Given who makes these decisions, this whole “points” system bothers me a lot.
It’d be interesting to see how the stereotypical prison environment would change if the current blue-collar criminals were swapped out with the white-collar ones.
4 Likes
That’s not a bad idea for a sequel to Trading Places.
6 Likes
If I could figure out how, I always thought it would be a good place to retire when I couldn’t mangage on my own.
4 Likes
No data, but I can offer some very firm prejudice on the topic, if that will do you?.
1 Like
Not a substitute for data; but generally entertaining, so I’m game.
1 Like
There are some questionable bits in the PDF, e.g. being younger and less educated are definitely a strike against you, but overall it seems like as good a bureaucratic solution to a bureaucratic problem as any.
Of course the current system needs a complete overhaul, but this particular piece of it isn’t a problem in and of itself, a bit like objecting to the shape of a particular piece of the Berlin wall.
2 Likes
Your country is so inequitable and generally screwed up - how have you not had a mass revolt??
4 Likes
That sounds like a Wayans brothers movie.
2 Likes
Steinbeck described it succinctly decades ago, still holds unfortunately.
3 Likes
LOL, I was being funny, cause the prejudice is as simple as “People who get rich in business competition are uniformly scum” or even “There are no rehabilitated criminals, just gullible observers”.
In my humble opinion, there are, and have never been, rehabilitated criminals, with the single exception of the people who realise their error and kill themselves to redeem their honour.
[quote=“HMSGoose, post:4, topic:101771, full:true”]
If anything the conditions should be swapped. Poor people/ minorities trapped in a cycle of criminality, either by being completely innocently sucked into the system from dragnet stop-and-frisk bullshit or being cornered into grey and black markets by socioeconomic exclusion and marginalization are the ones who need rehabilatation. Rehab in the sense of consciously reinviting them into the legal economy, and building some trust and buy-in into systems that had abandoned and abused them, and work to repair the psychological damage of the prison pipeline itself.[/quote]
Unfortunately, that is not always true. In all social classes and therefore also in the poorer social classes, there are people who are excessively agressive, not very bright and have an exaggerated sense of entitlement. They are very hard to manage for the society at large.
What is true is that, in all social classes, there are people who are not like that. Therefore, in the poorer segments of society, you will find people who found themselves trapped in the prison system but who can be rehabilitated with some education and some reasonable job perspectives. So I am entirely for rehabilitation efforts. But we should not fool ourself into believing that it will work in all cases.
The “job perspectives” part is very important, BTW. If all the legal economy has to offer you is a wage that will slowly drive you into bankruptcy, people will turn to the illegal economy. It makes perfect sense and I would do the same in the same situation. Let us not forget about the root of the problem.
3 Likes
Isn’t that a bit of an extreme vision?
2 Likes
Ford Open Prison in the UK used to have two main types of prisoner: white collar, and young non-violent male offenders. The latter did all the work while the former taught them how to be a white collar criminal. The warders were kept quiet by the white collar criminals managing their portfolios. Going there was described as a “Ford MBA”.
Never been there, used to drive past from time to time.
4 Likes
The distinct tension of prison thinking: if you believe criminality is inherent and or/genetically determined there is no point attempting rehabilitation. If you believe it is primarily environmentally formed putting people in prisons, an environment by design chock full of criminals, isn’t exactly optimal for rehabilitation.
Or in short: prisons are not a great idea in general.
@anon81034786 I really hate joking about rape being part of the “punishment” a prisoner gets. It’s a crime, and turning a blind eye to it is also a crime.
14 Likes
Because Steinbeck was right.
“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
Edit: whkops, @wait_really got to it first
4 Likes
So long as the patients at the ER are down with Floyd, you’re fine. The booze can be dismissed as medicinal tinctures.
2 Likes
In your worldview, does the method of the cleansing vary with the severity of the crime? Like, are people who committed an armed robbery required to self-immolate, but shoplifters can just swallow a handful of sleeping pills?
Do people who committed multiple crimes have to be resuscitated at the last moment so they can kill themselves again, to fully atone for their transgressions?
It’s all in the practical details, y’know.
6 Likes
It’s almost as if prisons are bad places because of the people inside them!
too meta for my simple understanding. What’s your take on one hand clapping? Is it more of a cl or an ap?
1 Like
