Page 8 | To think that prisoners should have to pay towards their keep?

Rosscameasdoody · 30/07/2022 16:08

greatblueheron · 30/07/2022 15:12

I actually agree with this.

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So the family of the prisoner lose their home and everything they own as well ? This is the stupidest thread I think I’ve ever read.

Mommabear20 · 30/07/2022 16:10

I personally hate how our prison system is run and would change so much about it. Starting with, but not limited too, teaching them a skill during their sentence, similar to a diploma, then when they are released, they have an actual, usable skill to earn money and (hopefully) avoid ending up back in prison because they can't get a job and go back to their old ways. During their lessons they could actually work on things that can help either the prison or the country in general. I don't think though that they should 'pay' to be incarcerated.

WombaMaPonga · 30/07/2022 16:11

Is this question part of a project for school @girlfriend44 ?

Icedbannoffee · 30/07/2022 16:11

Prison is cheaper than actually reforming policies, support and society in a way that vulnerable people don't get locked in a loop of crime, addicts are given the treatment they need or even better the factors that cause addiction are addressed, people aren't trapped in generational poverty- the list goes on. No I don't think people should pay with money they probably don't have because society has failed them. Before someone starts screaming not everyone in those situations turns to crime or that people are responsible for their own actions, of course that's true but there are many things that would help reduce crime.

Icedbannoffee · 30/07/2022 16:12

Mommabear20 · 30/07/2022 16:10

I personally hate how our prison system is run and would change so much about it. Starting with, but not limited too, teaching them a skill during their sentence, similar to a diploma, then when they are released, they have an actual, usable skill to earn money and (hopefully) avoid ending up back in prison because they can't get a job and go back to their old ways. During their lessons they could actually work on things that can help either the prison or the country in general. I don't think though that they should 'pay' to be incarcerated.

I mean this happens now.

functioningadult · 30/07/2022 16:13

If they’ve had Legal Aid for their defence then the likelihood is that any substantial assets will no longer exist as you are expected to contribute towards your defence costs. If the asset is a property, even if jointly owned, they can put a charge on it to ensure the debt is paid when the property is sold. It’s a horrible system

oakleaffy · 30/07/2022 16:13

Didn’t some prisoners sew Mailbags?
Some older ex cons used to say that Dartmoor was terribly cold, with Mailbag sewing as one of the jobs.
Some prisons in USA train dogs and horses-
this seems a much more positive thing to do, but it must be hard to say goodbye to animals you have bonded with.
Animals can be great “teachers” if one is willing to listen.

fUNNYfACE36 · 30/07/2022 16:14

A factory near us employs prisoners and they have to pay over 40% of what they earn fir their keep

Rosscameasdoody · 30/07/2022 16:14

WiddlinDiddlin · 30/07/2022 15:14

What savings?

The vast majority of prisoners have no savings, in fact I'd go so far as to say the vast majority don't have a bank account.

I didn't have savings until 18 months ago! And I've worked my arse off the last 15 years, never been to prison, but I have always been self employed and basically subsisted on what I could scrape by and my disability benefits.

Most prisoners are already on benefits when they go in, they will have no savings, in fact they're likely to have no money at all by a few days before their next benefits day.

These are the sorts of people who when they say they have no money, they mean NO money. Not 'well theres 5k in savings and theres a 10K ISA, and of course I have the credit card plus a 500 quid overdraft...'

No money. At all.

Do people understand that repeat offenders who seem to prefer being in prison are doing so not because prison is lovely, an easy ride filled with x-boxes and tv's and luxury accomodation.

They do it because their REAL lives are SO SHITTY, because real life involves making decisions, being responsible for themselves, it involves things that are for some, really bloody difficult (sorting out housing, paying bills, finding and keeping a job).

Can you imagine not having the skills to live a normal adult life?

Knowing that to stay out of prison you almost certainly need to start that adult life well away from the people you grew up with, because until you change your social circle, you will keep doing the same things over and over.

Just how shitty and hard would life have to be for someone to WANT to stay in prison?

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Most benefits are stopped when you enter custody.

GirlInACountrySong · 30/07/2022 16:16

If I was in prison and paying for it then I would be in a position to claim that what I'm paying for is substandard.

I'd have consumer rights

oakleaffy · 30/07/2022 16:21

ApplesandBunions · 30/07/2022 15:47

It would appear so.

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I knew some tough old Lags as a teenager, and they actually said they liked Jail- “ All my mates are inside”
Routine and several meals a day.
They preferred it to living in a hostel.
But they likely had very hard childhoods.

