[HN Gopher] In illinois, a warden tried to fix an abusive prison
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       In illinois, a warden tried to fix an abusive prison
        
       Author : Anon84
       Score  : 90 points
       Date   : 2023-11-15 17:43 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.themarshallproject.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.themarshallproject.org)
        
       | MiguelHudnandez wrote:
       | It seems like bodycams for guards is an appropriate direction to
       | go. People in positions of power should not be able to abuse
       | those in their charge with no repercussions.
        
         | meepmorp wrote:
         | I'd also like to see police and prison officer's unions
         | eliminated. They frequently work to keep people in jobs when
         | they really need to be removed from their position, and given
         | the huge amount of power officers have over vulnerable people,
         | that's very much not in our collective best interest.
         | 
         | We need to police the police much more strictly.
        
           | pixl97 wrote:
           | >I'd also like to see police and prison officer's unions
           | eliminated.
           | 
           | There is a particular balance that is needed here... This
           | just shifts the abuse to the typical abuse non-unionized
           | workers receive. Low pay, bad working conditions, dangerous
           | working conditions which leads to more staff rotation and
           | increasing danger in the work environment.
        
             | zem wrote:
             | and it will in turn lead to situations where bribes are a
             | cop's main source of income
        
             | giraffe_lady wrote:
             | Cops and prison guards aren't workers in the sense that
             | labor unions are based on. They are part of the
             | infrastructure that determines who works, where & how,
             | under what conditions, and to whose benefit. I don't mean
             | to dehumanize them but in the mechanism of labor relations
             | their role is more related to coordination and coercion
             | than it is to production.
             | 
             | Like if everyone's bosses organized, what they would have
             | isn't a labor union but something else. Police unions use
             | the nomenclature of labor unions but they are actually a
             | different thing.
        
               | pixl97 wrote:
               | " prison guards aren't workers in the sense that labor
               | unions are based on"
               | 
               | So, this shows that you have zero idea what the inside of
               | prisons are like for it's employees.
               | 
               | A captain level at a jail would tell a corrections
               | officer to go into a pit of angry inmates in a heartbeat,
               | and in general the unions for these officers are what
               | help push the rules to keep said officers from getting
               | killed, or working double shifts.
               | 
               | A good thing and a bad thing can happen with a system
               | operating normally.
        
               | giraffe_lady wrote:
               | You're getting twisted up thinking I'm making a value
               | judgement about morality or whatever; it's not about
               | goodness or badness.
               | 
               | If a group of business owners coordinates for the benefit
               | of their shared interests, what they have is a business
               | association or chamber of commerce or cartel not a labor
               | union. This is despite the fact that their work
               | individually could be grueling or dangerous, or they have
               | an even worse boss or whatever.
               | 
               | Cops and prison guards, like business owners, are part of
               | the system that coordinates who produces value, when and
               | where. But they do not produce that value, and so their
               | organizations aren't labor unions. It's not merely a
               | semantic point either: they have working conditions sure
               | but their goals and tools are different because of this
               | relationship. From a guard's perspective the ideal prison
               | has no prisoners in it; the second best has them drugged
               | and restrained at all times. How would a union reconcile
               | either of these things?
               | 
               | And you're right, I've only ever been in a prison as a
               | prisoner. What's your experience being employed in one?
        
               | pixl97 wrote:
               | >What's your experience being employed in one
               | 
               | A very close family member had a 27 year career as a
               | corrections officer until they retired.
               | 
               | But pretty much point you on here is stupid beyond
               | belief. Do you think anyone at any job wants to do
               | anything if the other option was getting paid for doing
               | nothing?
               | 
               | The workers at low levels in these organizations are
               | treated like shit, just like every business that has low
               | paid, low skill jobs. Why in the living hell would you
               | think that a corrections officer is "part of the system".
               | I'd say, "Hey go get one of those jobs and you'll see",
               | but it sounds like you're eliminated from the category.
        
