For profit prisons

[Sanshain]

How is this anything to do with government being run like a business? No business would be so stupid to allow such corruption as present in the for profit prison system to exist because unlike the government they would be held accountable by their shareholders

Idly glances at the car industry, oil industry, computer industry, fast-food industry...

 

[Joan Nyan]

What if private prisons were paid not per prisoner but per successful parole? Then they'd have an incentive to actually reform prisoners.

 

[Marvin]

What if private prisons were paid not per prisoner but per successful parole? Then they'd have an incentive to actually reform prisoners.

I like the idea, but then I could see them teaching prisoners to game the parole board.

Though we could also pay parole officers on a partial commission basis for keeping their parolees out of trouble and employed.

It'd be a prison-to-civilized-society pipeline.

 

[Dumpsterfire]

In theory they're great because a profit motivated company's best interest is in keeping costs down while still providing a passable service. (something the US government is shit at)

In practice it means that people are neglected and maltreated to keep costs down as well as being exploited. Prisoners shouldn't be getting minimum wage, but sometimes they get less than 25 cents an hour which isn't even enough to cover hygiene supplies in a lot of cases (prison canteens inflate prices a lot too) Even if they were being paid half of minimum wage, they'd have a bit of money for themselves when they got out and would be able to look for employment without immediately turning back to crime to survive. (also employment services would be great too, not a lot of people know who will hire felons and who won't)

Prison shouldn't be a fun place to be, but they still need to provide adequate shelter, food, and medical services to prisoners. Some of our prisons and jails are just embarassing, like that one tent city jail in Arizona that sounds like it was pulled straight from that book, Holes.

Edit: I think it fails because unlike consumers who can quit buying a product if it's bad, prisoners can't say no.

 

[Marvin]

Prisoners shouldn't be getting minimum wage

Why not?

I would think that the punishment in imprisonment is being kept away from society. Not in being forced to engage in slave labor.

 

[Dumpsterfire]

Why not?

Mostly because something should offset their living expenses. It's incredibly expensive to house, feed, and secure them and they don't have bills other than hygiene supplies, canteen, and phone calls. Ideally they should be paid enough to not have to worry about being able to afford deoderant or a call home while still having living expenses for a month or two when they get out. There are a lot of ethical arguments to be had around whether or not a prisoner would be "profiting" from their sentence as well.

 

[Marvin]

Mostly because something should offset their living expenses. It's incredibly expensive to house, feed, and secure them and they don't have bills other than hygiene supplies, canteen, and phone calls. Ideally they should be paid enough to not have to worry about being able to afford deoderant or a call home while still having living expenses for a month or two when they get out. There are a lot of ethical arguments to be had around whether or not a prisoner would be "profiting" from their sentence as well.

With private prisons, I think permitting them to pay prisoners less than minimum wage is the bigger ethical problem. I can see it being more acceptable in government-run prisons, because it's better regulated.

Still uncomfortable with legalized forced labor though.

Like, I've always chalked up the costs of incarceration to a loss. It's just the cost of living in a society. It's only a problem if a huge number of people are being incarcerated.

 

[AnOminous]

Mostly because something should offset their living expenses. It's incredibly expensive to house, feed, and secure them and they don't have bills other than hygiene supplies, canteen, and phone calls. Ideally they should be paid enough to not have to worry about being able to afford deoderant or a call home while still having living expenses for a month or two when they get out. There are a lot of ethical arguments to be had around whether or not a prisoner would be "profiting" from their sentence as well.

I don't think abundant nearly free prison labor should be allowed to undercut the job market and going wage for people who aren't criminals.