Rosscameasdoody · 30/07/2022 16:21

OP, when the leadership contest is over I think you should apply to be Secretary of State for Justice - you’re just what this government needs !!

steff13 · 30/07/2022 16:22

Most female prisoners are incarcerated for not having enough money to pay bills. What a stroke of brilliance to ask them for more money they do not have!

Wait, y'all still have debtors' prison?

BlodynGwyn · 30/07/2022 16:23

valadon68 · 30/07/2022 14:00

Actually there's a train of thought which proposes that, after slavery was abolished in the US, the prison system expanded massively in response to the economic desire to create lots of free replacement labour, hence Black men being imprisoned in large numbers on specious grounds.
So again, difficult to ensure that this is carried out in an ethical way, I think, given how entangled we remain with the history and culture of that time.

In my state we don't have private prisons. The correction officers etc are state or federal employees. The prisoners don't do any work either. All of the inmates belong there and certainly no profits are being made by locking them up.

Only 8% of the total state and federal prison population in the U.S. are in private prisons.

GirlInACountrySong · 30/07/2022 16:25

If I'm paying for my prison cell will I get a reduction if I am made to share?

If my sheets are torn I'm in a position to demand a replacement because I've paid for it

If the meal I've paid for arrives cold I've paid for it so I can send it back?

Yes??

GirlInACountrySong · 30/07/2022 16:26

Unlike my poster clnates who can't pay so have zero consumer rights and just have to suck it up?

Cornettoninja · 30/07/2022 16:26

girlfriend44 · 30/07/2022 15:58

lots of people slag ppl off on benefits and call them scroungers etc, dont pretend they dont.
No ive not been in prison. I hope never too.
Dosent mean I cant start a discussion though.

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Does probably indicate that you should listen to people who point out the flaws in your idle fantasy instead of blustering in outrage defending an idea that was born with no basis in reality though.

MigsandTiggs · 30/07/2022 16:26

@girlfriend44
I've now read your responses and see that you believe "Crime is a choice". That's a horrible generalisation. What do you think involuntary manslaughter; accidental death; diminished responsibility are? In the past, homosexuality was a crime and Oscar Wilde, for example, was jailed for it. Did he have a choice?
If prisoners are there for the free food and accommodation why have adult reoffending rates been going down?

QuestionableMouse · 30/07/2022 16:27

Discovereads · 30/07/2022 14:28

I don’t think prisoners should have to pay money towards their keep, but I am all for convict labour. Put them in fluorescent pinnies and have them picking up litter along the motorways. Have them do laundry for NHS hospitals. Send them down into the sewers to clear fatburgs. The white collar criminals like solicitors put them to work doing pro bono legal aid for DV victims, accountants put them to work helping disabled and vulnerable with managing money and taxes, teachers/professors- have them run classes in prison so some prisoners could earn qualifications/degrees.

@Discovereads

There's a name for forced, unpaid labour. Let me think for a second.... Oh yes, slavery.

GirlInACountrySong · 30/07/2022 16:27

Can I get my full hour of counselling not a late start ending with just 50 mins, because I've paid for my full hour?

Who do I complain to?

1982mommaof4 · 30/07/2022 16:28

Bookshadow · 30/07/2022 14:01

IMO we have no right to be locking people up because we believe they have broken a law we have made up, so no, I don't think we should charge them for our privilege.

What should happen to people who murder, rape attacks, terrorists?

CbaThinkingOfAUsername · 30/07/2022 16:29

luxxlisbon · 30/07/2022 13:49

Prisoners who aren’t making money … because they are in prison.
How does that work then?

Hypothetically (and not saying i agree or disagree with the OP), it would surely work as it does in general society. Those who can pay, do and those who can't, don't.

ChateauxNeufDePoop · 30/07/2022 16:31

girlfriend44 · 30/07/2022 13:48

So you commit a crime and go to prison and your kept also for free, no money worries etc.
If you can afford it shouldnt you pay something towards it? it costs country alot of money to keep you locked up why not contribute?
Your not exactly spending your money while your locked up anyway.

I would think a lot of them have money worries about when they come out.

CounsellorTroi · 30/07/2022 16:32

Ontomatopea · 30/07/2022 15:04

That's not on if it's true

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It really isn’t. Anyone incarcerated for a crime they haven’t committed will suffer loss of earnings. It’s really adding insult to injury to then expect them to pay for their keep on release.

Mydpisgrumpierthanyours · 30/07/2022 16:34

While I agree with you in theory I dont see how it would work in practice. They do work in prison but it is very low paid and they have to buy toiletries, stamps, phone credit.