Georgia puts criminals to work in fields

[Flopper]

Our prisoners have served as the US slave caste for some time.

They owe us. Besides, they probably like getting out rather then sit in a cement box staring at the ceiling 24/7.

"They" do? ALL of them?
How many unjust laws and unjust sentences have been handed down since our penal system gained a profit motive? Within the idea that .21 cents an hour teaches a trade, how many find gainful employment once out? If our prison labor was not for profit, I might have some agreement with you, but it isn't, and the for profit prison industry works in conjunction with the for profit prison labor industry to create our unheard from OR FOR slave labor platform.

There are three basic reasons for putting people in prison:

1. You separate the criminal from society to protect society while in prison.
2. Revenge
3. Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is the only one that makes sense. The social and economic gains for society are huge. However, society's desire for revenge and the cost of rehabilitation has made rehabilitation a dirty word.
Revenge benefits no one except possibly the victim. So that leaves separating the prisoner from society. Putting more people in prison and keeping them there longer reduces crime and it makes the prison industries more profitable. As long as America is not concerned with justice, this makes sense.

 

[Uncensored2008]

I got it now...I didn't mean to hit a nerve.

You think you hit a nerve?

ROFL

What an ignorant fool.

Prisons don't work, they don't protect society and serve only the offer violent predators a training ground to hone their predatory skills.

You are far too dull witted to debate the nuances of the situation nor my proposals.

 

[Uncensored2008]

There are three basic reasons for putting people in prison:

1. You separate the criminal from society to protect society while in prison.
2. Revenge
3. Rehabilitation

Only the first of those works, and it generally backfires as the person coming out of prison is far more violent and dangerous than the one who went in.

Rehabilitation is the only one that makes sense.

Prison rehabilitates no one. Restitution and corporal punishment are the only means of rehabilitation.

However, society's desire for revenge and the cost of rehabilitation has made rehabilitation a dirty word.

That, and the fact that it simply doesn't work.

Abolish the prison system as the failure it clearly is.

 

[spectrumc01]

I posted this a while back, and it seems to fit here.

Do we or do we not believe in rehabilitation? This should be the question at the root of all of our law and order discussions. This question would resolve all sorts of problems within our legal system, and would take all the questions out of sentecing. Rehabilitation should reflect our societal stance, perhaps a vote is in order? There is no point in saying you believe in rehabilitation and then holding past deeds against someone. For example, would you hire someone who has been convicted for embezzlement to work as a bank teller?, hire someone with a DUI as a driver?, or someone with an assault to work as a customer service representative?

I believe that as a society we don't believe in rehabilitation, and the proof is in our actions. The sexual predator list is a perfect example, followed by the non hireing of the embezzler, and DUI driver. Even the calls made to victims when their assailant is released; all of these prove that we don't believe in rehabilitation. There is nothing wrong with not believing in rehabilitation, or believing in rehabilitation. We just need to get consistant in our application of justice.

If we believe that criminals cannot be rehabilitated then why are we letting them out of prison? This would mean that we need to keep them locked up for life, costing us millions. It would seem that execution would be the logical step for criminals (all criminals of every crime), as we don't believe in rehabilitation.

If we do believe that they can be rehabilitated, then we need to start acting accordingly. Start by ending the sexual predator lists, and restrictions against these people as to where they can work and live. End the death penalty. End the calls to victims. Remove from applications the question, "have you ever been convicted of a crime?"

I hate hypocrites, and we are the most hypocritical society ever when it comes to our justice system. We need to decide once and for all, because the money spent on being indecisive is breaking the bank.

So the poll question is? Do you believe in rehabilitation?

 

[KissMy]

In the US we have a huge prison population, over two million in federal and state prisons. That’s 25% of world’s prison population. We have more people in prison than China with 5 times the population.

Over the last 50 years the US population has grown about 50% while the prison population has grown over 600%. The prison industry complex growth has paralleled the growth in the number of prisoners.

The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up. Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners' work, lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their workforce. The emphasis in prisons has changed over the last 50 years from rehabilitation to making a profit.

We can make the work prisons not for profit so no state or shareholder could profit from it. The money would only lower the states prison expense. Make it so all earnings must be spent on the prisoner's from contractors chosen by prisoner's so the guards & warden can't spend all the money on their favorite overpriced contractors who give them kick-backs.

