Thanks for sharing your intriguing thoughts! They gave me a bit to chew over. I tried looking up that PBS documentary, to get the name. Was it part of the "Take it from Me" series? Anyway, your description of the problem, as illustrated in the documentary, seems spot-on. I have heard most job openings are not in the inner-city; so if one wants to work, she has to spend time and money leaving her neighborhood to (a) find a job, and (b) work there if hired. I had no idea, though, that the distances ranged from 40 to 80 miles (or more)! Apparently, some people drive up to 200 miles each day for work. (This is approximately twice the distance from Chicago to South Bend, IN.) They often work overtime just to afford working – just as you talk about the one lady who lost money going to work.
I wonder whether a feasible solution is igniting local job growth in poor areas. I’ve heard businesses are anxious about opening branches in violent neighborhoods, for fear of robbery. And when businesses are not opening up in these neighborhoods, it becomes more profitable to go into crime. Truly a vicious cycle. Still, I am sure there are people working on jumpstarting local economies. For instance, it is claimed the Obama Library, which is being built in the South Side of Chicago, will help generate healthy business and tourism in its neighborhoods. I am really looking forward to see how it works out.
Given what you said about inmates’ jobs, I decided to look up the federal wage law for correctional facilities. As you probably know, while the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the maximum inmate wage is $4.73 a day. As you so described: with regard to that pay regime, it’s more beneficial to not work! Being paid well is not only about finances, but also dignity. I know some people are worried about the financial cost of paying inmates more. Why, though, must the state pay from its pocket? Do they not sell inmates’ products on the market, at typical prices? The state doesn’t have to pay out of taxes; it can pay simply according to revenues, like businesses do. I admit, though, I don’t know what is produced at the typical inmate job. What do you think about this market scheme, in case it’s not being used? If it is used, what’s wrong with the current set-up?
I admire your work ethic – you can’t keep a good man down, as they say. It makes the most sense, for your brain, body, and soul, to prepare yourself with skills, such as building databases and reading the law. It’s like building a fortified house. While building it, you are directed in a meaningful project that is good. The building exercises your brain with planning and creativity, your muscles with heavy-lifting, and your soul with focus and forbearance. After you build the house, you have the good of a strong fortress, in case of inclement weather. This manifests assurance and security.
"14 Years After Decriminalizing All Drugs, Here's What Portugal Looks Like In 2001, the Portuguese government did something that the United States would find entirely alien. After many years of waging a fierce war on drugs, it decided to flip its strategy entirely: It decriminalized them all.
If someone is found in the possession of less than a 10-day supply of anything from marijuana to heroin, he or she is sent to a three-person Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, typically made up of a lawyer, a doctor and a social worker. The commission recommends treatment or a minor fine; otherwise, the person is sent off without any penalty. A vast majority of the time, there is no penalty.
Fourteen years after decriminalization, Portugal has not been run into the ground by a nation of drug addicts. In fact, by many measures, it's doing far better than it was before. (...) By 1999, nearly 1% of the population was addicted to heroin, and drug-related AIDS deaths in the country were the highest in the European Union, according to the New Yorker.
But by 2001, the country decided to decriminalize possession and use of drugs, and the results have been remarkable. Drug use has declined overall among the 15- to 24-year-old population, those most at risk of initiating drug use, according to Transform.
There has also been a decline in the percentage of the population who have ever used a drug and then continue to do so. Drug-induced deaths have decreased steeply. HIV infection rates among injecting drug users have been reduced at a steady pace, and has become a more manageable problem in the context of other countries with high rates. And a widely cited study published in 2010 in the British Journal of Criminology found that after decriminalization, Portugal saw a decrease in imprisonment on drug-related charges alongside a surge in visits to health clinics that deal with addiction and disease.
Not a cure but certainly not a disaster: Many advocates for decriminalizing or legalizing illicit drugs around the world have gloried in Portugal's success. They point to its effectiveness as an unambiguous sign that decriminalization works."
You are so right, Randy! Love never fails! God loved us when we were, humanly speaking, unlovable. He made that choice! We must make that choice, also. 1 Corinthians 13
I am truly curious though, and my questions come as a result of a recent piece I heard on the radio. This is in no way meant to be disparaging.
For the long term prisoners, past a point, how compassionate is the release? Truly.
I'll use the example of a 75 year old man who has been in cpsince his 20's. At this point, it is very clear that any recidivism is probably approaching the probability of zero. But, the person that is shoved on the streets would seem to me (an outsider) to have nothing beyond the freedom it self going for them. Without contributing to social security, that man has no form of income besides the state. Medicare/Medicaid is a crap shoot for senior citizens to my mind (I worked in nursing homes for a long time), and the way that population is treated is often quite poor,
Does there come a point for a prisoner when the life inside is actually preferred to the unknown outside (and again, this is true curiosity, I do. It mind being educated)
I correspond with a man on these blogs who murdered a friend in cold blood, chopped him to pieces and desecrated the corpse. He's in his 40's now, and thinks he deserves a chance out side the walls. I disagree, as prison is literally all he has known.
