U.S. Inmates Launching Nationwide Strike to End Prison Slavery

No arguments from me.
Private prisons for profit is wrong.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Irishhaf

the people who are dangerous need to be killed ASAP

Defining "dangerous" becomes an issue, No?

Mg

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Could not agree more.

What's that old African proverb...

"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth" - African proverb

In business and in life it makes more sense to bring people in and get them on your team then it does to create enemies and opposition parties to your goals.

Why doesn't this apply on a societal level as well?

I will be stealing that proverb. I really like it, and can see its usefulness in personal and professional avenues.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Drug addicts...why should I care? Let people enjoy the destruction of themselves fully and hasten their departure.

Thieves, etc....that is why I am a proponent of strong property laws and an armed populace.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I can see where you're coming from but at the same time I think a more punishment based model should only be reserved for repeat offenders of violent crimes. Most murders are crimes of passion and that is only one the perpetrator will commit. The same goes for a lot of rapists. These people can be rehabilitated. So the question becomes if these people can be rehabilitated and express remorse for what they have done should they be released back in to society? If the answer is yes then is there any reason they should not be incarcerated in a facility that is focused on rehabilitation?

Now it is true that people like pedophiles and serial killers generally have no hope for rehabilitation. So an argument could be made to lock them away in a facility more in keeping with our current prisons. But even then we have to ask, is it right to punish these people who are essentially a victim of faulty wiring in their brain? I can understand locking them away for forever. But if they're not going to be rehabilitated in the first place what point is there to allow things like beatings and rapes to occur other than sadistic pleasure?

Look, I get it that there are people in prison who should not be there. This includes innocent people and people convicted of victimless crimes who have not hurt anyone. And yes, there are stupid inhumane laws on the books that ought to be abolished.

BUT

Prison is not about "Fixing" anyone. It's about punishment and keeping idiots off the streets. To claim that all prisoners are mentally ill or that all prisoners come from broken homes, THEREFORE they are not responsible for the crimes against humanity they commit is simply liberal lunacy. If they truly want to "turn their lives around" they have the opportunity to do that. Most do not because they prefer a life of crime. If they have no respect for their fellow humans in society, why should society respect them? By and large they did not get there by accident.

a reply to: schuyler

Prison is not about "Fixing" anyone. It's about punishment and keeping idiots off the streets.

Based off that statement, do you believe all juveniles guilty of a crime should be tried as an adult?

a reply to: schuyler

I disagree that prison is not about fixing anyone because most prison sentences are not life sentences meaning these people will be your neighbor one day.

If it's not about fixing people then it should be because these people need to eventually become productive members of society and fathers, brothers, sisters again.

a reply to: toysforadults

Exactly. In the grand scheme of things the whole purpose of prisons is to improve society. As time has gone on we've found that the prisons that best benefit society are those that seek to rehabilitate the inmates as opposed to punish them.

This "Eye for an Eye" mentality is very outdated. Not only is it not the best model for improving a society as a whole, it actually seems to be deleterious.

originally posted by: schuyler
Prison is not about "Fixing" anyone. It's about punishment and keeping idiots off the streets. To claim that all prisoners are mentally ill or that all prisoners come from broken homes, THEREFORE they are not responsible for the crimes against humanity they commit is simply liberal lunacy. If they truly want to "turn their lives around" they have the opportunity to do that. Most do not because they prefer a life of crime. If they have no respect for their fellow humans in society, why should society respect them? By and large they did not get there by accident.

So someone being the first time in prison should have no chance to change? Because "punishment!!!"?
That´s a self feeding cycle.

"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." -Fyodor Dostoevsky

Because I know you won´t watch it, here is the gist:

More punishment and longer sentences do not work. It changes nothing.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

It's doing more damage than good but we have to stick to the old ways for some reason.

Adaptation is difficult. Society is slow to react.

Prisons continue to operate largely unaffected with or without inmates. Civilians fill the vacancies and do the cooking, cleaning, and other maintenance.

This is called a modified lockdown.

Inmates striking? A blip on the radar.

a reply to: toysforadults

For 19 days, inmates across at least 17 states plan to refuse to work, with some also refusing to eat,

The refusing to eat part is a joke a meaningless gesture. They can refuse to eat in the messhall all they want, they still have food stored in their lockers from the Commissary or food from packages brought in from visits, so they wont be going hungry.

People can be reformed. This is a heart warming story. I'd implore you to watch this TED talk. In summary, it is about a guy named Curtis Caroll who is in jail for murder he committed as a teen. He didn't know how to read. He taught himself to read in jail and then became somewhat of a stock picking legend as he became fascinated with picking stocks on Wall Street.

Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: schuyler

Prison is not about "Fixing" anyone. It's about punishment and keeping idiots off the streets.

Based off that statement, do you believe all juveniles guilty of a crime should be tried as an adult?

The ones that commit adult crimes; Murder, Rape, Molest children. Yeah, charge them as adults and put them adult prisons.

a reply to: Chance321

But if the point of prison is to punish, as schuyler stated, why would you not punish juveniles and adults the same for every crime?

Regarding rehabilitation in prison, there's no time for that. By the time you deliver all statutorially-mandated services there's no time left to address rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation happens when a criminal acknowledges his crime(s) and makes a personal effort to move on from that.

It doesn't happen very often.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Actually the justice department states that their intention is to punish

the real question is does it work and the obvious answer is no

a reply to: Creep Thumper

Seems like it happens plenty often in other countries with other prison models.

a reply to: Xcalibur254
Some of the juveniles that committed lessor crimes might be salvageable.