being in prison a few time soon I can't honestly say the system I should very corrupt they really do not care about you and treat you like a slave .
yes, it's appalling how the system works when you align profit with incarceration
it's a recipe for disaster
I would have to say our prison system is excellent!! it does a great job keeping criminals separated from those of us in society who know how to live without being criminals. I am a firm believer that if I, a product of a low income, single parent family, being brought up in government housing, can live almost 50 years of life not being a criminal then there is no excuse for anyone to be a criminal...... it all comes down to choices... you can choose to do the right thing and not choose to comit a crime, or you can comit a crime and take that chance.... those who take that chance and lose deserve to be separated from the rest of society. . As a deterrent to crime prisons fall a bit short, but we coddle prisoners here.... if the time served was a bit more unbearabe it would serve as it's own deterrent... we also need tougher penalties for comitting a crime to be more of a deterrent as well...
but most criminals are released back into mainstream society after doing time
yes... to which i said we need more strict punishments and quit making prisons "comfortable" places to stay. ... the majority of those released eventually find their way back into prison within a year of their release... which tells me that they have not learned their lesson and should receive greater lengths of stay...
Just wait. I purchased a book 4 months ago called "how to be a crook". I'm just waiting for it to show up!
haha
sorry for putting this up if u want u may delete or i can but i wonder has anyone else read this? and what r your thaughts on ths article originally ii stumbled accross it on face book:
According to an anonymous online confessional, in 1991 a group of music-business bigwigs gathered outside L.A. “The meeting was held at a private residence on the outskirts of Los Angeles. I remember about 25 to 30 people being there, most of them familiar faces. Speaking to those I knew, we joked about the theme of the meeting as many of us did not care for rap music and failed to see the purpose of being invited to a private gathering to discuss its future. Among the attendees was a small group of unfamiliar faces who stayed to themselves and made no attempt to socialize beyond their circle. Based on their behavior and formal appearances, they didn’t seem to be in our industry. Our casual chatter was interrupted when we were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement preventing us from publicly discussing the information presented during the meeting. Needless to say, this intrigued and in some cases disturbed many of us. The agreement was only a page long but very clear on the matter and consequences which stated that violating the terms would result in job termination …
The subject quickly changed as [a]speaker went on to tell us that the respective companies we represented had invested in a very profitable industry which could become even more rewarding with our active involvement. He explained that the companies we work for had invested millions into the building of privately owned prisons and that our positions of influence in the music industry would actually impact the profitability of these investments. I remember many of us in the group immediately looking at each other in confusion. At the time, I didn’t know what a private prison was but I wasn’t the only one. Sure enough, someone asked what these prisons were and what any of this had to do with us. We were told that these prisons were built by privately owned companies who received funding from the government based on the number of inmates. The more inmates, the more money the government would pay these prisons. It was also made clear to us that since these prisons are privately owned, as they become publicly traded, we’d be able to buy shares … He told us that since our employers had become silent investors in this prison business, it was now in their interest to make sure that these prisons remained filled. Our job would be to help make this happen by marketing music which promotes criminal behavior, rap being the music of choice.”
Quite effective because the thought of going to jail scares me. Truthfully think to yourself would I be happy in jail? The answer is NO so it works.
sure but that can be said about any negative experience, many of which we wouldn't even consider to be suitable punishment
and deterrence isn't the only thing prevent us from committing wrongdoings
If you want your government to operate that way, you should move to North Korea.
Interesting topic for sure @trafalgar
I remember watching a documentary a few years back which said that many of the individuals who profit from US government private prison contracts are also involved in the commercial gangsta rap music industry, and actively promote music that advocates criminal acts. In my opinion opening any public service sector up to private contractors is a recipe for corruption to thrive.
despicable how it all comes down to money isn't it?
having putting ppl in jail as a money maker is very problematic
Texas had the largest population of inmates for pot... Hardened criminals all... Sigh!
