Across the United States, hundreds of jails have eliminated in-person family visits over the last decade. Why has this happened? The answer highlights a profound flaw in how decisions too often get made in our legal system: for-profit jail telecom companies realized that they could earn more profit from phone and video calls if jails eliminated free in-person visits for families. So the companies offered sheriffs and county jails across the country a deal: if you eliminate family visits, we’ll give you a cut of the increased profits from the larger number of calls. This led to a wave across the country, as local jails sought to supplement their budgets with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from some of the poorest families in our society.
Prisoners shouldn’t need to pay to talk with their families. We claim that our system is intended for rehabilitation. What could possibly lead to better outcomes than the ability to keep in touch with your family; to be made to feel human while serving your sentence? The US justice system is a fucking joke and for-profit prison shareholders are the only ones laughing.
Incarceration should have no profit motive, regardless of whether that profit motive benefits a for-profit company and its shareholders or the local Sheriff’s department.
News to me, I did not know you guys claimed that.
The 13th amendment claims otherwise, in fact.
So crazy to think that slavery is still a thing in America but you’re instantly blacklisted for even mentioning it
Does anyone else only see asterisks?
DUE TO INFLAMMATORY AND INACCURATE SPEECH, THIS MESSAGE WAS EDITED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
Is the record correct now?
Not me.
It’s what our politicians claim the system is for. It’s obviously not, but that’s the claim.
From an outsider view I did not even know that your politicians claimed that, I thought it was just a few more hopeful ones saying it should be that. I always assumed it was common knowledge that the system in the US was for punishment and whatnot first. Might just be me seeing the movie “Tank!” as a child.
They only say so to those of us who are aghast at the cruelty and don’t take “but bad people” for an answer
Yeah, the US has way to many “bad people” per capita for that to have ever made any sense.
Yeah I forgot about that. Is anyone dumb enough to believe this?