County Jail to start charging prisoners

[obaman08]

MARION -- There'll be no free lunch -- no free anything -- at the Marion County Jail. The county soon will begin charging inmates for their care -- $11.75 a day at the minimum.

A resolution passed this week by the Marion County Commission means the end of "free room and board, three squares a day" at the jail, said Randy Dallke, commission chairman.

http://www.saljournal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=10923&format=html

[2008]

1. this is nothing new, except for Marion County

some county jails confiscate the cash you're carrying, and apply it to your bill

[Swamp Rat]

2. The U.S. prison system - great business opportunities await investors!

[michreject]

3. What are you suggesting?

That prisons only exist to make money? Would you like to see the elimination of penal institutions?

[Swamp Rat]

4. "Would you like to see the elimination of penal institutions?" ... as for-profit institutions?

HELL YES!!!

Straw Man: I never said "that prisons only exist to make money" nor did I say I would "like to see the elimination of penal institutions?"

[michreject]

14. The tacit implications

are that prisons are only a for profit venture and get in on the ground floor.

[Swamp Rat]

16. Those are YOUR "tacit implications," not mine.

You are assuming and drawing an incorrect conclusion. It would have been better if you asked me to clarify instead of inject your assumptions. But now I am two posts into a meaningless, and boring conversation, so I bid you 'adieu' for now. :hi:

[bluetrain]

5. You have three different kinds of people in prison:

People who are so severely mentally ill that they need to be confined to mental institutions for the sake of humanity because no drugs or therapy are ever going to make them understand, agree with nor adhere to a moral code.

People who took advantage of a situation either in the heat of the moment or with coersion.

People who made a mistake in a common act. Be this, buying pot (or harder drugs) from the wrong person or accidentally killing someone in an accident.

The sociopaths and psychopaths should be in mental institutions, not prisons, recieving mental healthcare. The opportunists and accidentals should be able to work for a living wage while confined. How one weeds out the opportunists from the mentally ill, is tricky and I don't have a solution to that. But I do have more experience with inmates (and, for that matter, corrections officers and prison life) than I wish I did and and I can tell you that driving the displaced wives, girlfriends and mothers into bankruptcy is not going to lead to anything but more crime and more inmates.

[michreject]

15. Some people are just mean

and need to be separated for society.

[windbreeze]

17. Can I add a fourth?

the ones who are innocent...and falsely convicted
wb

[JTFrog]

6. Brilliant!

:sarcasm:

If you can't afford to go to jail the first time, then how long before they invite you back for not being able to afford it? And what will some of these criminals do to come up with the money to pay these bills to avoid going back?

I guess I just don't get it.

[mntleo2]

7. The Prison Industrial Complex

...now that prisons are being privatized and people are being used for slave labor, bringing a profit for the "owners"
or stock holders is of the utmost, I find this no surprise. As we continue to privatize our justice system in this country, not only will it just cause more crime to order prisoners to pay like this, it just puts more heavy burden on the families of these inmates. Because, as we all know with the debtors in this country they will hunt you down and they will make you pay ~ even if you are an innocent bystander and did nothing.

This is despicable.

Cat In Seattle

[MadHound]

8. Yay, a return to debt peonage

When you get out of prision after that five year mandatory minimum for having a bit of pot, you'll owe almost $22,000. And since they will take legal action if you don't pay this off, back to jail with you, since being an ex con and finding a decent paying job are only on a nodding acquaitance.

Back to jail you'll go, with more debt piling up on your tab. How soon before this debt gets passed down to children and they too start the vicious cycle in an out of prison?

Yup, it's no longer the correction system, it is the prison industry. Sad to see that we're returning to Third World status and instituting debt peonage here.

[Deja Q]

9. It could be seen as scary, but isn't it true inmates do earn an income in prison?

(I'm really out of touch on this issue; I thought they earned their keep by all those chores they do during the day?)

[Robbien]

10. Some

But putting those people aside for a moment, how about all the people who cannot work? Only about one-fourth of the population works inside prisons. So you have three-fourths who will owe huge bills to prison owners by the time they get out.

[12string]

11. County jail

..is not a prison.The trustees that work in a county jail do
not recieve any money for their labor.Their compensation is a
slightly better environment,more food,(cause they like to keep
you hungry in county jail),and the fact that time goes by
quicker when you are busy.This will probably be adopted by
counties nationwide faster than you can say,"I want my
attorney present."

[Toots]

12. I think if they do labor they do get pay..not much but by law they must get some

They do not have to do labor though..I am pretty sure life may not be pleasant for them if they choose not to do labor though.. I don't think they have to be paid minimum wage though. I think they got around that one..

[Lilith Velkor]

13. k & f'n r