The main problem with American prisons is their overuse for non-violent crimes. People don’t need to be separated from society because of a marijuana possession charge.
No, American prison is absolutely that bad. Those of us in other countries often look on in horror at the system you have created, and you personally are now defending.
I didn’t talk about american prisons nor am I american. I’m kinda astonished at your leaps of imagination. Don’t make up things when discussing.
Pretty much every country has prisons and in most countries they are an institution of reform that often actually works.
And seriously, compared what we did here in Europe just 100-300 years ago, even american prisons aren’t all that bad.
Already 400 years ago we had the “house of correction” system (“Zuchthaus” in German), which were for-profit labour camps that anyone could be sent to, even for things like being depressed or if your employer judges that you didn’t work hard enough.
There everyone was doing forced labour (usually the hardest physical work they could find) and if you didn’t do it, they’d whip you.
In most European countries that system was in active use until WW2, in some even into the 70s.
This was seen as a merciful system, since it was the alternative to the wide-spread corporal and capital punishments even for minor crimes.
In the 17th century you could be publically flogged or get a finger cut off for something as petty as theft. In some regions you could even get the death penalty for similarly small crimes.
So while the US prison system is quite horrible by the standards of civilized countries, it’s not when compared to prior systems.
They did those work systems into the 90’s actually in Ireland for sure, probably some other European countries as well but I don’t know about that. Interesting fact, if you’re over the age of 30 you almost certainly played board games made by interned Irish women and children.
There’s a reason I used the word “ideally”. While there are absolutely worse prison systems in the world, the US prison system cannot be described as “ideal”.
Some form of law enforcement needs to exist, and compared to the alternatives we tried before, prison isn’t that bad.
The main problem with American prisons is their overuse for non-violent crimes. People don’t need to be separated from society because of a marijuana possession charge.
No, American prison is absolutely that bad. Those of us in other countries often look on in horror at the system you have created, and you personally are now defending.
I didn’t talk about american prisons nor am I american. I’m kinda astonished at your leaps of imagination. Don’t make up things when discussing.
Pretty much every country has prisons and in most countries they are an institution of reform that often actually works.
And seriously, compared what we did here in Europe just 100-300 years ago, even american prisons aren’t all that bad.
Already 400 years ago we had the “house of correction” system (“Zuchthaus” in German), which were for-profit labour camps that anyone could be sent to, even for things like being depressed or if your employer judges that you didn’t work hard enough.
There everyone was doing forced labour (usually the hardest physical work they could find) and if you didn’t do it, they’d whip you.
In most European countries that system was in active use until WW2, in some even into the 70s.
This was seen as a merciful system, since it was the alternative to the wide-spread corporal and capital punishments even for minor crimes.
In the 17th century you could be publically flogged or get a finger cut off for something as petty as theft. In some regions you could even get the death penalty for similarly small crimes.
So while the US prison system is quite horrible by the standards of civilized countries, it’s not when compared to prior systems.
They did those work systems into the 90’s actually in Ireland for sure, probably some other European countries as well but I don’t know about that. Interesting fact, if you’re over the age of 30 you almost certainly played board games made by interned Irish women and children.
There’s a reason I used the word “ideally”. While there are absolutely worse prison systems in the world, the US prison system cannot be described as “ideal”.
This really seems like an attempt at minimizing the glaring issue that private prisons present.