             | storf45 wrote:
             | Can you speak more to what balance is needed? Not being
             | able to terminate bad actors severely impacts the ability
             | to improve the situation. The union rep seemed to shift
             | blame throughout out the entire article.
             | 
             | From the article:
             | 
             | Bergami and Whitmore said they also tried to fire an
             | officer who they saw on video throwing away prisoners'
             | mail, a possible felony. The agency also overruled them in
             | that decision, they said. The bureau did not respond to
             | allegations of staff destroying mail."How do you root out
             | the bad apples if you're not allowed to terminate those who
             | have been recommended for termination?" Whitmore said.The
             | two former Thomson officials and a current prison employee
             | said the attitude among many guards was reflected by a
             | group who refused to wear their issued uniforms. These
             | officers opted instead for black T-shirts, many with the
             | union logo or the skull logo of The Punisher -- a vigilante
             | comic book character popular with far-right groups. They
             | called themselves "The Black Shirt Mafia."
             | 
             | Also: Seems like they might be looking at lots of staff
             | rotation anyway (union or not):
             | https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/thomson-
             | prison...
        
             | TaylorAlexander wrote:
             | The general argument from the pro-unionists is that police
             | are agents of the state and agents of the state aren't
             | normal workers in need of typical union protections.
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | I'm a pro-unionist, anti-police, and I don't really buy
               | that argument.
               | 
               | All that you need is rule of law, rather than carving out
               | special cases for police unions.
               | 
               | Unfortunately, while all animals are equal under the law,
               | but some animals are more equal[1] then others...
               | 
               | [1] Still waiting for a cop in my town going 50 over the
               | speed limit, with no lights or sirens running down a
               | woman at a pedestrian crossing to be charged. We're
               | almost coming up to a year anniversary on it!
        
               | lesuorac wrote:
               | I wouldn't recommend making a special case for _police_
               | unions.
               | 
               | Unions shouldn't be allow to have management and non-
               | management in the same union. The guy evaluating your
               | performance (police commissioner) should not be allowed
               | to be in the same union regardless of if you are police
               | or tech.
        
               | pixl97 wrote:
               | Why would the state not abuse its workers? In theory the
               | 'union' portion of representation should be codified into
               | the rules the departments are under, but they are not.
               | Prisons will gladly have you work double shifts where
               | they are allowed even though it's insanely dangerous.
        
       | louwrentius wrote:
       | If you can't fire people who misbehave:
       | 
       | 1. You are not in charge
       | 
       | 2. The problems are with upper management specifically condoning
       | the behavior
        
         | shadowgovt wrote:
         | The biggest challenge with improving systems such as
         | corrections is sometimes "upper management" is "the public" (in
         | the form of voters who will sack anyone who tries to spend
         | public money to improve circumstances because the voters simply
         | believe "fuck criminals").
        
       | Crunchified wrote:
       | Good article, but I wonder why the photo of Thomson Correctional
       | Center appears to show it to be an Illinois Department of
       | Corrections prison rather than a federal prison?
        
         | tomjakubowski wrote:
         | The federal government bought the prison from Illinois in 2012.
         | Must be an old photo
        
         | alwaysrunning wrote:
         | I am assuming it's an old picture? fm Wikipedia
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Th...
         | 
         | "In October 2012, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) purchased
         | Thomson Correctional Center from the State of Illinois for $165
         | million."
        
       | autoexec wrote:
       | Our prison system is inhumane and our treatment of prisoners is
       | torture. I don't doubt there will be a lot of resistance to
       | cleaning the system up because basically everyone involved is
       | guilty and won't like the idea of suddenly being vulnerable to
       | being held accountable for what they've been doing.
       | 
       | There's still a strong culture in the US that fetishizes
       | punishment. A disturbingly high number of people want criminals
       | to go to prison and get beaten and raped. They don't care how
       | many innocent people get caught up in it as long it isn't them
       | personally and so long as at least some people they feel "deserve
       | it" are being tortured. I'd like to think that those attitudes
       | will change and eventually we'll start improving things, but I
       | don't see it happening any time soon.
        
         | alwaysrunning wrote:
         | Not to mention their cut in untaxed income should they stop
         | smuggling contraband for gangs.
        
         | manicennui wrote:
         | They also don't think about what happens to these people when
         | they are eventually released.
        
