How long should a inmate be kept alive?

This came from a question on another thread about the death penalty

How long, as a tax payer, would you be willing to keep someone alive who is in prison but refuses to work (make license plates, dig holes, mop floors etc.)? Today 1% of the U.S. population is in jail.

and for Christians making a decision, remember that Jesus says loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the two greatest commandments (not trying to convert, just reminding any Christians as they make their decision):cover:

From my experience with the justice system I would be willing to keep them alive forever as I have learned there are a lot of innocent people in prison that just can't afford a lawyer. In Pennsylvania the accusation of committing a crime is enough to get picked up by the police and taken before the JP if there is no evidence or it is really weak the JP will release you on your own recognizance (ROR) however you will still get a court date and have to face your accuser if you don't have a lawyer you stand to serve jail time if you do have a lawyer you will probably be intimated into a plea bargain.

Vor said:

This came from a question on another thread about the death penalty

How long, as a tax payer, would you be willing to keep someone alive who is in prison but refuses to work (make license plates, dig holes, mop floors etc.)? Today 1% of the U.S. population is in jail.

and for Christians making a decision, remember that Jesus says loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the two greatest commandments (not trying to convert, just reminding any Christians as they make their decision):cover:

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As long as it takes him to walk to the gallows (if it is a capital offense). If we go to war again in a conventional way, use them as cannon fodder.

Vor said:

This came from a question on another thread about the death penalty

How long, as a tax payer, would you be willing to keep someone alive who is in prison but refuses to work (make license plates, dig holes, mop floors etc.)? Today 1% of the U.S. population is in jail.

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Indefinitely.

If there's a problem with the prison system creating too large a tax burden, have another look at the sentences that people are serving for minor offenses.

I am surprised this question is even asked!

9-10ths_Penguin said:

Indefinitely.

If there's a problem with the prison system creating too large a tax burden, have another look at the sentences that people are serving for minor offenses.

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Yeah, that's a catch 22. Here in North Texas, a person arrested for breaking into cars is released after a slap on the wrist (two months or less). We have to wait for them to kill someone before they receive any serious jail time, and we get to export that to a federal pen.

YouTube - LOTR, Beer For My Horses

Vor said:

This came from a question on another thread about the death penalty

How long, as a tax payer, would you be willing to keep someone alive who is in prison but refuses to work (make license plates, dig holes, mop floors etc.)? Today 1% of the U.S. population is in jail.

and for Christians making a decision, remember that Jesus says loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the two greatest commandments (not trying to convert, just reminding any Christians as they make their decision):cover:

Click to expand...

what so now you kill people because they wont make licence plates? or mop the floor?

Criminals should have to support themselves. Maintain the facilities, grow their own food, make their own clothes, and perform any other services required by the civili authorites(aka. constructions work, clean up work mining, etc. somtheing to make them useful).

methylatedghosts said:

I am surprised this question is even asked!

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So am I.

MidnightBlue said:

So am I.

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Me too.

The U.S. basically is a police state, with one the highest incarceration rates of developed countries. The prison system is extremely corrupt, and we have as stiff if not stiffer crimes lots of times for non-violent crimes than violent crimes.

angellous_evangellous said:

Yeah, that's a catch 22. Here in North Texas, a person arrested for breaking into cars is released after a slap on the wrist (two months or less). We have to wait for them to kill someone before they receive any serious jail time, and we get to export that to a federal pen.

YouTube - LOTR, Beer For My Horses

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I gotta take issue with you just a bit here. One thing Texas does not lack, is harshness on crime. We light up more folks here than anywhere else, and if you ever think Texas justice is soft, go sit in the County Courts at Law in McKinney. Those folks up there live to put folks in jail.

Frankly, we have too many people in jail. Way too many people are in jail for non violent and victimless offenses, which in fairness does not leave the room often needed for those who truly need to be in jail (thieves, murderers, rapists, child molesters, and the like.) It is costing upwards of $40,000 a year to house prisoners, some of whom are absolutely where they need to be, and many of whom never need to be out in society again, but there are a lot of non violent youngsters who are going to prison at 19 years of age, and 160 lbs, only to come out at age 29 a solid 200lbs with 10 years of violence and immersion amongst predators behind him.

The cost, both in dollars as well as social ills associated with our current criminal justice system is vast, and shows no hope of diminishing any time soon. We have more folks in jail, per capita, than any other industrialized nation on the planet. Something needs desperately to be done, and I for one, do not think that building extra prisons is the answer.

B.