Prisons were not instituted to help criminals, but the rest of the citizenry. Don't give a tinker's damn for the inmates' personal growth.
Eastern State Penitentiary - "Designed by John Haviland and opened on October 25, 1829, Eastern State is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary. Eastern State's revolutionary system of incarceration, dubbed the "Pennsylvania system" or separate system, encouraged separate confinement (the warden was legally required to visit every inmate every day, and the overseers were mandated to see each inmate three times a day) as a form of rehabilitation."
Even the founding fathers were concerned about reforming said prisoners.
Would not be a money pit if they were required to be self-supporting.
Problems:
1. As stated earlier, if they were truly self supporting it'd provide even more cause to send people there
2. It turns out to be very difficult to make and keep them self-supporting(See Washington DC's experience)
3. Failing at being self-supporting, why shouldn't we concentrate on making it as cheap as possible - IE reforming them so we can kick prisoners out sooner and not expect them back?
I care about their personal growth and rehab to the extent that when they come out, as most of them do, they can get a job and pay taxes.
Bingo.
$30k/year inside prison. $66k/year for medicaid alone outside of prison.
Roo_ster, you do realize who much of that 68M on medicaid are, right? The seriously disabled, IE the people who are most expensive for medical care.
Besides, using your sources I'm coming up with $6,604/year, not $66k.
You want them to be motivated to get a job?
The problem with your plan of action: They can be as motivated as hell to get a job, but in today's job market they aren't going to get a job unless they meet certain other requirements - IE GED and other basic skills especially given the detriment being a felon can impose.
1. Make incarceration really hurt, such that they never want to go back. Hard. Labor. "Can you say, 'Cool Hand Luke,' boys and girls?"
2. Strip all benefits, such that folk go hungry and die from gangrene if they don;t work enough to pay for the basics.
Weren't you the one that called me 'mechanistic' and implied that I was 1 step from putting people into Gulags and running death camps?
Problem with your step 2: Before people put up with that they will resort to
more crime, ergo you and me getting robbed and such more often. I'd like to avoid that.
If we are going to continue with massive support of the non-working class, as a taxpayer I insist we declare taking welfare benefits a felony worthy of incarceration and round them up as a cost-saving measure.
We're getting a bit off topic here, I stated in the beginning that I'd support reforms all over the place. Besides, it'd cost money. It's $30k+ per PERSON for imprisoning them. It's $60k per HOUSEHOLD. Also, not the 'poverty line' disclaimer - the poverty line isn't some magical line where you get $60k of support when you're below it, and nothing above it.
There are plenty of households above the poverty line receiving support, and there are numerous households below it that aren't.
You also have to figure that paying all the administrators and case workers to poke their noses into the affairs of those poor enough to receive assistance costs money.
