[bobdrake]

What will become of the large US prison population after PO hits? Once gas is about $6/gallon how will the local, state, and federal government afford to keep the lights in the prisons/jails on, keep trucks running, and heat/cool the prisons?

Will there be wholesale releases from prisons or do you think they will become work farms?

[Ludi]

I hope many of the prisoners, especially those in for drug possession and other such victimless crimes, will be released. Prisons are already work houses.

[arretium]

What an interesting question. I've wondered this one myself. Kudos for you to bringing it up first.

As you may know, the U.S. has the largest population of inmates in the World. We surpass every country. Even China. We spend billions of dollars keeping these people in jail. I'm not saying keeping these people in jail is bad policy because it is hard to argue with declining crime within the U.S. However, at some point, I'm sure policy makers will look at how to reduce costs within the system.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

The guards themselves are in most instances considered an essential service. In a soft crash they might be more lenient with sentencing but you will likely find that jails and hospitals will still be given what little resources there are.

A lot of jails are run by electricity. In the US and most of Canada they are still mostly on a key based system. ONly BC and possibly parts of Alberta are the door and security systems electronic.

In the event of PO you would likely find longer cell times. Instead of being allowed out for half the day or more they will be able to have one hour out. afterall, that is all jails are legally mandated to provide. In such a situation it would be declared an emergency situation and they would be on lock down.

With PO and the breakdown of social order, the last thing the authorities would want to do is loose their populations. it is more likely they would eventually be locked up and left to starve to death. especially in less industrialized nations. Either that or they would have to bring back the death penalty to more places so they ahve a way to keep order.

[Raxozanne]

Or maybe the US will ship them all out to the front line against Iran.

[aahala]

Everything will be affected by much higher oil prices. Electricity will be one of the least affected -- only about 3% is oil input.

I don't know about prisons in particular, but heating/cooling in the US
generally is mostly NG and less electricity, LPG and oil.

What's this $6 gasoline? I better fill up.

[BiGG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bobdrake', 'W')hat will become of the large US prison population after PO hits? Once gas is about $6/gallon how will the local, state, and federal government afford to keep the lights in the prisons/jails on, keep trucks running, and heat/cool the prisons?

Will there be wholesale releases from prisons or do you think they will become work farms?

[RonMN]

Darn good question! I would guess that they would quickly review cases & release inmates of non-violent offenses...

After that they will probably use the remaining inmates manpower to grow their own food & haul water if needed (the old chain-gang).

I would hope! I just can't see leaving them in their cell to starve to death.

[MicroHydro]

"Or maybe the US will ship them all out to the front line against Iran."

Agree. Any white Christian inmates will be diverted into military service. Muslims will not fare as well.

[spear]

aybe the maximum security prisons will be able to hold their populations but I doubt that the medium and especially minium security will be able to.Theres going to be people bolting left and right.
And will they be able to move 1300 inmates from a medium to a max??
NO WAY JOSE that isnt happening.Word gets around fast in prisons.So they´ll know something is up.Then its riot time.

[frankthetank]

It costs something on the order of 30K/year to hold someone in prison. Thats a lot of dough. I would think the monetary pressure would cause either to get rid of inmates or get rid of guards.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') would guess that they would quickly review cases & release inmates of non-violent offenses...

[smiley]

Send them to Australia

We did.

[Njegosh]

smiley
foei!
The English did that ours were "volunteers"!

[eastbay]

http://www.escapingjustice.com/infamous.htm

Something resembling the old La Mesa prison in Tijuana will be the most likely post Peak Oil prison scenario. Governments will no longer be able to afford to pay for a modern prison system, but society will demand that the criminals be removed from society. So they will have to be stuffed somewhere. It's possible that an 'Escape From New York' scenario could evolve, with the prisoners developing a system of farming because there would have to be a way for the prisoners to feed themselves.

It will probably become a classic, 'no more Mr. Nice Guy', scene for those in jail.

