Turn Prisons Into Colleges

[oplawlz]

You just HAD to go there, didn't you.

It was admittedly tongue in cheek, but there really are some dangers to forced education. Making it an option I'm totally ok with.

[Draco-Onis]

The crime rate is already at historic lows

So even less crime is bad? is there a good level of crime that we shouldn't go under or something?

[Fencers]

Cool idea, but I think general free education for non-criminals is a better idea.

[Azadina]

So even less crime is bad? is there a good level of crime that we shouldn't go under or something?

Well, if it dips to zero, then it will result to lost jobs. You could immediately fire all police, prison guards, security workers, quite a bunch of judges and lawyers, and any office workers related to those.

[Kokolums]

So even less crime is bad? is there a good level of crime that we shouldn't go under or something?

Its just weird to complain about the crime rate when its been collapsing. Its like people do not know what is going on.

[Gorgodeus]

So what do we do when crime jumps 5000% due to people wanting a free college education?

[Deleted]

Because education is already free for everyone. Now imagine everyone else had to pay gigantic fees while prisoners could do it for free.

Using an argument "this other part of our system sucks" is not really a good argument to me. Prisoners should not be forced to be driven into a spiral of can't do anything, so can't get a education.

[DSRilk]

True. But until that happens (Which is somewhere between like 40 years and never)

That's very optimistic

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we shoudl get rid of the whole student debt issue for state schools if you are within that state. Like New York did where it is free but you have to work/live in new york for as many years as you went to school for free.

Someone needs to pay for it though; in this case the state. California had free tuition for in-state schools back when I was going to college, but then the state ran out of money and had to cut back - now it's fee-based like all the rest. If enough people in the state agree to raise their taxes in order to make tuition free, or somehow manage to bring in a ton of revenue in some other way, that's great, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Blamblam41]

Cool I'll go steal a candy bar or something and get free food, shelter, and an education.

Sounds like a sweet deal.

Better than hosting a repeat offender criminal. Now he has that college degree to go commit much more interesting crimes.

[Crissi]

If did something dumb enough to put you away for 12+ years, yeah, that is just you.

which doesnt necessarily make a bad person forever and ever and ever, but I also don't get a hardon over punishments, our current justice system, and an abjact refusal to forgive.

[DSRilk]

The crime rate is already at historic lows.

Public PERCEPTION is completely and utterly off base. The public is totally ignorant of the massive drop in crime in the past 25 years.

I think that's because the first chart lists a decrease in property and violent crimes, but our prisons are chock full of people on drug related crimes. Thus I can easily see someone seeing a ton of people in prison and thinking crime rates are huge, while not realizing that what most of us consider "real" crimes - violent and property-based - are actually down.

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is there a good level of crime that we shouldn't go under or something?

There is a crime rate you absolutely CANNOT go under. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly above zero. The closer you near that line though, the worse your cost to benefit ratio gets when it comes to spending to decrease the current rate.

[Crissi]

Yes well that's lovely, but in reality aka not bleeding-heart-ville, these are bad people forever and ever. These are the "Yeah, just raped your daughter, but after 10 years, I'm cool..." or "Yeah so what if I stabbed some guy on the street who looked at me funny? That was like 10 years ago!"

again, that's not true either. This requires a severe lack of empathy to think everyone is the same and as such require no sympathy or forgiveness. People are all different and are capable of change (mostly). This is reality, not macho sociopath ville.

[Dellis0991]

its a good idea but its kinda flawed because it would be free for them but the kids outside of prison have to struggle and pay arm and leg to get in a college and build up heaps of debt.

[Frontenac]

It seems the Republicans want to turn schools into prisons, so, why not?

[cubby]

Well this isnt education, but pairing abandoned dogs with criminals tends to make both better

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national...437660633.html

I saw a little piece about that when I watched the HBO docu "Toe-Tag Parole". That program is pretty cool.

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It was admittedly tongue in cheek, but there really are some dangers to forced education. Making it an option I'm totally ok with.

There is definitely something to what you're saying. I would think that any program like this would be voluntary. Forcing reformation doesn't entirely work. However, dramatically changing/improving the conditions of prisoners live in would be a HUGE first step. Give anyone structure, encouragement, and a path forward and they will more than likely improves

What I would like to see U.S. prisons be.

[Deleted]

im sure they are going to do theyre homework every day and than work for google or nasa because prisoners are genius that how they ended up in prison

[cubby]

im sure they are going to do theyre homework every day and than work for google or nasa because prisoners are genius that how they ended up in prison

Ignorance is not something to flaunt.

I guess it's just a terrible idea to try and help people who may not have had the same options that some of us had, eh? Or who just fucked up and want a second chance. Because let's just toss them away forever rather than be a good society, right?

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This requires a severe lack of understanding how much time people get for crimes. Can someone convicted of a violent crime come out of prison and never commit a crime again? Perhaps....

But.why.the.fuck.are.you.suggesting.we.reward.them.for.commiting.a.crime?

It's sociopathic to expect prison to be a punishment? You leftists and your mental gymnastics. You're going for the gold, aren'tcha?

We aren't. Why aren't you paying attention to the issues we're discussing instead of just making shit up.

[Crissi]

I'm a leftist. Lol. Actual leftists would say I'm not. I'm a centrist with empathy but thanks.

[araine]

Sweet! A prisoner could go to college free, but I'd have to give my soul and life's savings for a crack at better education. Sounds cool! I guess the best way for free college would be to either be poor or do crime. No middle ground for the other people. I love my country...

easy to fix just make college education free problem solved we clearly can afford it when we spend trillions on defense

[Powerogue]

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. We're doing almost nothing to re-integrate these people into society (and indeed often making it as difficult as possible for them to, even for petty crimes), and reaping the consequences of that.