A recent surprise inspection in a Mexican prison found some interesting contraband: peacocks, prostitutes, plasmas, pot, and poultry ¹.

Now it's obvious that prison officials took bribes to allow hookers and luxury items to come into the jails. This got me to thinking, why should corrupt officials be the ones making all the money? I say just allow prisoners to pay for better living conditions and help fund some or all of the costs of maintaining prisons.

I believe we should consider this for American prisons.

Want a plasma TV in your cell? Pay an extra 30 dollars a month.

Want better food? Look at a menu. Sirloin steak: 40 dollars; shrimp cocktail: 20 dollars. And so on.

The costs for softer mattresses, fluffier pillows, larger rooms, can all be priced so that the government or state makes a profit instead of losing money on incarcerating inmates.

I know what some of you are thinking, prison should be for punishment, not for making it a comfortable and luxurious place. But you are wrong.

Punishment doesn't work and only makes for more violent crime. 67% of all inmates in the US are re-arrested and sent back within three years of being released from prison. And the new crimes they commit tend to be more frequent and more violent. [Wikipedia Recidivism]

If we want ex-convicts to be better citizens upon release we have to remove the brutalizing conditions in prison. The purpose of prisons should not be punishment - it should be crime reduction.

If we make prisons more comfortable and pleasant, then perhaps the criminals would be more willing to stay there longer and away from the rest of decent folk. And more importantly, when they are released, they don't become more violent offenders. I believe if we do it right we can even make prison voluntary: can't hack it in society? Sign up for a free stay at the nearest Federal Prison. That's right - we should allow people to volunteer to enter prison.

It's cheaper to house a prisoner in a federal prison than to allow him to commit crimes.

And just as the top 10% of taxpayers in this country pay more than 70% of all Federal Personal Income Taxes, so too can rich prisoners help pay for most of the cost of maintaining prisons.

Those who can afford better food and more comfortable living conditions can pay a premium. The moneys so generated can help reduce the costs currently borne by us poor taxpayers.

So prison can be a place for two kinds of people.

1. Voluntary removal: Those who can't make it in society and might commit crimes in order to pay for rent, food and clothing.

and
2. Forced removal: Those who already committed a crime.

I don't care if someone is punished for a crime, I just want that person removed from society. If rich inmates bear the majority of the cost of prison upkeep then my taxes go down. And money in my pocket is more important to me than some silly notion of retribution. I do not want to pay for retribution.

Punishment is so medieval.

Bessonov Nicolay. Prisoner. Paper, ink. 1989.
Photo Credit: inquisition-art.net