Posted on 08/21/2018 3:01:15 AM PDT by Libloather
Prison inmates across the country are preparing to go on strike by refusing to eat or work, as a way to protest what they call 'prison slavery' and poor conditions.
Though the extent of the planned strike is not known, prisoners in at least 17 states say they will be taking part in coordinated action, which will begin on Tuesday and last through September 9.
Organizers say the strike is partly in response to the April riot in South Carolina's Lee Correctional Institution, where seven inmates were killed by other prisoners when gang tensions boiled over.
The masterminds of the strike have issued a list of 10 'demands', including an improvement of prison conditions, an end to life imprisonment, and an end to low-paid jobs behind bars.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I am not sure what the problem is here.
When someone goes on a hunger strike, it is their body and certainly not a public problem.
We truly need to reform the prison system and punishment reform.
You can have the exact same problem with "goverment-run" prisons. BOTH are illegal.
"Not good and should be 100% banned in civilized society. Nobody should profit based on taking peoples’ freedom and it leads to nothing but the worst imaginable corruption.
Uh, no.....socialism (you know, that philosophy that you ran to get away from) leads to "the worst imaginable corruption", both in prison and out.
Why Have Penitentiaries Anyway?
Samuel G. Dawson
Most people realize that the court and penal systems in North America are seriously broken and must be fixed, yet contemplating doing away with penitentiaries sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Barely 200 years ago, an experiment began which has cost us untold billions of dollars. Just last year, this experiment resulted in 1.4 million adults incarcerated in federal and state penitentiaries (a figure which has quadrupled since 1980) at a cost of nearly $40,000 each.
As Alan Elsner pointed out in a recent Washington Post article, 2.2 million people are engaged in catching criminals and putting and keeping them behind bars, and “corrections” has become one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, employing more people than the combined workforces of General Motors, Ford and Wal-Mart, the three biggest corporate employers in the country. In many “prison town” counties, the number one employer is the Department of Corrections. This is a staggering expense of over $50 billion, an amount that increases by additional billions for each year of the last 25 years of explosive prison growth. As the prison population ages, the taxpayer is paying for medical procedures he can’t afford for himself, and the victims of these criminals realize no compensation at all.
Few realize that the first penitentiary in the world was founded in Philadelphia in 1792. Jails had always existed for the purpose of holding the accused until trial, after which the guilty would pay a fine, make restitution to the victim, be banished, be executed, etc. However, the concept of warehousing criminals to cause them to repent was entirely new.
Imagine a criminal justice system where penitentiaries didn’t even exist, but where a person paid for his crimes rather than having society pay to keep him incarcerated.
One such nation existed. If you stole someone’s property, say a sheep, and were caught with the animal in your possession, you repaid the victim with two sheep, but you didn’t go to a penitentiary. The victim also got a financial settlement, satisfying the desire for victim restitution in our time.
If you sold the stolen sheep, thereby being more involved in the crime, you paid the victim four sheep.
If you committed a capital crime, (murder, rape, kidnapping, etc.) you paid with your life, but you didn’t go to a penitentiary. Such facilities didn’t exist in this nation. They were not needed.
Such a system would completely do away with our newest growth industry, penitentiaries, and restore the victim of crime financially.
I’m not going to tell you where I got the idea for this system, but it’s from a reliable source. Of course, it will never happen here because a powerful lobby has grown up around the prison system that will fight hard to protect the status quo. Correction officers have formed powerful labor unions, and their financial contributions to our politicians will easily outweigh the will of the people. I know, I know, I’m such a young man to be so cynical.
If you really want to be cruel, feed ‘em TOFURKEY!!!
“You can have the exact same problem with “goverment-run” prisons. BOTH are illegal.”
How?
With government run prison, there is no owner/shareholder with big money and incentive to imprison more people.
We already have multiple cases of judges being bought by private prison owners and no record of this with public prisons. Despite many more public prisons that have been run for much longer periods.
Perhaps prison worker unions would have influence but they get a much smaller piece of the pie and have much less power with local judges than private prison owners do.
Neither system is ideal but what do you suggest instead of prisons for violent criminals?
Let ‘em croak. A boon to society.
If they aren’t hungry, I’m okay with them not eating. If they don’t want to work, then I’m okay with not paying them and leaving them locked up - hungry - in their cells. If criminals don’t like prison, perhaps they should stop breaking the law.
