601
The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
(www.thedailybeast.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
601 points (98.7% liked)
politics
19105 readers
4969 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Your penal system is focussed on punishment whereas the European system is focussed on rehabilitation as prisoners at some point have to come back into society and you want them to behave.
On the other hand, US prisons are for profit so they have an incentive to make sure people stay longer and return faster so...
The US really is a fucked up place because of its economic incentives. I mean, the people aren't the problem, policies are.
As a former two-time inmate in the Ohio DRC, I can confirm that there is ZERO I'm the way of rehabilitation. 3.5 years total incarceration with nothing to show for it.
Edit: spelling
I really believe that if prisons change how they work, educate the inmates both with scholing and behavioural therapies, help those with mental or psychological issues, help inmates once they're out to ensure they integrate well, that the amount of inmates would drop significantly.
This is probably also the reason why this will never happen. Can't have that market shrink.
The US definitely has a large for-profit prison industry but it's still a minority of prisons. About 8%, to be exact.
Of course even the prisons that aren't private entities still use prisoner labor. I think the for profit prison isn't the real problem with the US. Obviously it creates messed up incentives. Private prisons fund special interest groups who for example lobby against federal legalization of marijuana. They know it would reduce the number of prisoners and therefore less reason for them to exist. But in terms of influence, they aren't the largest players.
There's a lot of jobs in prisons, courts, law enforcement, etc. And they all depend on the massive prison industrial complex. So at this point it's hard to decouple because those groups have a lot of influence, even though they aren't private for-profit entities.
The cynic in my believes that the US prison system, the system that imprisons more people both in absolute terms and per capita than almost any country in history - comparable to the USSR during their peak gulag era - is meant to keep down potentially rebellious young men. These are the primary movers of revolts and dissent. Turn them into perpetual criminals so you have justification to lock them away forever.
The passives ones don't end up in prison and are also less likely to revolt, join a radical group, etc.
1% of prisons being for profit is too many.
I agree. I think for profit companies shouldn't be allowed in certain industries. I'd say prison, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, housing, electric, water, internet, natural gas, and perhaps public transportation and consumer banking.
Add Education there too, education Cody's have risen to insane amounts
That's not really true. Our penal system is focussed on profit.
Let's say both. Publicly, the focus definitely is on punishment. Internally a lot has to do with money, yes.