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> Is this something that people against private prisons believe...that they just release all the prisoners when they close the prison? There are a few differen
by danaliv 7y ago
> Is this something that people against private prisons believe...that they just release all the prisoners when they close the prison?
There are a few different strains of thought when it comes to opposition to private prisons, but I believe the common denominator is that they create a perverse incentive. They turn prisons into businesses—the more prisoners, the better.
So while there are definitely people who want these prisoners freed immediately, and even people who want prisons abolished altogether, getting the profit motive out of prisons would be a significant win regardless.
- vkou 7y ago> There are a few different strains of thought when it comes to opposition to private prisons, but I believe the common denominator is that they create a perverse incentive. They turn prisons into businesses—the more prisoners, the better. The same criticism can be applied towards forced prison labour, and yet, it is explicitly permitted by the thirteenth amendment. (And is commonly used in state prisons.) Just because a profit incentive falls in the hands of the state's coffers, as opposed to some corporation, does not mean the incentive is not perverse.
- Analemma_ 7y agoForced prison labor should also be outlawed. Just because we haven't fixed every problem yet doesn't mean we shouldn't cheer improvements like this.
- packet_nerd 7y agoAgreed. However, in terms of perverse economic incentives I think the private for-profit prisons are a much much larger problem than prison work programs. They are not bringing in anything on the scale of what private prison systems bring in from the government. Also, least a few people claim to have benefited personally from the work programs.
- cwkoss 7y agoPrison profits are spent lobbying for tougher crime laws. Thus, unnecessarily harsh criminalization of behavior has a strong economic incentive. Having an incentive to turn citizens into criminals is bad for society.
- lanevorockz 7y agoI wonder if you can raise evidence of unreasonable imprisonment. I completely agree that this can create a feedback loop that would be bad, ideally we should have a much more sophisticated system of rehabilitation. Maybe the problem lies on the state being too incompetent to even set metrics for third parties.
- thomasmeeks 7y agoNon violent drug offenses is the example you’re looking for.
- tathougies 7y agoAll drug offenses are violent. Illegal drugs channel money into large organized crime syndicates that kill, torture, terrorize and maim people. Just because those people are brown, poor, and not Americans doesn't mean we should care less. If you ask me, we need substantially more drug enforcement. There are severe inequalities in how we police for drugs that often result in only the poor and marginalized locked up. We need to refocus our drug war on the rich and powerful and put them in jail to, to make things more equal.
- tenebrisalietum 7y agoX consumes a drug - This is not violent. Drug dealer Y kills someone to protect territory - This is violent. If X was willing to buy drugs from anyone, and/or if X would prefer to buy from a legal seller but none is available, Y is not the cause of the violence. Also, you can get locked up for smoking weed that you grew yourself and had no intention of selling. What of that?
- wetpaws 7y ago>They turn prisons into businesses—the more prisoners, the better Not only would you want more prisoners, but you will also be interested in keeping them as long as possible (i.e. no parole) and pushing recidivism incidents to its maximum.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]