Insightful. I can't believe it's the same shit everywhere but I think we outrank your system. With we I mean my country Kenya, lol. I work closely with prisons and I have never seen a more corrupt and unfair system. Prisoners got their rights a decade ago as seen here (http://www.irinnews.org/report/41796/kenya-feature-prison-reforms-spark-hope-human-rights) but even that doesn't help much. Prison is hell if you asked me regardless of the crime. And to make it worse, more than half of people who are usually there either don't belong there (the poor have no rights or say where I come from) or chronic poverty (thus resulting to petty crimes) took them there. Thanks for the info :)
yes I think you win here
There's less of an excuse for a country as developed as the US though
True. Haha.
when my boy was in grade school he did something the teacher didn't like.
"it's time out for you boy!"
the teacher said...so she took him to another room and told him to stay there until she returned to get him.
My boy sat there...looked around. It was quiet. Peaceful. Not a stupid in sight! He LIKED IT.
So fill in the blank.
In other news...I was a trucker for 25 years..solitary confinement with a view. I lived in a space the size of a walk in closet.....with a window.
In further other news...retirement communities. You PAY heaps of money to live in a gated community in a small apartment. There is medical care, an exercise room. Internet, etc..
sound familiar?
haha pretty interesting observation there :)
three hots and a cot...
what more can you ask?
Solitary confinement with a view! Well put.
Are you trying to say freedom is the ability to get the hell away from people? If so I agree 😎
Freedom is the ability to take a long walk anytime you want to.
So now..prison is not Freedom..but it has some redeeming qualities (maybe)
I'm too old and fat to walk far so I'm buying a forty year old houseboat. I'll just float awaaaaaaay.
I like people the same way I like whisky...in small quantities and high quality.
(and I'm the judge)
Haha yes I am glad I am not alone in my semi-anti-social attitude and am OK being alone sometimes. Seeing 19 houses from my front window never really appealed to me either but seeing the stars in Colorado during the Winter out in the middle of nowhere is true freedom to me. And I second that boat. For me it's a catamaran and being able to mosey on down the road (waterway) when I feel like it. About people my Grandma always says "it is better to have four quarters than a hundred pennies." But she doesn't really understand the commodities market hahaha. Followed and Upvoted Sir. Also a Veteran, USMC, 2001-2006.
semper fi buddy. I was in the ChairForce during all of the seventies.
this is the boat that I am getting from my steem earnings. It's a houseboat..
actually that's rather misleading.
the one I'm getting (same make, different model) has been sitting on it's trailer in a field for fifteen years...and it wasn't in that great of shape when it was parked there.
and THAT's OK.( for $2000) ..it was made in 1972..and the way they build boats back then was by hand. Hand Layed fiberglass...almost an inch thick...next best thing to battleship armor.
I intend to gut the interior and completely rebuild it...add solar panels and a PADDLE wheel.
It might take me a few years..but what the hell?
I'm going to name it either the STEEMDREAM or the STEEMBOAT...haven't decided which yet.
I was going to say it sounds like a Vietnam-Era Mekong River Delta Boat (I forget the name and the spelling forgive me). And laughing out loud at the Chair Force comment. As a Marine we have this macho pride crap so I always call Navy guys squids, Airmen the Chair Force or businessmen who help officers go to war and the Soldiers get it the worst because they are just angry they didn't join the Marines haha. At least that's what I tell myself. As for the boat how about "Dreamy Steemy"?
I'll consider it.
the first year I was a BB Stacker in Thailand. I drove a bombtruck . I kept the big fat fellows fed (B52's)
for the next nine years I worked indoors (part of my evil master plan)...much of the time sitting in a chair....)
You're right about angry they didn't join the Marines ..but I was married and had an infant son. So that plan was out..but Chair Force basic training was SO easy that it was embarrassing.
The boat you are thinking of is a SWIFT boat...I had a friend who was on them.
So much for the "land of the free."
haha ya exactly
Nice shoot, and nice effect
There was a great quote by Chris Hayes that I saw that summed up my thoughts on the prison system.
Going to paraphrase: They took someone in the inner city that was worth nothing and found that if they put them in prison they could make 40,000 usd per year on them with food contracts, guard wages and government funding.
The current prison system needs to be reevaluated and not allowed to be a for profit business that has only a duty to the share holders.
