Is this the world’s most comfortable prison? Inmates at Bastoy enjoy sunbathing and fishing trips
52 replies, posted
[QUOTE=KorJax;39722815]This would be hard to do in the US preciesly because it'd be really expensive to maintain for our current prison population. Prison is already a massive moneypit in the US, and its going to be even worse with something like this.
[B]Which is exactly why we need to stop imprisoning people for stupid reasons, keep ACTUAL threats to society/etc in prison, and then maybe we could afford to rehabilitate the people who need it. Also would help to not have prisons privately ran in the US.[/B]
In other words this will never happen.[/QUOTE]
[B]Fun Fact:[/B] Around 2 million Americans are in jail at any given time, and three-quarters of those are for non-violent offenses, the majority of [I]those[/I] being drug possession.
Before the War on Drugs the US had a crime rate comparable to many European countries.
Oh well, you can thank Nixon for the Drug War.
[QUOTE=garychencool;39722650]I can probably see some people doing some stuff just to get into this place because it's much better than what they have now, or just for a vacation.[/QUOTE]
If they did, so what? They come out with an education and regimented lifestyle.
And that's assuming there is anyone who thinks like that. How likely is it, honestly, that someone would want to taken away from all they find familiar and more or less comforting? Not enough to be a drain on the public coffers, I'd wager.
Man sounds better then my life :v:
[QUOTE=Cmx;39722342]I wouldn't call it a prison, I would call it a criminal rehab facility.[/QUOTE]
Prison is meant to be a rehabilitation facility, but it just isn't the case with 95% of the prisons in the world.
[QUOTE=Castiel451;39725446]Man sounds better then my life :v:[/QUOTE]
Are you able to go on vacation? Drive down to the store? Visit friends?
These guys can't.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;39724354][B]Fun Fact:[/B] Around 2 million Americans are in jail at any given time, and three-quarters of those are for non-violent offenses, the majority of [I]those[/I] being drug possession.
Before the War on Drugs the US had a crime rate comparable to many European countries.
Oh well, you can thank Nixon for the Drug War.[/QUOTE]
or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.
[QUOTE=garychencool;39722650]I can probably see some people doing some stuff just to get into this place because it's much better than what they have now, or just for a vacation.[/QUOTE]
It's Norway
If you have it worse than that prison the government there provides tons of assistance without having to commit a crime
[QUOTE=areolop;39726781]or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.[/QUOTE]
uhm
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate[/url]
mind you, the US has the highest [i]per-capita[/i] incarceration rate in the world
size doesn't matter as much when the country is neatly divided into 50 individual states with individual governments and more people are jailed (officially) per-person than any other developed nation
[QUOTE=areolop;39726781]or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://media.reason.com/mc/jtaylor/prisons1.jpg?h=407&w=598[/img]
[QUOTE=NoDachi;39726899][img]http://media.reason.com/mc/jtaylor/prisons1.jpg?h=407&w=598[/img][/QUOTE]
Sweet fucking jesus. What the shit?
[QUOTE=MuTAnT;39727019]Sweet fucking jesus. What the shit?[/QUOTE]
You can blame the vast majority of that on drug related charges.
And yeah, we'd still probably be the highest even if we decriminalized drugs, but the disparity wouldn't be so massive.
On that note, decriminalization would actually help reduce non-drug related crimes; removing the drugs from gangs removes a potent source of income, and thus they become smaller and more manageable (although revitalization of urban centers with education reforms to combat the cycle of poverty would do a better job, decriminalization wouldn't hurt.)
[QUOTE=MuTAnT;39727019]Sweet fucking jesus. What the shit?[/QUOTE]
Land of the Free™
[QUOTE=areolop;39726781]or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.[/QUOTE]
crime rate is a percentage you dunce
[QUOTE=areolop;39726781]or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.[/QUOTE]
Actually it kind of is.
