Sampo Syreeni wrote:
Yep, the US does lock a whole lot of people up. But what about the constant whining about "overflowing prisons", then.
Unfortunately, "whining" is just that. Not much is done about it.
Or the many instants where prisoners are put on parole en masse to cut costs and/or to free up prison real estate?
That's really a separate problem having to do with our insane mandatory sentencing laws (primarily for drug-related offenses). When they do release folks, they are usually the ones convicted of really vicious crimes.
There would be ways to control this too. One way is to make it possible for inmates to sue for damage due to overcrowding and the violence it causes. This would make for a superlinear increase in cost, and eventual balancing in the density of inmates.
Well that would be nice, but why not focus in on the real problem, too many laws? Forget suing, leave parole alone, just get rid of the myriad of laws.
From the standpoint of individual freedom, one might argue that more people are now hurting.
Than what, Utopia? That isn't the choice now. It's between getting out or staying in a hell-hole prison. Nobody is hurt by parole. Get rid of the laws and the parole issue goes away by itself.
...the cost of putting people away should be high enough to become prohibitive for anything but the most serious of crimes.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda. It's not, so why fantasize? Nobody is hurt by parole, itself. Eliminate the bad laws, they are the real problem. S a n d y