Monday, October 24, 2011
If You're a Prison Facing Budget Cuts, What Do You Cut Back On?
14 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Oct 24, 01:52:00 PM:
Wouldn't the Stark quote (and Sean Bean played him very well, I think) mean that the judge or jury should actually execute the convict?
By 
Dawnfire82, at
Mon Oct 24, 03:12:00 PM:
You just overflow with wisdom and solutions to long-time intractable problems...
Anon: Yes, it seems that it would.
By LesRankins, at
Mon Oct 24, 03:22:00 PM:
That comment sound suspiciously like the obnoxious lefty slur – chickenhawk. And who knew that the Texas governor found people guilty and sentenced them to death; I always thought it was courts and juries that did that sort of thing.
By Aegon01, at
Mon Oct 24, 05:18:00 PM:
He's gotta sign the paper, I guess. But if the judges are the ones who deserve the...credit?...then why are we giving it to Rick Perry?
@Dawn. Inorite? Wisdom comes from me much like pearls from a clam: I cover my irritations with it.
By , at
Mon Oct 24, 07:14:00 PM:
F that ... give the scum some pride and let them learn construction to add onto the shithole they can call home. And teach them to farm ... success equals meals. Failure equals hunger.
I'm sick of whining for criminals. Fix how the law is applied, but a criminal is a criminal. Drug addicts do petty crime, and steps on the collective buzz.
Now, some guy who got tossed for smoking a bone, who cares, set 'em free, I'm with you if that's where you're going ...
As for politicians ... swings both ways. Commuting the sentence of a murderer or rapist or scumbag who didn't harm YOU isn't doing the right thing either.
By , at
Tue Oct 25, 12:13:00 AM:
In 1986, facing another round of draconian budget cuts, legenday Iowa State Penitentiary warden Crispus Nix asked his staff what he should do. Suggestions ranged from removing the guards from the towers (they were asleep there, anyway) to reducing educational services.
Nix thought a few seconds and then announced his decision, "We'll let the inmates pay for this one. Take the meat out of their lunches."
It was that simple. Then we moved on to the next item on the warden's agenda.
By davod, at
Tue Oct 25, 08:10:00 AM:
"We'll let the inmates pay for this one. Take the meat out of their lunches."
A pioneer of the vegetarian movement.
By davod, at
Tue Oct 25, 08:15:00 AM:
PS. Calories used to be a security issue for prison administrations. A high calory diet keeps a prisoner slothfull and happy.
By davod, at
Tue Oct 25, 08:38:00 AM:
Aegon0. Methinks your youthful liberalism is starting to show.
I would suggest many if not most jursidictions look for any way to reduce the prison intake, including keeping some users and non-violent people on other than prison programs. Providing the climate is moderate I would suggest prisons move to the Joe Arpaio methodology.
"On a separate note, I'd be a lot more impressed with Rick Perry's execution record if he ACTUALLY executed them. In the words of Eddard Stark, "the one who passes the sentence should swing the sword." It takes quite a bit less moral fortitude to sign a piece of paper."
You are quite right of course. He should take the approach of many liberal governors, that of nullifying the jury decision.
By , at
Tue Oct 25, 09:48:00 AM:
Hey, since we're attributing anything we find negative about Texas to Perry (and twisting any positive into a perceived negative), regardless of whether he had a role (I don't think Governors control the budgets, right?), why don't we attribute anything negative in the country to our sitting president?
By PD Quig, at
Tue Oct 25, 12:08:00 PM:
I think you're likely to end up paying them, one way or another: welfare, property crime, food stamps, etc.
Contrary to popular belief, most people in the hoosegow on drug offenses aren't upstanding, middle class folk who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are serial fuck-ups who end up committing dozens of crimes before they finally get put away for a while. Of course, there are exceptions.
On the whole, the idea of emptying our prisons of simple drug perps sounds better than it is. And it's not at all clear how much cost wold be saved vs. simply transferred to another government agency...or the private citizen.
By , at
Wed Oct 26, 09:09:00 AM:
The answer to the "War on Drugs" is to go with an all volunteer force. The people in this country who take illegal drugs should stop taking them to save us the cost of enforcement. In addition, they would be helping to hurt the 1% of rich overseas drug lords. Not to mention the drug war murders they would no longer be party to. If they just knew the difference between right and wrong we could fix the whole problem.
However, they know the societal side effects of their habit, and they don't care who they hurt. "Do the right thing" apparently is just a slogan to be used when it is politically expedient.
By , at
Wed Oct 26, 07:25:00 PM:
"The people in this country who take illegal drugs should stop taking them to save us the cost of enforcement."
Blow me.
For my day job, I recently had cause to look up a particular statute on Georgia criminal law. While I was on-site -- for curiosity -- I looked at the Georgia criminal statutes more generally. Among other things I found, oral sex of any kind is a felony. Pitcher and catcher, both covered . MF FM MM FF, all covered. What's remarkable is that the statute is so very literal. No vague statutory reference to the "crime against nature".
Even between lawfully wedded husband and wife.
To echo Lenny Bruce, raise your hand if you've ever "blanked a blank". Well then you're a felon, at least in Georgia.
I'm going to give Tyree a chance to redfine before I pummel him into the ground over "Man v State"
This isn't a small point. It goes to the definition of what I thought America was about -- and the Big Fight that's going on.
It's a big point when a state like California spends more on incarcerating drug defenders than it does on higher ed.
Blow mw, indeed,
By OmegaPaladin, at
Sun Oct 30, 08:10:00 PM:
If they need an executioner for any state in the US or for the Federal Pen, I'd be happy to oblige. I'm willing to do the lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad (I'll do it on my own if they want), gas chamber, you name it. I support the death penalty, and I am willing to flip the switch on criminals myself.
