Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service...
by otikik on Friday June 17, 2022 @06:45PM
(#31785422)
Ok so what happens if they say they don’t want to work like that? We keep them in prison without feeding them? Put them in isolated confinement? Some whipping perhaps?
Things can be necessary and worth having without being profitable. Children, for example, are huge money drains, and yet people have them.
A good prison system concentrates in rehabilitating and protecting. That is beneficial to society as a whole. It don’t have a problem on it costing money. I want it to produce better people, not money.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service...
by ipaddr on Friday June 17, 2022 @06:20PM
(#31785150)
I have an issue with trying to make a profit off of a person who you decided to jail and who did not get to make upkeeping decisions.
If a person is paying for these services shouldn't they be a decision maker? The salaries of the guards, warden, the food, types of lighting/heat are all costs that the inmates should decide what level of funding they want to provide.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service...
by linuxftw on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:21PM
(#31784521)
> Imagine if we charged every criminal a fee for their jail time and legal apparatus. And compensation for all victims?
This already happens more or less. Now after serving some time, you have a big bill to pay off as well.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service...
by corrral on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:54PM
(#31784895)
See also: you are going to have to pay for this incredibly expensive addiction treatment center (probably run by someone politically connected) or else you are going straight to prison for a long time. And by "you", when it comes to paying, we really mean "your family", since you probably don't have any money.
If the Judiciary doesn't receive any benefit from it, then they're not likely to pursue imprisonment.
So if they do, maybe indirectly, systematically etc. then it can be an issue.
That said - I have no problem otherwise with prisoners doing work - at minimum to pay off their own upkeep, and the social costs they have incurred. Judges, juries, police etc. are not 'free'.
Imagine if we charged every criminal a fee for their jail time and legal apparatus. And compensation for all victims?
Obviously it's really hard to work out in a pragmatic way, but I wonder if giving the guys a job on the 'cleanup crew'- that they can choose to keep once they leave jail as a means of getting back on their feet ... might be positive.