RSS
Thanks for sharing your intriguing thoughts! They gave me a bit to chew over.
I tried looking up that PBS documentary, to get the name. Was it part of the "Take it from Me" series? Anyway, your description of the problem, as illustrated in the documentary, seems spot-on. I have heard most job openings are not in the inner-city; so if one wants to work, she has to spend time and money leaving her neighborhood to (a) find a job, and (b) work there if hired. I had no idea, though, that the distances ranged from 40 to 80 miles (or more)! Apparently, some people drive up to 200 miles each day for work. (This is approximately twice the distance from Chicago to South Bend, IN.) They often work overtime just to afford working – just as you talk about the one lady who lost money going to work.
I wonder whether a feasible solution is igniting local job growth in poor areas. I’ve heard businesses are anxious about opening branches in violent neighborhoods, for fear of robbery. And when businesses are not opening up in these neighborhoods, it becomes more profitable to go into crime. Truly a vicious cycle. Still, I am sure there are people working on jumpstarting local economies. For instance, it is claimed the Obama Library, which is being built in the South Side of Chicago, will help generate healthy business and tourism in its neighborhoods. I am really looking forward to see how it works out.
Given what you said about inmates’ jobs, I decided to look up the federal wage law for correctional facilities. As you probably know, while the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the maximum inmate wage is $4.73 a day. As you so described: with regard to that pay regime, it’s more beneficial to not work! Being paid well is not only about finances, but also dignity. I know some people are worried about the financial cost of paying inmates more. Why, though, must the state pay from its pocket? Do they not sell inmates’ products on the market, at typical prices? The state doesn’t have to pay out of taxes; it can pay simply according to revenues, like businesses do. I admit, though, I don’t know what is produced at the typical inmate job. What do you think about this market scheme, in case it’s not being used? If it is used, what’s wrong with the current set-up?
I admire your work ethic – you can’t keep a good man down, as they say. It makes the most sense, for your brain, body, and soul, to prepare yourself with skills, such as building databases and reading the law. It’s like building a fortified house. While building it, you are directed in a meaningful project that is good. The building exercises your brain with planning and creativity, your muscles with heavy-lifting, and your soul with focus and forbearance. After you build the house, you have the good of a strong fortress, in case of inclement weather. This manifests assurance and security.
In 2001, the Portuguese government did something that the United States would find entirely alien. After many years of waging a fierce war on drugs, it decided to flip its strategy entirely: It decriminalized them all.
If someone is found in the possession of less than a 10-day supply of anything from marijuana to heroin, he or she is sent to a three-person Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, typically made up of a lawyer, a doctor and a social worker. The commission recommends treatment or a minor fine; otherwise, the person is sent off without any penalty. A vast majority of the time, there is no penalty.
Fourteen years after decriminalization, Portugal has not been run into the ground by a nation of drug addicts. In fact, by many measures, it's doing far better than it was before. (...)
By 1999, nearly 1% of the population was addicted to heroin, and drug-related AIDS deaths in the country were the highest in the European Union, according to the New Yorker.
But by 2001, the country decided to decriminalize possession and use of drugs, and the results have been remarkable.
Drug use has declined overall among the 15- to 24-year-old population, those most at risk of initiating drug use, according to Transform.
There has also been a decline in the percentage of the population who have ever used a drug and then continue to do so. Drug-induced deaths have decreased steeply.
HIV infection rates among injecting drug users have been reduced at a steady pace, and has become a more manageable problem in the context of other countries with high rates. And a widely cited study published in 2010 in the British Journal of Criminology found that after decriminalization, Portugal saw a decrease in imprisonment on drug-related charges alongside a surge in visits to health clinics that deal with addiction and disease.
Not a cure but certainly not a disaster: Many advocates for decriminalizing or legalizing illicit drugs around the world have gloried in Portugal's success. They point to its effectiveness as an unambiguous sign that decriminalization works."
Love never fails!
God loved us when we were, humanly speaking, unlovable. He made that choice!
We must make that choice, also.
1 Corinthians 13
I am truly curious though, and my questions come as a result of a recent piece I heard on the radio. This is in no way meant to be disparaging.
For the long term prisoners, past a point, how compassionate is the release? Truly.
I'll use the example of a 75 year old man who has been in cpsince his 20's. At this point, it is very clear that any recidivism is probably approaching the probability of zero. But, the person that is shoved on the streets would seem to me (an outsider) to have nothing beyond the freedom it self going for them. Without contributing to social security, that man has no form of income besides the state. Medicare/Medicaid is a crap shoot for senior citizens to my mind (I worked in nursing homes for a long time), and the way that population is treated is often quite poor,
Does there come a point for a prisoner when the life inside is actually preferred to the unknown outside (and again, this is true curiosity, I do. It mind being educated)
I correspond with a man on these blogs who murdered a friend in cold blood, chopped him to pieces and desecrated the corpse. He's in his 40's now, and thinks he deserves a chance out side the walls. I disagree, as prison is literally all he has known.
Am I in the wrong here?