The cost of housing a single inmate is $36,000 a year.
The US has more people in jail than any other country.
I have a statistic I put up in the Crime forum that something like 75% of people in jail have some form of mental illness. Could be higher or lower, I don't remember. But it is a significant factor.
I am for the cruel and unusual punishment clause, and I don't think putting folks in cement floored chicken coops is the answer. Altho tvs, weights, yep; why are they allowed and there is a book limit? lol!
All in all, there needs to be major prison reform in the US. What are we doing wrong that other countries are doing right?
For one, we criminalize minor crimes. Yep, legalization of some things needs to happen and then put it in the doctor's hands to monitor and eventually cure the rampant drug abuse. For every $4 spent to jail a person, it only costs $1 to rehabilitate them off drugs.
Three strikes is for sports, not crime. Power back in the judge's hands to really judge whether life in prison is right.
Just some small steps that might help our prison system, which is over-burdened. I realize these might be unpopular views, but clearly what we have in place now is not working. Recidivism is high; the gang culture in jail runs rampant. What can we do to stop both? Keep killing people on death row? These people live lives of violence already. You're not ending the violence by adding to it.