         | drewcoo wrote:
         | > There's still a strong culture in the US that fetishizes
         | punishment.
         | 
         | Go to the movies. Sex is such a taboo that if it's depicted in
         | detail it is unfit for adult theaters. Maiming and killing is
         | ok even for children.
         | 
         | Our morals are upside down. And constantly being reinforced to
         | stay that way.
        
           | Dah00n wrote:
           | The same movies are shown in Scandinavian cinemas, and the
           | prisons there are most definitely not in any way similar. I
           | believe it is part of the US mentality. Like the SUV, guns,
           | "Freedom", etc. Hollywood portray the US, not the other way
           | around.
        
             | autoexec wrote:
             | > The same movies are shown in Scandinavian cinemas
             | 
             | Maybe it's better now but Scandinavia has had their moments
             | of censorship keeping those "same movies" out of theaters.
             | Sweden banned The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Mad Max, and
             | even ET (for ages under 11). Norway banned Ichi the Killer,
             | I Spit on Your Grave, and A Serbian Film.
        
         | froh wrote:
         | it's not just punishment.
         | 
         | per the constitution forced / slave labor is only abolished for
         | non-prisoners. prisoners are no citizens. many loose the right
         | to vote, too.
         | 
         | and _that_ again is a major reason why marijuana was made a
         | felony crime.
        
           | autoexec wrote:
           | The use of prison slaves is slowly changing. Some states have
           | passed laws to ban the practice
           | (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63578133) although
           | even there enforcement needs a lot of work
           | (https://www.npr.org/2023/11/13/1210564359/slavery-prison-
           | for...) but I'm encouraged by the direction things are
           | headed. It's an uphill battle since corporations are fighting
           | like hell to keep their slaves. Big companies like aramark,
           | mcdonald's, walmart, target, victoria's secret, microsoft,
           | whole foods, starbucks, and wendys have profited heavily from
           | the prison plantation system. It's impressive that there's
           | been as much success putting a stop to it as there has been.
        
             | jstarfish wrote:
             | Before private labor, we put them on chain gangs, and
             | deemed that inhumane when cars veering off the road would
             | gouranga the entire crew.
             | 
             | We call it _slavery_ , but is it? Yeah, prisoners make $1
             | an hour to work for private industry. That sucks for
             | prisoners, sure, but they're being fed, housed, and
             | receiving healthcare at taxpayer expense even without
             | opting-in. The extra $6/hr they don't get paid subsidizes
             | their stay...literally repaying their debts to society.
             | 
             | What's the real objection to this? Competitive
             | disadvantage?
        
               | Larrikin wrote:
               | >but they're being fed, housed, and receiving healthcare
               | at taxpayer expense even without opting-in
               | 
               | All slaves receive these things. Its in the interest of
               | the slave owner to keep the slaves healthy enough to
               | work. Modern companies shouldn't get a discount by using
               | slave labor. If the prisoner wants to learn a "skill"
               | that is profitable to a company then they should be paid
               | the minimum wage.
               | 
               | Its less awful, but I also believe unpaid internships
               | should also be illegal unless they are purely
               | observational. If the intern is contributing in anyway to
               | the profits of the company, they should be paid.
        
               | jstarfish wrote:
               | > All slaves receive these things. Its in the interest of
               | the slave owner to keep the slaves healthy enough to
               | work.
               | 
               | Sure, but unlike slavery, you get the food and housing
               | independent of whether you lift a finger to do any work.
               | The work is optional. It's rewarding if you do it.
               | Working shortens your sentence. Work output never changes
               | one's status as a slave.
               | 
               | Articles suggest prisoners who don't opt-in to work
               | programs are penalized at parole hearings. This is a
               | dishonest reframing of parole, something intended to be
               | an _earned benefit_ , not a clearance sale. The system is
               | optimizing for prisoners who have been
               | conditioned/rehabilitated into being functional in
               | society-- the ones paroled demonstrated some willingness
               | to play the same game as civilians, working to get ahead
               | through their labor. They appear to have been broken of
               | their criminal ways, so retaining them is expensive and
               | unnecessary.
               | 
               | The ones who insist on avoiding work serve the duration
               | of their actual sentence as proscribed. This is not
               | slavery, it's literally the point of prison. You stay
               | until your term expires or you demonstrate to the parole
               | board that you've changed.
               | 
               | > I also believe unpaid internships should also be
               | illegal unless they are purely observational. If the
               | intern is contributing in anyway to the profits of the
               | company, they should be paid.
               | 
               | I'd argue unpaid internships are _worse._ The intern
               | doesn 't need to prove any sort of reformation, nor are
               | they being punished for crimes against society. They do
               | not have food and housing provided for them. Not paying
               | them is entirely exploitative.
        
