• Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well, Texas loves private prisons, so many aren’t run by the state. This is another disgusting example of how libertarians get it wrong.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m definitely no libertarian, but I do have one quibble with this - entirely private prisons are actually very little of the prison space in the United States. However, government run prisons do hundreds of millions of dollars in business with private vendors for things like the commissary and healthcare and phones &c., and all those businesses gouge taxpayers and inmates for substandard goods and services, because they’re able to negotiate sweetheart contracts with government bureaucrats who don’t give a shit and get lobbied like crazy (vendor salesperson: “Oh, your annual salary is only what? Ha, I’ve gotten commission checks higher than that! Let me get the tab for our lunch today.”).

      So it’s a bit complicated but at the end of the day underfunding government services and throwing all of our responsibilities for things like taking care of our prisoners to for-profit companies is what’s caused all of this, so the solutions to these problems aren’t going to be coming out of a libertarian playbook imo.

      • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I will admit that Texas has a lower percentage of private prisons than I thought, but I think any for-profit privatization of prisons is bad.

        underfunding government services and throwing all of our responsibilities for things like taking care of our prisoners to for-profit companies is what’s caused all of this

        💯

        so the solutions to these problems aren’t going to be coming out of a libertarian playbook imo.

        Exactly.

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        Y’know, you had a bit of a point with your first comment, and I can definitely sympathize with getting frustrated when you’re trying to talk about serious issues and it feels like people aren’t listening to you (and I don’t know the history you’ve had in this community with that), but I don’t think you’re doing your ideas any favors with this

        • BigMcLargeHuge@mstdn.social
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          1 year ago

          @gAlienLifeform

          This was me recognizing that I was arguing with someone that had already decided what the answer was.

          FFS, he already KNOWS I’m a libertarian, regardless of what I actually am.

          Further talk would be a waste of my time. While I’m no one important, my time *is* important to me.

          Source: I’ve been on the “internet” since the compu-serve cb chat days. The people don’t change, just the access method.