Posted on 03/17/2006 7:29:09 AM PST by george76
A $59 million jail featuring art and flat screen TVs in Portland, Ore., has been sitting unused for more than a year as the city can't afford to open it.
The Wapato Facility took two years to construct and can house 525 inmates at a cost of $20 million per year, ....
The county spent more than $600,000 on art for the jail, including a sculpture out front by the circular driveway.
There are 30-foot vaulted ceilings and private showers.
"I love coming to an empty $59-million jail," Giusto told the Los Angeles Times. "I get tired of telling people how dumb we are."
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
You quoted -- "A government-funded artist is an incompetent whore!"
But, that changes the "starving artist" routine, eh?
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "$112,380 Per Inmate to build.
$38,0095 Per Inmate Per Year to run.
Pathetic.
Well..., that's one of the things that society must start considering -- the *more* people that society starts jailing. There's a bill to pay.
The more everyone decides to "criminalize" everything, the more people will be in jails.
Now, there are good reasons for jails. There are the hardcore criminals, for sure. They are a menace to society. But, considering the way the Supreme Court has *mandated* that they must be taken care of -- that means -- that there is going to be a huge bill for all of us to keep criminalizing all sorts of things.
There's a balance that's going to have to be achieved -- or -- there are going to be more huge bills to pay. And, to say that one won't provide criminals with adequate quarters is not going to work, when the Supreme Court has already gotten down on certain issues like that.
I'm afraid you're caught with the fact of either letting them out or paying for them. We, as a society, better be sure about what we want to "criminalize" and then better be prepared to pay the bill long-term.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Honestly, how can you expect a hardened criminal to be able to acclimate himself to back to freedom without a flat screen T.V., art to inspire him, a private shower, and $38,000 a year to care for his poor soul."
I know some parents that consider TV in the same way that prison guards do. They think TV is a great "baby-sitter". And it probably is, if you don't want to do too much with them (i.e., "hands-on").
But, really, they do say that having these things makes the prison population less likely to get into trouble and cause the guards trouble. I guess the guards are not wanting to continually put their lives at risk -- which they already do -- and figure "Let them watch TV all the time, instead..."
So, it's a way of keeping them quiet in prison and making the guards' lives easier (and less dangerous). So, it works on both sides of the fence.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "Aren't you concerned that we'll all eventually end up in jail if someone's turning a profit off of it? Incarceration is the #1 industry by dollar-volume in Colorado. Surpassed agriculture and tourism a few years back. If the USCoC sees an opportunity to make a buck, they'll have no compunction about lobbying until there are as many people behind bars as is economically feasible. You really ready for Orwell's 1984?"
Yep, that's what I was saying about the tendency to "criminalize everything". Pretty soon, it's going to be so that you have a quarter of the entire population in prison on stupid stuff -- all the time.
Yeah..., a growth industry for sure. What a lot of people get put in prison for is just stupid. Let's make it for people who are a real danger to society and who are a real threat. And then -- be prepared to pay the bill long term. Just don't make it to be a "growth industry" and lock up a quarter of the entire population in the United States. That's just plain stupid.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "If it saves me as a taxpayer, I have no problem whatsoever."
You'll save more by putting less in jail. Have different ways of dealing with a lot of stupid little things, other than jailing people. "Real criminals" need to be put in jail when they are a threat to people's lives. But a lot of other things don't need to be that way. There's a lot of money to be saved on prisons if you just don't jail as many people.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "I realize I'm reaching here, but consider the trend of what begins happening when law enforcement is seen as a growth industry:
Officials Make Public Intoxication Arrests Inside Bars"
Yeah, I read that, since I'm right there, in Dallas, right now. That's just plain, "stupid, stupid, and more stupid". I mean, they are talking about some people, staying in a hotel for the night, being down in the hotel bar -- and arresting them. How stupid can you get?
That's the thing about "criminalizing everything". Like these guys are a real menace -- like that serial killer. Sure....
Regards,
Star Traveler
It just doesn't need to a flat screen which runs typically twice what a normal T.V. costs.
BTW, my comment you posted was sarcasm.
Personally, if we institute the death penalty for all drug dealers on all types of controlled substances, I believe our pop culture drug problem would be seriously reduced, which in turn would reduce the people going to prison for small time recreational drug use.
38K would be considered a very good wage throughout most of the State. According to the Census Bureau the median household size for Oregon in 1999 was 2.5 - the median income for those 2.5 is almost $41,000 per year.
Housing individual prisoners at $38,000 per year is indicative of waste and mismanagement on a ridiculous level. Especially when you consider the guard to prisoner ratio should be around 1 to 10 or 15.
Cost of sending one child to Princeton University for a year: $41,000.
So in the first case we wind up with a Muslim and in the second case we wind up with a liberal.
This whole system is counterproductive.
The DUmmies have passed a stupid law that forces working folks to send hard earned money to lazy, DUmmie approved artists.
If the art was any good, it would sell on its own merits. Here tax payers are forced to work longer until tax freedom day.
I understand that it is "legal," just real wrong.
If the DUmmies want art work in front of expensive, empty prisons...then they should raise the money from themselves.
Here the DUmmies force the taxpayers to buy more expensive junk.
The criminals should not get flat sceen tvs...either.
Glad somebody comprehended the menace empty prisons pose to a free society. If we build them, somebody will legislate a reason to throw more people in there for no good reason. The violent offenders are let go because they're the most difficult and expensive inmates to deal with (not profitable to detain them).
I thought it was an islamic republic.
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