Vampire capitalism at its finest: Riverside County California will charge inmates $142 for each night they spend in jail.
Prison for Profit
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
7 Comments. Leave new
Almost one-third of Americans has been arrested for a crime by age 23, “according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life.” http://tinyurl.com/6wsu58r
So while the “amenities” available to those IN jail, as per the strip, may well ADD to the profit of privatized prisons, the basic “demand” for them seems to be supplied in another, truly vile, aspect of corporate welfare.
Even the most notorious political systems in history never dreamt up this insult to injury.
But considering that most people who end up in county jails don’t even have $142 to their names, I don’t see how they can enforce this policy. Evil doesn’t necessarily imply intelligence, I guess.
Well sure, its a serious crime to do anything remotely “risky” As we have seen in the past few weeks, protesting in this country is considered a crime, if you aren’t careful about the things you write, the government can arrest you for various hate crimes, or inciting violence, at this point we could all be breaking a law at any given moment it is up to the discretion of the police to determine if they should arrest you or not.
Years and years back, a friend of mine would frequently talk about the gummint and how it was trying to “process” as many people as possible so that it could track us all that much more effectively.
I used to laugh at his paranoia.
Used to.
Amerika would rather profit from a for profit prison system rather than invest in education. Especially in the inner city.
I ride the bus to work and have day to day dealings with people less fortunate than I. In talking with them (mostly African-Americans and people of Hispanic origins, almost to a one, they have an immediate family member in jail or know someone who does. Me, I know where the prison is and have never had the misfortune for seeing it from the “wrong” side of the bars.
The other side of the token is that I see the children of these people on their way to school too. Up until a certain age, they are excited and want to go to school but once they pass that age, they are on the death-march to school. And once they hit the age when they can drop out, I don’t see them any more.
You want to change this country, change the education system. The conveyor-belt factory system we have now is so 19th century.
nom du jour. You’re very correct, our education system is very 19th Century. What’s amazing is that our political system is very 18th Century. Unfortunately our problems are 21st Century….*sigh* Where’s Teddy Roosevelt when you need him to come in and bust some heads.
Check out this link – http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×9551335
This is what we badly need. If we want our country back, and the chance to have a middle class, then we need to start punishing the people who have brought us to this economic disaster.