That leaded gasoline did wonders in the 1970's. So it's going to get bad in the US again. We have lead in the water.
Yeah I'll probably look into that, thanks
Also note, according to www.usdebtclock.org there are 6.7 million convicted felons in the U.S. - many of whom are wrongfully convicted thanks to a predatory police force and corrupt judicial system that seeks to profit from not only irresponsibility but the misfortune of others as well.
yes if you align profits with number of incarcerations, you'll motivate higher conviction rates, including wrongful ones
the prison system is effective for two groups of people - politicians who make hay out of being tough on crime and prison operators/owners who profit directly from larger prison populations with longer sentences (hence three strikes laws). the group that doesn't get much back from this system is the populace at large that has to foot the bill both monetarily and socially. what we get back after someone that's been in prison is generally a better criminal that has zero social skills
yes, absolutely agree and it's a shame having a system that monetarily incentivzes maximizing the prison population
I live in the Philippines, and my Dad was a prison guard and one of those who "knew what they were signing up for". He was stabbed to death by a gang of prisoners during an escape when I was 7 years old.
It really put our family in a bad situation, because he was the provider of us 4 kids. Oddly (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), back then it was traditional for a spouse to be given the job of the husband in some circumstances, so my Mother ended up having the same job as prison guard in his place.
It felt surreal looking at my Dad in a coffin with stab wounds all over him. They never captured the prisoners.
Resteemed.
that is tragic, very sorry to hear that
the Philippines is definitely going through some difficult times as it transitions into a developed country
Private / for-profit prisons is a strange concept of the US prison system that i think i'll never understand. It just increases the incentives for corruption and harsh prison sentences like the "Kids for cash" scandal:
Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company, paid two judges, $2.8 million to send 2,000 children to their prisons for such crimes as trespassing in vacant buildings and stealing DVDs from Wal-Mart. Here's the CNN article about that story: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/23/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges/
The concept comes from the concept of peonage and the plantation slavery system which originated it.
it's disgusting
building a corporate industry around maximizing the amount of people locked up is insane
Punishment at the end of the day is wrong and it's just not what anyone truly deeply wants. People who have committed bad crimes need to be kept secure so they can't hurt the general public. The focus also should be on rehabilitation as these people need help, they have gone down the wrong road and as a society it is all our responsibility to help the people that are suffering the most. I know it's hard to want to help someone who you think has commited horrible acts and who doesn't care but that is part of their problem, they don't care or hide that they don't care. Either way again they need help rather than just locking them up and not helping them understand how to be a kinder human being. The challenge is how of course but if governments were willing to look at alternative therapies and energy therapies then man would we see a lot more people getting helped!
entirely agree, punishment for the sake of punishment serves absolutely no purpose at all
without rehabilitation you're just spending a lot of time and money to make the system worse
The problen with private prisons, they have to meet their quotas, when not enough people are commiting crimes they change the laws, these companies use prisoners as slaves and society doesnt care becuase they've broken the law which was set by the influence of prison lobyiests, it a sick world and it needs to change. Great read, consider yourself followed, keep it up.
yes it's a huge problem
the incentive are just not aligned correctly
thank you
Incarceration for profit is horrifying. This is really one of those areas that, if at all possible, I think you want to remove the profit motive from the people making the decisions.
The worst part is that minor offenders (weed and stuff) even when they get 3 months in jail when they come out they will have this stigma for the rest of their lives especially when looking for job.
It's a sad world, hope in future thing will be better.
yes very true and utterly unfair
The reality of the prison we do not know is more frightening.
The prison needs to make people into people.
But now the prison does not play that role.
completely agree
that's a very worrying gif
Woa, that officer is damn strong!
clearly the prison system is very ineffective. How else can you explain that these two brother keep getting into and out of virtually any prison they want?
Seriously though, you hit the nail on the head when you wrote about the goal and results of prison. Do people come out ready to be good citizens or are they in an even more desperate situation than they started in?