               | landemva wrote:
               | > Work output never changes one's status as a slave.
               | 
               | Though what I earn from work does change how much the
               | feds take as their cut. If you don't own the earnings
               | from your labor, you aren't a free person.
        
               | metabagel wrote:
               | > Nationally, prisoners are paid a pretax hourly average
               | wage of 52 cents, and in some states nothing
               | 
               | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/25/slavery-
               | unit...
               | 
               | The objection is that it's forced labor, meaning you're
               | subject to punishment if you don't comply. Basically,
               | slavery.
        
               | autoexec wrote:
               | > We call it slavery, but is it?
               | 
               | Yes. When you are forced to work and aren't allowed to
               | quit your job, you are a slave. Slave owners may
               | feed/house their slaves, and even pay them slave wages
               | but none of those things make the slave any less of a
               | slave.
               | 
               | > What's the real objection to this?
               | 
               | It's rare that someone asks what possible objection
               | someone might have to slavery. Even if you thought that
               | exploiting, abusing, and degrading enslaved human beings
               | for profit wasn't morally abhorrent, there are purely
               | economic reasons why slavery is a terrible idea. There
               | are also purely selfish reasons to oppose it because if
               | we allow it to happen to others it could just as easily
               | be allowed to happen to you.
               | 
               | It's not even terrible unlikely that it will. The US
               | locks up more of their own population behind bars than
               | any other nation on Earth. There are plenty of entirely
               | innocent people in prisons too. The best way to protect
               | yourself against slavery is to make sure that enslavement
               | isn't even an option on the table.
               | 
               | That said, there's no reason why that should mean that
               | prisoners can't be employed by choice. If they were free
               | to decide what type of work they wanted, and they were
               | free to decline employment they wanted no part of, and
               | they were provided the same pay for their labor as anyone
               | else would be, and they were afforded the same
               | protections against exploitation and hazardous working
               | conditions as anyone else, then there'd be no harm in
               | letting them make money and it'd be very helpful if they
               | could put some money aside for the many expenses they'll
               | be on the hook for after their release.
        
           | ForkMeOnTinder wrote:
           | Many corporations still use forced labor, even today, even in
           | the US. If you want to fix the prison system, you'll be
           | fighting against Walmart/McDonalds/others with deep pockets.
           | 
           | https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/legal-
           | documents/2022...
        
             | cynicalsecurity wrote:
             | Is working at McDonald's really so bad in the US?
        
               | Deprecate9151 wrote:
               | I can't tell if this is a joke, but in case it's in
               | earnest the issue here is the prisoners are typically
               | forced to work at well below market rates. Then usually
               | much of it is withheld on top of that. It also does
               | little to reintegrate them into society since the work
               | experience isn't seen as valuable. The corporations and
               | those with their hands in the prison system profit,
               | society and the prisoners lose out.
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | > A disturbingly high number of people want criminals to go to
         | prison and get beaten and raped.
         | 
         | I've heard this trope a lot, but I wonder, is there any data to
         | actually back it up?
         | 
         | > They don't care how many innocent people get caught up in it
         | 
         | Here I'm certain there is no data to back up this point,
         | anecdotally, this seems the opposite of the truth. Perhaps you
         | just mean the prosecutors and not the citizenry in general?
        
           | Deprecate9151 wrote:
           | I doubt you can get concrete data on point one, but it is a
           | commonly repeated trope. At best many people are too okay
           | treating prison abuse as a joke.
           | 
           | For the second point, many US Prosecutors are elected. They
           | run on a "tough on crime" platform, and tout their successful
           | conviction % as a key metric of success. Very little credence
           | is given to anything else. It's not a direct poll, but it's
           | more than 'no data'.
        
