Prison/ Incarceration

[jnobles06]

I was bored at work this morning and was listening to pandora and a the prison song by system of a down came on. i am familiar with the song and lyrics but never really gave it much thought, but being bored i started to surf the web and look up the statistics of incarceration. HOLY SHIT!!!

The jump is prison population has more than doubled per capita since the beginning of large scale prison privatization in 1980's, and before the late 70's/ early 80's it remained fairly consistent. it used to be 0.1-0.2% per capita prior to the 80's and has steadily risen since. in 2000 it was right under .5%, and as nov. 2013 it is .7%!

Just seems a unethical to me for a company to make money off of imprisoning people.

[svauto-erotic855]

There are just a hand full of private prisons compared to thousands of government owned ones.

[Sgt Beavis]

There shouldn't be any private prisons. They have an incentive to keep people locked up instead of trying to send them out into the world as better people. Surprisingly, Texas prisons are actually trying to reform people these days.

[jnobles06]

There are just a hand full of private prisons compared to thousands of government owned ones.

that is true, but i think the privatization influence has affected all prison populations because privatization has made it lucrative for more and stricter laws, and laws affect all prisons is a jurisdiction not just the private prisons.

[LANTIRN]

Or, just stop breaking the law?

[svauto-erotic855]

Or, just stop breaking the law?

Or how about not making so many BS laws? The original intent of modern law enforcement was to protect people from other people, not to protect people from harming themselves.

[jnobles06]

Or, just stop breaking the law?

i still think that people who break the law should go to jail if necessary. that's not the issue being discussed.

the issue is that since the unethical practice of prison privatization has been made legal more people have been going to jail and staying their longer for crimes they didn't used to go to jail for, or were usually sentenced less for. now it just keeps growing and growing because the prison owners have lobbying power to make new or stricter laws, and give kickbacks to judges for putting people in jail.

so essentially freedom is being taken away for profit, not for justice.

case and point below, and this is just one that got caught. i imagine this is probably a common thing given the dramatic increase in prisoners per capita stats given above in my first post.

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/08/287286626/kids-for-cash-captures-a-juvenile-justice-scandal-from-two-sides

not to mention it costs the tax payers a lot more money. instead of paying prison profiteers we could be doing things like improving education so there are less delinquents to begin with.

[jnobles06]

Or how about not making so many BS laws? The original intent of modern law enforcement was to protect people from other people, not to protect people from harming themselves.

right on. i don't need to be told how to run my life. as long as i am not hurting anyone else; why the fuck does it matter what i do? oh thats right my actions eat into someone else's profit margin. example insurance and seat belt law.

[David]

Then there's the people that go to jail for debt, but all the banking thieves walk free.

[jnobles06]

Then there's the people that go to jail for debt, but all the banking thieves walk free.

that's a whole different thread. lol. and a very touchy subject but if you haven't already read this article and gain some insight as to why that is.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/americas-oligarchy-not-democracy-or-republic-unive/

the actual study

http://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf

[jewozzy]

right on. i don't need to be told how to run my life. as long as i am not hurting anyone else; why the fuck does it matter what i do? oh thats right my actions eat into someone else's profit margin. example insurance and seat belt law.

Insurance? How does you not having insurance only affect you?

[jnobles06]

Insurance? How does you not having insurance only affect you?

Calm down now, I didn't say anything about not having insurance. I should have said "insurance companies and seat belt law." Apologies for the confusion.

The example was how insurance companies lobbied to make wearing a seat belt a law so they would have to pay less in medical expenses if you got in a wreck; which increases their profit. They just make it look like its for "your own safety." It is safer to wear one and i am not arguing it isn't, but i should have freedom of choice to wear or not wear a seat belt and accept the safety risk for my actions, but now its law. Now that its law police can use it for probable cause to stop you. Even if you are wearing it they can stop you and say "oh i didn't see it," or the even worse; "no you weren't, you just put it on."

They could have just made it a legal requirement to have in cars and inform the public of the risk of not wearing it; which they did, but in my opinion that is where it should have stopped. Its not the governments or the insurance companies right to force me to do something just because its "safer." If you start making laws that take freedoms away to protect citizens from themselves; where does it end?

