4 ms·

"The way they treat you in jail is malicious and purposely antagonistic. It's a mild form of torture that doesn't rise to sensational levels but it perpetuates

by criley2 10y ago

"The way they treat you in jail is malicious and purposely antagonistic. It's a mild form of torture that doesn't rise to sensational levels but it perpetuates and sustains an atmosphere of distrust and hatred towards authority figures." I was taken into jail (a holding cell in a county prison) for failing to pay a fine for a non-moving violation, and sat next to murderers, wife beaters and cop-killers awaiting transfer. When I asked for a method to remove my contacts which were causing me significant pain and discomfort (they are NOT over nights), I was told "deal with it, this is jail". Purposely antagonistic and mildly torturous is definitely their intent. But I don't blame them, based on whom I was surrounded by. I wouldn't give an inch to the guys laughing and joking about beating up their girlfriends, her kids, the cops, etc, either.

roninb 10y ago
"But I don't blame them, based on whom I was surrounded by. I wouldn't give an inch to the guys laughing and joking about beating up their girlfriends, her kids, the cops, etc, either." But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?
- criley2 10y ago
  "But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?" I explained it too shortly in my comment in the interest of brevity, sorry. The jail I visited was also a Prison, it served both purposes. The bottom floor was a holding center (jail) while the upper floors were a prison. In this case, when a prison inmate needs to be transferred to another prison -- say they've completed 5 years in county and need to do 10 years in federal -- they are moved downstairs to the holding facility (the jail) that is shared with say people being picked up off the street to hold. In this case, they stored me, a young naive programmer who forgot to pay a ticket, with hardened convicted cop killing murderers who had completed their time in the prison and were being transferred to a new prison. This was a county prison for a top 10 metro and a major city which has gang violence, so these were convicted and often gang related criminals.
  - roninb 10y ago
    To clarify, most jails are used to house misdemeanor criminals, those awaiting trial, and transferring prisoners. If you live near a state penitentiary, it's very likely that your most of your city's jails consistently have prisoners transferring out of or into that state penitentiary.
hbt 10y ago
I do blame them. You're in a cage. They are outside the cage. You ask. They have no incentive to comply. The power dynamics are not in your favor and that's why they can treat you poorly and get away with it. Poor treatment in jails/prison helps no one. Everyone who goes to jail is not a cop-killer or wife beater. Even those people do not deserve poor treatment. I get it. It's easier to generalize then treat each individual as a special snowflake. However, some people would rather kill themselves than go to prison. This also makes the job of police officer more dangerous if people would rather die than surrender knowing all that awaits for them is torture (sleep deprivation, disgusting food, forced labor, isolation, confined spaces, rape etc.). We do not treat criminals as human beings. We offer them no path to be rehabilitated. They cannot vote, cannot get jobs easily and are social outcasts. You'd be surprised by the amount of people who committed non-violent, victimless crimes and had their lives ruined forever by this broken system. I understand the police officer is not exactly a social worker. They are a cog in the system but they are not helping, not attempting to improve/change the system and are to blame (along with prosecutor, the justice system and authorities in general). It boils down to one thing: They have POWER and you don't. They play a role in maintaining the status quo, you don't. Therefore, they are to blame. Sorry for the rant, it boils my blood when people with no power make excuses for the poor treatment they received from people with actual power.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

by criley2 10y ago

roninb 10y ago

"But I don't blame them, based on whom I was surrounded by. I wouldn't give an inch to the guys laughing and joking about beating up their girlfriends, her kids, the cops, etc, either." But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?

criley2 10y ago
"But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?" I explained it too shortly in my comment in the interest of brevity, sorry. The jail I visited was also a Prison, it served both purposes. The bottom floor was a holding center (jail) while the upper floors were a prison. In this case, when a prison inmate needs to be transferred to another prison -- say they've completed 5 years in county and need to do 10 years in federal -- they are moved downstairs to the holding facility (the jail) that is shared with say people being picked up off the street to hold. In this case, they stored me, a young naive programmer who forgot to pay a ticket, with hardened convicted cop killing murderers who had completed their time in the prison and were being transferred to a new prison. This was a county prison for a top 10 metro and a major city which has gang violence, so these were convicted and often gang related criminals.
- roninb 10y ago
  To clarify, most jails are used to house misdemeanor criminals, those awaiting trial, and transferring prisoners. If you live near a state penitentiary, it's very likely that your most of your city's jails consistently have prisoners transferring out of or into that state penitentiary.

hbt 10y ago

I do blame them. You're in a cage. They are outside the cage. You ask. They have no incentive to comply. The power dynamics are not in your favor and that's why they can treat you poorly and get away with it. Poor treatment in jails/prison helps no one. Everyone who goes to jail is not a cop-killer or wife beater. Even those people do not deserve poor treatment. I get it. It's easier to generalize then treat each individual as a special snowflake. However, some people would rather kill themselves than go to prison. This also makes the job of police officer more dangerous if people would rather die than surrender knowing all that awaits for them is torture (sleep deprivation, disgusting food, forced labor, isolation, confined spaces, rape etc.). We do not treat criminals as human beings. We offer them no path to be rehabilitated. They cannot vote, cannot get jobs easily and are social outcasts. You'd be surprised by the amount of people who committed non-violent, victimless crimes and had their lives ruined forever by this broken system. I understand the police officer is not exactly a social worker. They are a cog in the system but they are not helping, not attempting to improve/change the system and are to blame (along with prosecutor, the justice system and authorities in general). It boils down to one thing: They have POWER and you don't. They play a role in maintaining the status quo, you don't. Therefore, they are to blame. Sorry for the rant, it boils my blood when people with no power make excuses for the poor treatment they received from people with actual power.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]