Green Prisons
I was doing some research for a paper on prisons and came across some interesting stuff here. The study is old but I like the idea. Prisons could be used more efficiently to help them be self-sustaining and help solve some environmental issues. Prison population keeps growing and they don't have anywhere to go. Why not use these numbers to our advantage? Locate the prisons at places where farming and agriculture is possible and put inmates to work with scientist and farmers to solve problems such as irrigation and fertilization. Find new and better technologies which produce more for less. The food grown at the prisons could be used there and/or sold. Many inmates would be more than willing to work and get out of their cell. They would be learning a trade to help them find a legal job when released from prison. Basically run the prisons more like envirovnmental laboratories. I know the government already hires the inmates out as cheap labor, why not do something for the benefit of everyone. What do you think of this? Problems/Benefits
posted by jdw @ 5:59 PM
2 Comments:
The idea of using inmates to create a more self sustaining prison is an interesting idea. If the prisoners have the idea that they are going to be eating what they grow then they will probably work harder to get better food. Instead of being hired out these prisoners can learn valueable skills to reduce the costs of the prisons themselves. J.P. Morgan wrote, "In 1996 we taxpayers spent $933 million to operate the state prisons and an additional $550 million to repair and build more (prisons)." Granted this is an old figure but I don't think the prices have gone down much. If anything they are more now than ever.
This is a very intereesting, the idea of running prisons like environmental laboratories. It think it would for sure get the inmates ready to be released as well as rewarding to them that they would be able to greatly benefit from their work. Rather than making a liscence plate for a car they will never seem they would be able to eat the results and benefit nutritionally. However, how would the inmates be kept in the fields? Would security fences with many guards have to be at every crop sight?
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