Are Prisons Obsolete?

[four1298]

I wanted to read a book about prison abolition, so I randomly selected this one.

The other thing I think I may disagree with her is medical experiments on inmates. I think participating in that should warrant a reduced sentences. I'm also not opposed to chain gangs labor. I think they can provide a respite from boredom and make prisoners feel good about by themselves by contributing to society. They should be paid more than cents though.

I also don't think whippings are bad -

It's interesting that convict leasing was considered worse than slavery: "Scholars who have studied the convict lease system point out that in many important respects, convict leasing was far worse than slavery, an insight that can be gleaned from titles such as One Dies, Get Another (by Mancini), Worse Than Slavery (David Oshinsky’s work on Parchman Prison), and Twice the Work of Free Labor (Alex Lichtenstein’s examination of the political economy of convict leasing)."

Christians made things worse by replacing corporal punishment with imprisonment: "Quaker reformers in the United States—especially the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, founded in 1787—played a pivotal role in campaigns to substitute imprisonment for corporal punishment."

I think this book shows that prison reform has been harmful. It says Christians were responsible for making prisons living Hell: "Howard and other reformers called for the imposition of rigid rules that would 'enforce solitude and penitence, cleanliness and work.'" According to the book, inmates could previously eat as they like and could even have prostitutes visit them(I'm assuming it's heterosexual, which is good). The problem with this is that the author states this as a fact, but doesn't seem to endorse it.

Christians further made prison worse by creating gender segregation: "Following in the tradition established by Elizabeth Fry in England, Quakers were also responsible for extended crusades to institute separate prisons for women." I'm not sure if this means prisons used to be non-segregated, but they should be so that inmates won't be so bored. Unfortunately, Iit seems the author supports gender segregation: "In the history of New Jersey, no woman pretrial detainee or prisoner has ever been treated as [Assata Shakur] was, continuously confined in a men’s prison..."

I'm going to give quotes from the book:

[M]any people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.

the U.S. population in general is less than five percent of the world’s total, whereas more than twenty percent of the world’s combined prison population can be claimed by the United States.

[M]any scholars have demonstrated that by the time the prison construction boom began, official crime statistics were already falling.

Police departments in major urban areas have admitted the existence of formal procedures designed to maximize the numbers of African-Americans and Latinos arrested—even in the absence of probable cause.

I'm only quoting this because someone told me racism doesn't exist anymore.

Scholars who have studied the convict lease system point out that in many important respects, convict leasing was far worse than slavery...

In some states, for example, more than one-third of black men have been labeled felons.

I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body … because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear;

This is what Charles Dickens said about solitary confinement

Dickens was of the opinion that “[t]hose who have undergone this punishment MUST pass into society again morally unhealthy and diseased.”

By the time [Malcom X] could immerse himself in reading, he noted, “months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.ʺ

(This was in the context of describing how inmates should have education)

Her description of the strip search, which focuses on the internal examination of body cavities, is especially revealing:
...
You sit on the edge of this table and the nurse holds your legs open and sticks a finger in your vagina and moves it around. She has a plastic glove on. Some of them try to put one finger in your vagina and another one up your rectum at the same time.

If a person does not “consent” to being stripped naked by these officers, force can lawfully be used to do it

“For private business prison labor is like a pot of gold. No strikes. No union organizing. No health benefits, unemployment insurance, or workers’ compensation to pay

“Forget about reform; it’s time to talk about abolishing jails and prisons in American society

Arthur Waskow said this.

There are currently more people with mental and emotional disorders in jails and prisons than in mental institutions.

From 1990 to 1998, homicide rates dropped by half nationwide, but homicide stories on the three major networks rose almost fourfold.

In other words, we would not be looking for prisonlike substitutes for the prison, such as house arrest safeguarded by electronic surveillance bracelets

I actually think this would be better than prison. Why is the author against this?

 

[NocturnalCel]

Foids belong in prisons.

 

[poorenglishcel]

her

That is all i need to read. Ofcourse DUMB FUCKING FOID WANT THE CHAD CRIMINALS TO BE FREE AND KILL THE MEEKCELS. IT'S THE SAME WITH EVERY FUCKING SPECIES. MALES FIGHT OVER FOR THE FEMOIDS AND THE THUG CRIMINAL LOW-LIFE SCUMS WINS AND KILLS OFF THE OTHER MALES TO GET THE CHANCE TO BREED. NOTHING MAKES THESE WHORES MORE EXCITED THAN SEEING A VIOLENT APE KILL THE COMPETITION. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Corvus]

In america prisons are run by corporations like blackrock which is why we have such an insanely high incarceration rate.

 

[AutistSupremacist]

In america prisons are run by corporations like blackrock which is why we have such an insanely high incarceration rate.

 

[The Notorious SLAV]

I'm not entirely against them as there are some types of people that do need to be kept out of society, but the more I learn about the entire system and the way it works even in the least corrupt and most advanced countries in the world, the more it just seems like a particularly ruthless lottery.

A few traits (being wealthy, being a woman) basically make you immune to it unless you really fuck up, no crimes have a 100% clearance rate, or even close to it, so even with reported crimes them getting solved and people sentenced is just about chances. Not to mention that only a minority of crimes get reported anyway. Also, a big part of it is just vibes, who calls 911 first, and so on. Cops and prosecutors build careers on how many results they get, after all, it truly is a career for them.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQbHHe0Fzh4