Inspired by Bernie Madoff‘s 150-year prison sentence, New York state assemblyman Jim Tedisco introduced a bill that, as the Economist reports, would establish a “pay-if-you-go” model for prisons, whereby wealthy inmates pay for their own incarceration costs, thereby easing the burden on taxpayers. Detractors argue, however, that adding to inmates’ debt might push them into more crime and concentrate the financial burden on their families. Addendum: Daniel Freedman also made the case for a “pay-if-you-go” system in this Forbes column back in March.[%comments]
Pay-If-You-Go Prisons?
TAGS: prison
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Ever seen the movie Brazil? This “solution” is pretty much the cause of the final third of the movie.
Bring back the chain-gangs.
What about paying to get out of prison? More social good can be done with the fortune of a wealthy felon than by putting him in jail. Moreover the possibility of living in poverty would probably make a fine disincentive to prevent the wealthy from acting with impunity. If you asked members of the general public if they would rather have the lives of a large number of people saved by free medical care I wonder which they would choose? Remember, opportunity costs are still costs.
They tried this in the Old Countries. Didn’t work in that it ended up making the criminals perpetual criminals. Also, it creates a class system in the slam – those able to pay get better cells, food and so forth. Paying for your own incarceration is not a good idea, that’s why civilized countries abandoned it, oh, a couple of centuries ago.
I believe Tedisco’s bill only applies when the convict meets a certain minimum income.
Why not. We have a pray as you go, prey as you go, and pry as you go culture ready and waiting for another populist shoe to drop from the special interest centipede.
Some sort of median between years to be imprisoned and income would have to be found in order to determine the income level floor for such a program, how much the criminal would have to pay, and for how long. It seems inevitable that unless the jailbird is very wealthy (with stored/invested income), the debt would be passed onto others if there are involuntary co-signers to the person’s monetary commitment. These crooks will not be receiving paid leave for their jail time from their jobs…I hope.
Another issue may be the legalty of forcing family members to pay since they already pay taxes and that they had nothing to do with the crime (possibly).
how about EVERYONE pays their costs…and we have a privatized prison system (gov would regulate, but not provide).
Every criminal would be required to pay for their lodging, etc. If you can’t pay…then the state pays for one 9mm. Taxpayers should not be paying exorbitant costs to keep criminals in the pokey.