America's Love of Prisons

[DeeEss]

dont those companies have the prisioners produce products or services that the prisioners provide that the companies then turn around and sells for massive profits? i think they get paid something like 35cents an hour?

From what I've read, 35 cents an hour is a bit high. So not only are these companies making massive profits, they're taking jobs that could be used by non-offenders.

Slightly off-topic, but note that approximately zero HSBC executives received jail time for knowingly laundering ~$16 Billion for sanctioned states and entities. The fine that they were slapped with amounted to less than 40% of the profit the bank made from laundering said money.

This is where we really need to act on the 'corporations are people' silliness. Let's arrest HSBC, give it a 10 year sentence while everything is totally locked down, and see what the people espousing that line have to say then.

[Roose]

From what I've read, 35 cents an hour is a bit high. So not only are these companies making massive profits, they're taking jobs that could be used by non-offenders.

This is my biggest gripe with prison labor. It is like they finally realized that the only way to get sweatshops on US soil is to use prisoners, and it is working brilliantly...for the prisons.

You also mentioned why the US is not more concerned about rehabilitation. Very peculiar indeed. I think the biggest problem is that people are unable to empathize in this country. Something has ruined most of our peoples' ability to see things from other perspectives. We see this same callous apathy in dealing with combat. Out of sight, out of mind.

[smelltheglove]

From what I've read, 35 cents an hour is a bit high. So not only are these companies making massive profits, they're taking jobs that could be used by non-offenders.

they are legally required to be paid at least minimum wage if an "employee" of a private company. but the prison system can take almost all of it as "room and board", etc, leaving them the 35c or whatever

[Bakis]

This is my biggest gripe with prison labor. It is like they finally realized that the only way to get sweatshops on US soil is to use prisoners, and it is working brilliantly...for the prisons.

You also mentioned why the US is not more concerned about rehabilitation. Very peculiar indeed. I think the biggest problem is that people are unable to empathize in this country. Something has ruined most of our peoples' ability to see things from other perspectives. We see this same callous apathy in dealing with combat. Out of sight, out of mind.

Did you know that when travelling to the US you are not allowed to bring goods made by prisoners into the country
At the same time its a zillion dollar pseudo-slavery business at home.

[Dasffion]

You don't get jailtime for a joint, no matter how much these people try to convince you. You get a fine, not prison.

I'm not sure where you're getting your information but it's wrong. In Williamson County, Texas you can go to jail for a single seed. In Austin, which is in Travis County right next door, the Police Chief decided that he's only going to write tickets for personal amounts of Marijuana (under an ounce), but that was a decision on his part because his officers were spending too much time arresting people for minor drug offenses. If he wanted to though he could still jail people as it's a jail able offense, as it is in most parts of this country. Read all the other posts in this thread about how the War on Drugs has increased the population of jails and take a look at this article in Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...9777-1,00.html

Unrelated to that and on the topic of Privatized jails take a look at this article http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011...-county-judges

[Masark]

Did you know that when travelling to the US you are not allowed to bring goods made by prisoners into the country
At the same time its a zillion dollar pseudo-slavery business at home.

It's also illegal to mail prison-crafted goods to Canada, though I'm not sure which side's customs says that.