Epic WTF

Hehe

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/

The last pope, the german, was a member of the Hitler youth. But as he said that everyone else was a member so it is alright.

Florida is a shithole third world country.
It wasn’t bad a few decades ago.

My grandmother used to have a Nazi dagger that my grandfather had liberated (or looted) from Germany at the end of the war. It was a horrible thing, silver with a massive swastika and eagle at the end of the handle. I only saw it once or twice as it certainly wasn't on display. So incongruous, as she was a typical kind old lady and lovely grandma, about as far from a neo-Nazi as you could ever imagine.

My father used to hate that she had it, and when she died he disposed of it - not sure how but I'm pretty certain he threw it in the sea or buried it or similar. He certainly did not sell it as memorabilia.

The property next-door to us (in Austria) is a former SS regional headquarters. Nice thick walls. No sign of any link to that era though. It's a university field work campus now. I kind of like that its still standing and being used for a positive purpose.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On a slightly more lighthearted note, adult mascot shows no sympathy to child players:

https://gfycat.com/evergreendampantlion-baseball-falcons-braves-2022-mlb

This convicts paying for incarceration concept reminds me of benefits being repayable, which is the situation in some European countries. Switzerland being one of them. A life of debt.

Common for people to bring back trophys from a vanquished enemy.

From WTF to crimes of society.

Joy of a two tiered prison system, sounds like the mental health system.

That one is a little different.

£77,500. It’s not about recovering costs

That number does seem punchy as I thought it was more like £50k in the UK, and you'd expect the economies of scale to be better in the US.

But I guess for me there is a mix of reasons you send people to prison. One of those is to provide society at large with a concept of justice and retribution.

I think there is a fundamental difference between making people on means tested benefits repay money, vs choosing who morally wears the cost of paying for prisoners.

However, I would say this is all hypothetical because were I a benevolent dictator I'd be designing a justice system which prosecutes and sentences very quickly, and also didn't have the as many things illegal in the first place.

Not fans of determinism then I take it?

Private prisons are a big thing in the US.
2 judges recently got prison themselves for rigging sentences to send juveniles to a private prison in exchange for kickbacks.
Some jurisdictions do sell slave labor to generate income.
Shithole America.

Now that I think about it, blue collar criminals should pay for their prison stays, and more importantly, go to prison.

Do you mean white collar?

Private prisons are a big thing in the US.

Oh I’ve known about private prisons for decades. Problem is, every bit of coverage I’ve seen or read has portrayed them privately run normal prisons, that are paid hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars per prisoner because the state can’t cope with the numbers or has privatised that sector of the justice system. What I discovered this week is that, if you have the money and connections, you can spend your incarceration in a separate private facility surrounded by other paying inmates. You’ll have access to a more comfortable cell block, better medical care, better trained guards, better facilities, more recreation possibilities, potentially more lenient visitation schedules…. All because you had the cash to pay for it. Meanwhile, people who don’t have the cash are treated like wild animals, and then some states try to charge them for the experience.

Fuck. That. All of that.

more WTF America

1 Attachment

SMIDSY applies to peds now too!

https://littledifferencesjapan.blogspot.com/2014/02/pedestrian-flags.html

Probably, I'm not a collar kind of guy.