Prisons charging inmates per night. What gives?

[Dundebuns]

Prisons shouldn't be for profit. Once they stop making profit, they stop functioning as they are intended to and will no longer be effective for housing criminals.

Welcome to capitalism my friend.

[Utinil]

Not the prison. Most are private, and don't get state/federal money.


That's the entire point of a private, for profit prison.


They aren't. At least not part of taxes.

I suggest you actually look up information before claiming that "most" prisons are private. Only 8.4% are private, you can claim that there shouldn't be any or that there are to many, but it is far from a majority.

[Sage89]

My brother just got out of jail and was ordered to take drug tests. The thing that got me was that he is being charged $25 per test and is required to take 2 times a week. This made my jaw drop! The judge ordered mandatory drug tests that my brother has to pay for. I had never before heard of an inmate being sentenced to a required bill. Then I heard the worst part. He will be getting a bill for each night he was in jail!

Now, I am sitting here dumbfounded. I can only think, Where the heck are my taxes going if the prisons are going to start charging people for being locked up? My second thought is in what system is this right? They are turning prison and punishment into a money making scheme! They get money from our taxes, and now for imprisoning people. My state isn't even the only one to do it. There are others to do it.

I was just wondering what your thoughts on this is. How is this right? How is the states going to be allowed to lock up people and then charge them a fee on top of it! That seems like a massive conflict of interest to me.

I don't see how this could be legal.

[zEmini]

For profit prisons are a cancer in this country and should be non profit much like the health industry.

[Independent voter]

Here's how it goes.

Left wing people point out that it costs like $150 a day to keep someone in jail while it's much cheaper to keep someone in college.

Tax payers read that and say 'why should we be paying all that money?' and they complain to elected officials.

So elected officials pass laws that say prisoners have to pay for every night they spend in jail, like a hotel.

I'm not sure how they expect what I assume are poor people to pay them back. Maybe you'll jail a rich person every now and then and you can collect from them.

I know places where the court will assign you a lawyer as is required for major offenses, but they'll charge you for that lawyer if you have the money to pay.

[Shaderas]

I'm sorry not breaking the law is hard.

Yes it is. You've probably broken the law multiple times in your life, and some of those times you didn't even realize it.

[NicoWolf]

Prisons shouldn't be for profit. Once they stop making profit, they stop functioning as they are intended to and will no longer be effective for housing criminals.

Anyone who defends the For-Profit Prison system needs to understand this: The moment the Law can be incentivized to gain financially beyond the cost of expenditures from the incarceration of criminals, the Rule of Law is no longer in effect. Anyone who believes that greed and the law mutually exclusive is a fool.

The for profit prison system needs to be permanently and in perpetuity abolished.

[Yvaelle]

Prisons in the US are a business. They gotta make profit somehow.

I would have thought receiving billions in government handouts, and getting free slaves for labour, would have been inherently profitable - but I suppose they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to find and maximize that third revenue stream!

[Orlong]

The US prison system is built around punishment, not rehabilitation.

As it should be. Dont be a scumbag who breaks the law and you wont have to worry about it

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What are they gonna do with people that refuse to pay, lock them up indefinitely or let them go because they ain't paying?

They confiscate any money made while working in prison or on work release. After they get out they will put a lien on any property and garnish their wages

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I gave a valid argument:

This is what I don't get about people like you, you don't give a shit about reducing crime you just care about punishing people who made a mistake even once. To the point where you don't care if they get driven into debt, can never get a job, which all in turn leads to even higher crime rates. If you gave a fuck about actually decreasing crime you wouldn't be in favor of this as it is the perfect setup to make people turn right back to crime when they can't get a job.

A person who got high and goes to jail for buying drugs...they're criminal scum who now deserve to be in debt for the rest of their lives? How is that "sensible"? Who is that actually helping, because in the end treating them like that makes them a drain on society. Instead of trying to make sure they get gainful employment and assistance so they can pay taxes that goes towards this society, you rather just punish them until they die. It is fucking retarded.


All of that was ignored and I was a white knight who needs to go give prisoners oranges.

Do tell where there is a proper conversation to be had in that fucking mess?

Also no you're not a "hard criminal" and in many places it is becoming decriminalized with entire states making it legal so to treat it like heroine is just stupid.

And why would he pick oranges as something to give them??? Weird gift.

