There seems to be more and more rubbish littering the countryside. We could pursue the cretins who do it with firearms and hunting dogs but, less controversially, why can't some of the thousands of people in jail, or on 'community programmes' be made to clear it up?
2007-02-25 09:56:21 · 30 answers · asked by lotsmorewine 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
In the county that I work for we have community service workers who are serving a sentence in jail and they go out in the winter and shovel snow and the summer clean up parks, cemeteries, and county streets.
2007-02-25 10:00:58 · answer #1 · answered by johnny chaos 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When we lived in Louisiana, they did this all the time. They had lots of guards out and signs telling drivers to "not stop". I haven't seen it in Texas, but they should be allowed to do something other than sit in prison and watch subscriber tv programs and get college degrees with our tax money. From the tv reports, the prisoners have it easier in there than we do on the outside! I understand that most are not even rehabilitated or taught a skill before they are released again. So yes, let them pick up trash, learn to landscape and do other helpful supervised community services.
2007-02-25 10:09:38 · answer #2 · answered by KT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The problem is that it would mean prisoners are taken from a secure jail and put in a public place to collect litter. The primary concern would be how to stop anyone escaping or being snatched from an armed gang. If you're in prison it's for a good reason and even low danger criminals have contacts that might want to spring them.
The cost of security to watch the prisoners and ensure there's no attempt to snatch them into freedom would be 10 times the cost of employing litter pickers from people that are not in jail.
I agree with your basic view though. They should do something that helps pay for their keep.
2007-02-25 10:05:34 · answer #3 · answered by Cracker 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
In some areas this is done. There are often prisoners clearing up trash along the highways where I live. It might be a more effective deterant to littering, if litterers were sentenced to a week or so of trash collection.
2007-02-25 10:01:45 · answer #4 · answered by fangtaiyang 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Our community corrections program uses offenders who have been sentenced to community service to pick up trash along the road side. They do other things, also. For example, the adult road crew just painted the county offices as part of their daily work.
We have adult and juvenile road crews in my county. Adults serve during the week, and juveniles serve on the weekends.
These people have committed an offense against the community, and road crew is a way for them to pay the community back.
2007-02-25 14:09:02 · answer #5 · answered by Mama Pastafarian 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thousands of serving prisoners are let out of jail every day from open prisons to work as community service volunteers.
i should add that these prisoners are risk assessed as non-dangerous before being allowed out and are near the end of their sentence.
csv placements cover a wide range of applications , inc , charity shop workers, graveyard tending, public service applications such as nhs hospitals, local authority maintenance etc.
they get nothing in payment for this work and they have to complete this csv placement as part of their release plan.
during your day to day life you will have seen / met and interacted with lots of these people and you would never know.
contact your local authority and suggest prisoner involvment in litter picking, quite often the authority will not be aware that they can use prisoners in this way.
i hope this will help you.
2007-02-25 10:18:03 · answer #6 · answered by jardon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes they absolutely should. Can you imagine the human rights brigade though - it would be seen as an abuse of their rights to drag them away from the comfort of their room, tvs, playstations,gyms etc. God forbid they should actually contribute to society. However, I do also believe that people who live cradle to grave on benefits should be made to do voluntary work - maybe something a bit better than picking up rubbish but, put something back into society. That would stop the scroungers wouldn't it - having to actually do something for their free money. Whenever you have a society that gives money away for nothing you will have abusers - rant over!!
2007-02-25 10:02:11 · answer #7 · answered by Bexs 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
More than likely there are union members who object to the use of prisoners to clean things up. Personally I think everyone that is collecting from entitlement programs should be assigned jobs. Far too many people lay around and collect food stamps, housing credits and other aid instead of working. Having children is easier for them than working. Why should we pay for their vacation??
2007-02-25 10:02:50 · answer #8 · answered by mr conservative 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the sentiment, however, In this country (and I believe Europe as a whole) it's contrary to human rights to make prisoners work to "keep" themselves incarcerated. Additionally we are not allowed to make prisoners undertake tasks of a demeaning nature (although perfectly respectable citizens are employed as road sweepers). As I said in my opening gambit fully support the use of non-dangerous prisoners in cleaning up; but the human rights authorities don't agree.
2007-02-25 10:15:54 · answer #9 · answered by emrit4 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Where have you been?. All across the country everyday there are thousands of prisoners cleaning up the hiways and biways. This has been going on for 10 years now.
GOD BLESS/GOOD LUCK!!
2007-02-25 10:00:37 · answer #10 · answered by Chuck-the-Duck 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