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Gotta say while I don't agree with two tierd prison systems that can be bought into, I'm not sure I see a conceptual issue with people who've committed crimes being partly responsible for the cost of their incarnation. It just needs to be implemented in a reasonable way.
hugo7-
I think there's a very specific type of criminal where you can say that their definitely 100% at fault, I'm ok with them paying.
Everyone else? Doesn't our broken society create criminals in the most, so we should pay to try and rehabilitate them.
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I think the problem is if you view prison as a social benefit where those who have wronged can ideally be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society, then it's helpful to not have ex-cons loaded with debt when they already have an uphill battle to avoid reoffending. If you view prison solely as a deterrent and punishment maybe making them pay makes some sense. If, like in the US prison is a big business and source of slave labour then making people pay makes business sense but there are so many problems with that already it helps no one but evil corporations.
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I started writing a response and it kept branching out into really depressing aspects of current US society and possibly human nature. There’s just too much to unpick.
I don’t agree with convicts being made to pay for their stay in the current system. If costs are so high they need to pay for their stay, useless incarceration as it is needs to be reassessed. Etc etc etc.
$249 a day is $90,885 a year, £77,500. It’s not about recovering costs, they’ve designed a system that creates lifelong, legalised slave labour; that preys on the vulnerable (whether convicts or not); and that actively chews away at the foundations of a safe, functional society/economy/country.
Fucked isn’t strong enough a word.
n3il
snottyotter
Muc-ed-off
Trigger warning- US dystopia.
Further adding to the neoliberal nightmare, I submit the US’ “pay for your stay” prison system, where prisoners are charged an average of $249/day for the pleasure of being kept in small cages and under-socialised for years. I had to google it and yep, it’s actually a thing in every US state.
https://apnews.com/article/crime-prisons-lawsuits-connecticut-074a8f643766e155df58d2c8fbc7214c
From this useful Reddit thread, I’ve surmised that there’s 2 systems at work: 1) the secret, parallel luxury prisons where the rich and powerful can legally bribe their way into better conditions than the great unwashed; and 2) some states actively recover prison stay costs from prisoners, like Florida who goes after people who win a civil lawsuit against the state, say for being beaten into lifetime disability by a prison guard or being unjustly incarcerated.
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/wz3n94/at_249_per_day_prison_stays_leave_exinmates_deep/