             | sokoloff wrote:
             | It seems reasonable to cite a high conviction rate as
             | evidence of competence and success in your role as the
             | state's prosecutor of crimes against the people. It's not
             | the _only_ metric to look at, but it's absolutely a
             | _relevant_ metric.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | But then you also run into the issue of the plea deal.
               | 
               | A disturbingly high number of cases are plead out - in
               | some states that number approaches 90%. This is more than
               | any other country on earth, and by a huge margin. Many
               | countries completely forbid plea bargaining, and most of
               | those who allow it have strict rules on implementation,
               | oversight and review, where here it is almost entirely
               | purely at a prosecutor's discretion.
               | 
               | This falsely pushes conviction rates up, as there are
               | huge swathes of cases where it has been demonstrated that
               | people plead out as the path of least resistance, rather
               | than factual guilt.
        
               | Deprecate9151 wrote:
               | Another commentator touched on how those stats can be
               | misleading, so I want to stress that it is often touted
               | as the only relevant metric. You never see it presented
               | in context of total number of indictments, overturns on
               | appeal, break downs by offense, etc. I'd even argue it's
               | ONLY relevant in the context of other stats.
               | 
               | For example, the other issue I didn't see the other
               | commentor speak on is it can lead to UNDER enforcement.
               | It can create an incentive to ignore "complicated" wrong
               | doing, or quickly dropping charges against those who plea
               | bargain to preserve a high conviction rate, even if it's
               | against the public interest.
               | 
               | So when you see "conviction rate" it's impossible to know
               | if they're actually good at prosecuting. You can only
               | tell they're good at identifying cases where a conviction
               | is highly likely.
        
               | sokoloff wrote:
               | > they're good at identifying cases where a conviction is
               | highly likely
               | 
               | Which is _entirely relevant_ to their competence and job
               | performance, of course.
        
               | Deprecate9151 wrote:
               | Relevant, but not sufficient. Often skewing to "directly
               | misleading" in practice.
        
               | metabagel wrote:
               | It's like judging a programmer by lines of code.
        
         | andrei_says_ wrote:
         | Exactly. Prison culture is a mirror of our collective psyche.
         | 
         | We as a society are gleefully accepting of cruel and
         | unreasonable punishment, with a disturbing level of
         | bloodthirstiness.
         | 
         | Similarly, we are accepting of the merciless brutality of
         | Healthcare-as-industry.
         | 
         | The unspeakable violence of poverty.
         | 
         | We have hardened our hearts in order to see, walk by, live
         | along these, and more, sources of easily preventable suffering.
         | 
         | This hardening is making us sick, too. We just somehow can't
         | make the connection.
        
         | robotnikman wrote:
         | It seems to be changing slowly but surely, thankfully.
         | 
         | There was a recent post on Reddit made by a prisoner [1] (who
         | was in for life for murdering his sister) who has a locker full
         | of manga, books, MtG cards, and a tablet with minecraft (which
         | he rooted to allow for sideloading of apps). He says he feels
         | very comfortable with the prison life there. I never expected
         | this from a prison in the state of Georgia of all places.
         | 
         | This is only one anecdote, but it struck me as surprising when
         | I heard of it. The more we start to focus prisons on
         | rehabilitation instead of just punishment, the better.
         | 
         | [1]
         | https://old.reddit.com/r/Prison/comments/q96ixg/this_is_what...
        
           | jstarfish wrote:
           | He's an interesting case.
           | 
           | > [...] I was a young kid who thought I was smart and clever
           | and thought I knew people. Prison dunked my head in a cold
           | river of reality. Many people in these prisons have a strong
           | criminal mindset. You learn by fucking up that there are
           | always people who have had it worse, are more clever,
           | stronger, but also more debased, cruel, and uncaring. From
           | this though I have been forced to overcome my autism
           | symptoms. I was thrown off by loud noises, physical contact,
           | and was completely socially inept before I came to prison.
           | Free world society softly caters to autistic kids but in
           | prison you have no choice but to confront your mental health.
           | In short, prison is an adverse environment which can bring
           | out the good, or more often the bad, in people. As a young
           | kid I learned quick that I couldn't rely on any staff or
           | inmates as far as trust goes. I quickly saw I wasn't going to
           | be babied and if I didn't fight for myself and who I was I
           | would be lost. Not everyone becomes a paragon, very few do.
           | [...]
           | 
           | Not sure what to make of him. He's very forthcoming about
           | what he did, but evasive about the _why_.
        
