Private Prison Complex receives terrible news.

[Aractus]

Hopefully one day Americans will wake up and realise they are the 'leaders of the world', and should look to other countries for inspiration to improve their tumultuous society.

No doubt you'll happily volunteer to school us bumpkins.

I think you lose the seriousness in my post. The USA sees itself as "the leader of the free world" and therefore doesn't feel it should have to take advice from the rest of the free world. But the "free world" does not look to the USA as an example, in fact here in my corner of it one of the most popular political statements is "we don't want to be like America". That is usually to do with things like health, education, or government debt. But it also applies to prisons, rehabilitation, and the criminalisation of so-called "victimless crimes" like prostitution.

I'm not saying you should look only to Australia. But to Europe, countries like Iceland (where the first ever fatal police shooting occurred in 2013). The killing was a last resort, after they had tried to incapacitate the man with tear-gas and he still managed to shoot back at police (injuring two of them). And to Canada. And to Mexico too. And you should look to ROC (china) for inspiration with foreign policy.

You all know very well that if I had my wish, all nine nation-states that possess nukes would be irradiated off the face of the earth permanently. But I am comforted by the fact that 7 out of those nine have never actually used them at war-time - guess who the two asshole nations were that actually decided to detonate them over Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I rest my case.

[Thumpalumpacus]

No doubt you'll happily volunteer to school us bumpkins.

I think you lose the seriousness in my post.

You'd be wrong, but you've never let that stop you before.

[Crossless2.0]

I think you lose the seriousness in my post.

You might be right.

You all know very well that if I had my wish, all nine nation-states that possess nukes would be irradiated off the face of the earth permanently.

Then again . . .

[The Grand Nudger]

Why are you here, in this thread, Aractus......shitting on america?  Australia has for profit prisons as well..........in fact, last I checked...you guys had a higher ratio of prisoners in for profit prisons than anyone else in the world. Guess you do want to be like us after all, and hey..gratz on beating us at something.

Since you and I agree that this is regressive and absurd, perhaps you could put aside your petty nationalist envies and get onboard with me here, in this? Maybe when we both see this practice stopped, you can go back to telling the world that Mexico, fucking Mexico (?), is a shining beacon of inspiration relative to the mire that is the US of A.

[Aractus]

Australia has for profit prisons as well..........in fact, last I checked...you guys had a higher ratio of prisoners in for profit prisons than anyone else in the world.

Mexico has universal healthcare.

Yes you're right I should inform myself about these things fully. In my jurisdiction there is a human rights act, and there are no private prisons, in Vic (the only other jurisdiction with a human rights act in Australia) there are private prisons that would need to operate under it, but they don't appear to reduce the cost of incarceration compared with other parts of Australia. But look with this said, Australia has a normal-ish number of prisoners per 100,000, and our justice system is not systemically travelling in a direction that makes it harder for people to be rehabilitated and stay out of gaols. Obviously there are many problems within the system (Don Dale for example).



That's a cartoon by Bill Leak that was published in the Australian. It makes what I think is a good point, and that is that the whole culture of youth detention is extremely toxic - both in and out of so-called "detention centres" (gaols).

[Thumpalumpacus]

Looks like someone just moved the goalposts a little.

[The Grand Nudger]

Tossed in an absurdly racist cartoon as a bonus too.  Australia must -really- have their shit together.  Now, a moment from our corporate sponsors:

• Rat-infested food was served to inmates by a private vendor in Michigan, and other rotten or spoiled food items were served in that state and elsewhere. The same vendor reportedly underfed Michigan inmates.
  
  
• Privately-run prisons in Mississippi reportedly have two to three times the rate of violent assault as publicly run facilities.
  
  
• A private prison vendor has reportedly used juvenile offenders in Florida to subdue other young prisoners. “It’s the Lord of the Flies,” said Broward County’s chief assistant public defender. “The children are used by staff members to inflict harm on other children.”
  
  
• Nurses at a private prison chain in California threatened to strike over the inadequate health care, which one described as “unsafe,” and there have even been reported incidents of patient abuse.
  
  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernie-san...80124.html

[Pat Mustard]

My dear Rhythm - I'd call you a cynic if not for the fact that all of that bullshit is true.

David Gemmell once wrote (in one of his fantasy novels) that a cynic is simply an idealist whose been exposed to the shitty side of reality once too often (I'm paraphrasing). It's something I agree with.

[Jackalope]

My dear Rhythm - I'd call you a cynic if not for the fact that all of that bullshit is true.

David Gemmell once wrote (in one of his fantasy novels) that a cynic is simply an idealist whose been exposed to the shitty side of reality once too often (I'm paraphrasing). It's something I agree with.

I certainly can't argue against it.