Want to buy a jail, never used? | Hacker News Reader

Want to buy a jail, never used?

oregonlive.com

43 pointsmountaineer40 comments

Too bad number of beds is only 525, that is 10 too short to fit the entire congress.

Otherwise this would be a great facility to use use when they can't agree on a budget deal.

I don't think folks would be opposed to overpopulation in that prison

According to this they would need a few beds removed to meet the average found in a 2011 report from Ohio stating 31% overcrowding. http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/Sentencing/resources...

> when they can't agree on a budget deal

Cute, but the gridlock in congress and elsewhere in the government is a good thing. It keeps the government's attention focused on screwing up their own affairs and not on screwing up yours.

Budgets are kind of a thing necessary to keep the country running. Also, you're assuming "your affairs" aren't screwed up by deadlock. This isn't true for anyone on medicare, medicaid, the VA, most scientists in the U.S., any public sector employee (of which there are many)...etc.

A landfill would be more appropriate.

The county’s request for interest in Wapato Jail – the latest development in the years-long search for ways to unload the never-used 168,420-square-foot facility – went up May 2 and closes at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Why do news outlets never report these things until the time period has almost expired? Not that I had any ideas I wanted to submit, but it seems like the media has a deliberate policy of holding back news stories until a deadline has almost arrived in order to manufacture a sense of urgency about the story.l I see this all the time with requests for comment on public policy and suchlike - mainstream news outlets don't bother to mention it to the public until the time is almost expired, creating the impression that bureaucrats were trying it sneak it past the public.

Yes it's unfortunate that we've gotten that impression. b^)

Selection bias? I've certainly seen plenty of similar stories published closer to the origination date. I'd say it just sits in the slow news day pile until an opening arrives, but starts getting a priority boost as it's about to expire.

I suspect most of the actually interested parties aren't just finding out about this now.

Who wants to chip in for a zombie apocalypse shelter?

My first thought too! Especially after the last season of The Walking Dead.

Could be an economical replacement for open plan offices.

Or "closed plan" offices.

"You get your own office (complete with a bed and a toilet), but we decide when you can leave."

you can leave when the project is done.

Your "office" door is tied to a Github issue, and when it is closed, your door opens :-)

Milestones would be so much more effective.

Photos of the keys? Bad idea.

Indeed, that security console would probably handsomely repay a thief for getting those keys cut from the photo.

Sounds like a great datacenter :)

I was actually thinking this; then I thought about cooling. Bet those cells aren't exactly optimized for airflow.

They all have plumbing

Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of a 'cage'.

I wish I could buy this and turn it into a paintball/airsoft arena.

Laser tag. All of the fun, none of the pain. Also 500% more nerdy.

None of the pain, half of the fun. As the cost of losing decreases, apathy greatly increases.

I spent a couple of terms at university in a hall of residence that was based on the design for a Swedish prison. This could have been an 'urban myth' however the limited access to the building (one door, no fire escapes), the layout and the room dimensions made that myth believable. I actually had some great times there, it was where I met my best friends and where I studied hardest.

We did not have toilets in our rooms but we did have wash-basins. The windows did not have bars on them and the doors were normal doors with handles on the insides. The grey lino flooring and the grey brick walls could have been 'prison', however, with a few personal touches, e.g. posters on walls, some colourful rug on the floor all was fine. No students committed suicide on our block or had to be put on Prozac.

It would be very interesting to see this prison converted to some type of college/university facility. Clearly some courses cost more than others to teach, however, I would be very much surprised if it cost more to teach than to imprison.

Then there's the unfinished jail in downtown Detroit:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22491752/leduff-wayne-co-m...

There is also a large, mostly-unused prison in rural Illinois: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_Correctional_Center

you could make this a prison experience hotel kind of thing.

It would be popular with bachelor parties, etc. People love this kind of thing.

Yea, there's a service that will kidnap and "torture" you (the torture is more of making you really uncomfortable than actually hurting you).

very strange feeling looking at it without people - the lack of purpose [in the big sense] of such buildings/spaces is immediately noticeable. I mean it isn't that something will be built, learnt, stored or housed there to keep away from elements. Instead the primary purpose of prison/jail buildings is to waste huge amount of resources, human and material. (not advocating for complete prison abolishment today as it is still some years before we can do something like "house arrest" or other [may be selective] rights limitation for convicts. It is just sad that we still can't produce a practical alternative to prison/jail which will move our society forward instead of backward)

How about some "Uber for law violators". Some technical means of keeping a convict in the society, just taking away his ability to do any harm - one of the 2 goals of locking up - and his ability to enjoy the life or some parts of it - the other goal of locking up which satisfies societal need for justice.

"the county is able to rent it out, as long as it doesn’t make money off the deal"

Can somebody explain the logic here? I can see why you wouldn't want to rent out an operational jail at a profit, but what's wrong with making a "profit" (read: tiny dent in the huge losses incurred in building the damn thing) if it's sitting there empty and unused?

I presume its tied to the tax-exempt status of the bonds that funded it, preventing the county from building a tax exempt jail and then, for example, leasing it to a private prison company.

According to the article, it's against the conditions of the bond that was voted on by taxpayers. My guess is that they put that in the original bond in order to ensure that a functioning prison wouldn't become a county profit center (something that may have turned off voters).

We've still yet to prosecute those responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis...

I'm thinking that this could be the perfect live in incubator.

Though, it'll need a paint job.

Scout camp! The slough and wetlands are ideal. Plenty of camping and dining facilities. Open ground for sports and events.

I'm curious where the $300,000/year in maintenance comes from.

Painting, roofing, broken windows, fence. Vandalism and weather.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com