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Thread: The Prison System, let them Work!

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    Platinum Member pmbguy's Avatar
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    The Prison System, let them Work!

    We have a prison population of 156 000. In 2012 we spent approximately R18 000 000 000 on our prison system. Only about 28% of the prisoners are employed.

    Why can’t we put our prisoners to work in a much more effective manner? Why can’t we have 90% of them work instead of only 28%? They can produce things at an industrial scale to be sold at a profit. The whole prison system could effectively pay for itself, relieving us tax payers from paying for their sins.

    Putting them to work will also teach them skills, skills they can use after their release. They will have work opportunities that they did not have before, which will surely reduce the number of prisoners who reoffend. I understand that a criminal record may prevent many of them from gaining employment. So perhaps we could set up a system where correctional services have duplicate industrial sites outside of the prison system, where the same products are produced. So prisoners can seamlessly carry on with the type of work they were doing once they are released.

    Obviously some would say that the government is not capable of achieving this, I am one of them, so perhaps privatisation is the way to go. We can use one large prison as a prototype and later role it out nationwide.

    It just makes no sense to me that we must foot the bill when they can in all practically fit the bill themselves and be better for it.
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

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    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    Good idea. Unfortunately work is a swear word in modern society.

    Prisoners did work in the good old days. Some of them also studied and made their degrees. I believe the old Iscor was one of those places where parolees could find a new foothold in society.

    Our government and the unions unfortunately do not believe that people should be exploited in this way. Forget about aquiring skills. The only skills we need is how to bribe the wardens so we can have another weekend of sex and booze (inside the prison). Why worry?
    Excellence is not a skill; its an attitude...

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    Platinum Member pmbguy's Avatar
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    Yes, I admit that this is nothing more than pie in the sky. The government is way too pathetic to ever implement something like this. Perhaps they would go for it if they knew the prisoners will also cook KFC for all the departments 3 times a day.
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

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    They would be striking most of the time, downing tools and fighting for better wages and better living conditions

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    Platinum Member pmbguy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ians View Post
    They would be striking most of the time, downing tools and fighting for better wages and better living conditions
    The work will be mandatory and part of their punishment, no union representation. Perhaps make it that they will have to work or they won’t be released and all their luxuries will be removed. The human rights activists will have a field day, but screw them.
    It will remain the ultimate solution, but ultimately it can never work in SA. At least not until the malignant cANCer is removed, but even then it will be tough to implement.
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

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    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    Non violent criminals close enough to parole to make it not worth their while escaping growing vegetables in the vast arid sections of the Kalahari close enough to the Orange River to support irrigation, these veg to be used by the prisons, hospitals, orphanages and charity feeding schemes.
    New prisoners to work in secure laundries where they do all the washing of state laundry such as hospitals etc. until they qualify for the veggie farms.

    Wishful thinking
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    I remember when I was a kid how "die bandiete" tended the gardens at the provincial hospital. I think that the entire prison system is a total farce and waste of time. As far as I am aware the purpose of imprisonment is to rehabilitate rather than punish. Why in the world do they put a youngster who gets caught selling weed with hardened criminals. The only thing that happens is that the youngsters get caught up in the prison gangs. The guy that defrauds the bank of R500K is not the same as the guy who runs around beating up old ladies. All that happens when the are put together is that they learn each other's negative skills. Anyhow, this is a debate for another time.

    I watched a documentary over the weekend and in the documentary many US officials say that the war on drugs is a failure and that all that it does is fund agencies who become worse and worse. Their view is that drugs should simply be legalized and that the focus should rather be on helping those who become addicted rather than creating an environment where drug dealers become extremely wealthy by peddling illegal drugs. If drugs were legalized tomorrow 40% of the prison population would be set free, many gangs would simply have nothing to sell and many youngsters would not get caught up in a life of crime caused by the extremely high profits to be made from peddling drugs. The biggest problem with buying drugs off the street is that the drugs have been cut so many times with such a variety of chemicals that the poor user ends up getting high on rat poison and baby power...which usually kills him. The entire drug war is absurd anyway, any fool can buy alcohol and cigarettes every day, crash his car and get lung cancer but the guy who smokes weed gets locked up. If a person brews Meth at home and gets stoned every day does that make him a criminal, ok, if he gets plastered every day does that make him a criminal. What about the guy who sniffs glue, is he a criminal or what about the guy who eats 40mg of Valium a day because he made is doctor believe that he is a bit off the wall. The problem is that the government are trying to stop people from taking drugs by stopping those who profit from it...kinda silly. Another thing is that there is no work in many of those communities and many see selling drugs as an easy way to make good money (due to the high margins) Don't get me wrong, I am no pro alcohol, cigarettes, weed or drugs in general but I am pro the application of logic. If the guy is going to smoke weed he is going to do so whether it is legal or not. All that the war on drugs does is turn a person who prefers smoking weed to cigarettes into a criminal...it's rather absurd if you ask me.

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