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

a reply to: Xcalibur254

We have the harshest prison conditions of the First World

If you mean three square meals a day, a bed, cable tv in the day rooms(they get to pick the channels), able to shower any time during the day, medical care in and outside the facility, educational/vocational training, guidance counselors, access to phones to call home till nightly lock down, mail as harsh conditions then yeah, it's rough.
As for recidivism? If their home on the outside is a cardboard box of course they are going to return to prison.

a reply to: toysforadults

There's definitely a problem with the system. Deplorables being thrown in with misdemeanor types isnt working. And as you stated, abuse grows rampant with the misuse of power.

a reply to: toysforadults
Bro, the horrors of people playing sock puppets with someones face after hollowing out the skull and cutting it off and laughing about it does not happen in US prisons. Tearing their torsos open with their bear hands and pulling and mutilating out their still beating hearts.

Eighteenth street gang likely got paid money to behave for the cameras. Go find the cell phone videos from those same prisons. I could direct you, but its better if I don't. There is only one benefit to the state in a prison where the prisoners police themselves. They have an easy way to kill off or blackmail political rivals by holding them or their relatives there for simple civil reasons, and to make it easy for the beasts to cull themselves.

No prison in the US has conditions that qualify as living among demons in a dungeon connected to your worst nightmares. The only reason international criminals heads dread the thought of a US prison cell is because US prisons are notoriously effective at keeping the criminals inside. Bribery can only get even the biggest kingpin nothing more than favors and stuff. Escape is not only extremely rare, but is very temporary.

I watched that scripted entertainment before. If he is hanging around inside with them, they were never a threat to begin with.

originally posted by: Edumakated
It is a difficult problem.

I have a family member that just did a 7 year bid for drug conspiracy. He deserved time, but the case against him was bullsh*t. Feds mistakenly thought he was connected to a big time dealer (which he wasn't) and he was setup by a "buddy" who was an informant.

Nevertheless, seeing him do time has given me a new perspective on the "system". The thing that struck me was how little preparation is given to inmates coming home. Next to no training, classes, etc on preparing them to come back and be productive members of society.

I also have mixed feelings because doing time and having a felony makes it next to impossible to get a meaningful job. At the same time, my family member told me how many guys in prison are plotting their next criminal moves to go back to hustling upon release.

I do think the first step to reforming prison is legalizing drugs. What we are doing is not working. There has to be a better way.

I would like to see less jail time and more fines, with the additional bonus that if you enroll in and pass university or job training classes, the cost of those classes comes out of the fines you've paid, and gets refunded.

What I most like about such a plan, is that it helps to counteract wealth in the system. There's little difference between getting a $1000 fine and paying your lawyer $10,000, or getting a $15,000 fine with a public defender, but then getting the full $15,000 back in exchange for taking a few continuing education classes.

originally posted by: mzinga
a reply to: toysforadults

With everything wrong with this country, something like this gets attention? The simple solution is to stop getting arrested. Our prisons are pretty comfy compared to other countries.

The US has the most abusive prisons of any western nation.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

dude there's things like that happening in US prisons ALL THE TIME

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
I have a problem with prisons in general.

They are supposed to rehabilitate and create a stronger America. What they do is teach normal people to be worse criminals, while allowing them to network with other criminals.

Our criminal justice system is a joke meant to feed the bank accounts of our overlords and their backers. I am against prison for 99% of all crimes, instead preferring to see people stay free and productive rather than become a paycheck for the prison industrial complex. Murderers and rapists should be imprisoned. Everyone else....we should be more creative.

Every single facet of our criminal justice system is broken. From the police, to the prosecutors, to the lawyers, to the courts, to the jails.

Personally?
I want to see the elimination of plea bargains.
I want to see laws that guarantee a trial within X days of arrest. And if you don't see trial by that point, you're deemed not guilty.
I want the courts to be bottlenecked into being forced to remove a bunch of unjust laws from the books.
I want more crimes to be fines.
As I said above, I want fines to be refundable based on things the individual can do to improve themselves.
When prison is needed, I want it to try to integrate people into society, not use them as slave labor under threat of punishment.

a reply to: Aazadan

if they didn't use plea bargins our court system would be so clogged it wouldn't work, it would be rendered useless

if they didnt rely on everyone not fighting their cases because their poor and stuck in jail the system would fail and they would have to roll back all the illegal laws on the books

originally posted by: Irishhaf
Prisons should be required to have systems set up to train inmates in a work skill, along with any required certifications, and possibly some sort of tax break incentive for businesses to give them a chance when they get out.

Also the majority of prisoners should not lose so many rights for the rest of their life when they did not commit violent crimes, or if they are not repeat offenders.

If folks feel they cannot renter society and provide for families, or even themselves they will turn back to crime to make ends meet.

That's the theory behind current prison labor. The problem with prison labor though, is that because the prisoners make such little money, which enables the prison itself to make very low bid contracts... there's no room for these jobs on the outside. The honest person cannot compete.

I think this fact is the final nail in the coffin for prison labor, or at least it should be.

I mentioned it several times already, but I think that instead of work experience, we need to start reducing peoples sentences in exchange for attending work training. I like the fine system, because we can reimburse tuition costs with fines paid, and fines aren't like felonies in that they prevent getting work.

Lastly, I think large prisons are a very bad idea. If we're going to use prisons, I think we need the concept of a micro prison which limits networking opportunities inside. The way I see it, jails are criminal college. We need to prevent like minded people from gathering and networking. That means either small prisons, or rehabilitation outside of jail.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Aazadan

if they didn't use plea bargins our court system would be so clogged it wouldn't work, it would be rendered useless

if they didnt rely on everyone not fighting their cases because their poor and stuck in jail the system would fail and they would have to roll back all the illegal laws on the books

Plea bargains are inherently unfair though. They're accomplished by stacking so many charges against you, that it becomes too expensive to fight, and that even the risk of a single guilty verdict (for a crime you may not have even committed) becomes so high, that the pragmatic move is to take a guilty plea to something lesser, and save the court the time for even trying the case.

That is a complete and total bastardization of our justice system, and the most unAmerican thing in our entire country.

If you're charged, the state needs to prove it.
If we have too many criminals, then maybe we should stop using the court system for minor crimes.
If the backlog is too large, then either expand the court, or start striking down laws.

In my mind, plea bargains are the #1 offender to what is destroying our system.

a reply to: Aazadan

I know and agree our system is a complete piece of # and those who support well some of them are good people but they don't understand they are enforcing a corrupt unconstitutional system

They don't even look at the details of the case really unless you go to trial or hire an attorney people with PDs are essentially guilty no matter what

a reply to: Aazadan

Theres probably over a million people who plead guilty to crimes they didnt commit but we're actually guilty of something else but because the details of their case were never actually fully reviewed or anything nobody will ever know
.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Aazadan

Theres probably over a million people who plead guilty to crimes they didnt commit but we're actually guilty of something else but because the details of their case were never actually fully reviewed or anything nobody will ever know
.

95% of guilty verdicts in the US are now pleas rather than being found guilty in trial. People are wrongfully going to jail, because the state claims they're guilty, never proves it, and the defedant doesn't have legal representation capable of fighting it.

a reply to: Aazadan

Yup. Pretty #ed up system.