4 ms·

"She" is one person making an throw away comment. Hardly proof that "It doesn't work that way".

danShumway 5y ago
California recently had to new pass a law allowing prisoners to keep working in the same industry they were working in while incarcerated[0]. Before that, they legally weren't allowed to continue working in the same industry after they were released. And even that law doesn't actually give them the right to continue to work, it just gives a subset of them the right to petition to continue to be allowed to work -- it's a very limited band-aide that doesn't actually solve the underlying problem. And this stuff is happening at a state level, it's not enough to point at a few isolated companies to claim that they're they problem. I just think it's really hard to argue that our current prison labor system is working well. We can't realistically talk about training prisoners unless we take criminal records out of hiring processes and get rid of laws that bar prisoners from finding work once they're out of prison. [0]: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912193742/california-bill-clears-path-for-ex-inmates-to-become-firefighters https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912193742/california-bill-cle...
- anthony_d 5y ago
  Thanks for posting the link. It looks like a ridiculous case that clearly needs fixed. Completely agree our prison system is not working well. My problem is the older I get the more complicated I realize everything is. It's easy to see flaws but fixes are overwhelmingly complicated. I think it's stupid (and bad for society) to ban someone from some employment based on an unrelated crime. It drives down supply of employees, which should trigger increases in pay. Like you said, this law is a band-aid; it doesn't fix the problem (restricted employment) and it side-steps the natural counter to the problem (increasing salaries). Why not fix whatever says firefighters can't have criminal records? Why aren't normal economic pressures sufficient? I also don't want to disregard criminal records completely, e.g. I wouldn't ever want to hire Bernie Madoff as an investment advisor (even if he were still alive). For me it's an issue of whether the crime is relevant and that's really hard to say sometimes.

California recently had to new pass a law allowing prisoners to keep working in the same industry they were working in while incarcerated[0]. Before that, they legally weren't allowed to continue working in the same industry after they were released. And even that law doesn't actually give them the right to continue to work, it just gives a subset of them the right to petition to continue to be allowed to work -- it's a very limited band-aide that doesn't actually solve the underlying problem. And this stuff is happening at a state level, it's not enough to point at a few isolated companies to claim that they're they problem. I just think it's really hard to argue that our current prison labor system is working well. We can't realistically talk about training prisoners unless we take criminal records out of hiring processes and get rid of laws that bar prisoners from finding work once they're out of prison. [0]: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912193742/california-bill-clears-path-for-ex-inmates-to-become-firefighters https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912193742/california-bill-cle...

anthony_d 5y ago
Thanks for posting the link. It looks like a ridiculous case that clearly needs fixed. Completely agree our prison system is not working well. My problem is the older I get the more complicated I realize everything is. It's easy to see flaws but fixes are overwhelmingly complicated. I think it's stupid (and bad for society) to ban someone from some employment based on an unrelated crime. It drives down supply of employees, which should trigger increases in pay. Like you said, this law is a band-aid; it doesn't fix the problem (restricted employment) and it side-steps the natural counter to the problem (increasing salaries). Why not fix whatever says firefighters can't have criminal records? Why aren't normal economic pressures sufficient? I also don't want to disregard criminal records completely, e.g. I wouldn't ever want to hire Bernie Madoff as an investment advisor (even if he were still alive). For me it's an issue of whether the crime is relevant and that's really hard to say sometimes.