United States of Prison

[[youtube:/jxNiNv97ZdM]]

This video had me wondering. How exactly did this happen in the first place?

edited 5th Dec '11 1:27:09 PM by PinkHeartChainsaw

That's what happens when you allow puritans and other prudish moralistic busybodies anywhere near policymaking: They set themselves to punish sinners and deviants (which, one way or another, pretty much all of us are).

When a set of prudish fascists establish puritanical regulations and another set of thuggish control freaks sets to actually enforce them, it's just sheer madness.

It's the War on Drugs, no question.

Nice to see that the statistic doesn't figure in any actual police states, though. I didn't know that.

The War on Drugs is the prevailing reason, yes.

The prison system and criminal law code are two of four things that, if I were President, I would set out to systematically tear down brick by useless brick and remake entirely into something totally different...

...Shoot?

Such a sad reality we're living in now. It's lobbyists like these that keep social progress from advancing, and often for the sake of profit too. And privately-owned prisons like those of the CCA? Shit like that should be illegal, as it's pretty much within PMC-territory.

When are people going to realize violent revolution and mass destabilization of corrupt govt(s) is the only cure for this?

Look at the Middle East and what they're doing and take note, people!

When people forget that we're a nation of 312 million with a fuckton of guns and nukes and the most powerful military on Planet Earth.

The solution is simple. Put nukes in the hands of the people.

/notsrs

Just another example of corportism ruining America.

Okay, pragmatism time.

Lower setences, agressively fight crime and poverty with youth outreach prgrams like mentoring.

Really, reducing poverty is the ultimate fix, but that requires a ton of other actions the US should take.

edited 5th Dec '11 7:26:06 PM by Erock

Who knows how much more companies like this would profit with the NDAA being introduced and all...

Problem is twofold:

1)War On Drugs, as has been said before.

2)Privatization of prisons and the prison industry. these companies lobby the government to let them handle the prisons, charge the government for every prisoner they hold, overly so, reduce the conditions inside so that they are slightly above "rat hole" to drop costs and rake in profits, then lobby congressmen and local politicians to write the law so that sentences are longer. I'm looking right at you, ALEC.

Prisons and laws should NEVER be for profit.

Problem is unchecked Capitalism. It should be blatantly obvious that we shouldn't privatize things that profit off of harm instead of productivity.

Thank you.

We're still going to need to fight to make this happen, sadly... No one's going to listen to us until we do.

Don't judge PMC's with such a broad brush just because the only publicity they have is negative publicity.

Anyhow, I agree that healthcare, prisons, and the law should not be "for-profit" systems, that's completely counterproductive to the goal and purpose of those institutions.

I don't, however, have any real sympathy for "victims" of the war on drugs.

Don't do drugs, don't go to jail, have extra money in your pocket. That's a win/win right there, I don't see the conflict.

Do as you're told, don't bitch, don't complain... Is that how you want society to work? The fucking puritans and the goddamned pigs should stay the fuck away from other people's business...

If it was up to me, I'd make police searches a capital crime, and enforce it retroactively.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44936562/ns/business-cnbc_tv/t/private-prison-industry-grows-despite-critics/

And I thought games like Prison Tycoon were mere fiction.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

^ I do as I'm told - after I complain about it. I have yet to see a second of jail time. It is really not that hard to obey the law.

edited 8th Dec '11 12:36:34 PM by pvtnum11

It's not hard to obey the law, when the law doesn't criminalize your lifestyle. People shouldn't have to submit to the wishes of the puritans: Their own lives are their own business, not the State's.

People should submit to the will of the masses and because the will of mass is in fact embodied by the government, sometimes, then people should stay bent and do as they are told.

That's disgusting authoritarian drivel.

Explain.

I'm all good with breaking the law if you don't get caught, but I just get tired of people complaining when they get caught, there's consequences to actions.

Every action has a reaction, and you have nobody to blame but yourself when you get busted. Protest, get involved with government, do what you gotta do to institute change, but don't complain when the rule of the masses bites you in the ass when you are aware that you are breaking that rule.

They have all the right to complain, since the laws are oppressive in the first place. Considering your profession, it's understandable that you'd want to keep the law and order racket running (after all, you've gotta pay the mortgage). But pretending that the system is legitimate is a new low.

They have the right to complain, but they don't have a right to break the law.

Prohibition of drugs became mainstream and a priority in the 60's shortly before violent crime shot up into the stratosphere. The "War on Drugs" was declared a few years later. This is why you never see crime stats in the US since before 1960, it was so much lower. End the war on drugs.