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Comment by phaedradiana | Hacker News Reader

We are starting with non violent offenders, who make up 2/3 of the jail population.

If it helps, I think the best phrase I ever heard on jail overcrowding comes from a politician in Kentucky who said (and I'm paraphrasing):

"We need to figure out who we're afraid of and who we're angry at."

I wish you guys all the best.

This is not the first time I've seen this ratio but it still blows my mind. It's, of course, unsurprising given that although it's a huge waste of tax payer resources they're a handful of ppl that actually profit lavishly from having this many ppl, who pose no physical threat to society, locked up.

I bet that these ppl will be your biggest obstacles. You should operate with the expectation that they will do everything in their power to protect their intrest. "Saving taxpayers money" literally means "removing it from their bottom line".

That said, I wish you much success! I wish more startups figured out creative ways to align their business models with the real issues affecting society.

You're not counting state prisons, violent offenders are nearly half of the total US prison population.

Why would I have faith in your start up if you can't even get this right?

jail != prison

There is a chart here that is helpful in understanding the total number of people who are impacted by different parts of the criminal justice system. Approx 70% of people in local jails are there for non-violent offenses, approx 45% of people in state prisons are there for non-violent offenses and approximately 94% of people in the federal system are there for non-violent offenses. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html

Wait, what?

In the US, jails and prisons are two different things. Prisons are state and federal facilities for criminals convicted of serious crimes with sentences of more than a year. Jails are local facilities for suspects waiting for trial, and those convicted of minor crimes with sentences less than a year.

Another big difference between jail and prison is that a prison sentence must be served as a single, unbroken stay. A jail sentence in many places can be served weekends.

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