The High Cost Of Prison

[MSimon]

Ex-con tells judge he robbed bank to get sent back to prison
http://news.yahoo.com/ex-con-tells-judg ... 41749.html

From the comments:

After spending time in prison and listening to those around me, it seems as though there are many with this same plan. After spending time many are sent back because they cannot find a job and or housing. With $40 gate money I have had people tell the same story,"out the gate at 8, in the spoon by noon, and back in the pen by 10". I mean what is someone who has been out of society for just a few years and the rapid change in technology and that scarlet letter "felon" that is hung on you the rest of your lift and often one of the first questions asked on employment and rental applications a person is so limited in starting over many of these people have already made their choice of failure. It does in no way make it right but the alternative to being cold, wet, tired, hungry and homeless is 3 hots and a cot.

That is not even touching on those who are doing major time and will be released in their later years who won't get any employment and most likely won't have anything as far as retirement and or Social Security they have already made a choice of returning to prison right after their release.

Society had better be ready to pay for the high cost of incarceration as these people do not have anything to loose as they are institutionalized and accepted their future, can society accept and afford these choices?
To those of you who cannot accept this, maybe you had better pull your head out of the sand and see what is yet to come, as it is coming faster and faster with lengthy prison sentences with no plan in place for the release of these who have already given up on themselves.

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Alan, you said what I wanted to say.

My brother recently got out of prison. Get this, it's Alaska, middle of winter, they rolled him out early in the AM, took him too the local precinct, and out the door he goes, no coat, no hat, hell they won't let you use a phone to call for a ride! He had to hike it to a restaurant to call me.

Lucky for my bro he had a place to go. For some of those guys and gals getting out, they have noone or nothing. They just toss you to the wolves. It was very clear to me that the attitude of the DOC and law officials is just plain wrong. There has to be a better way and I don't want to hear "how much that would cost". The price is already way to high on society....

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Pay your debt to society and start with a clean slate? Never going to happen. The scarlet letter will stick with you forever. With the crazy drug laws, we have millions of "ex-cons" out there.

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I made a comment on the thread:

Once you get a record there is only one place for you to live in some kind of comfort. The alternative is freezing to death under a bridge. It used to be you could go somewhere new and start over. Those days are gone. Your mistake is yours for life.

[GIThruster]

I know several people who did hard time and have rejoined society as responsible citizens. One is a sex offender who will wear that stigma the rest of his life. He is earning a living again and managing his return to society well. One was a drug dealer who spent 5 years in and found work at McDonald's in no time. She'a actually using and selling again and will likely be locked up again--not that she wants to be but she cannot control her addiction. She also sells herself as often as she can get takers, but she's so skanky from her addictions she can seldom find takers. It's a shame. She was very pretty once. One guy I know is a racist who was locked up for firing his handgun at the feet of a black guy to see him dance. He got 5 years and came out even more twisted than he was when he went in. All the guy did for 5 years was work out and get tattoos. He's this titanic cro-magnon disease now, who handles a chain saw for a living and no one in their right mind goes near him because they know, he doesn't care if he cuts someone. He's that kind of diseased. And I know others. And I know some prison guards. My cousin did that for a while and has his own stories to tell.

While prison is expensive, there are things that can be done to bring the cost down. I personally see no reason prisoners should have access to gyms. No tat parlors. Some free internet and an ability to use their time earning certifications and degrees, but with no porn. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to improve the system. No one should be released without a plan for a job. Either you make a plan to succeed or you just stay in. We don't want people like that on the streets.

One of my oldest and closest friends was the head psychology administrator in the CA state prison system, both for the women's prisons and the Juvi facilities. He has a lot of notions about how privatization could bring costs down, but of course this then needs to be very carefully monitored to see human rights violations don't occur. Doesn't matter. The prisons need to be carefully monitored anyway. So where is the loss for keeping an eye on private industry?

What doesn't work is letting criminals walk the streets at night. They need to be locked up. No matter what theory of justice you agree with, retributive, utilitarian, reform-educational; criminals need to be locked up. When they're not, they stop fearing the law and when that happens, all hell on Earth breaks loose.

It's actually a good thing simon fears the law. What he doesn't get is, the rest of us don't need to.