Do you think that privately-run prisons don't have "watchdogs" from many organizations scrutinizing their operation?? Your "capitalist incentive" is socialist-think crap, and you should have left that kind of thinking behind. If there is a flow of money, someone will attempt to find a means to route some of it into their own pockets. It is the human condition. "Capitalism" or "socialism" has nothing to do with it.
"We already have multiple cases of judges being bought by private prison owners and no record of this with public prisons. Despite many more public prisons that have been run for much longer periods."
Who is "we"? Show me the verified data. And there is most certainly a record for this having been done in "public" prisons. I'm from Louisiana...see "Angola"..a government-run prison. The same corruption existed there as well as in smaller government-run penal institutions in Louisiana. You need to find better data sources.
Hey criminals. You don’t like prison? Then don’t break the law. No sympathy here. I feel sorry for your victims, not you.
Numerous studies show that private prisons hold inmates for longer periods of time, have higher rates of reincarceratation and offer no savings to taxpayers. You can easily find them.
Several judges in my region have been incarcerated for taking bribes from corporarions to place more people in jail (see Luzerne and Lake Erie). There are employees on the inside who have reported this happens more often than we know. Including several who spoke to me personally and fear for their lives to speak out.
Show me an example of a judge that was bribed by a public prison official to imprison more people. I could not find a single one. Why would a public worker bribe a judge with their own low salary to overcrowd a prison they dont even own?
Once someone starts profiting from each head in a cage and stacking big money, only then do they have the power to corrupt.
Oliver: We're not going to the mess hall. We're not going to eat.
Prison Guard: You're not going to eat?
Stanley: No, we're on a hunger strike.
Oliver: Emphatically.
Prison Guard: What? You're going to pass up that nice, big roast turkey with chestnut dressing, and sweet potatoes Southern style, great big pans of hot biscuits, strawberry shortcake smothered in whipped cream, sprinkled with powdered sugar, with a nice, big maraschino cherry on the top of it. Course, followed by a nice, big slice of ice cold watermelon and a big, black cigar.
Stanley: Any nuts?
Prison Guard: All you can eat of 'em.
Stanley: How about postponing the strike until tomorrow?
Oliver: Well... But not one minute after tomorrow.
Prison Guard: Come on, fall in!
Stanley: [later; Stan sees their meal of gruel] Hey! What about that turkey dinner?
Prison Guard: [shouts] Sit down, you!
Are we talking “Bobby Sands” here or are they just skipping one meal?
It is a troubling development. Society is on the verge of conplete breakdown.
You will croak, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown
When you mess with President Brown
Uh, no. You're the one making the argument...support it with data.
"Several judges in my region have been incarcerated for taking bribes from corporarions to place more people in jail (see Luzerne and Lake Erie). There are employees on the inside who have reported this happens more often than we know. Including several who spoke to me personally and fear for their lives to speak out.
Anecdotal data, and therefore worth nothing. And why are these people speaking to you?? I ask again...who is "we"?? I smell an activist organization member pushing an agenda.
"Show me an example of a judge that was bribed by a public prison official to imprison more people. I could not find a single one. Why would a public worker bribe a judge with their own low salary to overcrowd a prison they dont even own?
Why a judge specifically?? Corruption happens through whatever office controls the money flows. In publicly-run prisons, that is more often the warden than a judge. I've seen any number of news stories of wardens being found corrupt and dismissed and tried themselves.
"Once someone starts profiting from each head in a cage and stacking big money, only then do they have the power to corrupt."
Yes, but that happens in government-run as well as privately-run prisons. You're selling publicly-run prisons as somehow unique, and government-run ones as uniquely honest. Neither is true.
The best way to go on strike against prison slavery is to stop breaking the law.
“Few realize that the first penitentiary in the world was founded in Philadelphia in 1792. Jails had always existed for the purpose of holding the accused until trial, after which the guilty would pay a fine, make restitution to the victim, be banished, be executed, etc. However, the concept of warehousing criminals to cause them to repent was entirely new.”
Obviously you are referring to Israel originally not having prisons based on the Torah. But the Torah contradicts your claims about prisons being new. Joseph went to prison on false accusation of attempted rape. And this was many centuries ago.
Will they take a knee?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.