[line-em-up]

Insurance? How does you not having insurance only affect you?

Once upon a time, insurance was something that someone purchased in case they had a major issue with large bills. So that if they ever got into that situation, they wouldn't go broke trying to pay the bill. Back then, people had the self respect and moral code to pay their bills and didn't want to owe anybody. I know my parents and most of their families were adamant about it. Insurance wasn't there for someone to use for every little sniffle or sprained ankle. It was a luxury, not a necessity. You didn't go to the doctor unless it was necessary.

Nowadays, everyone looks at it as their personal free pass to go to the doctor whenever they like and that is one of the reasons insurance rates are so high. They look at it as a necessity. So much so that the govt has passed laws telling us we are required to have it.

As for paying what they owe, many people today couldn't care less if they skipped out on their bill. They are also the ones that habitually abuse the system and cause the rates to go up. Many of them don't even have insurance and don't pay their bills.

A lot of people can't afford it or make the logical decision to feed their families rather than throwing money down a black hole for something they can't afford to use anyway. I know my responsibility is to my family and their welfare. Not the welfare (pun intended) of others.

If it comes down to the point where I can't afford it, then I won't be paying for it. Am I irresponsible to society? Maybe. To my family? No. I am not morally obligated to support the rest of society; only my family. As of now, I don't live in Russia. If others would have that same attitude instead of being a leach on society and expecting handouts at each corner, then maybe our country would be better off.

[jnobles06]

Once upon a time, insurance was something that someone purchased in case they had a major issue with large bills. So that if they ever got into that situation, they wouldn't go broke trying to pay the bill. Back then, people had the self respect and moral code to pay their bills and didn't want to owe anybody. I know my parents and most of their families were adamant about it. Insurance wasn't there for someone to use for every little sniffle or sprained ankle. It was a luxury, not a necessity. You didn't go to the doctor unless it was necessary.

Nowadays, everyone looks at it as their personal free pass to go to the doctor whenever they like and that is one of the reasons insurance rates are so high. They look at it as a necessity. So much so that the govt has passed laws telling us we are required to have it.

As for paying what they owe, many people today couldn't care less if they skipped out on their bill. They are also the ones that habitually abuse the system and cause the rates to go up. Many of them don't even have insurance and don't pay their bills.

A lot of people can't afford it or make the logical decision to feed their families rather than throwing money down a black hole for something they can't afford to use anyway. I know my responsibility is to my family and their welfare. Not the welfare (pun intended) of others.

If it comes down to the point where I can't afford it, then I won't be paying for it. Am I irresponsible to society? Maybe. To my family? No. I am not morally obligated to support the rest of society; only my family. As of now, I don't live in Russia. If others would have that same attitude instead of being a leach on society and expecting handouts at each corner, then maybe our country would be better off.

not to mention that the insurance companies get discounts at the hospitals and doctors, while cash customers get shafted. usually the ones paying cash are only paying cash because they can't afford the insurance, so how in the hell are they going to afford an inflated cash price? lol. insurance discounts are what caused the system to get out of whack in the first place; so now we are going to make it law to have insurance? makes no sense.

if they made it illegal for insurance companies to get discounts that would drive up insurance premiums to an unaffordable level forcing the healthcare industry to give everyone the discounted insurance price while simultaneously putting a hurting on the insurance companies bottom line.

it would also stop people from constantly going to the doctor for stupid shit, stopping the overuse of antibiotics, and result in people living healthier lives to avoid spending money for medical service unless it is really needed.

that would lower the profit of the medical industry as a whole and since it is over 20% of our country's GDP it will lower the economy, but only for a little bit because people will have more money to spend in other industries. Those industries will flourish and people will be healthier, but medical industry profit is more important than that i suppose; at least to the people with financial interests in that industry.

[jnobles06]

when the majority of laws are passed because they are more profitable for companies than for the benefit and welfare of the general population you begin to realize the article below is true. we are no longer a democracy, but an oligarchy.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/americas-oligarchy-not-democracy-or-republic-unive/