Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - Prison Heat

[Rhiannon12866]

John Oliver explains how the failure to air-condition prisons can cause both physical and mental health issues for incarcerated people, and why the solution is simpler than you might think.

[rampartc]

1. prisons, as currently implemented, need a total reexamination

the heat would be the least of my concerns when surrounded by gangsters and rapists who can kill with impunity, minimally supervised by privatized guards whose main business is smuggling drugs and cell phones to the prisoners.

we need to consider the safety of prisoners, by identifying and isolating the gangsters. rehabilitation, drug treatment, education need to be available.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I couldn't agree more - and especially get rid of "private" prisons

I'm surprised that John Oliver didn't get into that, too - but that's a topic for another show. The abuses are legendary at American prisons - and for nonviolent offenders, rehab, drug and alcohol treatment and residential settings are much more effective.

I've been in Alcoholics Anonymous for over 12 years and most counties have what they call Drug Treatment Court. For those they deem eligible, those with legal issues can choose "drug court" rather than jail. And from what I've seen, it's not an easy road - required counseling, regular testing, community service and classes. But I have heard from so many people who chose that route that though it's difficult, and it usually lasts even longer than a jail term, they're grateful that they chose it. In fact, so many (including a girl who is now one of my best friends) decide to go into counseling themselves to pay it forward.

[rampartc]

3. i did cold turkey on the alcohol

well i was told i was diabetic and about to lose a foot so i jist stopped drinking to give the antibiotics a better chance. just did not start again. much younger when i did a "diversion" program in lieu of a marijuana conviction. not ideal but i kept my job and avoided prison (that would have been angola in louisiana, a real vacation spot)

whoever had the idea of private sector prisons, well, i just don't think "capitalism" works that way. our prisoners deserve to be held by sworn guards with some kind of duty beyond a paycheck.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Yikes! That can't have been easy, so glad to hear that you made it through

And that is another thing, so many end up with serious health problems - or worse. I quit alcohol once before, years ago, when I got violently sick and though I was given medication, it did nothing for me and I felt so terrible that I had no wish to repeat it, so I avoided alcohol for a lot of years. But that was a long time ago and I forgot. So this time, at the suggestion of a friend, I tried going to AA. That was in 2008 and I still go. I've learned a lot, made some friends, but the important thing is that I see what can happen and I never want to go there again. And I reach out to others just as others reached out to me.

As for prison guards and administrators, as you said, it appears that they're choosing the wrong people who go into that as a career for the wrong reasons - same as the police that we keep hearing about recently. That "I don't know" guy made my blood boil. There are always going to be abuses, as there are in many fields, but there needs to be more rigorous screening - and education - for those who choose to get into what should necessarily be a tough and demanding field.

[underpants]

5. The City of Richmond's jail still isn't air conditioned as far as I know

I used to work with social workers who worked in there from time to time.

The jail had a problem with locks too at one point. Some cells didn’t actually lock.

[janterry]

6. Many of the FL prisons have no AC

I know, I worked in a few. Very very hot in the summer. It was even hotter in my clinical group - converted garage (tin roof, no AC).

They did give me a fan (LOL).

[Rhiannon12866]

9. That has to qualify as "cruel and unusual punishment."

[2Gingersnaps]

7. "I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man." Primo Levi

That crosses the line, more like dances over it, to sheer sadism. This country is drowning in untreated mental health. Mental health has never had parity with physical health and physical health is at the mercy of "for profit." It is not a prevention model, it is a for profit model. Abuse and trauma are far more pathological than smoking, obesity, or cancer. Yet, here we are. The foster system is the most failed government program in our history, the foster care to prison pipeline is well known. Historically, the biggest advances in medicine came during times of war. PTSD was never even an actual diagnosis until the Vietnam era, and if our government had it's way, it still would not be. Throw away people cost nothing. 🙄 Let's ignore the fact that it costs society so much more. Because seeing drug addiction, alcoholism, and social pathology as a personal failure-not as a person attempting to medicate themselves makes it easy to do nothing but collect a paycheck for "doing something." Like Mr. I Do Not Know.

[burrowowl]

8. Private prisons

capitalism at its best, especially in the U$ of A.
I had to send my friends in Europe articles before they believed me.