A free poor person is worth about 10K to the GDP and a poor person in prison is worth about 30K to the GDP. Are the poor the cogs in the wheel that fuel the prison industrial complex???
That people make money off them doesn't mean that is why they are there. I think the problem is that Americans tend to like to bury problems and prisons are a place to do that and mistakenly think that by giving people long sentences, they are actually doing something constructive for society. I mean sure if they are a violent person, they need to be in prison, but if, for instance, they are a tax evader, just take all their stuff instead of locking them up for a pointless decade.
Would you please elaborate a little bit, ryobi? Your post does not make the most sense. This might be an important issue worth discussing, but if you make posts like that, very few people are going to waste time to respond. Can you explain why supposedly the poor in prison add more to the GDP? I agree that any time there is an expense, and people have to earn more money to pay for it, it can artificially add to the GDP, even if that expense is a waste of money. For example, if more people got heart attacks, it would add to medical spending and might inflate the GDP. Or if crime rates go up and more people have to buy locks and alarm systems to protect their home. Does not necessarily make society wealthier or better off but can add to GDP.
Poor people contribute more to the GDP by being incarcerated than they otherwise would if they were free. For example, prisons employ the services of locksmiths, plumbers, electricians, prison guards, nurses et cetera. Prisoners also create goods like license plates. Private Prisons alone generate 4 billion dollars a year despite being used in only 30 states and not compromising every prison in all those states.
So essentially you are saying we don't have to pay taxes because without the threat of jail I just wouldn't. I think most people would do that you can find me but if I just don't pay you what are you going to do lock me up?
I'm all for punishing (and hopefully rehabilitating) criminals, but to me, its not real creation of GDP if it stems from tax dollars.
