alt Hacker NewsBecause it creates perverse incentive for government to put more people in prison.
Right now the punishment is confinement. When you add effectively unpaid labour in prison as part of acceptable punishment, you're also paving the way for a future where unpaid labor as a standalone punishment is also acceptable. That's just slavery by law.
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> Because it creates perverse incentive for government to put more people in prison.
Except for some rare cases, I think you'll find that the cost of keeping an inmate in prison for a day makes it that you never break even
So if we could set it up in a way where there is no slippery slope, you would be okay with it?
Not really a perverse incentive. The government isn’t making any money here. They’re paying someone from their own pocket only to take it away again?
At that point it really is just slavery, which they can already do as protected in the US Constitution.
(I’m not arguing for this. I agree with restitution and believe that sentences longer than a certain point are also pointless and a net negative to society.)
Outside in society, I have to work to pay my rent, to pay for my food.
Inside a prison, should they not have a similar responsibility? They commit a crime and as such are held in stasis? Should they not at least carry the burden of themselves