Justice System Reform Bill 1 2015 (Passed)

[Associate Justice PiT]

Is there any potential for downsizing the prison system. I mean we are obviously not throwing people in the slammer for just a little weed like IRL. I would think we have potential to remove some of the capacity possibly.

     If they're owned by the company, my preference would be to simply have the contracts not be renewed and all prisoners there transferred to another prison. I agree that our situation should be sufficiently improved that we not need the extra capacity.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Here's an amendment to get things going:

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     I guess the difference is taking their behavior in prison into account? I would suppose that commuting their sentences would have taken the new laws into account.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I guess the difference is taking their behavior in prison into account? I would suppose that commuting their sentences would have taken the new laws into account.

Not automatically. For instance a commutation could be given to someone under the same laws by the executive through his pardon power. Bush did this with almost everyone of his modifications, leaving the actual conviction in place, but commuting the sentence and releasing them from prison. This angered both Dick Cheney who wanted a full pardon for Libby and the border hawks who wanted a full pardon for Ramos and Compean.

This would be altering sentences to comport with current law. However that cannot be done automatically since person is to be subject to the laws as they existed at the time of the conviction until either pardoned or some kind of sentence review established. The States do this a lot using newer laws, usually when new technology like DNA, which wasn't even available more or less sanctioned by the law at the time, comes to hand and demonstrates innocence.  The review is essentially a retrial. Which means we should probably make that clear as well, because the authority and manner in which it operates would be similar.

     That makes sense to me. We should be clear on what the processes we are using to achieve the ends we want actually entail, so I appreciate the clarification.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I can take the time to mull over an estimate of the costs, though today isn't the best for me.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Just pass this instead of waiting for some "cost estimate" that isn't going to change anything. Let the bureaucrats in the DoIA decide that.

I motion for a final vote.

     I basically agree with this. Sometimes we take too much work upon ourselves when it can be delegated out to agencies. I second the motion.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Also, we kind of need to fix the clause anyway now that I think about it. I unsecond the motion. Regardless we have at least one more amendment we need to pass.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     A quick Google search found that there were 130,000 prisoners in private prisons in the United States in 2010. Average cost of holding a prisoner is $31,000/prisoner/year according to a study by the Vera Institute of Justice. This works out to about $4 billion a year.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I propose an amendment to the current Section 6:

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[Associate Justice PiT]

The amendment has been adopted.

Are we ready for a final vote here?

Yes, it's time. I motion for a final vote.

     I second the motion.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Aye