It seems California is now offering a luxury prison system.
The Santa Ana Jail is pleased to host a full range of alternatives to traditional incarceration. Our offerings include weekends in jail, non-linear jail sentences, and a variety of work release options. Our philosophy is designed to allow our clients (!, AT) to serve their obligations to the court in a manner that respects them as human beings and permits them to continue to provide for themselves and their families….
* Programs that include 2-day or 3-day weekends with minimal impact on the client’s professional life. Work on Saturday and Sunday? No problem…
* Programs that permit jail sentences to be served in multiple parts. Perfect for clients that live out of the area or clients with frequent business travel.
* Programs that permit the client to leave jail for work everyday. We have helped everyone from 9 to 5 business people to oil-rig workers, so no work schedule is out of the question.
Alex Tabarrok has a lot more about this over at Marginal Revolution.
Why is it that it seems people can’t understand the difference between what should be market activity and what should be government activity? I’m pretty sure that we ought to keep prisons equal for everyone, and allow people to pay different prices for sugar. Instead, the price of sugar is regulated, but you can buy a better prison experience openly (of course, you can buy a better criminal justice experience in many ways at every step, just less openly).
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…that post just challenged a lot of my (still standing) preconceptions of what kind of injustice our system is rife with. I can’t believe I was still so naive.
marginal revolution.
that is what this is, to date, isn’t it? only half believing what is happening. only assigning the bad stuff to republicans… amazing.
in the mid-1970’s got busted for “misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance” (pot). The sentence was 10 days in the county jail and one year probation.
Late Friday night, during the 10 days, another prisoner was brought in. Extremely drunk and angry over his opponent’s “cheating at pool”, the ex-cop, now security guard, went to his vehicle, got his revolver and threatened to shoot his opponent and the other dozen or so people in the bar unless his money was returned. Someone had phoned the police when ‘angry drunk’ went outside to his vehicle. When the policemen walked in, they saw ‘angry drunk’ toss his revolver onto the floor under the pool table. ‘Angry drunk’ was taken to the county jail. Next morning, he was fed breakfast, released and his revolver returned to him.
My friend’s case was front page news. DRUGS!
Assault with a deadly weapon was never mentioned.
It happens all the time in ways both large and small. Our broken justice system has nothing to do with truth or justice.
that reminds me, that homemaking diva what’s her name, famous personality goes to jail for nothing while Feds rape US economy during the whole process. A psy-op for “justice and that brand new business buzzword “Compliance”. Every time I hear that word it grates upon my very soul like nails screeching across a blackboard. That and the moronic phrase “in this post 911 world”.
Yes, Martha Stewart! See, haven’t lost all my marbles.
Britney Spears story that the media haven’t dwelled on. Or was that Paris Hilton. WTFDIK.
When I first read this I assumed it was about a private prison. But it’s Santa Ana county.
Discriminating among prisoners by income is a bad idea. Anything that makes prisons profitable is a bad idea (as it gives the state a reason to put people in jail).
On a personal note, I would tend to think I’d want to get my jail term over with as fast as possible, not dragged out over weekends for a much longer time. I wonder how many takers they get.