As the economy continues to fail, will prison become a viable choice for many?

[Hugabear]

I know full well that jail or prison is not a desirable place to be. It's completely degrading to have your freedom taken away from you, being told when to wake up, when to eat, when to work (for very little pay), when to shower, when to exercise, when to go to bed, etc. There's the constant threat of violence, both from other inmates and correctional officers. Diseases like TB are more prevalent in prisons.

But yet I can't help but wonder. If the economy continues to worsen, as people wake up to the realization that most of these jobs that we've outsource are not coming back, how many people might decide they'd be better off in prison? If you can't afford a place to live, food, medical help, etc, I can see how some people might just act out of desperation.

[OHdem10]

1. Crime increases with Economic Slowdowns.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Do you mean become a viable choice for MORE people? or for new people?

...as prison has long been a more tolerable place for former incarcerants than the outs.

Will the real world become so challenging that people will deliberately break the law to be imprisoned, because of the economy?

I can imagine that happening, it probably already has in a few cases.

[Fumesucker]

4. The homeless routinely do this in places it gets really cold in the winter..

It's been happening for a long, long time and it's going to get worse..

Imagine being homeless in the current snowmageddon.

[Hugabear]

5. Probably both

I know that during my brief stint in jail, there were people in there who would get released, and be back within a few days. For some people, it sadly is a way of life, the only thing they really know. It's where many of their acquaintances are. And it doesn't help that many people on the outside have a mentality of "if you've ever committed a crime, then fuck yourself for life". It can be extremely difficult to find a decent paying job, which just leads that person back into a cycle of crime.

Then I would suppose that there would be people who have no true knowledge of what prison life is like, and think of it as "three squares and a cot". To them, prison might seem more desirable than sleeping on the street or in some overcrowded homeless shelter.

[bridgit]

3. Not in California

[bluesbassman]

6. More likely an increase in military enlistment.

On edit, I thought I should say "more likely among young and able bodied". I'm afraid that you may have a point where poeple who don't have the enlistment option are considered.

Sad state of affairs. Sad indeed.

[alp227]

7. Many people already answered "Yes" to your question

Think about it. In the city of Vallejo, California, there's been a huge crime wave as the mayor laid off police officers and cut their pay. Thus, the county sheriff had to start increasing patrols in that city. Ditto with the nearby Richmond and Oakland. Those people have nothing they can think of doing other than using society as target practice or a pinata.

[AllentownJake]

8. Nope

Unless you commit federal crimes. The states don't have the money for Prisons.

[AlienGirl]

9. The corporations and churches will be happy to step in to help!

A corporation can sell a prisoner's labor to other corporations, keep almost all of the wages the prisoner earns, and bill the prisoner's family for rent and food.

Faith-based prisons have also started to crop up.

Imagine: Xe can build a network of faith-based for-profit prisons...

Tucker

[TexasObserver]

10. No.

[earth mom]

11. The military will be a way better choice for many. Just like the powers that be planned it. nt

[undergroundpanther]

12. if it is 'framed' as 'debtors prisons'

Where families can 'work off' debts.It won't be seen for what it is,(slave labor).I think it will be sold in the language of taking 'personal responsibility' for financial stress.There are lots of self rightious people who are aghast at imagined 'foolish' spending habits of others who have debts or are poor.

[jtrockville]

13. Three hots, a cot, and a doc. This might be an attractive option for some.

[lunatica]

14. When prisons become privatized there's no guarantee

that conditions in them will be survivable. I imagine slave labor, poor living conditions and squalor will prevail. Who's gonna stop them?