Prisons: The New Welfare?

www.nationofchange.org...


I just read this and wanted to see what everybody thinks.

Crime rates are about the same or declining, yet the prison population has increased by 44% since 1995.

In contrast, participation of eligible families who are below the poverty line for Federal assistance has decreased by 52%. In other words, poverty has not decreased, only the amount of people who qualify for assistance actually getting assistance has decreased.

Very interesting. Your thoughts?

The article isn't really clear enough on what the increase of 44% of the crime is for. It it an increase in drugs?

If the article is implying that the poor are being shifted to jail instead of welfare, prison costs the state far more to house a prisoner then they would have to pay on welfare, so I don't believe that is the issue.
Also while not receiving much money, welfare money is still spent in the community generating a little tax revenue. It doesn't make sense to house prisoners who have no income to spend.

Other questions I have is, because of the five year limit(and by asking this I am not necessarily against the limit) forcing people to resort to crime because of the ending of income?

I would be interested to see if the now increased population in jail has maxed out their welfare benefits.

Is it because the increased population does not qualify for welfare at all?

The article is pretty vague.

reply to post by ideasarebulletproof


Sad, but hey they gotta start thinking about generating profits with prison privatization increases now, plus ridding society of those lowly welfare folks, it's a win win.
Check this out:
www.huffingtonpost.com...

participation of eligible families who are below the poverty line for Federal assistance has decreased by 52%

This does not have to mean that the amount of poor people that lives under the poverty line has decreased. I highly doubt that people would stop taking assistance if their life was depending on it. It's maybe that they don't want to be living under rules and restrictions anymore? Or have anything to do with interests?
I have few words to say to someone who is new in a country and the main thing is to never ever takes "loans". It will break every bone of your body and the chance of suicide will increase massively if you're in a lot of debt that you can't pay off.

Peace

reply to post by ImaMuslim


I am not sure what you are getting at. TANF isn't a loan, its an allowance to pay for food or bills. You don't pay it back. The only thing that cancels it is your female and start receiving child support. The single mother receivs which amount is higher.

hi op

there is a lot of immigrants in uk prisons
we are overwhelmd with them
its gets brushed aside as most topics that matter do
thats the reason for the influx

The prison system is big business. It can be a quite lucrative business for state/local jails and prisons. It only costs fractions of a dollar to house and feed prisoners. Not to mention the free labor the state gets from it. Why else do you think your government is locking up people for just about anything? So yes, it is considerably less to house and feed someone in jail/prison than it is to pay for welfare.

I've recently, after much logical deduction, come to that very realization: it's cheaper to incarcerate people over the war on drugs than to try and find them gainful employment (which in most instances, doesn't exist for the lowest socio-economic class in the United States) or provide them food and shelter in public.

That is how #ed up our country has become.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
The article isn't really clear enough on what the increase of 44% of the crime is for. It it an increase in drugs?


Is it because the increased population does not qualify for welfare at all?

That's what I think it is; they're using the war on drugs as an excuse to inaccurate the lowest socio-economic class. There isn't enough jobs for the people who aren't in prison; what is the federal government going to do with these people? It's cheaper to house them in prison than pay for them to get food stamps and section 8 housing.

Like others have said, it's a scam system because private, as well as public interests, profit from it.

Ready to apply for a job?

Prison needs you!

With 100 factories employing more than 21,000 inmates, FPI [Federal Prison Industries] booked $546.3 million in net sales last year. The Bureau of Prisons uses FPI’s gross profits (about $34 million last year) to build factories and expand into new products and services. And FPI is looking to grow because 12,000 additional federal inmates are expected to go to work for the corporation between now and 2007.1

Source

Just be careful, keep an eye out... Because in the old days around 10-15% were slaves:

Slave stats.

The prison population needs to increase 10 fold to match what it used to be like; and if it were up to some, that is exactly how they would like it.

Some of the people in prison who actually deserve to be there get free food, water, shelter and healthcare.....while many people around the world live in poverty and disease ridden communities. Kinda messed up.

Originally posted by bwj2012
Some of the people in prison who actually deserve to be there get free food, water, shelter and healthcare.....while many people around the world live in poverty and disease ridden communities. Kinda messed up.

Do you think if the people from those communities lived where you live, that they would follow the law too?

reply to post by chrismicha77


Yeah, and when they privatize them, plus they can put people in there who would be harder to control than others, and keep them off the internet and moniter there calls and letters. They know where they are any given time of day and it is going to get a lot worse IMO.

Well I think this country is in a pretty sticky situation. I don't think non-violent offenders (drugs) should be in prison. But, if tomorrow they were all released from prison they would have no jobs to go to. Hell, I can't even find sufficient employment. So we would end up with thousands, perhaps millions more unemployed people in the country, hence potentially more crime, and the vicious circle continues.

reply to post by ImaMuslim


What was meant is that the percentage of families under the poverty line who are eligible for assistance who actually take the assistance, has decreased by that percentage. I didn't say poverty has decreased, in fact poverty has increased.

Originally posted by ideasarebulletproof
www.nationofchange.org...


I just read this and wanted to see what everybody thinks.

Crime rates are about the same or declining, yet the prison population has increased by 44% since 1995.

It's because the American government in particular, is gradually starting to legislate against what in reality are non-crimes. Copyright infringement and smoking marijuana are two examples. Most of the people who end up in jail in connection with the Occupy movement would likely be another.

When the federal government begins issuing notices warning people, that anyone who is adamant about using cash to pay for things, might be a domestic terrorist, you can safely assume that it is off its' rocker. Either that, or a compliant servant of the cabal, which does want to get rid of cash.

The American government is no longer primarily concerned with legitimate law enforcement, if it ever was. It is now primarily a proponent of fascism.

reply to post by ideasarebulletproof

Prisons: The New Welfare?

Not exactly the first choice for most of us, I'm sure but... there's plenty of history to remind us that going to jail to have something to eat and a warm place to sleep is nothing new. In fact, city and county-sized jails that hold short-term inmates for mostly non-violent offenses, are the most likely target for the above-mentioned transient.

Like his favorite cell in the old TV show, Andy Griffith... Otis Campbell comes by nightly for a place to sleep (it off) and breakfast the next morning. It's a good set up.

reply to post by Drew99GT


this isn't true.

It costs from two to three times as much to house an inmate then it is to have them on welfare. Depending on the state, the average prisoner costs 22,000 to maintain. Rhode Island is 45,000. If a person has a large family and receives all welfare benefits, they MAY get up to 12,000 per year.


It is much cheaper to keep people out of the prison system.

Just remember that price when someone is incarcerated for several years for $2000 in theft, or a tiny bit of drugs.

I know from personal experience (my husband worked in a state hospital) that part of the increase in the prison population is the incarceration of the mentally ill.

Due to a shift in public attitudes toward mental illness, most of the state hospitals for the long-term mentally ill have been closed. Consequently, the long-term mentally ill are often thrown out on the streets to fend for themselves. Not having the capacity to work or otherwise sustain themselves, they often engage in illegal and/or antisocial behavior.

While in prison they receive no treatment or medication for their illness.

Consequently when they are released they re-offend and end up back in prison.

Prisons are the new psychiatric wards. It's a revolving door.