4 ms·

How about we start by not overcharging exorbitant amounts and gouging prisoners and their families before we increase the 1984 levels in prisons?! The whole US

How about we start by not overcharging exorbitant amounts and gouging prisoners and their families before we increase the 1984 levels in prisons?! The whole US prison industry is so damn corrupt its infuriating.

hermannj314 5y ago
I did foster care briefly. Children were in my care after mom was charged with a crime and in jail awaiting trial. One of the kids needed a medical authorization approved by the parent so I naively waltz into the local jail and say, "I have a piece of paper for so-and-so to review and sign" Oh boy, they laughed and laughed at me. You idiot, only lawyers can do that. And her lawyer for her criminal case isn't going to be here for awhile. They said we could talk to her for like $10/min on a video conference system (she still couldn't sign anything) I was like, yeah but I am here face to face, they laughed again. That isn't safe. Only lawyers can talk face to face, you must talk through a video chat system located on site for a nominal fee. Screw this. So we played the song and dance that involves shuffling papers to court appointed lawyers, waiting several weeks, and this latency made every tiny insignificant element of us providing the best care to these children absolutely impossible. We quit foster care after 3 months.
- watwut 5y ago
  I think this is also fault of courts/foster system that did not appointed person able to sign and put the kid into impossible situation.
  - shadilay 5y ago
    This seems an awful lot like a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    "Responsibilty without authority."' Incidentally, an excellent question to add to your interview repetoire: - What are the responsibilities of this position? - What are the authorities of this position? Plugging the phrase into Google Ngram Viewer and Google Book Search is interesting. Big bump at about 1920: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=responsibility+without+authority&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cresponsibility%20without%20authority%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=responsibility... Responsibility without authoirty is unfair, as well as dangerous, because it risks a sort of shifting blame. You may have seen this state of things among workmen, or between foremen and workmen, but any executive who is worthy of the name will be very careful to delegate both the responsibility for the results and the necessary authority to carry it through. https://books.google.com/books?id=DT61kZUpxTsC&pg=PA63&dq=%22responsibility+without+authority%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0nez7oqjyAhWPQs0KHcRlCSwQ6AF6BAgDEAM https://books.google.com/books?id=DT61kZUpxTsC&pg=PA63&dq=%2... Well known is the fact that responsibility without authority, like authority without responsibility, is doomed to failure. https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA9&dq=%22responsibility+without+authority%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwionqmJpKjyAhXaZc0KHfaWDlwQ6AF6BAgLEAM https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA9&dq...
iav 5y ago
Those are state by state decisions. Many states choose to fund the prisons by taxing phone conversations. None of it is encouraged by the private industry - the prisons have a contest between the main vendors (GTL and Securus) and whoever offers to pay the highest percentage and amount of revenue wins. They of course know who is going to pay, but the public has a hard time associating “let’s raise taxes and spend more on prisons” with a reduction in telecom cost for the prisoners. And even those who do get it, view it as yet another way to be tough on crime. Ironically, having frequent contact with family is the best way to reduce recidivism.
- arminiusreturns 5y ago
  > None of it is encouraged by the private industry I don't know how you can make this claim when you even admit in the very next sentence that the prisons get kickbacks... an obvious incentive to keep gouging the prices? Then, I don't have any idea how you then turn it into a conversation about higher taxes? As if when someone is being exploitative but the taxpayers should make up the difference between the grift and how it should be? How does any of what you are saying make any sense? I am just misunderstanding your point here?
z3ncyberpunk 5y ago
Prisons everywhere in the world with the exception of like 5 countries are corrupt and horrific.

hermannj314 5y ago

I did foster care briefly. Children were in my care after mom was charged with a crime and in jail awaiting trial. One of the kids needed a medical authorization approved by the parent so I naively waltz into the local jail and say, "I have a piece of paper for so-and-so to review and sign" Oh boy, they laughed and laughed at me. You idiot, only lawyers can do that. And her lawyer for her criminal case isn't going to be here for awhile. They said we could talk to her for like $10/min on a video conference system (she still couldn't sign anything) I was like, yeah but I am here face to face, they laughed again. That isn't safe. Only lawyers can talk face to face, you must talk through a video chat system located on site for a nominal fee. Screw this. So we played the song and dance that involves shuffling papers to court appointed lawyers, waiting several weeks, and this latency made every tiny insignificant element of us providing the best care to these children absolutely impossible. We quit foster care after 3 months.

watwut 5y ago
I think this is also fault of courts/foster system that did not appointed person able to sign and put the kid into impossible situation.
- shadilay 5y ago
  This seems an awful lot like a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  "Responsibilty without authority."' Incidentally, an excellent question to add to your interview repetoire: - What are the responsibilities of this position? - What are the authorities of this position? Plugging the phrase into Google Ngram Viewer and Google Book Search is interesting. Big bump at about 1920: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=responsibility+without+authority&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cresponsibility%20without%20authority%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=responsibility... Responsibility without authoirty is unfair, as well as dangerous, because it risks a sort of shifting blame. You may have seen this state of things among workmen, or between foremen and workmen, but any executive who is worthy of the name will be very careful to delegate both the responsibility for the results and the necessary authority to carry it through. https://books.google.com/books?id=DT61kZUpxTsC&pg=PA63&dq=%22responsibility+without+authority%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0nez7oqjyAhWPQs0KHcRlCSwQ6AF6BAgDEAM https://books.google.com/books?id=DT61kZUpxTsC&pg=PA63&dq=%2... Well known is the fact that responsibility without authority, like authority without responsibility, is doomed to failure. https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA9&dq=%22responsibility+without+authority%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwionqmJpKjyAhXaZc0KHfaWDlwQ6AF6BAgLEAM https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA9&dq...

iav 5y ago

Those are state by state decisions. Many states choose to fund the prisons by taxing phone conversations. None of it is encouraged by the private industry - the prisons have a contest between the main vendors (GTL and Securus) and whoever offers to pay the highest percentage and amount of revenue wins. They of course know who is going to pay, but the public has a hard time associating “let’s raise taxes and spend more on prisons” with a reduction in telecom cost for the prisoners. And even those who do get it, view it as yet another way to be tough on crime. Ironically, having frequent contact with family is the best way to reduce recidivism.

arminiusreturns 5y ago
> None of it is encouraged by the private industry I don't know how you can make this claim when you even admit in the very next sentence that the prisons get kickbacks... an obvious incentive to keep gouging the prices? Then, I don't have any idea how you then turn it into a conversation about higher taxes? As if when someone is being exploitative but the taxpayers should make up the difference between the grift and how it should be? How does any of what you are saying make any sense? I am just misunderstanding your point here?

z3ncyberpunk 5y ago

Prisons everywhere in the world with the exception of like 5 countries are corrupt and horrific.