5 ms·

Even though I'm not a fan of private prisons, I wonder what would happen if they had a contract that gave bonuses for every year a former inmate stayed out of j

Even though I'm not a fan of private prisons, I wonder what would happen if they had a contract that gave bonuses for every year a former inmate stayed out of jail? Maybe that's already been tried.

jeffwask 4y ago
The problem is more insidious, their incentives are to keep them incarcerated, not retrain them in any meaningful way, and hope they repeat.
- sonofhans 4y ago
  Yes, this. Certainly these companies have done the math, and clearly see that the worse inmates are treated the more likely they are to become repeat customers.
nobodyandproud 4y ago
Utopian: Ex-cons lead happy and productive lives with relevant and in-demand skills. Education system is extended. Dystopian: Ex-cons learn how to evade capture. Law enforcement and enforcement capability is gutted, through lobbying.
- themitigating 4y ago
  Weird that when I think dystopian I think of a police state
  - nobodyandproud 4y ago
    Pop-culture is to blame, but it’s not the technical or full scope of the meaning.
layer8 4y ago
The bonus would have to be higher than what they earn from an inmate.
darkarmani 4y ago
Evasion training. How to stay out of jail (without changing your life).
- danuker 4y ago
  Couple this with police abuse, and only honest citizens will end up being arrested. How Kafkaesque.
aqme28 4y ago
Suddenly prisons are trying to incarcerate the factually innocent, since they're the least likely to "re-offend."
- mabbo 4y ago
  This is why I love HN. You've taken a really nice idea and identified exactly how it will be abused by awful people.
  - themitigating 4y ago
    Because that's always a possibility! Not thinking that way is why company after company seems make the same mistakes.
  - visarga 4y ago
    Oh, not just the parent poster. It was also my first thought.
  - juve1996 4y ago
    All ideas can be abused by awful people. This is why we have stalled in general ; everyone has some "slippery slope" boogeyman as an excuse why we can't solve problems society faces.
- scrollaway 4y ago
  But prisons don’t incarcerate people? They aren’t the ones taking decisions on who goes in there.
  - rahimnathwani 4y ago
    Right, and the operators of prisons have never been known to collude with judges. /s
    - scrollaway 4y ago
      I don’t know of a single argument that can’t be dismantled with “right, and people have never been found to cheat the system?”… Is judges colluding with prison operators a frequent and normal occurrence? The US prison system is bad, but to my knowledge these things are the exception.
TylerE 4y ago
That’s never going to happen when 99% of places refuse to hire ex cons, or if they do at all only for the most unpleasant minimum wage “jobs”.
- mabbo 4y ago
  Well, what if the ex-con's former prison had a bond on them- if this person ends up committing a crime against your business, you get the full costs covered, less 10%. The prison would be incentivized to do this so as to help prevent recidivism. They'd also be incentivized to get that person the help they need so they don't commit crimes and can do the job too.
  - notch656c 4y ago
    The reason I would be hesitant to hire the ex-con is not because they're bad. OR I think they're going to be bad to me and thus I need extra insurance or whatever. The reason I wouldn't hire them is because the system salivates to put those people back in the system, and I prefer to hire someone less likely to get pulled into the abyss at any random moment and cause me to lose out on my trained workforce. Their PO, any officer scanning automatic plate readers, customs agents, whoever, they're all chomping at the bit to pull that person back out of society and employment.
    - concordDance 4y ago
      Could you explain how this conspiracy between customs agents and the prison complex came about?
      - notch656c 4y ago
        I was flagged on suspicion of being a criminal and now customs invents absurd shit every time I cross the border. Last time they got a federal search warrant out of thin air based on lies and dragged me to a hospital to internally search me for drugs. Every single time I go through it's something else with hours long detainment. They explicitly told me one one occasion if I was a felon they would fuck with me even more than they have.

Even though I'm not a fan of private prisons, I wonder what would happen if they had a contract that gave bonuses for every year a former inmate stayed out of jail? Maybe that's already been tried.

jeffwask 4y ago

The problem is more insidious, their incentives are to keep them incarcerated, not retrain them in any meaningful way, and hope they repeat.

sonofhans 4y ago
Yes, this. Certainly these companies have done the math, and clearly see that the worse inmates are treated the more likely they are to become repeat customers.

nobodyandproud 4y ago

Utopian: Ex-cons lead happy and productive lives with relevant and in-demand skills. Education system is extended. Dystopian: Ex-cons learn how to evade capture. Law enforcement and enforcement capability is gutted, through lobbying.

themitigating 4y ago
Weird that when I think dystopian I think of a police state
- nobodyandproud 4y ago
  Pop-culture is to blame, but it’s not the technical or full scope of the meaning.

layer8 4y ago

The bonus would have to be higher than what they earn from an inmate.

darkarmani 4y ago

Evasion training. How to stay out of jail (without changing your life).

danuker 4y ago
Couple this with police abuse, and only honest citizens will end up being arrested. How Kafkaesque.

aqme28 4y ago

Suddenly prisons are trying to incarcerate the factually innocent, since they're the least likely to "re-offend."

mabbo 4y ago
This is why I love HN. You've taken a really nice idea and identified exactly how it will be abused by awful people.
- themitigating 4y ago
  Because that's always a possibility! Not thinking that way is why company after company seems make the same mistakes.
- visarga 4y ago
  Oh, not just the parent poster. It was also my first thought.
- juve1996 4y ago
  All ideas can be abused by awful people. This is why we have stalled in general ; everyone has some "slippery slope" boogeyman as an excuse why we can't solve problems society faces.
scrollaway 4y ago
But prisons don’t incarcerate people? They aren’t the ones taking decisions on who goes in there.
- rahimnathwani 4y ago
  Right, and the operators of prisons have never been known to collude with judges. /s
  - scrollaway 4y ago
    I don’t know of a single argument that can’t be dismantled with “right, and people have never been found to cheat the system?”… Is judges colluding with prison operators a frequent and normal occurrence? The US prison system is bad, but to my knowledge these things are the exception.

TylerE 4y ago

That’s never going to happen when 99% of places refuse to hire ex cons, or if they do at all only for the most unpleasant minimum wage “jobs”.

mabbo 4y ago
Well, what if the ex-con's former prison had a bond on them- if this person ends up committing a crime against your business, you get the full costs covered, less 10%. The prison would be incentivized to do this so as to help prevent recidivism. They'd also be incentivized to get that person the help they need so they don't commit crimes and can do the job too.
- notch656c 4y ago
  The reason I would be hesitant to hire the ex-con is not because they're bad. OR I think they're going to be bad to me and thus I need extra insurance or whatever. The reason I wouldn't hire them is because the system salivates to put those people back in the system, and I prefer to hire someone less likely to get pulled into the abyss at any random moment and cause me to lose out on my trained workforce. Their PO, any officer scanning automatic plate readers, customs agents, whoever, they're all chomping at the bit to pull that person back out of society and employment.
  - concordDance 4y ago
    Could you explain how this conspiracy between customs agents and the prison complex came about?
    - notch656c 4y ago
      I was flagged on suspicion of being a criminal and now customs invents absurd shit every time I cross the border. Last time they got a federal search warrant out of thin air based on lies and dragged me to a hospital to internally search me for drugs. Every single time I go through it's something else with hours long detainment. They explicitly told me one one occasion if I was a felon they would fuck with me even more than they have.