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The US justice system is one of the best arguments against the US being a first world country. In New Zealand your police force would probably be classified as a mildly racist armed gang or militia, instead of law enforcement.

And the idea that rape in jail is normal and even something to joke about? People over there need to take a long hard look at themselves.

Although of course you could say the same about the preposterous notion of a modern, developed country not having a proper universal healthcare system as well.

> The US justice system is one of the best arguments against the US being a first world country.

Also healthcare. It is one of the few "first" world countries where a bankruptcy due to a medical accident is a very real danger. Obamacare helps some but we are far away from having healthcare worthy of a civilized country.

In most countries, certainly all the english-speaking ones other than the US, even if you were homeless and came down with cancer, assuming you survived, you would walk out of hospital months later with no bill whatsoever.

"The way they treat you in jail is malicious and purposely antagonistic. It's a mild form of torture that doesn't rise to sensational levels but it perpetuates and sustains an atmosphere of distrust and hatred towards authority figures."

I was taken into jail (a holding cell in a county prison) for failing to pay a fine for a non-moving violation, and sat next to murderers, wife beaters and cop-killers awaiting transfer.

When I asked for a method to remove my contacts which were causing me significant pain and discomfort (they are NOT over nights), I was told "deal with it, this is jail".

Purposely antagonistic and mildly torturous is definitely their intent.

But I don't blame them, based on whom I was surrounded by. I wouldn't give an inch to the guys laughing and joking about beating up their girlfriends, her kids, the cops, etc, either.

"But I don't blame them, based on whom I was surrounded by. I wouldn't give an inch to the guys laughing and joking about beating up their girlfriends, her kids, the cops, etc, either."

But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?

"But in jail (jail is a term for institutions that hold people no longer than one year, in most cases, a majority of a jails population is transient), how do they know who the murderers and wifebeaters are? Isn't that the point of our justice system? Everyone is treated innocent until proven guilty?"

I explained it too shortly in my comment in the interest of brevity, sorry.

The jail I visited was also a Prison, it served both purposes. The bottom floor was a holding center (jail) while the upper floors were a prison.

In this case, when a prison inmate needs to be transferred to another prison -- say they've completed 5 years in county and need to do 10 years in federal -- they are moved downstairs to the holding facility (the jail) that is shared with say people being picked up off the street to hold.

In this case, they stored me, a young naive programmer who forgot to pay a ticket, with hardened convicted cop killing murderers who had completed their time in the prison and were being transferred to a new prison.

This was a county prison for a top 10 metro and a major city which has gang violence, so these were convicted and often gang related criminals.

To clarify, most jails are used to house misdemeanor criminals, those awaiting trial, and transferring prisoners. If you live near a state penitentiary, it's very likely that your most of your city's jails consistently have prisoners transferring out of or into that state penitentiary.

I do blame them.

You're in a cage. They are outside the cage. You ask. They have no incentive to comply. The power dynamics are not in your favor and that's why they can treat you poorly and get away with it.

Poor treatment in jails/prison helps no one. Everyone who goes to jail is not a cop-killer or wife beater. Even those people do not deserve poor treatment.

I get it. It's easier to generalize then treat each individual as a special snowflake. However, some people would rather kill themselves than go to prison. This also makes the job of police officer more dangerous if people would rather die than surrender knowing all that awaits for them is torture (sleep deprivation, disgusting food, forced labor, isolation, confined spaces, rape etc.).

We do not treat criminals as human beings. We offer them no path to be rehabilitated. They cannot vote, cannot get jobs easily and are social outcasts. You'd be surprised by the amount of people who committed non-violent, victimless crimes and had their lives ruined forever by this broken system.

I understand the police officer is not exactly a social worker. They are a cog in the system but they are not helping, not attempting to improve/change the system and are to blame (along with prosecutor, the justice system and authorities in general).

It boils down to one thing: They have POWER and you don't. They play a role in maintaining the status quo, you don't. Therefore, they are to blame.

Sorry for the rant, it boils my blood when people with no power make excuses for the poor treatment they received from people with actual power.

I also have never been on the "wrong side of the law" but have a similar view of police and prosecutors. So many times they fail to do even a basic portion of their jobs and when you complain the PR department and the union call you to try and get you rescind the complaint ... Oh so and so is 4 months from retirement, you can't say he said X ....

The Chicago cops illegally towed my car for being abandoned while having only been parked in that spot for 3 days, lying about the state of the car, saying it had busted out locks (it is in pristine condition) or that it had leaves and debris under the tires (the street was swept the day before). I got my money back at the hearing, but that took another 1/2 day. If I wasn't white guy programmer who works from home, I would have been up a creek. Most people can't even take the time off to contest the bullshit.

Stuff like this has happened to me. I have been wrongly ticked for no registration sticker. Ticketed numerious times for parking illegailly. I have been pulled over for driving around 1:30 p.m. on a Friday night--at least 10 times over the years, and never got a DUI. (They were basically just looking for an easy DUI.)

When I was in college, in the eighties, I can honestly say the tickets I received, I deserved. I didn't deserve being pulled over for no reason, but that's another fight. A fight I've given up on. My father's advice, which he practiced, was just drive an inconspicuous vechicle. That was the 80's. A different decade.

In the 90's, and 2000's, I can honestly state I didn't do the things I was ticketed for. They were honest error on the part of law enforcement, or just made up violations. Or, I'm senile? I'm a bit excentric, but not senile. The violations I was tickets for I luckily got out of. The officer didn't show up, or I paid $10 to contest, and won.

I've given up on honest cops. They are basically revenue collectors in my county. If you don't look like you will fight back, you will get harassed, if you live here long enough.

My only wish is they would tie fines/fees to income levels.

A rich man gets a $500 red light right turn violation; he tells the wife over dinner. It's not a big deal. A poor man gets the same ticket; it could be the last straw.

I heard Switzerland ties driving/parking violations to income. I would like to see it done here. I'm a white guy. I can't imagine what minorites have gone through. This is not the America I was so proud of growing up. We need some systemic changes.

I was just curious how your insurance handled this? I would guess they would probe an investigation, but maybe not. At least the police would have all the records of the items stolen. Though the family items would be terrible to lose

>the police officer told me there had been a robbery and all my stuff was stolen.

He was telling the truth. He just neglected to mention that you were talking to the perpetrator!

It happened to me in the 90's in upstate New York. Cop claimed my insurance paper looked "fake" and impounded my car. Got the car back but with my CD player and other valuables missing. Seems it had been "robbed" while in the "impound yard". It sure had.

Was this Chicago, too?

Based on the name of the newly-created account (Gold Coast is a Chicago neighborhood), I would guess so.

How would one go about protecting themselves from having that happen in the first place? Nightmare material for sure.

Avoid living in certain states. Don't go outside. Don't tell anyone where you live. Maybe move to Canada.