           | jnsie wrote:
           | Alas it appears that it is that way because the prison is
           | extremely short staffed and they have to let a lot slide,
           | rather than any progressive attitude toward prisoner reform.
        
             | landemva wrote:
             | Consider how airlines stopped charging money for movies/TV
             | and now encourage everyone to consume it because it keeps
             | them quiet.
        
         | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
         | > There's still a strong culture in the US that fetishizes
         | punishment. A
         | 
         | No, you just don't understand the civilization you were born
         | into.
         | 
         | It's not a fetish... _it 's the point_. If government promises
         | to punish transgressors, then individuals will refrain from
         | vigilante justice. This punishment is done, because our monkey
         | morality demands it.
         | 
         | There are a few secondary goals. We also seek to sequester the
         | offender away from society, so they can't do more injury. We
         | hope (mostly in vain) that public acknowledgement of the
         | punishment acts as a deterrent.
         | 
         | > They don't care how many innocent people get caught up in it
         | 
         | Can't speak for anyone else, but I care about that. It's mostly
         | easy policy fixes too. If prosecutors were barred from using
         | plea bargaining (we don't have to ban it absolutely, limit it
         | to 1% of the cases they see per calendar year), some large
         | chunk of the wrongly-convicted would avoid that fate.
         | Absolutely demolish bail bonding as an industry. Hell, if you
         | really want to fix stuff...
         | 
         | Prohibit eyewitness testimony in court, including but
         | especially confessions (they can be useful as investigative
         | leads, but aren't evidence of anything except some really
         | perverse human psychology).
         | 
         | Who am I supposed to talk to to get the policy fixes
         | implemented?
         | 
         | Maybe it's not the attitude problem you think it is.
        
           | anonymouskimmer wrote:
           | > because our _human_ morality demands it.
           | 
           | This impulse pre-dates hominids by quite a bit. It's shared
           | with some non-mammalian birds.
        
           | sokoloff wrote:
           | > Prohibit eyewitness testimony in court
           | 
           | The Constitution* enshrines the right to face your accuser in
           | open court. That to me seems proper; why do you propose to
           | eliminate it (what gain do you expect)?
           | 
           | If you want to eliminate that right, there is a process for
           | amending the Constitution laid out in the document itself.
           | 
           | * Technically, the Sixth Amendment.
        
             | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
             | > The Constitution* enshrines the right to face your
             | accuser in open court.
             | 
             | Sure. They'll get to see the face. Of course, for the vast
             | majority of crimes, the accuser is the state.
             | 
             | > That to me seems proper; why do you propose to eliminate
             | it
             | 
             | Because we don't allow dream interpretation, tarot card
             | readings, or other nonsense to be admitted as evidence
             | either.
             | 
             | You know how every few months you hear of some black man
             | that has been in prison for rape for 30 years, until DNA
             | evidence exonerates? Behind every one of those convictions
             | there was some sobbing woman on the stands pointing a
             | finger at him.
             | 
             | Eyewitness testimony is junk of the lowest grade, below
             | even those tarot cards I joked about.
             | 
             | But yeh, they'll get to sit in the same courtroom with any
             | accusers, we just won't let the accusers get up and make up
             | bullshit that they believe are infallible memories. This
             | isn't a constitutional issue. Legislation is absolutely
             | permitted to set standards of evidence.
        
             | kmoser wrote:
             | The problem isn't so much the admitting of eyewitness
             | testimony, it's the weight given to it and, in your
             | example, the addition of racism that leads to false
             | convictions. As long as there is racism, there will be
             | false convictions.
        
       | unethical_ban wrote:
       | >"the vast majority of our employees are hardworking, ethical,
       | diligent corrections professionals, who act with integrity daily
       | and want those engaging in misconduct to be held accountable."
       | 
       | In the career of prison guard, the ideal would be 100% integrity.
       | 
       | I believe unions have their issues, but that in a "market"
       | career, such as the trades or retail or service workers, the good
       | outweighs the bad.
       | 
       | Unions for police and prison guards are 100% a mafia and they
       | should not be tolerated. It needs to be much easier to fire cops.
        