I am clearly biased but I think we are looking in the wrong place. We need to prevent people from becoming criminals. I think the only way to do that is ensure that everyone has access to a quality education. A quality education opens so many doors to people. I would imagine one might tend to avoid going through the "go to jail door" if they have many more options. Clearly some people with an education commit crimes. But they are not the majority.
absolutely agree
very few well educated people go on to be violent criminals
maybe there's a case where correlation and causation are a little confused here but I am pretty convinced that the causal direction at least partially goes in that direction
doubt the professors from MIT get together every friday to form fight club, although i'd love to see it if i'm wrong
You are wrong.
It's really about opportunity. People who have less opportunities are told to go make their own. People make them by trial and error as there is no script. People who make their opportunities in just the right way, might get rich or thrive and not go to prison.
But people who can't play a sport, don't have the Phd genius intellect, are supposed to do what? They do what they can and the pieces fall where they fall until they get the opportunity to do better. Educated people (formally) have obtained something, and have something to lose. Accomplished people in general are less likely to want to lose their accomplishments in prison, this can be professional fighters or educated people.
If you told anyone that throwing people in cages around violence and assaults have a certain therapeutic and rehabilitating effects... They would think you're absolutely insane!
Unless of course you're a politician, then people actually expect that craziness, and it's totally acceptable ;)
Great post @trafalgar. These subjects are important and it's very hard to write about them in a light-hearted way.
I wrote a tiny comedy about that last year.. Which now makes me realize: Wow, a year has gone by so fast!
https://steemit.com/funny/@the-alien/a-short-comedy-about-the-prison-industrial-complex
haha read your post, good stuff!
yeah there's a cultural of over incarceration in the US, with corporate profit initiatives aligned to maximise people going in and providing them no support once they're out to keep the revolving door spinning
it's quite tragic really
I do love your writing. It's difficult to make such a sensitive issue sound so hilarious.
My thoughts though, are that the prison systems of the world are very effective at doing what they are meant to do. Generate profits and remind everyone who's in charge.
thank you very much son of satire, you're too kind
yes it's terrible that we've made an industry out of maximizing the number of people locked up, society at large, as well as the taxpayer pays a huge cost
and it dehumanizes offenders and puts them in a more desperate position
Nice sharing and nice question. I think it really depends on the country itself..I remember few years ago I have read a news about Netherland rent out empty jail cells to Norway to ease overcroeding in Norwegain prisons. Even in the the same land (Europe), they got different situation. So, it really hard to say if the system is adequate if there are no comparision within the same nation..
yes I ran into some of this information while doing research for this piece, but I cut it out due to not being able to write any punchlines for it lol
Yes I see what you mean. As you can never do any comparison to prove whether your finding is right or not. As it had to be experimental, but you will never be able to do so!
I can most certainly confirm that there are empty spaces in prisons in the Netherlands. There are very mild punishments and it also takes a lot of processing time before someone actually gets punished. Try looking up the sentence for rape or murder in the Netherlands. You will be shocked how low the punishment is for these horrific crimes! Nonetheless, I am against heavy punishments like the death sentence or practices of public humiliation in other countries! Good reading material this post! A few facts can be found on this website about Russia, China and USA: https://spark.adobe.com/page/oYuPj/
It's such a tough issue in general, but getting people out of prison for non-violent offenses and trying to swing back the disparity from imprisoning people of color are definitely the right direction. Great post. Thanks for continuing the conversation.
For sure prisons are necessary. But the whole industrie around them espacially in US that really sucks. All about money making, let the people live in fear and control them through dumb actions like the war on drugs. What a pitty. Then the same guys which organize the war on drugs and terroism fill the pockets with money, earn power and play geostarteigical games with that. Hope that will end soon. Pinned it on my board. Had a few good laughs as always ;-)
absolutely, you can't have incentives that align with maximising the amount of people locked up and minimizing the cost of running the place
its a recipe for disaster!
I'm not convinced prisons are still necessary. The technology is high enough that people can be isolated electronically, virtually, using house arrest. I don't see prison as being necessary except for the most dangerous, such as terrorists and people who are set out to destroy society. Most prisoners aren't set out to destroy society and aren't violent.
My point is consider the level of surveillance we get put under? If we are building a panopticon why do we need to keep prisons when that is looking like the current and future?
