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Comment by jrhurst | Hacker News Reader

"If someone is the best jailer in the world would it not be reasonable to reward them?"

I mean if we're gonna bring up this anology we've gotta figure out what a "best failer in the world" even means? What is the value the jailer creates? How do define a high performance jailer over just a nominal performant jailer? If there is no extra value produced by the best jailer in the world then we are over paying the best jailer in the world.

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There's value in reducing recidivism and escapes. More practically, jails are understaffed, and there's tremendous political value in making Joe Public feel safer.

there's tremendous political value in making Joe Public feel safer.

On this point, without looking it up, what do you estimate the overall recidivism rate to be? Just in a general conversational sense.

Depends on the crime and incarceration level.

Overall.

Every industry in the world has to address those same questions when organizing itself, although in this case the government is (and by extension we are) involved in the decisions. I would put forward cost-effectiveness and maintaining order as a couple of good qualities that prison operators should be rewarded for but I'm sure we could come up with many others.

> What is the value the jailer creates?

People don't fear being sent to the hospital over an off-color remark. Thieves don't hold honest folk at their mercy. Arsonists haven't done an exact recreation of Sherman's March, or anything similar. Serial murderers haven't killed off any non-negligible part of the population.

That's the value jailers create.

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