But to your point, Ive never heard of any drug addict getting help and staying clean the rest of their lives. They ALWAYS slip back into doing drugs again so what is the point in even trying to help them. Just keep them locked up in rehab forever or something.

[Deleted]

Here's how it goes.

Left wing people point out that it costs like $150 a day to keep someone in jail while it's much cheaper to keep someone in college.

Tax payers read that and say 'why should we be paying all that money?' and they complain to elected officials.

So elected officials pass laws that say prisoners have to pay for every night they spend in jail, like a hotel.

I'm not sure how they expect what I assume are poor people to pay them back. Maybe you'll jail a rich person every now and then and you can collect from them.

I know places where the court will assign you a lawyer as is required for major offenses, but they'll charge you for that lawyer if you have the money to pay.

Seems that 'Tax Payers' in your post have totally and entirely missed the point, that it is more valuable to send people into education than condemning them to a lifetime of crime.

[Themius]

As it should be. Dont be a scumbag who breaks the law and you wont have to worry about it

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They confiscate any money made while working in prison or on work release. After they get out they will put a lien on any property and garnish their wages

- - - Updated - - -



And why would he pick oranges as something to give them??? Weird gift.

But to your point, Ive never heard of any drug addict getting help and staying clean the rest of their lives. They ALWAYS slip back into doing drugs again so what is the point in even trying to help them. Just keep them locked up in rehab forever or something.

The rehab industry needs serious oversight, it can do more harm than help depending on which center you get sent to. That is a problem with our government refusing to give proper oversight to make sure addicts are getting the help that they need.

[unbound]

My brother just got out of jail and was ordered to take drug tests. The thing that got me was that he is being charged $25 per test and is required to take 2 times a week. This made my jaw drop! The judge ordered mandatory drug tests that my brother has to pay for. I had never before heard of an inmate being sentenced to a required bill. Then I heard the worst part. He will be getting a bill for each night he was in jail!

Now, I am sitting here dumbfounded. I can only think, Where the heck are my taxes going if the prisons are going to start charging people for being locked up? My second thought is in what system is this right? They are turning prison and punishment into a money making scheme! They get money from our taxes, and now for imprisoning people. My state isn't even the only one to do it. There are others to do it.

I was just wondering what your thoughts on this is. How is this right? How is the states going to be allowed to lock up people and then charge them a fee on top of it! That seems like a massive conflict of interest to me.

This is what happens when you privatize something. Our prisons and many enforcement functions have been increasingly privatized.

Here is, at a high level, the problem with privatization. A corporations primary purpose in life is to maximize profits. The only thing that keeps them in check is competition or regulations. Since Republicans have convinced a good chunk of the population that regulations are bad (mostly due to those people being very ignorant of where regulations come from...hint: regulations are created *because* companies have already pulled such a stunt that hurt or killed consumers), that leaves competition.

Here's the problem with competition as a concept. For competition to be effective, you need to have dozens (if not hundreds) of companies offering services or goods that are so identical that the buyer purchases solely on the basis of price. The reality is that there is rarely sufficient competition to see that effect, and most markets that have competition involves niche markets (whether truly niche or appear to be niche by virtue of PR campaigns). For example, Walmart and Target only marginally compete against each other because Target niches into higher quality, urgent needs while Walmart niches into lower quality, lower prices...and in most locations, those are your only two choices for basic sundries.

Ultimately, what you are describing is the corruption of the American justice system, and it goes much deeper than what they are charging for the drug testing. Your tax dollars are being spent on corporations that either run entire prisons (soup to nuts) or major portions of prison systems. In reality, there are only a few companies that do this work, so they are, just like most markets, oligopolies. And, corporations are rarely more efficient or more effective than what the government was doing...especially in these environments where competition is laughably short of what is needed to get market efficiencies.

[Themius]

Anyone who defends the For-Profit Prison system needs to understand this: The moment the Law can be incentivized to gain financially beyond the cost of expenditures from the incarceration of criminals, the Rule of Law is no longer in effect. Anyone who believes that greed and the law mutually exclusive is a fool.

The for profit prison system needs to be permanently and in perpetuity abolished.

You had private prison lobbies lobbying for increased time for crimes and mandatory minimums which no judge likes... yet we have them and why, lobbies.

Private prisons shouldn't be involved in lobbying for any laws in my mind, that should just straight up be illegal as they have an incentive that isn't in the best interest of people.