4 ms·

The US prison system did exactly what the US prison system is designed to do. It's never been a rehabilatory system and we will have to fight to improve it.

ddtaylor 6y ago
It's worth mentioning that this doesn't mean it's currently designed to be punitive. It's really just evolved into a system that extracts a very large amount of money via taxes and uses that money to pay various correctional staff and industries to deliver absurdly poor quality services and products. For them, it's a really sweet gig and they're pretty happy that the overall public is apathetic to the situation.
- psychlops 6y ago
  I disagree. In the US, the public also is pretty happy to lock people away for extended periods of time.
  - ddtaylor 6y ago
    For the most part that's a product of lobbying to increase minimum sentences and overall increase the prison population, since that increases the number of correctional jobs and the sales of the various contracted companies that provide their products. I was in federal prison until just 3 months ago I can safely say this is exactly what I saw while there.
    - psychlops 6y ago
      While I don't disagree (i was joking in my first comment :), I think that's a one dimensional point of view. The majority of people do not interact with the prison system at all and assume that everything is done correctly (if they consider it at all). I don't think there is a concerted conscious profiteering effort and it's just "Tuesday" business for municipalities and contracted corps. I'd contend more that the emotional appeals for tough on crime laws and media crime porn drive the mentality of imprisonment in the US.
      - pessimizer 6y ago
        > I'd contend more that the emotional appeals for tough on crime laws and media crime porn drive the mentality of imprisonment in the US. But those are produced by people who profit from the system as it is. People didn't just arrive at the cruelty level they are at, they were whipped to it, and countervailing opinions are shut out of "serious" discourse. Note that I'm not talking about private prisons here, I'm talking about vendors, contractors, and the funders of politicians that need to preserve local human warehousing jobs.
        psychlops 6y ago
        Indeed, and thank you for not wailing against private prisons only. Dealing with the system in any capacity one realizes that it is closed, deaf and completely lacking in accountability.
jmkni 6y ago
The author of the Tweet is from South Africa

ddtaylor 6y ago

It's worth mentioning that this doesn't mean it's currently designed to be punitive. It's really just evolved into a system that extracts a very large amount of money via taxes and uses that money to pay various correctional staff and industries to deliver absurdly poor quality services and products. For them, it's a really sweet gig and they're pretty happy that the overall public is apathetic to the situation.

psychlops 6y ago
I disagree. In the US, the public also is pretty happy to lock people away for extended periods of time.
- ddtaylor 6y ago
  For the most part that's a product of lobbying to increase minimum sentences and overall increase the prison population, since that increases the number of correctional jobs and the sales of the various contracted companies that provide their products. I was in federal prison until just 3 months ago I can safely say this is exactly what I saw while there.
  - psychlops 6y ago
    While I don't disagree (i was joking in my first comment :), I think that's a one dimensional point of view. The majority of people do not interact with the prison system at all and assume that everything is done correctly (if they consider it at all). I don't think there is a concerted conscious profiteering effort and it's just "Tuesday" business for municipalities and contracted corps. I'd contend more that the emotional appeals for tough on crime laws and media crime porn drive the mentality of imprisonment in the US.
    - pessimizer 6y ago
      > I'd contend more that the emotional appeals for tough on crime laws and media crime porn drive the mentality of imprisonment in the US. But those are produced by people who profit from the system as it is. People didn't just arrive at the cruelty level they are at, they were whipped to it, and countervailing opinions are shut out of "serious" discourse. Note that I'm not talking about private prisons here, I'm talking about vendors, contractors, and the funders of politicians that need to preserve local human warehousing jobs.
      - psychlops 6y ago
        Indeed, and thank you for not wailing against private prisons only. Dealing with the system in any capacity one realizes that it is closed, deaf and completely lacking in accountability.

jmkni 6y ago

The author of the Tweet is from South Africa