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An Anonymous Coward suggests the following story: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-08/asa-rns081616.php
Ramen noodles are supplanting the once popular cigarettes as a form of currency among state prisoners, but not in response to bans on tobacco products within prison systems, finds a new study.
Instead, study author Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona School of Sociology, found that inmates are trying to figure out ways to better feed themselves as certain prison services are being defunded.
[...] "Prison staff members as well as members of the inmate population provided narratives of the history of changes in prison food -- the past few decades have seen steady decreases in the quality and quantity of inmate food," Gibson-Light said.
"Prisoners are so unhappy with the quality and quantity of prison food that they receive that they have begun relying on ramen noodles -- a cheap, durable food product -- as a form of money in the underground economy," he said. "Because it is cheap, tasty, and rich in calories, ramen has become so valuable that it is used to exchange for other goods."
Those other goods include other food items, clothing, hygiene products, and even services, such as laundry and bunk cleaning, Gibson-Light said. Others use ramen noodles as bargaining chips in gambling when playing card games or participating in football pools, he said.
[...] "Throughout the nation, we can observe prison cost-cutting and cost-shifting as well as changes in the informal economic practices of inmates," he said. "Services are cut back and many costs are passed on to inmates in an effort to respond to calls to remain both tough on crime and cost effective."
The US authorities and most citizens prefer a punitive instead of a rehabilitative approach, despite the fact that most prisoners are eventually let out of prison alive.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday August 24 2016, @11:43PM
Why are we warehousing humans instead of helping them develop acceptable-to-the-outside-world practices?
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday August 24 2016, @11:49PM
1. Legalize it.
2. All remaining inmates receive training in farming fruits, vegetables, grains, and of course, cannabis.
3. The government starts handing out partial subsidies for hydroponic equipment.
4. See what happens to the cartels, and see how many billions of dollars are saved.
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(Score: 4, Funny) by Username on Thursday August 25 2016, @07:27AM
Seems very grower oriented, what about the manufacture of methamphetamines? They could get Uncle Fester to teach some classes.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:03AM
A lot of things HAVE been tried to improve them and nothing seems to work or doesn't work consistently or does work but is too expensive on a wider scale. A lot of charities doing good work in this area have religious affiliation or motivation https://www.prisonfellowship.org [prisonfellowship.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:09AM
Why are we warehousing humans instead of helping them develop acceptable-to-the-outside-world practices?
This is the US way: many developed countries have understood that society as a whole, in the long run, benefits from investing in things like a rehabilitative penal system and education. In the US, those things are seen not as long-term societal investment but as a short-term drag on the economy.
The problem is, no US politician can get elected to office on a pledge to raise taxes to improve things 20 years down the line: their horizon is limited to the next election. This is the case in many other countries as well, but it's especially true in the US, where the population just can't seem to think far in the future and only see the taxes they pay right now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:38AM
Because it is repugnant to offer services that aren't available to the population at large. As it is, nearly $80,000 in services are available just warehousing prisoners. Exactly how much more should be spent to help further "develop" them?
Not to mention for a large segment of prisoners, it's not like they are some Oliver Twist character who only broke the law out of necessity. Many had options, but pissed them away or flat out don't care who they hurt to get ahead.
Take Bernie Ebbers for example. Exactly how much more should be spent to rehabilitate him?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by pTamok on Thursday August 25 2016, @06:57AM
As much a necessary.
It is cheaper to rehabilitate than not. You can ignore the moral arguments, but rehabilitation decreases the recidivism rate so that once they leave prison, people are less likely to commit further crime (or alternatively, have learned how not to get caught, if you are cynical). It is by not having a rehabilitation programme that you waste tax dollars. Recidivism has the cost to society of the additional crime, plus the cost of incarceration again.
If you are concerned about tax dollars, you should support rehabilitation. Really.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:30PM
It is cheaper to rehabilitate than not.
What an absolutely empty statement. You've already assumed the conclusion before we began. If you spend infinity dollars towards rehabilitation compared to $80,000/yr towards incarceration, you haven't saved any money at all.
So "rehabilitation" is nebulous. Exactly what are you proposing?
Education? Counseling? Job training?
Except all of those things were available prior to prison, so exactly how will spending more in a prison setting improve outcomes? Not to mention those things are available now in prison, so exactly what changes should be made to current programs?
Again, take Bernie Ebbers as an example. Exactly what changes to the current system would you make to reform him?
What a hand-wavy response.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @02:57PM
You're not going to spend 'infinite dollars'. You're just spewing idiocy.
You're also forgetting that once rehabilitated, the individual's contributions to society now also have a cascading/multiplying effect. Not only do you no longer have to incarcerate them, but the individual starts producing, paying taxes, etc...
I don't think you actually know what is going on in prison or how many of the people in there end up there. I'm not saying they're all angels, not at all. But I *am* saying that many people who get processed by that system would be better off by being guided to becoming a productive citizen again and are very much willing to go that route. Society would also be better off and you wouldn't spend 80k over and over again for each of these prisoners going through the system over and over and over and over again.
Please *think* before you start saying unwise things
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ncc74656 on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:47AM
If they were capable of "develop[ing] acceptable-to-the-outside-world practices," they wouldn't have wound up in prison in the first place. Having already demonstrated their lack of fitness to live among civilized people, what would you propose that we do with them? Killing them would put them out of our misery permanently, but I suspect that you would also be against that approach...so where does that leave us?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday August 25 2016, @01:39AM
Put them to work. Let them (voluntarily) farm vegetables and cannabis on the prison grounds. A small portion of the weed or profits goes to the prisoners (which they might be spending at the canteen or on phone calls), and the rest gets sold in state-run dispensaries or wholesale to independent dispensaries. Teach prisoners the intricacies of farming, and make sure they have a chance to obtain some kind of agricultural degree/certification by the time they get out.
Prison farms [google.com] are not a new concept. Growing high-value cannabis at a prison would be, and would be a great way for the states to solidify the benefits of legalization.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Whoever on Thursday August 25 2016, @04:06AM
Because too many people with influence profit from the prison system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @07:32PM
Can't believe I reached the bottom of this article's comments before finding this. At least someone fucking gets it...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Capt. Obvious on Thursday August 25 2016, @08:00AM
The number of prisoners is trending down. So, it's getting better!
And, far more importantly, private prisons are being phased out (at the federal level). That should take some powerful lobbyists in favor of long term sentences out of play.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @02:59PM
private prisons are being phased out (at the federal level)
INCORRECT!! A change in policy was announced. The implementation is still lacking. Similarly, state prisons continue to be run by private and unaccountable corporations and are filled to the brim!
You would do better if your attention span was a bit longer!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @03:53PM
Because we as a nation prefer retribution and punishment over compassion and rehabilitation.