5 ms·

If prisoners at least got paid minimum wage then maybe when they left prison they'd have a pool of funds to get their life put back together rather than resorti

If prisoners at least got paid minimum wage then maybe when they left prison they'd have a pool of funds to get their life put back together rather than resorting to crime in order to survive, repeating a cycle that gets them put back in there.

Beijinger 3y ago
You realize that prison is interested in getting them back? This is an industrial complex and they are the product. There are exceptions of cause, see Norway.
- connicpu 3y ago
  Obviously the for-profit prisons would absolutely hate this kind of reform and will spend millions lobbying against it if it ever garnered serious consideration. All the more reason to push for it.
  - Beijinger 3y ago
    You think it is different in non for profit prisons? Wrong. And they are also making good money with it. The question is, what is prison supposed to be? Punishment? Reintegration? Deterrence?
    - wang_li 3y ago
      Prison is supposed to keep people who are harmful to society away from their victims. Anything else is secondary and should not impinge on prison's functionality of segregating convicts from society.
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    Not just for-profit prisons. Correctional Officer unions are among the hardest lobbiers against ANY decriminalization of marijuana, or any general "reform" to our criminal statutes. That blows my mind. "Keep more things illegal so we have a job".
SkyBelow 3y ago
Wouldn't in many of those cases those funds be more needed by their victims to help restore a little of what was lost. Direct things like paying medical bills or supporting someone who can no longer work or less direct things like paying for therapy for someone who is now traumatized? As for victimless crimes, do they really deserve prison to begin with and wouldn't we do better with alternatives, or perhaps even removing some of those laws entirely?
- connicpu 3y ago
  Having a percentage of their pay going to reparations for any identified victims of their crimes seems like it would be a fair system, and much better than what currently goes on where these companies are pocketing all of the profits from their labor.
- feoren 3y ago
  That sounds like a feel-good system that would be very difficult to implement in practice. It's very different for different kinds of crimes, and nitpicking over level of victimhood is not something the law seems very concerned about. It could open up a whole cottage industry of "Victimhood Optimization" where people get very good at claiming they were the victim of some nebulous crime, and deserve a payout. There are "victimless crimes" that are only victimless because everyone was lucky: a 3rd DUI, firing a gun in a crowded area but not hitting anyone, etc. Then there are crimes that have millions of potential victims: dumping toxic waste in a river, etc. It'd be an entire extra enigma the courts would have to figure out with every case. (I do think a big percentage of the "victimless crimes", like personal drug possession, should not even be crimes at all, but that's beside this point.)
FireBeyond 3y ago
Many states will bill inmates for their room and board on release. Some even do so when there has been no conviction.

Beijinger 3y ago

You realize that prison is interested in getting them back? This is an industrial complex and they are the product. There are exceptions of cause, see Norway.

connicpu 3y ago
Obviously the for-profit prisons would absolutely hate this kind of reform and will spend millions lobbying against it if it ever garnered serious consideration. All the more reason to push for it.
- Beijinger 3y ago
  You think it is different in non for profit prisons? Wrong. And they are also making good money with it. The question is, what is prison supposed to be? Punishment? Reintegration? Deterrence?
  - wang_li 3y ago
    Prison is supposed to keep people who are harmful to society away from their victims. Anything else is secondary and should not impinge on prison's functionality of segregating convicts from society.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  Not just for-profit prisons. Correctional Officer unions are among the hardest lobbiers against ANY decriminalization of marijuana, or any general "reform" to our criminal statutes. That blows my mind. "Keep more things illegal so we have a job".

SkyBelow 3y ago

Wouldn't in many of those cases those funds be more needed by their victims to help restore a little of what was lost. Direct things like paying medical bills or supporting someone who can no longer work or less direct things like paying for therapy for someone who is now traumatized? As for victimless crimes, do they really deserve prison to begin with and wouldn't we do better with alternatives, or perhaps even removing some of those laws entirely?

connicpu 3y ago
Having a percentage of their pay going to reparations for any identified victims of their crimes seems like it would be a fair system, and much better than what currently goes on where these companies are pocketing all of the profits from their labor.
feoren 3y ago
That sounds like a feel-good system that would be very difficult to implement in practice. It's very different for different kinds of crimes, and nitpicking over level of victimhood is not something the law seems very concerned about. It could open up a whole cottage industry of "Victimhood Optimization" where people get very good at claiming they were the victim of some nebulous crime, and deserve a payout. There are "victimless crimes" that are only victimless because everyone was lucky: a 3rd DUI, firing a gun in a crowded area but not hitting anyone, etc. Then there are crimes that have millions of potential victims: dumping toxic waste in a river, etc. It'd be an entire extra enigma the courts would have to figure out with every case. (I do think a big percentage of the "victimless crimes", like personal drug possession, should not even be crimes at all, but that's beside this point.)

FireBeyond 3y ago

Many states will bill inmates for their room and board on release. Some even do so when there has been no conviction.