We could but the prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. "This multimillion dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, and armed security. Ten years ago there were 5 private prisons. Today there are 100. It's expect that there will 600 by end of this decade It's big business and growing rapidly and they certainly have no intention of seeing it become non-profit.

US tax payers are the ones footing the bill for this booming prison industry. I don't care if what the prison business wants, we need to replace that model with a not for profit prisoner funded system. Although we do now enjoy a low crime rate due to our high incarceration rate this system is going to take away to much freedom & break the US in the process. PEW Center on the States shows we have 1% of the US population incarcerated. That is double Russia, the country with the second highest incarceration rate. I feel we need to cut our incarceration rate by at least 25%.

 

[Ravi]

So the farmers can no longer hire people and pay them peanuts and now the taxpayer will be asked to subsidize farmers by letting cons pick crops?

Does big government never end?

 

[KissMy]

So the farmers can no longer hire people and pay them peanuts and now the taxpayer will be asked to subsidize farmers by letting cons pick crops?

Does big government never end?

Cheap food is our #1 US Export. Any help in this area will grow the US Economy & Jobs. More Jobs lowers Crime Rates.

If Farmers are paying for the prison system, that means Farmers are subsidizing the tax payers.

 

[Flopper]

I posted this a while back, and it seems to fit here.

Do we or do we not believe in rehabilitation? This should be the question at the root of all of our law and order discussions. This question would resolve all sorts of problems within our legal system, and would take all the questions out of sentecing. Rehabilitation should reflect our societal stance, perhaps a vote is in order? There is no point in saying you believe in rehabilitation and then holding past deeds against someone. For example, would you hire someone who has been convicted for embezzlement to work as a bank teller?, hire someone with a DUI as a driver?, or someone with an assault to work as a customer service representative?

I believe that as a society we don't believe in rehabilitation, and the proof is in our actions. The sexual predator list is a perfect example, followed by the non hireing of the embezzler, and DUI driver. Even the calls made to victims when their assailant is released; all of these prove that we don't believe in rehabilitation. There is nothing wrong with not believing in rehabilitation, or believing in rehabilitation. We just need to get consistant in our application of justice.

If we believe that criminals cannot be rehabilitated then why are we letting them out of prison? This would mean that we need to keep them locked up for life, costing us millions. It would seem that execution would be the logical step for criminals (all criminals of every crime), as we don't believe in rehabilitation.

If we do believe that they can be rehabilitated, then we need to start acting accordingly. Start by ending the sexual predator lists, and restrictions against these people as to where they can work and live. End the death penalty. End the calls to victims. Remove from applications the question, "have you ever been convicted of a crime?"

I hate hypocrites, and we are the most hypocritical society ever when it comes to our justice system. We need to decide once and for all, because the money spent on being indecisive is breaking the bank.

So the poll question is? Do you believe in rehabilitation?

When it comes to rehabilitation, people are hypocrites. They want to believe that the time spent in prison changes people lives for the better. However, what they actually believe is the opposite. That's one of the reasons people support putting more people in prison for longer periods. The more criminals that are in prison and longer they are there, the safer they feel. This is not very logical because the average stay in prison is about 5 years, which means about a million prisoner in prison today will be walking the streets in 5 years, but whoever said people were logical.

I think most people believe prison should be punishment for wrong doing, however punishment is not a good rehabilitation tool, particular when punishment is unjust as is the case with a large segment of the prison population. When prisons try to use tools such as education, counselling, teaching social skills, and job skills, the public views this as coddling prisoners and demands punishment and there goes the rehabilitation.

 

[Ravi]

So the farmers can no longer hire people and pay them peanuts and now the taxpayer will be asked to subsidize farmers by letting cons pick crops?

Does big government never end?

Cheap food is our #1 US Export. Any help in this area will grow the US Economy & Jobs. More Jobs lowers Crime Rates.

If Farmers are paying for the prison system, that means Farmers are subsidizing the tax payers.

It sounds more like they are benefiting off of slave labor.

 

[Tank]

Whats the difference between this and prisoners cleaning the side of a highway?

 

[whitehall]

You all ever see the movie Brubaker?



Brubaker (1980) - IMDb

Lots of prisons do this. Many even raise there own beef and produce. I think Iowa Colony over in Alvin Texas does. Its a good idea.

Yeah, I saw Shawshank Redemption too but I don't base my opinion of real life on hollyweed fiction or docu-dramas. Only in the fertile imagination of liberals educated by pop-culture do prison inmates threaten civilian jobs.