
From pecan pralines to ‘dots’ as currency: how a prison's internal economy works - EliRivers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/30/prison-economy-informal-markets-alternative-currencies
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pontifier
This video by the onion, about the prison economy, is a favorite of mine:
[https://youtu.be/K2IYIJc1f00](https://youtu.be/K2IYIJc1f00)

In all seriousness, complementary currencies are a huge topic of interest for
me. Value exchange takes many forms when money is unavailable. Cash is
distilled power, but other forms of power and exchange will always exist.

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rags2riches
Related reading: The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp by R.A. Radford.

~~~
nathell
Another one: "Games Prisoners Play: The Tragicomic Worlds of Polish Prison" by
Marek Kamiński. Well worth reading – Kamiński is a sociologist who was
imprisoned in Poland by the communist regime, and formulated many behaviours
of inmates in terms of game theory.

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abraae
The US baffles me sometimes.

> He explained his case isn’t the worst: Timothy Jackson, a man caught
> stealing a jacket from a shop more than 20 years ago, is set to spend the
> rest of his life in Angola. The average sentence in Angola is almost 90
> years.

How can a civilised country allow this to be?

~~~
_iyig
Looks like a “three strikes” law, which imposes a mandatory heavy (in this
case, ridiculously heavy given the offenses) sentence after a certain number
of felony convictions:

“After this conviction under La.R.S. 14:67, Mr. Jackson was sentenced in
accordance with R.S. 15:529.1 A(1)(c)(ii), which states in pertinent part:

If the fourth or subsequent felony or any of the prior felonies is a felony
defined as a crime of violence under R.S. 14:2(13) ․ the person shall be
imprisoned for the remainder of his natural life, without benefit of parole,
probation, or suspension of sentence.

After a sentencing hearing at which the State proved Mr. Jackson's multiple
offender status, the trial court simply stated that “because of the specific
provisions of the law ․ the sentence must be ․ life imprisonment without
benefit of parole, probation or suspension.” Mr. Jackson has prior convictions
for simple burglary in 1991 and in 1986 and for simple robbery in 1979. Simple
robbery is listed as a crime of violence under La.R.S. 14:2(13).”

[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-court-of-
appeal/1042986.html](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-court-of-
appeal/1042986.html)

~~~
marvin
This is heartbreakingly cruel. It's hard to believe that an otherwise
civilized country can do this to its citizens.

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User23
How about having some sympathy for this man’s many victims and the people he
would have preyed on in the future? While a life sentence without parole
sounds excessive, he will never again rob or burgle or otherwise prey on the
citizens of that otherwise civilized country. The only reason to permit the
state monopoly on violence is because the state in turn keeps the peace. That
includes protecting its citizens from robbery and burglary.

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wbl
Most criminals don't commit crimes as they get older. The idea of lifelong
criminality is a myth. The certainty of a sentence is more important then its
duration, so these harsh sentences aren't deterring crime as effectively as
having more cops would.

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SamReidHughes
The purpose of the harsh sentence in three strikes laws isn't to deter crime,
it's to lock people up who are apparently undeterrable.

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EliRivers
Crazy, isn't it. If deterrence appears not to work, let's pick the most
expensive, wasteful alternative we can find! Taxpayers get a bad deal, society
gets a bad deal, everyone involved gets a bad deal. I suppose that's what we
get if the point isn't to make a better society but rather to indulge people's
revenge fantasies and messed up sense of satisfaction.

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temac
> Money is too risky to hold – making US prisons one of the few places on
> earth where the dollar is not accepted.

Yeah no. You can't buy in USD in tons of places around the world. Maybe the
most part. You can find an exchange, but that does not qualify to make a whole
country a place where the dollar is accepted.

~~~
whenchamenia
Not my experince. Even where the dollar is not usually accepted in practice,
it is known it can be converted into nearly any local currency. There is often
a delay and very poorly calculted exchange rate however.

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lonelappde
Money is like language. It's impossible to deprive a group of humans of it,
because it's in our nature to immediately invent it if we don't have it. What
else is like this?

~~~
kneel
Food, sex, and drugs are very ancient human commodities. Money is often thrown
in the mix to simplify things.