The book "Three Felonies a Day" touches on this. The average person simply cannot keep up with all the federal, state and local laws. It's impossible, but it's impossible by design. If we just make everything illegal, than we can control and decide who to punish for breaking the law. Its the reason police officers can speed. Its a very selective system, or as George Carlin put it "Its a big fucking club, and you aint in it"
the entire prison system is a sham
having a private industry built around maixmizing imprisonment rates and skimming costs is a recipe for disaster
One of the biggest problems, especially one we face here in my state, we filled the prisons with drug addicts, and now we are running out of room for people who actually need to be in prison, like murderers, rapists and today's pop music icons.
But now they let out the really bad guys, and keep the local pothead locked up, because they have run out of money.
Even worse, these bad laws on drug policy ties up valuable time of the police officers chasing around minor drug offenders, when they should be saving cats from trees and helping little old ladies cross the street.
I don't have a great answer, but I'm smart enough to see what is not working.
I'm European, but I'm guessing the USA prison system has become an industry all of its own? If true, then there are other interests at play, besides the four you mention.
oh yes, I touched on the privatization and profits incentive
I left race and drugs out, they deserve their own articles
thanks for having a look ocrdu
Grin. Illegal marihuana must be a great way to keep those prisons topped off. Glad we got past that here in The Netherlands.
You all just need to copy the scandinavian system : http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-norways-prison-system-is-so-successful-2014-12?r=US&IR=T
Cause... problem is Americs's culture isn't quiiiiite right for this... as mentioned in the article violent crimes are mostly in areas with gang and drug problems.... which happens to be most of america, really XS
yes I read about it while doing research but couldn't fit enough jokes in so i took it out lol
they have a great system though
It's extremely effective... at making money. Why rehabilitate prisoners when we can just make it more likely they return and we can make more money off of them? Oh that's right, because it would be the fucking right thing to do. Fuck the for profit prison system.
yes it makes a lot of money at the huge expense of taxpayers
and it's very bad for rehabilitating prisoners and for society at large
thanks for having a read clayboyn
The Prison System is just plain old Modern Day Slavery... More people are in jail in the United States per capita in the whole world. It's very ridiculous. The only thing we can do is help spread the message. People like you @trafalgar can change the world and make them aware of the situation one person at a time.
completely agree
cept I think you're overestimating the level of influence I wield :)
Na, I think your underestimating your level of influence :) lol
We should maybe try to decentralize prisons using the housechain. You mine prisons and get rewarded in a prisoner. This prisoner can then be used to work for you or kill your whole family.
First, how did you make bold your headlines?
And have you checked out "Inside the W0rld's Toughest Prisons'? You can find it 0n 'NetFlix'
hmm just use (h1)lalala(/h1) but with < > instead
thanks will do
@trafalgar
Thx, I will give it a try next go around ;)
American prison system being ineffective is quite an old story. We must see it from good old capitalist perspective. So, none of the 4 reasons you implied are the main one. Although all of them are valid.
People are in prisons simply because it brings heaps of money into the system and makes many people wealthy. Which brings us to the legal system, which is just as big factory as well. :-D
Cheers, man!
Yes and that's part of the problem
having a private industry built around maixmizing imprisonment rates and skimming costs is a recipe for disaster
the incentives are just misaligned
rehabilitation has to be one of the primary focuses or the entire society pays very dearly
yep...I had the private industry in mind, but it's more than that. the hypocrisy starts even before the courtrooms...
people get worse in prison rather than better and that's what shows the whole redundancy of the prison system.
however, I seriously doubt anyone will care to change any of that.
The USA prison system is a profit based system so of course, it needs endless new customers to make profits for its investors.
Once you allow private prisons then it can only go one way.
yes it's hugely exploitative with misaligned corporate interests
"Crime don't pay but the hours are good"
haha nice
You cannot have more prisoners than the total population, this means that the differance comes from non-USA-citizens!
Thanks for the good read 😁
hahaha ya I was just kidding there :p
The problems in europe arn't that different btw its all about money/quotas!
Meh... we've imprisoned pigs in the past... the taxpayer won't know the difference !