In 1980 (before the War on Drugs became a huge thing) the US had an incarceration rate of 150 prisoners per 100,000. To put this in perspective, France is at 98 and the UK is at 153. What is it now? 760 per 100,000.
Want to know the sad thing about all this? The 1980s were also, coincidentally, when violent crime rates were at their highest in the US. In other words, if the US never had a War on Drugs (or if we properly dismantled it) we could be enjoying an incarceration rate equal to or lower than Europe.
Rehabilitation is way more important than punishment is when it comes to the serious crimes these people committed. A modern prison is design to keep the dangerous people out of society until they can return to it instead of punishing them without really telling them "that was the wrong thing to do" sweeping a problem under the rug does not remove it, which is why more countries need to adopt this view of prison
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;39722619]This still happens in first world countries?[/QUOTE]
I'm Canadian, and my friend's dad went to jail for a bit for dealing drugs. In there he met a guy who literally could not read or write. He met others who had grade school educations. In general, the guys who were in and out often had poor educations and no skills to offer. Mental instability was another common theme.
[QUOTE=KorJax;39722815]This would be hard to do in the US preciesly because it'd be really expensive to maintain for our current prision population. Prision is already a massive moneypit in the US, and its going to be even worse with something like this.
Which is exactly why we need to stop imprisioning people for stupid reasons, keep ACTUAL threats to society/etc in prision, and then maybe we could afford to rehabilitate the people who need it. Also would help to not have prisions privately ran in the US.
In other words this will never happen.[/QUOTE]
Privatized prisons making money from keeping prisoners + War On Drugs = retarded amount of people in jail. To make matters worse, many of the US jails are overpopulated and unsafe as fuck. Not a pretty picture.
This is good. Prisons are supposed to help turn criminals into functioning members of society, not make them worse. Although ideally you'd reduced the number of people forced into that situation in the first place.
Reminds me about something I heard about game theory once - you're more likely to win if you give someone who betrays your trust a second chance.
[QUOTE=areolop;39726781]or, you know, we could blame that the US is bigger than all european countries combined. You cant spin that all our crime is due to drugs. We have a bigger population and land-area than most-all other places in this world.[/QUOTE]
Nice job with that researching thing.
[QUOTE=Cushie;39722996]I agree, but I think the issue is also living conditions like this are better than a large amount of people in the US, so people would naturally be against criminals being given better living conditions than a law abiding person for committing a crime. It isnt as much of a problem in Norway because its a wealthy country with good living standards.[/QUOTE]
Does anyone else remember the shitstorm about 5 to 7 years ago (I think) when the media found out that prisoners were getting healthcare, and being put on lists for organ donations like heart transplants?
People were unbelievably mad about that.
[QUOTE=MuTAnT;39727019]Sweet fucking jesus. What the shit?[/QUOTE]
This was my reaction as well when I first started learning about the very basics of this in high school. It legitimately blew my mind.
[QUOTE=Cushie;39722325]It's worth noting that Bastoy [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/196pe7/norwegian_prison_where_inmates_are_treated_like/]has one of the lowest reoffending rates in the world[/url]
People like to flip their shit at the fact that the prisoners get these luxuries, but I suggest reading the top comment in the link I posted. They also still have their freedom taken away.
Also its worth noting that Norway is a very rich country with good infrastructure and living standards, [B]it would be understandable for people to be annoyed that prisoners in their own country had better living standards than a large percentage of the populace[/B], but it isnt really the case here.[/QUOTE]
Which is funny because in America, Prisoners get a room with a roof, 3 meals a day, free water, time outside, time in woodshops, beds, toilets, boardgames, healthcare (including coverage of medications!), and a snack machine. (best case scenario)
A homeless guy living in the park is unlikely to have any of those. [I]Maybe[/I] a toilet if the park has 'em. Perhaps water as well, but even my town turned off water to the park to stop people from using it as a source.
[QUOTE=Cmx;39722342]I wouldn't call it a prison, I would call it a criminal rehab facility.[/QUOTE]
Which imo we need more of.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.