EastBay

[smallpoxgirl]

You guys are way missing the point here. Incarceration is a business in the US. The reason all those folks are in jail is that it makes money for other folks. Lots and lots of people are employed between building and servicing prisons, the legal system, the police state, all the people that make equipment and supplies for the police state, all the companies that have prisoners making their junk for $0.10 per hour, even the phone companies make a killing on prisons. Just like every other sector of the economy, the prison industry will contract with peak oil. There simply won't be enough money to incarcerate people for stupid crap like having a joint or stealing an aspirin

[frankthetank]

It has to be overhauled drastically. A close friend works at a jail and says he's just an overpaid babysitter, while another friend did some work @ a supermax? prison and said the food was good and they had cable tv. I've read in the past that to house a person for a year costs over 30K, which is way to much money. I wonder how much Russia spends? And now i read this...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')urkowski and the Alaska Department of Public Safety will both use the nine-passenger aircraft.

Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said she could not say when the governor will start flying on the Westwind. She referred such questions to Public Safety Commissioner Bill Tandeske.

"The governor could make use of the aircraft immediately if there is a need. ... It would not be unreasonable to assume he may be on the jet within the next couple weeks," Tandeske said in an e-mail.

Tandeske has said his department can use the jet to hightail it to emergencies or, more routinely, to transport prisoners to a private prison in Arizona that houses Alaska's excess inmates.

Tandeske said in an interview Monday that the jet will make its first prison run to Arizona soon. But he said that for security reasons he couldn't give specifics on that.

Critics have argued loud and often that a corporate jet is too luxurious for convicts or the governor. The 1984 Israeli-made Westwind II has a cream leather divan, burgundy carpeting, a cabin stereo system and a flush toilet -- unlike the state-owned turboprops the governor currently uses.

[JohnM]

From what I've read, seen and heard, in the past 10 or so years prisons have become their own thriving industry in the US. According to this Washington Post article, the prison population is about 2.2 million, and 7 million have been in and out of prison ... in 2005.
Apparently people are being incarcerated for the most trivial reasons like smoking pot or shoplifting.

To me this is surreal. Like putting a third of my country in prison. But it seems to be quite real.

My personal philosophy on this, is that by putting this many people in jail, and allowing the incarceration of people to be an industry, you'll only be breeding more criminality.
I mean, employers will be wary when hiring someone with a criminal record, however trivial their crime has been. This could lead to the said person commiting more crimes, maybe even serious crimes, because her or she can't get any real work.

I reckon these huge prison populations will be quite hard to deal with when the initial PO shit starts hitting the fan. Many might even have gotten used to a life of crime and this might cause some undesireable situations to emerge when these jailbirds flee the coup and want to survive.
However, down the road it won't make a big difference, I think.

What are your views on this?
[edit - moved topic from Peak Oil Discussion to Open Discussion Forum - markl]

[MacG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnM', 'W')hat are your views on this?

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnM', 'F')rom what I've read, seen and heard, in the past 10 or so years prisons have become their own thriving industry in the US. According to this Washington Post article, the prison population is about 2.2 million, and 7 million have been in and out of prison ... in 2005.
Apparently people are being incarcerated for the most trivial reasons like smoking pot or shoplifting.
To me this is surreal. But it seems to be quite real.
My personal philosophy on this, is that by putting this many people in jail, and allowing the incarceration of people to be an industry, you'll only be breeding more criminality.
I mean, employers will be wary when hiring someone with a criminal record, however trivial their crime has been. This could lead to the said person commiting more crimes, maybe even serious crimes, because her or she can't get any real work.
I reckon these huge prison populations will be quite hard to deal with when the initial PO crap starts hitting the fan. Many might even have gotten used to a life of crime and this might cause some undesireable situations to emerge when these jailbirds flee the coup and want to survive.
However, down the road it won't make a big difference, I think.
What are your views on this?