California began capitalizing on pay-to-stay by offering so-called “nicer” jails for those willing to pay, as The New York Times reported in 2007. By 2017, 26 California jails willfully created a two-tiered pay-to-stay system, offering flat-screen TVs, a computer room and new beds for their rich “clients” who occasionally roomed in the same jail as poorer prisoners, according to The Marshall Project. An article in Salon pointed out these jails also afford amenities such as “semi-private rooms, single showers, and the ability to … make phone calls whenever.” (Read More)
I hope people are recognizing that this is awful because these basic amenities should be accessible to prisoners in general and shouldn’t be paid for. I hope that people aren’t hating this because they believe prisoners don’t deserve any of these things. I hope people also recognize that I’m aware of the “even more serious crimes” part and that the people often falsely charged and convicted of these “serious” crimes are usually poc and mentally ill people.
