4 ms·
Not sure why this is being down-voted. The over 2 million Americans that are imprisoned do count as citizens, and the prison system is as corrupt as they come,
by poppysan 14y ago
Not sure why this is being down-voted. The over 2 million Americans that are imprisoned do count as citizens, and the prison system is as corrupt as they come, from cases of judges being paid by private prisons(1) to give harsh sentences to minors to the blind eye given to assault and rape behind bars(2).
(1. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/c/mark_a_ciavarella/index.html http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/peopl...)
(2. http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/12/15/us-federal-statistics-show-widespread-prison-rape http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/12/15/us-federal-statistics-sho... )
- grandalf 14y agoVery true. The US prison system is on equal footings with the worst gulags of history.
- CamperBob2 14y agoNow that is a serious exaggeration, and an unproductive one as well.
- grandalf 14y agoWhat percent of your lifetime income / net worth would you give up to avoid a 6 month term in a maximum security penitentiary?
- evan_ 14y agoA smaller percent than if it were the actual Gulag?
- grandalf 14y agoOk fair enough, but considering that gulags are known to us via old propaganda stories and prisons are part of the modern human rights (intellectual) blind spot that most affluent western people suffer from, it's not surprising that you consider them drastically different. In my opinion, the notion of almost certain rape and being locked into a cell with a violent individual in a system where violence is tolerated is about as cruel a punishment as one could possibly inflict. The worst psychological torture combined with brutal physical subjugation.
- CamperBob2 14y agoGoing to take a wild guess here, and speculate that you haven't read any Solzhenitsyn.
- grandalf 14y agoI have not. I realize there are things that are more horrific on a larger scale of human suffering, but for the individuals involved at a micro level the US system is cruel and unusual to the extreme.