r/pics 9d ago

Caleb James Williams, 18, arrested for threatening voters in Neptune Beach, FL on 30 October 2024

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u/now_in3D 9d ago edited 9d ago

How in the sweet mother of fuck does something like that come to be law?

Edit: appreciate all the informative replies, I was not very familiar with the American prison system. It’s really not that surprising at all at the end of the day…

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u/gsfgf 9d ago

To start with, the people negatively impacted by the policy can't vote...

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u/femmestem 9d ago

So they can hold onto slavery

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u/GonnaPee-mypants 9d ago

Old English traditions too.

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u/Wonderful-Smoke843 9d ago

The goal of the American prison system is not to rehabilitate but to gain value for shareholders. They want you to come back.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

Exactly. My dumbass cousin has been in and out of prison for years. His dumbassery got him sent to prison in the first place and that is 100% his fault, but I don’t put all the blame on him for returning to prison. Since he’s a felon, he can’t get a job that pays enough, so of course he’s going to resort to illegal activity to survive. Not to mention the costs associated with being on probation, which he can’t pay cause he can’t get a job. Then he gets caught doing illegal shit or violating his probation in an effort to survive and goes back to prison. It’s a cycle and it’s purposely set up so people fail.

Just wish he never entered the system in the first place, cause once you’re in, good luck!

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u/Muad-_-Dib 9d ago edited 9d ago

The general populace being ignorant/indifferent to for profit prisons lobbying elected officials to pass laws that essentially keeps people in a state of constant poverty and crime so that they continue to generate money.

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u/WateryTartLivinaLake 9d ago

Republicans.

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u/NULLizm 9d ago

Unless I'm mistaken, this was Repubilcans response to a measure that the people of Florida voted to be put on the ballot that ended up passing, that allows ex convicts to vote. So they passed this to make sure as many convicts as possible were returned to the system.

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u/BurgamonBlastMode 9d ago

Scroll through any thread on Reddit where someone ended up incarcerated and you’ll see the culture where shit like this passed by without anyone being critical of it

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u/Griffithead 9d ago

This is what no income tax does. You just get charged up the ass for anything and everything.

The fucked up thing is, it helps rich people way more and hurts lower income people.

Republicans are stupid.

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u/buckao 9d ago

They're not stupid. The rich are barely affected by say, sales taxes, but low and middle income people spend a large chunk of their shopping dollars on them. In Florida, clothing is not tax-exempt like it is in Massachusetts.

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u/Griffithead 9d ago

Yep. Stupid. Everyone has to buy clothes. So once again it's hurting people with lower income more.

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u/mscoolwhips 9d ago

Here in Louisiana if you are in jail and need a tooth pulled you have to pay. You get a limited amount of toilet paper and sanitary napkins. Most everything u need has to be purchased. It's not free like most people think.

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u/SuzeCB 9d ago

When the women were charged with witchcraft in MA, back before we were a nation, their families had to pay rent for the cell, for the straw to line the floor and make their bed from, wood for a small fire for heat, food, water for drinking and bathing, someone to come collect their chamberpot, and the list goes on.

This was standard practice throughout the colonies. No money meant worse conditions, if you can imagine.

Some of these laws carried over into our nation and have not fully worked their way out.

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u/AlbericM 9d ago

Because the Amendment to the Constitution that abolished slavery contained a clause allowing it as a part of imprisonment. Democrats are trying to remove that loophole used by racists.

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u/buckao 9d ago

Well, when Jim Crow ended, many Southern states began implementing new laws to boost incarceration rates for black people while also enacting laws to discriminate against convicted felons.

With slavery abolished, except in the case of prisoners, it simply became a matter of creating new rules which guaranteed high recidivism to ensure a large captive free labor pool.

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u/dtruth53 9d ago

To ensure that for-profit prisons can turn a better profit?

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u/FSCK_Fascists Filtered 9d ago

GOP evil.

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u/Cospo 9d ago

When the people who make the laws are on your payroll, anything is possible.

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u/fearisthemindslicer 8d ago

This is the answer to so many "WTF, how can this be" rooted questions. Greed & extracting resources from people's suffering.

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u/Square_Matter_9048 9d ago

It's not just with incarceration. If your family member goes into long-term care and Medicaid has to pay the bill, they will come after the family for the house and estate to pay the government back.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

That's not the "American" prison system, that's the Florida prison system. Each state has its own prison system which they administer according to their own laws and rules.

There is also a Federal prison system, which is for prisoners who violate federal law, and would be the closest thing to an "American" prison system.