SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!

[Julian2]

I personally don't like the idea of them doing any work that deprives someone else of a job.

 

The guy with the contract for clearing weeds along the road is told that he's lost out because the prison's doing it with free labour.

 

So he fires all his workers who then go out and and steal to supplement their welfare money, end up in jail, where Sheriff Joe is pleased to see them because he needs experienced workers for his road gangs.

[Flashermac]

This has been making the rounds for a year or more now. I doubt if he's at it "again".

 

[Faustian]

It sounds like Sheriff Joe is setting himself up nicely for later life..getting some businesses going, near slave labour etc.

 

I liked that he was getting prisoners doing something positive, but then he is using them as slaves, probably to feather his own nest.

 

Making people live in conditions where the temperature is 138 F is inhumane and sadistic. He's an odd mix of the progressive and the concentration camp. I agree with his thinking that prison isn't supposed to be a soft option, it should be tough and unpleasant to a degree, but abusing prisoners isn't going to help them and they will leave with lower self esteem and confidence, which are both risk factors associated with reoffending.Anyway, Joe wont want the offending rates to go down, as who would staff his pet projects????? He needs the criminals!

[Torneyboy]

Sounds like a Judge Roy Bean type..

[Julian2]

Looks like he's set for life.

Crime increases in Maricopa county

 

[zen4dummies]

A great post!

[shygye]

Now' date=' I'm all for punishing criminals, etc. but I cringe a little when I hear they get pennies an hour. I'm assuming they can be legally excluded from minimum wage laws.

 

[/quote']

 

Unlike people who have to survive on minimum wage on the outside or in 3rd world countries for that matter, prisoners have everything they need to sustain their life provided by the prison system. The wages allow them to earn a bit of money for extra's from the commissary if THEY CHOOSE to work.

 

The problem is it punishes people, who committed no crime, by unfair subsidized competition. You can't be hired at the animal shelter because a prisoner will do the work for pennies and NO benefits. You can't get hired to do road work because prisoners do it for pennies.

[Damen]

 

The problem is it punishes people, who committed no crime, by unfair subsidized competition. You can't be hired at the animal shelter because a prisoner will do the work for pennies and NO benefits. You can't get hired to do road work because prisoners do it for pennies.

 

Many subsidies create unfair competition. Government subsidies to healthy industries & wealthy corporations ensure unfair competition which allow those business to keep a stranglehold on their respective markets.

 

Unfortunately subsidies are generally handed out not based on need, but on the power of lobbyist and special interest groups. I don't see why the American Prison system would be any different, especially when you consider that privatization of the prision system is big business.

 

I don't think anyone said it was fair but it certainly not much different than what happens in the Corporate world on a daily basis.

 

 

[Damen]

Frankly, I think Sheriff Joe is a bit of a load.

 

I'd have to agree with you. I like some of his policies but having seen him in many interviews, he comes off as a tool.

 

I'm far from being right wing but agree with being tough on crime. I don't see any reason why convicted felons should live better or more comfortably than a senior citizen living at or below the poverty line.

 

That being said, he comes off as being smarmy and condescending the times I've seen him on TV.

 

 

[Steve]

Many subsidies create unfair competition. Government subsidies to healthy industries & wealthy corporations ensure unfair competition which allow those business to keep a stranglehold on their respective markets.

 

 

 

 

That is a HUGE problem in the U.S. and one of the main reasons why national healthcare won't work. The interested parties (HMOs, drug companies, AMA for doctors) are all too powerful and the politicians will appease them at the expense of the people.