4 ms·

This paragraph is just incredible: > The misery at Rikers is not for lack of resources. The jail’s population fell by half between 2012 and 2020, yet its budge

This paragraph is just incredible: > The misery at Rikers is not for lack of resources. The jail’s population fell by half between 2012 and 2020, yet its budget grew by 24%. It costs $438,000 to jail one person there for one year. Of this $379,216 goes to personnel costs; less than 5% goes to services like substance-abuse treatment. The average salary for guards, after five and half years on the job, is $92,073. In 2012, the ratio of inmates to officers in the city was 7:5. In 2020 it was 1.6 officers per inmate.

gruez 5y ago
For all the hate on private prisons (despite constituting only 8.1% of the US prison population), there seems to be surprisingly little hate for prison guard unions.
- nerdponx 5y ago
  Why? Prison/jail guards aren't the ones keeping prisons/jails stocked with people. Don't forget these are NYC salaries. $92k/year does not go very far there. The implication that prisons and jails are some kind of make-work operation for the guards is pretty vile.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >Why? Prison/jail guards aren't the ones keeping prisons/jails stocked with people. you could say the same for private prisons. in both cases they're incentivized to put more people away. for private prisons it's contract renewals, for guard unions it's job security. >Don't forget these are NYC salaries. $92k/year does not go very far there. >The implication that prisons and jails are some kind of make-work operation for the guards is pretty vile. Is it any more vile than the implication that private prisons and jails are make-work operation for the companies that operate them? It's also addressed in the article: "In 2012, the ratio of inmates to officers in the city was 7:5. In 2020 it was 1.6 officers per inmate.". What else would explain guard per inmate figure to more than double, from 0.71 to 1.6?

4 ms·

This paragraph is just incredible: > The misery at Rikers is not for lack of resources. The jail’s population fell by half between 2012 and 2020, yet its budge

by DominikPeters 5y ago

gruez 5y ago
For all the hate on private prisons (despite constituting only 8.1% of the US prison population), there seems to be surprisingly little hate for prison guard unions.
- nerdponx 5y ago
  Why? Prison/jail guards aren't the ones keeping prisons/jails stocked with people. Don't forget these are NYC salaries. $92k/year does not go very far there. The implication that prisons and jails are some kind of make-work operation for the guards is pretty vile.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >Why? Prison/jail guards aren't the ones keeping prisons/jails stocked with people. you could say the same for private prisons. in both cases they're incentivized to put more people away. for private prisons it's contract renewals, for guard unions it's job security. >Don't forget these are NYC salaries. $92k/year does not go very far there. >The implication that prisons and jails are some kind of make-work operation for the guards is pretty vile. Is it any more vile than the implication that private prisons and jails are make-work operation for the companies that operate them? It's also addressed in the article: "In 2012, the ratio of inmates to officers in the city was 7:5. In 2020 it was 1.6 officers per inmate.". What else would explain guard per inmate figure to more than double, from 0.71 to 1.6?