I dealt with a lot of people who had legal problems. I eventually decided the criminal justice system has elements that are characteristic of a make-work progra

I dealt with a lot of people who had legal problems. I eventually decided the criminal justice system has elements that are characteristic of a make-work program [0]. These are where the governments put people to work doing things of marginal utility, or where work is done inefficiently so more people have jobs. [0] "America's Make-Work Sheriff: The Anachronism of Joseph Arpaio" - https://www.taxiwars.org/2017/09/americas-make-work-sheriff-anachronism.html https://www.taxiwars.org/2017/09/americas-make-work-sheriff-... Towards the end of my taxi driving career, I picked up a woman who was on work-release from the county jail. She'd gone out to her car to take herself back to jail, and found that it'd developed a flat tire. She absolutely needed to be back at the jail by 6pm (iirc), so that she could remain on work release. I did some mental calculations, and figured it was at least 20 minutes to the jail, if traffic didn't throw up any obstacles. Luckily rush-hour traffic was going the other way. There was a long line of people checking back in to jail, so even though we were a few minutes past 6pm she was still in compliance with the terms of her release. I was telling my one passenger's son about how another got work release at his probation revocation hearing, and he was like, 'WHOA.... REALLY?' (his mom was sent off to prison for her not being able to cope with life when he was 12 years old, and has been sent to jail a couple himself). I later asked his mother what the big deal was. She said it was unusual to give work release at probation revocation, but that the judge figured my other passenger was not a flight risk, and wanted to do whatever she could to make the jail experience less traumatic. Jail Medical was like, "haha, whatever, you have to submit to daily insulin injections and are therefore an invalid who is not allowed to have work release, or even work-duty." If our politicians would dare point out that prisons are frequently just job projects that don't actually help people very much (beyond segregating a very small number of the most dangerous), then maybe we could figure out how to more humanely help people with their behavioral problems. 60 Minutes did a piece about German prisons this past year: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-is-prison-60-minutes-goes-to-germany/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-is-prison-60-minutes-goes-... Also... Shon Hopwood's story (Bank Robber -> Law Professor) is neat [1]. His federal prison had a library, and he found he had an aptitude for reading legal opinions. [1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-a-convicted-felon-who-became-a-georgetown-law-professor/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-a-convicted-felon-who-beca... Every prisoner should have meaningful opportunities to learn and develop in prison. That cases like Mr. Hopwood's are the exception rather than the norm is a tragedy.