prison reform

[file cabinet]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/1.stm


Once you pass the thick walls and the security gates, any resemblance to a normal jail disappears: there are children playing, market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers and even a hotel. It looks more like the streets of El Alto, Bolivia's poorest neighbourhood that sprawls on the outskirts of La Paz, than a prison.

..

There are no guards, no uniforms or metal bars on the cell windows. This relative freedom comes at a price: inmates have to pay for their cells, so most of them have to work inside the jail, selling groceries or working in the food stalls. Others work as hairdressers, laundry staff, carpenters, shoe-shine boys or TV and radio repairmen.

..

"This is my eighth time here. I know this place so well that I have written a guide to it, including its history, anecdotes, and even a guide to prison jargon."

..

Tourists used to be allowed in, but the tours were stopped because many people were coming to buy cocaine, said to be the purest in Bolivia.

..

About 200 children live here with their fathers.

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..."The toughest thing is not seeing my wife, who is in another jail," he says.

..

Prisoners are expected to resolve their own problems through section representatives elected democratically.

despite the prison not sounding like a typical prison, it sounds it could be a healthier alternative then what the US offers

[attila_the_hunny]

I'm not paying for people who break the law to have a really nice life for free.

[file cabinet]

I'm not paying for people who break the law to have a really nice life for free.

ah, sorry, I did not quote this:

"If you have money you can live like a king," an inmate told me. Money can buy you accommodation in the "posh" sections of the prison - one of the best is Los Pinos. Here, cells are spacious and have private bathrooms, kitchen and cable TV. Outside, they have billiard tables, kiosks selling fresh juice, and food stalls. Cells cost between $1,000 and $1,500 and are bought for the duration of an inmate's sentence.

In the poor areas of the prison, inmates have to share small cells.

so, it's not free.

[jittus rye]

what happens to the person that refuses to pay anything? Do they get food and a place to sit still? As long as this jail is turning a profit I'm okay with it. IF not, damnit.

[file cabinet]

what happens to the person that refuses to pay anything? Do they get food and a place to sit still? As long as this jail is turning a profit I'm okay with it. IF not, damnit.

I'm not sure but money rich prisoners can definitely boost the prison economy:

. There's Barbachoca, or ?Redbeard?, the well-spoken, smooth international drug baron, caught smuggling 4,000 kilos of pure cocaine - worth more than $420 million - in a light plane to the US via Mexico. He wasn't happy with his accommodation in the 4-star wing of the prison, so had a second storey constructed, complete with views over La Paz to the snow capped mountains in the distance.http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s963744.htm

[attila_the_hunny]

Jail should be shitty for a reason.
I think we should have more rehabilitation instead of punishment, and have the people who have mental disorders in an asylum.

[jittus rye]

Well it doesn't look like the object is to deter crime, just to enforce the law by making these people stay in one place so the government and police can make more money off of cocaine.

[file cabinet]

Well it doesn't look like the object is to deter crime, just to enforce the law by making these people stay in one place so the government and police can make more money off of cocaine.

right right.. but look beyond that.. let's assume the prisons weren't actually places where people are trafficking drugs

[jittus rye]

The concept of a bubble community is pretty good, I can agree.

[Xander]

Problem is with that kind of a prison is that there will be plenty of people on the outside looking in who have worse lives and so they could well start a criminal career because if that's the worst scenario then.....

I wonder what happens if the prisoners riot? Would they not then be better armed? Also what stops prisoners preying on each other? I know that guards are little defence but at least it's some.

They should rethink the whole not shooting the real bad guys before the judge gets hold of them. It'd reduce crowding overnight :D

[kuranes]

A while back I had this thought on this related subject.

http://forums.intpcentral.com/showthread.php?t=8282&highlight=Centers

It would seem that an approach like this would lead to less people being in prison to begin with.

[distraction tactics]

On the surface, at least, I like it.

I don't see prison as punishment, but as a separation from society for those who refuse to play by the rules. I don't see how justice can or should be enacted by revenge therapy, so if these people are willing and able to create these small-scale, isolated economies, I say go for it. Leave the rest of us to our own shit.