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Outside in society, I have to work to pay my rent, to pay for my food. Inside a prison, should they not have a similar responsibility? They commit a crime and

by blobbers 10mo ago

Outside in society, I have to work to pay my rent, to pay for my food. Inside a prison, should they not have a similar responsibility? They commit a crime and as such are held in stasis? Should they not at least carry the burden of themselves

navigate8310 10mo ago
Apologies for my ignorance, exactly what kind of jobs do prisoners work inside that benefit the society outside?
- serf 10mo ago
  the US has had lots of programs where labor can effectively be bought or contracted from prisoner sites by private companies. I know of prison ran machine shops that were doing die-casting and tool production. I also heard of one (didn't see) that was doing basket weaving for a floral/arrangement company. these are shallow 'social benefits'; but the companies were privately owned. I guess the classic example is license plate pressing.. I guess that's a social good? I don't know if it goes on at all anymore.
- ndriscoll 10mo ago
  Why do they have to stay inside? Have a chain gang trim overgrown weeds along roads, fill in potholes, clean leaves, clean and repair sidewalks, plant shrubs, etc.
devsda 10mo ago
Its a fair point but its probably not practical. I don't think there's enough jobs in prisons that need physical labour where they can cover the costs. You would then have to train them in useful skills but incompetence is not a crime so you cannot penalize those who "cannot learn/do" skilled work. Other alternative is to make them work the same job they did outside but that is a slippery slope with lot of potential for abuse.
vlovich123 10mo ago
The problem is that there’s double dipping and profiteering. The prison company gets paid by the government for the same it costs the government to house prisoners and then contracts out the prison labor to private companies for basically pure profit. Private prisons’ ability to sell slave labor is a perverse system. The government doing so is at least marginally less but still exploitative in that it robs prisoners of their humanity and feeling like they’re part of the social fabric. Pay them a living wage for that effort and they start to learn that there’s respect and reward that come from being integrated in society.

navigate8310 10mo ago

Apologies for my ignorance, exactly what kind of jobs do prisoners work inside that benefit the society outside?

serf 10mo ago
the US has had lots of programs where labor can effectively be bought or contracted from prisoner sites by private companies. I know of prison ran machine shops that were doing die-casting and tool production. I also heard of one (didn't see) that was doing basket weaving for a floral/arrangement company. these are shallow 'social benefits'; but the companies were privately owned. I guess the classic example is license plate pressing.. I guess that's a social good? I don't know if it goes on at all anymore.
ndriscoll 10mo ago
Why do they have to stay inside? Have a chain gang trim overgrown weeds along roads, fill in potholes, clean leaves, clean and repair sidewalks, plant shrubs, etc.

devsda 10mo ago

Its a fair point but its probably not practical. I don't think there's enough jobs in prisons that need physical labour where they can cover the costs. You would then have to train them in useful skills but incompetence is not a crime so you cannot penalize those who "cannot learn/do" skilled work. Other alternative is to make them work the same job they did outside but that is a slippery slope with lot of potential for abuse.

vlovich123 10mo ago

The problem is that there’s double dipping and profiteering. The prison company gets paid by the government for the same it costs the government to house prisoners and then contracts out the prison labor to private companies for basically pure profit. Private prisons’ ability to sell slave labor is a perverse system. The government doing so is at least marginally less but still exploitative in that it robs prisoners of their humanity and feeling like they’re part of the social fabric. Pay them a living wage for that effort and they start to learn that there’s respect and reward that come from being integrated in society.