• U7826391786239@lemmy.zip
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    8 天前

    have you considered how many americans would be happy to pay to just go ahead and incarcerate poor kids right now

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      8 天前

      and they’re not even factoring in how for profit prisons are literal slave labour camps.

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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        8 天前

        According to the ACLU and the University of Chicago Law school the value of goods from involuntary prison labor in the US is about two billion annually. That’s not even a rounding error as compared to the annual US federal budget.

        • Logi@lemmy.world
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          7 天前

          And that argument would matter if the goal were to improve the state of the budget. But it’s irrelevant to the share holders in the private prison/slavery corporations and the politicians those corporations lobby/bribe. And that last group have the power to keep slavery going.

        • cheers_queers@lemmy.zip
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          8 天前

          hi, public school worker here…it is not only legal but encouraged for districts to buy furniture, air filters, and other goods from prison labor sources. one year we even had a group of convicts come to paint the walls, they did a horrible job and people ended up with stolen money also. it blows my mind that this is acceptable.

          • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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            8 天前

            Former public school worker here, thanks for sticking it out instead of being a quitter like me! Just curious what state you’re in? I ask cause I don’t remember that from my time teaching in Jersey

            • cheers_queers@lemmy.zip
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              7 天前

              iowa, and if i had to interact with students more, i might be a former worker too, so dont feel bad. lol janitorial is fine with me after seeing what the other staff go through.

        • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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          8 天前

          So you’re saying they should have started using child prison labour decades ago?

          Tho I guess that’s contingent on if there will be a net return from the smaller cells & rations against the lowered productivity.

          • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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            8 天前

            Im saying it’s not a big enough net boon to the economy that cutting it out would be a problem even from a pure numbers perspective (I feel gross even typing that out). I figure the problem is that people with political power do benefit from that two billion and they don’t want that gravy train to end.

            • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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              8 天前

              I don’t think anyone is suggesting its economically necessary. I am however suggesting that the people who want to incarcerate poor kids would probably view their indentured servitude as a good thing.

              • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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                8 天前

                My bad, agreed nobody here is saying it. I guess I’m just trying to point out how pointless it is. I remember from my CJ classes in college that potential punishments have pretty much no impact on the likelihood of someone committing a crime, only their perceived chances of being caught, or their perceived necessity of committing said crime. It’s a shame how “Old Testament” people think things should be. Outcomes should be the most important factor.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      8 天前

      Yeah the cruelty is definitely the point for far too many. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that so many people don’t actually give a shit about the area they live in being a nice, human conducive place. Littering, gated communities, pollution, NIMBY bullshit… I could go on forever.