Item — HN Reader

Given that current jail conditions are dismal as best, I see no reason for private companies to not offer for-pay incarceration services that solve these problems. This is no different than private companies offering delivery services because USPS sucks, or private transportation companies existing because bus infra simply isn't good enough. If a judge considers these options prison-like enough, then I see no reason they cannot exist.

Does it suck because not everyone can afford it? Sure

Does that mean we should just screw everyone equally simply to claim we're fair? IMHO no. Not unless you also want to close down UPS, FedEx, and Greyhound. And not unless you are willing to come out and openly say that YOU consider rape, abuse, and neglect to be an official part of our rehabilitation strategy (because that is all that county and federal prisons excel at)

2 comments

You write as if the current jail conditions are set in stone. Why is that?

You write as is USPS's suckiness is set in stone.

Alternatives are allowed even if incumbents can change...

My point is that allowing alternatives for a price removes the incentive to fix the free somution for everyone who can afford that price.

In that case please stop driving (go fix public transit), eating at restaurants (go fix soup kitchens), using Lyft (go fix cabs), etc...

(The point is: the people providing alternatives are under no obligation to fix anything. Isn't HN all about disrupting bad models?)

You could say that YC is.. HN is just a tech news/discussion site. If anything it's all about (comparatively) respectful discourse.

You are getting confused between consumer goods/services (part of a capitalist market and being sold for profit without regard to social good), and the justice provisions of a functioning society (part of the public good, not for profit, can't be sold, and not subject to market forces or imbalancing tendencies... or at least life was better when it was like that and people knew the difference).