NE3: Private Prisons Ban Act (Law)

[Deus Naturae]

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Sponsor: Representative SWE

Debate on this bill will last for 72 hours, or until 8:35 PM on Thursday May 22, unless modified or extended. The sponsor has 36 hours to advocate for this proposed legislation. If he does not, this bill will be tabled as there is other pending legislation in the queue.

[BaconBacon96]

I support this bill. Private prisons are exploitative and dangerous.

[Deus Naturae]

For-profit prisons are obviously horrible but I don't see anything wrong with non-profit private prisons. In fact, it seems to me that prisons managed and operated by non-profit, private operators (if they don't exist already) have the potential to significantly improve our prison system.

On the one hand, non-profit private prisons would possess the key advantages of for-profit prisons: Increased cost-effectiveness and the ability to develop and implement innovative, individualized programs. On the other hand, they would lack the main downside of for-profit prisons: The economic incentive to imprison people. In addition, private non-profits would have a unique hiring advantage. While the staffs of public prisons are limited to government employees, private non-profits have the ability to hire additional workers, such as rehabilitation experts, therapists, etc. Finally, whereas private for-profits are inclined to support the imprisonment of more people, private non-profits are inclined to support rehabilitating and then releasing people, more so than public prisons. Why? Because the non-profit groups that receive/would receive the contracts for this sort of thing are mainly composed of experienced criminal justice and rehabilitation workers. Why else would they manage/work for a non-profit prison group?

So, for those reasons, I think we should keep (and also expand, but that's probably best left for another bill) private non-profit prisons. I'll introduce an amendment to that effect sometime tomorrow.

  

[Dr. Cynic]

I've never heard of private non-profit prisons. How could we oversee them to prevent abuses?

[SWE]

This bill was based by on a bill originally proposed by Midwest's Archduke Arturo Belano.

Private prisons are a disgusting perversion of our criminal justice system. They have little incentive to improve quality, but they do have incentive to lock more people up. The more people they put behind bars, the more money they make. The concept of making money purely because of other's misery is disgusting to me. Additionally, as they have little incentive to improve quality, private prisons are almost always well below the standards set for government prisons.

Regarding non profit prisons, I can't say I'm very familiar with the concept. I'd have do more research on the subject, as this is the first I'm hearing about them, but, based on Deus's description, they sound like they could work

[sentinel]

Ya'll need to look up the prisoner psychological experiment. Non-profit won't work either.

[BaconBacon96]

This non-profit private prison idea is vague and I haven't heard of it before. If they actually do operate in the Northeast, I don't think there would be enough of them to warrant an amendment to the bill.

[Napoleon]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

[Dr. Cynic]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

I'd rather we closed most of them.

[Deus Naturae]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

I'd rather we closed most of them.

That will likely just result in more overcrowding in the public prisons.

[Dr. Cynic]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

I'd rather we closed most of them.

That will likely just result in more overcrowding in the public prisons.

Well, I meant keep some open and close the ones that have a low population. There's no reason we couldn't streamline it to save a little money.

[Dr. Cynic]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

I'd rather we closed most of them.

That will likely just result in more overcrowding in the public prisons.

Given our federal and regional drug policies (and Atlasia's justice system more generally), the Northeast probably has plenty of empty prison beds.

Exactly so why not streamline it a bit and close some?

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

I'd sign this.

I don't know much about the issue, but there might be something to what Deus is saying though - are there in fact non-profit private prisons that are delivering the same service?

[Napoleon]

We need a "prison czar" to oversee this IMO.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'd sign this.

I don't know much about the issue, but there might be something to what Deus is saying though - are there in fact non-profit private prisons that are delivering the same service?

Well, see if there are, I've never heard of them and I don't think so far that any other member of the NE government has heard of them either, so it's unlikely we have them. We all agree though at least that private for profit prisons are unacceptable.

[Deus Naturae]

The debate period is now over. We will now vote on the final passage of this bill, as written:

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Voting will last for 48 hours or until all Representatives have voted.

[BaconBacon96]

Nay

I'm sorry I don't you belong here.

Anyway I vote Aye.

[SWE]

Aye

[Dr. Cynic]

Aye

[Napoleon]

Abstain

[Deus Naturae]

Aye

[Deus Naturae]

By a vote of 4-0-1, this bill passes and goes on to the Governor for bis signature or veto.

[Deus Naturae]

The Governor has signed this bill into law.