this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

In parts of the US. I hate living in a progressive state and getting lumped in with the backward ass parts of the country. This problem in particular differs across state lines. Unfortunately the best I can hope for now is for my state to be left alone.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Nah dude. Every prison is a profit center. California just voted to be a slave state to keep those profits rolling.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know what you mean. I thought California was one of the states that banned private prisons, but I live on the other side of the country, in NJ, where we've also banned private prisons, and are trying to stop the feds from putting private immigration detention centers in too.

If you mean prisons in general, I think that's a different discussion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago

All that means is the private company cannot own the actual prison. They can staff, supply, and build prisons; and use prison labor to make products.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Completely understandable. From my point of view, I can't understand how there can be such a thing as private prisons at all. It's a terrible approach, no matter where in the world. I haven't looked into it much, but as far as I know, the US is the only country that organizes state sovereignty according to capitalist logic(at least in some states). In my opinion, that is absurd.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I feel like I understand but if you can elaborate on the last part I'd appreciate it. And I just mean it seems to extend far beyond just capitalism, although that's surely a driving factor. It's hard to remove capitalism from a place that basically was made by people trying to hang on to their money.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

What I mean is that I am not aware of any other country that privatizes state sovereign rights in the way that the US does: If someone is sentenced to prison for any crime, it is a punishment that the state determines and thus usually carries out. In the US, however, it is possible for a private company to enforce the sentence "on behalf of the state". This is a very US-American procedure which, as far as I know, is not implemented in this way anywhere else. I may be wrong, but where I come from, Europe, this is unthinkable because private companies are not allowed to take on government tasks as important as these - at least not to this extent. Another example is the privatization of the military, as Blackwater, now Academi, and others have been doing for decades in the US (recently also Musk with Starlink). In Europe, this is also a matter for the state and the state alone. Even in Russia under Putin's regime, private armies are officially illegal, although of course they still exist (not officially tho).