
The US inmates billed per night in jail - vector_spaces
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34705968
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overgard
Where I live, a lot of homeless people go to jail for the crime of being...
homeless (its usually a loitering charge I think). Then they get a charge for
it, which, they’re obviously not going to pay. This might happen to a person
10-100 times a year. Who is this serving?

(The obvious answer is to follow the money, but a big part of the problem is
the WASPy yuppies that want the homeless people out of sight but will raise a
fuss if anyone tries to build affordable housing.)

In the US, everyone thats part of administering our inhumane criminal justice
system should be deeply ashamed of their job. Corruption like this is just the
tip of the iceberg.

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duelingjello
For-profit prisons, corporations who enjoy legal slave labor (see also: 13th
amendment loophole) and their politician cronies.

The US has the highest per-capita incarceration rate on the planet except
Seychelles.

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btilly
This happened to a relative of mine.

He was thrown in jail on a rape charge. Fought in court, and won his freedom.
Then he received a bill for having been in jail.

Making it worse, this was at a private prison, and the sheriff who put him in
jail was on the board of directors for the prison. Can you spell "conflict of
interest"?

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m-p-3
Private prisons are a travesty of the justice system.

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vasco
What mental gymnastics do you have to do to justify putting all of the people
that are coming back to society at an already huge disadvantage under
crippling debt as a way to help reduce recidivism?

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countername
"30% of the money goes to the county and 70% goes to Intellitech" (collections
agent)

"The cost of running it is almost equal to what they bring in, he says."

"Our goal is to reduce recidivism. If we can use that money to turn around and
not see them again it's well worth it"

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riffic
The cruelty is the point.

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zepto
Perhaps we can have debtors prisons for those that owe jail fees.

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duelingjello
Absolutely. And for extra cruelty and humiliation, put people who are going
through bankruptcy due to terminal illness in there with them. :’(

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emmelaich
Clearly ripe for abuse just as Civil Forfeiture is.

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Booktrope
This story is 4 years old. No update?

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nine_zeros
The ef? This is like taxing to exist. How backwards is this? Wow!!

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wahern
Taxing to exist is call a capitation tax or poll tax. It's perfectly legal in
many jurisdiction and even explicitly permitted in the U.S. Constitution.
Though, penalties for inability to pay such a tax might run afoul of
Substantive Due Process rights, constitute a Cruel and Unusual Punishment, or
some similar open-ended clause; likewise for foreign constitutions.

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friendly_fren
This is beyond fucked up

