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The US prison system is all about punishment not rehabilitation. Theres a very strong “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality in many Americans view of

The US prison system is all about punishment not rehabilitation. Theres a very strong “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality in many Americans view of justice.

elicash 6y ago
The US prison system is about indifference and more like factory farming than inflicting punishment -- the negative effects are mostly a byproduct of high volume and costs. I got really into this issue maybe two years ago, and it's been pretty sickening to observe. Things like multiple states denying surgeries based on alleged "one good eye" policies. Replacing in-person visits with virtual ones. Sure, there's profit involved, of course. For example, there are pushes to get rid of prison libraries and their books and music and switch instead to tablet devices, so that the families of incarcerated people (those in prison might be making as little as literal pennies per hour) can be charged subscriptions by various companies. But even that is driven by costs involved in checking donated books for contraband. At the end of the day, we need to incarcerate fewer people for shorter periods of time -- and I'm not just talking about non-violent offenders, either. The person in this twitter thread served 30 years. Let's start there.
- dr-detroit 6y ago
  The 20 year minimum penalty is the only thing keeping poor people from coming in the houses of privileged people.
zodiakzz 6y ago
Worse. Many Americans for some reason think prison rape is the funniest thing in the world.
- ReadFList 6y ago
  It's funny how the most progressive ardent defenders of the prison system reform overlap with people who find funny that their political opponents get raped in prison...
ReadFList 6y ago
Rehabilitation works for those handful of cases where a mother had to steal food to feed a baby, and wasn't a career criminal. I don't have any hope nor interest in try to "rehabilitate" rapists, murderers or child molesters. I don't even want them locked up for life, that's a waste of money and isn't enough punishment. I want the problem solved, I want them to get the death penalty.
- 10000truths 5y ago
  Giving prosecutors the ability to request the death penalty requires us to put our utmost trust in them to follow due process and ensure a fair trial for each and every defendant. I absolutely do not trust them with that responsibility - time and time again, we hear about corrupt district attorneys who care more about their campaigns and conviction rates than actually meting out justice. Look no further than the US's historically rich track record of wrongful execution, particularly when it comes to minorities.
  - ReadFList 5y ago
    What is the percentage of wrongful executions? And it says nothing about the pros and cons of the death penalty itself. We should always strive to improve the Justice system which should minimize any wrongful condemnation. >particularly when it comes to minorities. Given how much they are so overrepresented in commiting crimes, I don't even know how you can minimize that beyond just keep improving the system, regardless of the sentence.
    - SturgeonsLaw 5y ago
      > What is the percentage of wrongful executions? Anything above 0% is too much

The US prison system is all about punishment not rehabilitation. Theres a very strong “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality in many Americans view of justice.

elicash 6y ago

The US prison system is about indifference and more like factory farming than inflicting punishment -- the negative effects are mostly a byproduct of high volume and costs. I got really into this issue maybe two years ago, and it's been pretty sickening to observe. Things like multiple states denying surgeries based on alleged "one good eye" policies. Replacing in-person visits with virtual ones. Sure, there's profit involved, of course. For example, there are pushes to get rid of prison libraries and their books and music and switch instead to tablet devices, so that the families of incarcerated people (those in prison might be making as little as literal pennies per hour) can be charged subscriptions by various companies. But even that is driven by costs involved in checking donated books for contraband. At the end of the day, we need to incarcerate fewer people for shorter periods of time -- and I'm not just talking about non-violent offenders, either. The person in this twitter thread served 30 years. Let's start there.

dr-detroit 6y ago
The 20 year minimum penalty is the only thing keeping poor people from coming in the houses of privileged people.

zodiakzz 6y ago

Worse. Many Americans for some reason think prison rape is the funniest thing in the world.

ReadFList 6y ago
It's funny how the most progressive ardent defenders of the prison system reform overlap with people who find funny that their political opponents get raped in prison...

ReadFList 6y ago

Rehabilitation works for those handful of cases where a mother had to steal food to feed a baby, and wasn't a career criminal. I don't have any hope nor interest in try to "rehabilitate" rapists, murderers or child molesters. I don't even want them locked up for life, that's a waste of money and isn't enough punishment. I want the problem solved, I want them to get the death penalty.

10000truths 5y ago
Giving prosecutors the ability to request the death penalty requires us to put our utmost trust in them to follow due process and ensure a fair trial for each and every defendant. I absolutely do not trust them with that responsibility - time and time again, we hear about corrupt district attorneys who care more about their campaigns and conviction rates than actually meting out justice. Look no further than the US's historically rich track record of wrongful execution, particularly when it comes to minorities.
- ReadFList 5y ago
  What is the percentage of wrongful executions? And it says nothing about the pros and cons of the death penalty itself. We should always strive to improve the Justice system which should minimize any wrongful condemnation. >particularly when it comes to minorities. Given how much they are so overrepresented in commiting crimes, I don't even know how you can minimize that beyond just keep improving the system, regardless of the sentence.
  - SturgeonsLaw 5y ago
    > What is the percentage of wrongful executions? Anything above 0% is too much