         | Crunchified wrote:
         | How about banning unions for _any_ government employees? These
         | employees should be held accountable only to the public and its
         | elected representatives.
        
           | gowld wrote:
           | There are many aspects of a union. Employees deserve a
           | unified voice. What they don't deserve is to hold the system
           | hostage with threats after they agree to work.
        
           | unethical_ban wrote:
           | While other public sectors can definitely have an impact on
           | public safety, I don't believe there is the threat of
           | violence or endangerment to the public that is so prevalent
           | in policing.
           | 
           | Therefore I'm /less/ concerned about teachers, fire, post
           | office, air traffic, etc. even though they have their issues.
        
         | pessimizer wrote:
         | Unions are a right, not a privilege, and if the police and
         | prison guards are racist, a good union representing them would
         | also be racist.
         | 
         | We need to stop catering to them, however, and we need to make
         | it those jobs fit for someone other than racists of fascists to
         | do. But you can't create and uphold a racist system, and put
         | all the responsibility on the hands needed to carry out the
         | goals of that system. These horrible police abuses and prison
         | abuses are usually being carried out under the oversight of
         | hundreds of Democratic (often black) mayors and governors who
         | love a docile and quiet minority population, but not the blame
         | for the violent pacification that it takes to create and
         | preserve one.
         | 
         | > It needs to be much easier to fire cops.
         | 
         | Unions don't make the rules, politicians doing what their
         | donors say do. Giving the police unions what they want is a
         | choice. Other unions don't get what they want.
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | I dislike unions in general. I think they're a terrible
         | compromise in response to a monopolized labor market. You
         | should deal with the monopoly, not create your own monopoly of
         | labor.
         | 
         | Anyways, in cases where the employer has an unnatural monopoly
         | and you can't otherwise address it, unions make perfect sense.
         | The employees otherwise have no secure mechanism to
         | legitimately and successfully negotiate their contracts.
         | 
         | Your only other way out is to privatize the police force to a
         | large extent and allow competition between different agencies
         | for different city contracts. Then you would have true market
         | forces benefiting the city and the labor.
        
       | ilovetux wrote:
       | I can understand why a person might commit an act of abuse.
       | Anger, fetish, frustration it all makes a sort of sense, but what
       | I cannot comprehend is why leadership was actively preventing
       | investigations and sanctions.
       | 
       | It makes no sense unless it is a criminal organization profiting
       | off of the abuse.
       | 
       | These people need consequences.
        
         | cool_dude85 wrote:
         | Why would I try to investigate or sanction anyone? Get up off
         | my ass, spend my limited money, just to make myself look like a
         | bad boss?
        
         | TaylorAlexander wrote:
         | Leadership are abusers too and none of them want any more
         | scrutiny at their facility. The entire motivation for the
         | prison system is sadistic and the people involved don't care
         | about the human beings locked inside.
        
         | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
         | It is an organization, by definition. It's a unit of
         | government.
         | 
         | This organization has revenue (budgeted to it).
         | 
         | If they perform poorly, the budget might be lowered next year.
         | More correctly, if they are perceived to perform poorly, their
         | budget drops. But they were in control of the mechanisms by
         | which their performance is perceived.
         | 
         | > These people need consequences.
         | 
         | If you put people (individually or as a group) into an
         | unpleasant circumstance, and demand performance from them at
         | odds with the unpleasantness of the circumstance, you run into
         | a problem. You're no longer able to insist they experience
         | consequences for failure. When you attempt that, if they're
         | allowed to quit, they just quit. And I know you weren't
         | suggesting we press them into slavery.
         | 
         | Consequences only work when they have no leverage.
        
           | ilovetux wrote:
           | I am not talking about consequences for failure. I am talking
           | about consequences for crimes.
           | 
           | Let them quit. They were trying to fire them anyway. They
           | shouldn't even have their jobs at this point anyway...they
           | should be in prison.
        
         | kwere wrote:
         | its Illinois, a state with a crazy history of mob-like
         | instituzionalized corruption.
        
       | flenserboy wrote:
       | Guards, police, umpires -- all near-impossible to make get in
       | line, much less get rid of. There's a common denominator here.
        
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