Should prisoners be made to pay for there time in jail ???

Question

This includes all the expenses it costs to keep these people.Staff wages, Bed and Board etc.

When they were released would this not give them a sense of responsibilty to what there actions cost us tax payers and help them to be more responsible adults in the future.

I appreciate alot come out penniless but they could do work in the community till it's payed off even if it takes years.They still have there benefits to live on, like a lot of people do with out resorting to crime to get by !!! Is'nt it about making them responsible adults ?

Answer 1

They should pay for the whole damn lot...
The last thing I want to be doing is paying for people who are a threat to me and others around me.
It might deter people from commiting crime in the first place as is it claimed hanging and other forms of capital punishment don't do the job of putting people off well enough.

Answer 2

Prisoners do pay for their board and room, while in jail. In our county they pay $60.00 per day. That is a good amount and anytime money comes in to be placed into the canteen for supplies, the Jail takes it from them to pay on the board and room. The bill builds up and when the inmate gets released they don't have jobs and can not pay off the jail costs. Fines against the prisoners go unpaid and then puts the person in a staggering limited life. They can not get drivers license back until the fines are paid. Difficult to get a job. This does not teach them to be more responsible, but teaches them that they are very limited and not able to catch up , to live a normal, decent life. Don't worry, the criminal realizes what has happened to their lives. Some can pull them selves through the tough times and some can't. Hope you never have to experience some of the negatives, that these men/women have had to endure and fully realize where they went wrong. (I thank God, I've never been in jail !)

Answer 3

Being sent to prison was supposed to make offenders repay their debt to sociery by being deprived of the freedoms to live with their family, or to associate with their friends.

It was hoped that the harsh disipline regime and confinement would act as a deterrent against re-offending, and to be fair the system seemed to work quite well until, until the prison reformist sprang into action.

I will not bother to list the concessions made to prisoners culminating in this weeks revelation that prisoners were being given a key for their cell.

If prisons no longer act as a deterrent, what will?

As for paying for their keep they cannot and should not, they are there at our behest and not theirs.

As for the Home Offfice clawing back accomodation costs from people wrongly imprisoned, that is surreal, illegal and unjust.

Work gangs? Haven't we just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery? How long has the state been exempt from international law?

Yes, prisons should have workshops and work gangs, but they should be paid the going rate for the job and then let us talk about charging for their accommodation.

Getting people back into the habit of work and accepting personal responsibility for themselves and their actions may well help them rehabilitate themselves when released.

The home office is profiting from work contracts obtained through the use of enforced labour, paid a pittance.

Under international law, no one shall be held in servitude or slavery. It is a crime against humanity.

Answer 4

Yes they should. In COUNTY facilities there is little inside work detail, with few exceptions, which are volutarily based. There is also the lower level offenders that may qualify for "work release" in which case they hold a JOB and report to work for as many as ten hours per day.(in Pennsylvania) Their checks are either sent to the prison, to be dispursed to the prisoner through commisary requests, or they may be forwarded to the offenders spouse. The county receives NO MONEY from the offender. However if they require any medical attention it is given to them free of charge while incarcerated. Some counties absorb the charges and use them as tax write offs, while other counties have started billing the released prisoners for their medical bills, and nothing else.

In STATE facilities there are more oppportunities for work, for which they are compensated but at a very low rate. All of their health care as well as dental, and optical care is provided free of charge. Even for those who CHOOSE not to work the work details available to them. They have no work release program at the state level. However they are afforded the opportunity to further their education at the states expence.(yours and mine) This includes but is not limited to, associates degrees, bachelor degrees, and doctorites, all for free. Some of these people will never walk as a free man or woman again, but are not limited to the amount of money the prison may spend on them.

Both county and state facilities recieve TAX PAYER FUNDS, County facilities recieve fund from the county which are collected from property taxes and other county collected revenues, as well as monies collected through fines. State facilities recieve funds from the state which also include TAX PAYER FUNDS. Different states collect additional funds through a variety of different ways. Both state and county facilities MAY apply for additional FEDERAL funding, which again comes from the TAX PAYERS.

I, as a working man, cannot afford the "privileges" that the Prisoners are simply handed. Why shouldn't we expect some attempt at repayment for all of the things they have been given.

Answer 5

Er.. How? They have no income.

You possibly missed the recent story where 2 guys were released after 30 years following a miscarriage of justice. They won compensation but a whole wedge has been grabbed back to pay for the cost of keeping them in nick for a crime they didn't commit.

So apparently prisoners DO pay for there keep, but only if they're innocent.

Answer 6

Yes... but how? Prisoners have no income. Many of them have no money going in, and this is why they commit crimes. What little money they have is often spent on legal fees. Most of them, when they get out, never make enough money to sustain their lives properly. That is one reason there are so many repeat offenders. So, theoretically, it would definitely be nice to make them pay their way. But most of them couldn't if they wanted to. If they could, it is highly unlikely it would change their tune when they were released. Odds are it would simply increase their desire to get back the money they lost in prison, perhaps at all costs. It is a nice hypothesis you present, but when you apply it to reality, it just doesn't float.

Answer 7

Most prisoners work in the pen for nothing. (Well, they get paid 10 cents an hour for the very hard work). Putting it bluntly: slavery. The facilities have factories in them and inmates work there to produce the goods for the community AND to ran the facility. Most facilities are self-sufficient (did you imagine they would be able to run on the tax-payers funds?? You've got to be kidding me.) All of the inmates are supposed to work and surrender the percentage of their wages to the government after their release.
In short, you have NO idea what the hell you were talking about.

Answer 8

no - but i do believe that they should have to do work that helps save the prison money, or make items that can be sold for extra revenue. i used to work in a prison, and most of the cleaning / library / kitchen duties were carried out by inmates, supervised by one or two members of staff. i think things like that should be encouraged and expanded on... it benefits the prisoners - who get to spend productive time out of their cells, and it also benefits the prisons as they don't have to recruit members of the public to do those jobs, thus saving money that would otherwise be spent on their wages.

Answer 9

you are a complete idiot....oh i see you are a "tax payer",so fukkin what....who the fukk do you think you are...Tony Blair People like you should be imprisoned....then you would see what its like....havent we got enough idiots making arbitrary laws in this country....without more brain dead reactionary knobheads like you....i suppose if you had your way....we start building gas chambers....and no doubt...seeing how much tax you pay,you would be the first to drop the zyklon B........pathetic and pitiful....read some books instead of being a total ****

Answer 10

How would they do that? Most of them get out penniless. So how would they have make enough money to pay for their jail time? I don't think they should have to pay.