Why Not Make Prison Useful?

reply to post by DelMar


I love the idea. Just about anything will improve our current prison situation

reply to post by Biigs


First I want to say thank you for your interest in this post. I am not sure what country you are from, but many prisons here in the US are hell. There is no difference in your treatment regardless of your crime. There are a lot of documentaries about our prisons you may like to watch for more information. That is how I got going on this rant. I saw how racially segregated the prisons were and it angered me to see that this is clearly allowed to continue.

reply to post by darkendmetal


Hey, I feel you. ex cons, cons are demonized in this country. And you are right, it is a lot of propaganda, and conditioning. It feeds an attitude and a culture in which we allow our humans to be treated like animals because of a mistake. Obviously, not all mistakes are created equal. But I don't think that abusing a person is going to make them come out better the other end. I pray everything works out for you.

reply to post by darkendmetal

I made a mistake, and for my entire life I will suffer for it as a felon. There is just something uniquely wrong about that. It's not like I killed someone, I didn't even make anyone bleed.

Liejunkie feels the exact same way.

I paid my debt to society and have to live with it. Why can I not vote?

I have never been to the joint. My longest county stay was 47 days. It felt like forever. It changed me.

Hang in there and roll with it.

I don't know. Aren;t there already rehabilitation programs? Getting your diploma, learning to read, learning a trade, and so on? By the time some get to prison, they're beyond help. Rehabilitation programs should (and who knows, probably do) vary depending on the level of crime,

Maybe a better way to make them useful is by making them provide for themselves as a segregated ociety. If they don't grow food and cook, they don't eat. If they don't build shelter, they don't have shelter. If they don't sew, they don't have clothing. It they don't tote water, they don't drink. If they don't gain consensus to escalate grievances, they're not heard. And so on. Let them learn how to survive without all the luxuries provided at our expense and then maybe they'll learn some more important societal lessons.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Those are all great ideas. That is exactly what I wanted to generate with this post. Thank you. The programs we do have are as useless as our present school system. Not all prisons have them. And a felon with a GED is still not going to be able to get many jobs other than labor.


These programs do not have to be at any FURTHER expense to us. Remember, these prisons are for profit. So somebody is making out like a bandit. That is why Arpaio spends under 2 dollars a day to feed prisoners. And charges 5 dollars for a soda out of the vending machines his brother operates. Take the money for these programs out of pockets of the people profiting from this criminal factory.

Sunqueen, you are correct. Prison should be totally rehab and not punishment. Your time in prison should be based on successfully completing your rehab and not time based. If you are a drug addict, your time in prison should be based on successfully completing a 9 month drug rehab and education program. When you leave prison you should have a valuable skill and a support network to keep you out of trouble. If this takes 5 years or ten years for you to complete, then so be it. You would have steps to complete to get out, not time.

Originally posted by Biigs
I dont think anyone is against making the help programs more effective, but you must admit some will do whatever they need to, to get back out there doing what they love to do.

I think the idea of controlling the drugs better will take out a MASSIVE wedge of prisoners out of prison and into good care thats focused on that.

Once you weed out the users from the real bad guys (sorry bad pun), can you effectivly help the actual nutcases the way they need.

atm its more of a "throw them in the same pot" scenario, once again bad pun. teheheh

Don't you see how it's all related? The same people that allow prisoners to sit in large groups of races, treat prisoners as sub-human, and are not making prisons about rehabilitation are the same people who are ALLOWING the drug trade in the prisons to continue. Think of prison as a microcosm of our society. Keeping us at eachother's throats keeps us from asking too many questions and making any great changes.

reply to post by BillfromCovina


Oh god, don't get me started on drug addicts and our prison system. What a crock! All "drug offenders" who are jailed should only be in there if a CRIME was committed as a result of the drug use. Even animals get high in the wild. It should be our right to try and feel good however we like as long as we don't harm others.

Originally posted by sunqueen30
reply to post by BillfromCovina

 

Oh god, don't get me started on drug addicts and our prison system. What a crock! All "drug offenders" who are jailed should only be in there if a CRIME was committed as a result of the drug use. Even animals get high in the wild. It should be our right to try and feel good however we like as long as we don't harm others.

I agree. How can we call ourselves a free society when we try and control what people put in their own bodies. While we our at it, our laws and lawmakers are out of control. There are so many laws and regulations that no one can really know them anymore. Congress will routinely pass 5000 page laws and bills, without ever having read them. No one person can ever really know them. It is just selective enforcement because, in fact, the majority of Americans break some law or regulation every day. The real law is might makes right. If you have the power and the force you can do anything.

reply to post by BillfromCovina


We aren't a free society. And thanks to the internet, we are starting to see more of the truth that has been hidden from us. The problem with the laws is that they aren't decided by us. The lobbyist paid for by corporate interests are the ones in control. This is why my next post is going to be about creating a majority vote to pass laws and regulations. We have the technology to make it happen. A government that is run for the people is run by the people.