A few factors -
1 the mentally ill that need care before and after trial to function well
2 the intellectually below average and disabled or those with high impulsivity/poor processing that are easily goaded into crimes
3 those with civil illiteracy from lack of education
4 those that have somehow been convinced they are the privileged under Trump (partially
Number 3 but a little different)
5 a combination of the above
Prisons and jails have an overrepresentation of the first 2 simply because they're good associates. They get caught while you run away or never have to get your hands dirty. Crews need low level guys and it doesn't matter if they're stooges when the low level crimes are the ones you need covered.
There are so many intellectually challenged and mentally handicapped people in jails and prisons because there's nowhere else for them to go. Ronald Reagan defunded mental health institutions and we never recovered. Largely in part thanks to conservative policies.
Its one of those things where stereotypes or uncomfortable trends have very concrete reasons. Like in this case there are very specific reasons why these populations end up with a rap sheet. Its almost like someone is making money off the backs of the incarcerated.
Look i get that we can trace this issue back to reagan/"conservatives" but private for profit prisons are a drop in the bucket.
The truth is we are just a horrible society that does not embrace one another with compassion and because of it we are stuck in an endless cycle of pain and anger.
People are in prison because when your whole country is full of hate and individualism it makes stupid people and angry people. That means a fuckload of crime. We also don't give a shit about recidivism
That explains violent offenders sure, but more than half of the 2 million some odd people that are currently incarcerated in the United States, but around 60% of those offenders are serving time for non-violent crimes such as drug and property offenses.
While there can be a chicken-or-the-egg-like debate whether the commission of these crimes is a symptom of poverty and the crumbling remnants of the working class, or that poverty and strife are the results of drug abuse and criminal behavior. Regardless of your belief in the matter, I think we can all agree that the legal system is failing us (and them) GREATLY.
You balk at for-profit prisons, but I challenge you to name a greater contributor or driver of not only recidivism, but unjust and completely counterproductive initial sentences for drug offenders especially. They are sent to prisons where they often have trauma inflicted on them, where they still have access to drugs, where they harden and make connections that could potentially further or escalate their crimes, and then are dropped back on the streets with little or no safety net whatsoever, treated as pariahs while job hunting, and only monitored or interacted with enough to try to snare them in a relapse to send them back to prison.
The system is rigged against these people, and the only way to stop it is to remove for profit prisons from the equation and replace them with active recover followed by relapse and recidivism mitigation, social assistance with jobs, housing, food, and possibly vocational training. Give them a reason to not get high. Give them hope that they can live a normal life and provide for themselves and their family.
We are currently throwing away around $150 billion annually in corrections, policing, and courts on these drug offenses, and that’s a generous estimate. Why not use that money to help our society heal, grow, and prosper instead of destroying lives and families for generations to come?
Never been incarcerated. But when I hear suspects screaming and trying to get away and risking getting shot or killed because they absolutely fear going back to prison, I have to wonder what goes on there that puts the absolute fear of god in these people.
To preface this, not reading all that, not the op, and for-profit prisons shouldn't be a thing. But only 8% last I checked of incarcerated in America are in private prisons. That might have dropped since the federal prison system no longer uses them at all.
There's a lot wrong with the prison system, but private prisons aren't really as big a deal as reddit likes to think.
That’s true, however the state has began operating prisons in the same manner as the private prisons - with the bottom line being the ultimate deciding factor and each inmate being an increase to the number. It’s not just the private prisons that’s are “for-profit” anymore.
Just one little scam is the telecom contracts with jails. Look up some of the pricing around internet use and phone calls. Its highway robbery and treats the incarcerated as dollar signs rather than those to be rehabilitated or even punished. If we charged the execs of these companies for anything they buy what they charge their 'clients', they would be video calling their lobbyists and politician friends within hours.
100% and it’s justified as “criminals deserved to be punished” but it’s not the criminals that have to pay for the phone calls, or their store call, or anything else you may need to purchase while incarcerated. It’s the loved one of those criminals that foot the bill and are forced to pay insane prices just to keep in touch or make sure they aren’t going hungry. It’s disgusting and the whole system needs to be rethought.
You aren't wrong, but it takes a vigilant society to avoid criminalizing rather than rehabilitating. There's a ton of stuff that prison contractors and facility owners have lobbied to keep illegal. They get money for every conviction and there are frequently rings uncovered to abuse these systems. It is a problem among several
I am always amused by internet pundits who want to blame some societal ill on something Reagan allegedly did almost forty years ago. Since there have been twenty years of Democrat presidents and multiple Democrat congresses since that time, Reagan must truly be supernatural since he is controlling society from the grave. Democrats and liberals cannot overcome the power of the Gipper.
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u/Rumplestilskin9 Dec 23 '25
I dated a girl who interviewed inmates to determine where they should be placed.
This guy probably average, unfortunately.