Florida inmates charged for prison cells long after incarceration
abcactionnews.com
abcactionnews.com
That is the purpose. People don't like to talk about how class-based US society remains. People, voters, actively want a hierarchy of citizens. Everyone is grouped into neat permanent boxes. There are the "illegals" who live in constant fear of arrest. There are "felons" who can only work certain jobs. There are "sex offenders" who can only live in certain places. Even for free, law-abiding, people there exists a hierarchy of citizenship ranging from "US national" to "citizen", with "native-born citizen" being at the top. Imposing lifetime financial burdens on criminals just creates another underclass of perpetually indigent persons. That is the goal of the policy and reflects the desire of a great many powerful people. Lack of social mobility makes powerful people feel safe. For a while.
I used to live in Florida, but sadly the state has taken a sharp right turn recently, and has become this deranged laboratory where politicians experiment with innovative forms of cruelty. Really pushing the boundaries and finding out what they can legally inflict. I've long since escaped that place (and hopefully the few very vocal sadists who determine the state's politics), but it's sad to know I live in the same country as them.
1: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/the-cruelt...
Marx's thesis is that a system of production/social organization produces ideology (or "superstructure") for it's justification and stability (materialism vs Hegel's idealism). The justifications (e.g. divine right) are probably always quite bad and not very universally accepted.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the incarceration rate in the US increased by a factor of five.[22] Between the years 2001 and 2012, crime rates (both property and violent crimes) have declined 22% after already falling 30% in years prior between 1991 and 2001: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_ra...
https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/private-prisons-in...
I remember some news stories on HN about a California city where a man filmed large-scale exchange of stolen goods (laptops, cell phones, etc.), the police did nothing, and a local news outlet interviewed city hall and found that city hall explicitly instructed the police to do nothing.
Another anecdote on HN was a story about how breaking into a vehicle and stealing things was only illegal if the vehicle's doors were locked. If the thief was caught on camera checking the doors, that was considered proof that the doors were locked. So thieves figured out that there was on proof the doors were locked if they simple broke the glass without even trying the door to see if it was locked.
And, it feels like there are perverse incentives to over-report crime when it is convenient. I recall reading Twitter posts during the "crime surge" of the pandemic where the police department indicated they were too overwhelmed by a car jacking to deal with other crimes, so be careful out there!
I really wish there was someone reporting on exactly what you have called out, that the reporting has probably changed significantly, and that deserves scrutiny.
Phone stolen. Go through usual steps. A few weeks later, someone contacts me, "hey, I was sold what seems to be your phone on eBay..." (I had put a message on it). "I was wondering if you'd got a replacement, and be willing to unlock the phone. I just bought it..". Points for gumption, I guess. I said "How do I know you weren't the thief..."
He reached out to the seller, who initially refused to exchange the phone. "I am in contact with the legit owner of the phone, and will give him your info so he can pass on to the police". Seller exchanged phone. This guy then gave me the info and listing anyway.
My phone. IMEI had two digits transposed. Looked at the guys other listings, and it was a warehouse of stolen goods, effectively: hundreds of Macs and other laptops, mostly "no accessories, no charger", hundreds of phones, "no cables, locked", and so on. All the phones had invalid IMEIs unless you un-transposed the same two digits that were transposed in mine (plausible deniability I guess? You search for IMEI, no hits. But it looks legit because he's willing to share it, and can say 'oops, typo').
Go to the police. They were supremely uninterested. "Well, he probably wasn't the guy who actually stole your phone". I pointed out that I thought it was still a crime to sell stolen goods, even if you didn't sell them, and if you're selling dozens or more near current MBPs for $300ish "without any accessories, may be locked", then what is your explanation?
Still didn't care.
I did my part, short of going to the home nearby and pouring water in his gas tank, which was tempting.
Violent crime and property crime victimizations both dropped over 70% between 1993 and 2022.
Your view of the situation doesn't reflect the reality. This is the case for most Americans: people think crime has increased, even though it has plummeted.
Propaganda works.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-...
Edit: fixed some wrong calculations.
The government chose to put these people in cages, regardless of it perhaps being sensible policy agreed upon by the public. The responsibility of paying for the cages to put people in should rest fully on the government. It's quite perverse to take away someone's freedom and then charge them for the "privilege" as if it's some type of consensual arrangement. The same goes for criminal "court costs" and even "permit fees".
The true cost of government needs to reside with the government rather than being externalized. If that makes certain government activities "too expensive" and there is no political will to pay for their true costs, then those activities should be scaled back to exist within their means.
50$ a day is insane and must be impossible for 99% of inmates to ever repay.
I’m not even sure this is simply a “rent” — unlike renting an apartment or a house (shelter), while the prison is also shelter, it also has to be 24x7 staffed with guards (and likely other personnel like a medical clinic). There’s fixed costs like utilities which probably don’t vary much based on population (lighting and heating), and variable costs like food, water and waste management.
It’s certainly a bit crazy to charge someone for 7 years if they only serve 70 days, but I see some logic to charging per day you’re actually incarcerated. It’s not a “rehabilitation friendly” policy due to the effects on your finance after release, but it may be argued it amplifies the deterrent — “if you don’t want to do the time (and pay); don’t do the crime”.
Arguably, it generates the opposite behavior in some folks: "Well, my circumstances are bad, so I may as well always do bad since there's no upside to participating in society since I'm permanently screwed."
Why? They are not using it and have no choice in the matter. It's like having to pay rent until the next renter arrives, which you have no control over.
More like paying while next renter is already paying and the renter after him and the renter after him.
Just jail everybody to 10 years release them after a week and get the money the next 10 years.
Everywhere else this would be called a scam and exploitation.
> Because of that, the judge sentenced Hoffman to seven years in prison. She served 10 months after the judge allowed her to participate in a youth offender boot camp.
My English comprehension is failing. She got seven years because of what...?
... they have no liability or obligation - and will go to court to fight having to pay you for the damage they did.
Their "argument" is that liability is on the target of their warrant, which doesn't answer awkward questions like "what if the target is never convicted of a crime" and "the target didn't make you raid the wrong house..."
AMENDMENT XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
In response to this said parties lobby heavily for more enslavement. This is often accomplished by over policing minorities especially for drug related offenses, turning the penal system deliberately into slide into interested parties pockets instead of a ladder up, setting policy with an eye to increasing costs as opposed to benefiting society.
In at least a few cases judges were literally caught selling children into slavery. In exchange for kickbacks from a private prison company they were sentencing offenders to maximum sentences.
The bad thing is that were someone unjustly enslaved merely for the color of their skin we should all rush to break their chains. Someone enslaved by a system which shook them down in hopes of finding drugs and then ruined their lives there is no sympathy because they are the villain. America never ended slavery they just found a way to justify it.
That's what I mean by rhetorical device.
Would you agree that one difference between modern penal mandatory labor (modern slavery as you would say) is that for most prisoners, their bondage ends at the end of their prison sentence? And that they are not legally owned as property like in chattel slavery?