I’m pretty sure you’re absolutely right. I just can’t say much about all this myself because I’m from Europe. Things are very different here: private prisons are unimaginable for very obvious reasons. Doesn’t mean that we don’t have similar problems (people trying to get rich on this) with public prisons, but at least all this is treated less as a business in Europe, which of course it should never be for very obvious reasons.
Yes, unfortunately the UK has always been much more US-oriented than the rest of Europe, especially when it comes to neoliberal sham rationalization measures like this. I assume that the UK’s exit from the EU has reinforced this tendency once again.
I don’t think anything will change about people being sent to prison for trivialities as long as there are private prisons. Because if you organize this matter according to capitalist logic, the illusion arises that people in prison would not cause costs in the public budget, but just profits for private companies - just like in a hotel where the beds have to be occupied as best as possible. In my opinion, this fundamentally contradicts the purpose of prisons. It is not about generating profits, but about ensuring the functionality of society - in the worst case by locking people up because they are a danger to society. In a capitalist logic, you lock them up for trivialities because that generates profits. That should never be the case. There are purely economic arguments against this approach, namely that the labor of those imprisoned unnecessarily is lost and at the same time costs are incurred for all citizens as a result of this imprisonment. For this reason alone, private prisons are absurd. They are also morally wrong because they create monetary incentives where there should be none.
I’m pretty sure you’re absolutely right. I just can’t say much about all this myself because I’m from Europe. Things are very different here: private prisons are unimaginable for very obvious reasons. Doesn’t mean that we don’t have similar problems (people trying to get rich on this) with public prisons, but at least all this is treated less as a business in Europe, which of course it should never be for very obvious reasons.
Alas the UK has begun outsourcing prisons to private companies like G4S to profit from.
We are ever the worst of Western Europe.
Yes, unfortunately the UK has always been much more US-oriented than the rest of Europe, especially when it comes to neoliberal sham rationalization measures like this. I assume that the UK’s exit from the EU has reinforced this tendency once again.
Many states have legalized weed to varying degrees, and not all prisons are run the same either.
Yes, I’m aware of that. What’s your point?
You seemed not to be aware of that based on your original assertion that private prisons would not allow for solutions in the US.
I don’t think anything will change about people being sent to prison for trivialities as long as there are private prisons. Because if you organize this matter according to capitalist logic, the illusion arises that people in prison would not cause costs in the public budget, but just profits for private companies - just like in a hotel where the beds have to be occupied as best as possible. In my opinion, this fundamentally contradicts the purpose of prisons. It is not about generating profits, but about ensuring the functionality of society - in the worst case by locking people up because they are a danger to society. In a capitalist logic, you lock them up for trivialities because that generates profits. That should never be the case. There are purely economic arguments against this approach, namely that the labor of those imprisoned unnecessarily is lost and at the same time costs are incurred for all citizens as a result of this imprisonment. For this reason alone, private prisons are absurd. They are also morally wrong because they create monetary incentives where there should be none.
Cool. All I said was that not all prisons are private, and that weed is legal in many places. The us is not a monolith.
Cool. Still, don’t get caught three times smoking weed in a state where it’s illegal. Otherwise: enjoy the weekend and smoke up.
Sure enough. It is legal here, I don’t smoke much, but I do have a few plants. Hopefully, the rest of the union will continue to get on board.