Shame on US

[kpete]

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Link to tweet

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[Karadeniz]

1. Yes, shameful

[SoCalDavidS]

2. U.S. Equals United In Shame

We're pathetic, and a Worldwide embarrassment.

[secondwind]

3. 45's legacy...

Will go down in history as the worst President EVER...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. K&R. Prisons don't keep people safe.

[summer_in_TX]

5. Prisons tend to bring out the worst in the guards.

There was a science experiment I heard of that stuck with me. College students were divided into two groups and one set were assigned to play the guards, the others prisoners.

The experiment seemed to show the devolving of the "guards" who became authoritarians who abused power.

I don't remember all the details, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the callousness of the guards had a lot to do with the infection rates within prisons.

[sop]

6. Stanford Prison Experiment

[summer_in_TX]

7. Thanks!

Disturbing experiment and results.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. On the local (Albany, NY) news tonight there was a report on cases going up, especially in prisons

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. COVID or not, prisons are awful.

The company I worked for years ago had a contract to look after some of the electronic building systems at a federal prison near here. As such, I had almost unlimited access, because it was closer to a country club than a medium-security facility.

One day, I was working on a control panel in a ATCO trailer than had been turned over to the inmates as a kind of social center. A small group of cons was listening to one of them tell a story. I zeroed in on it at this point.

"So, there I was, holding the knife and covered in blood when the cops arrived."

"How did they get there so fast?"

"Wasn't that fast. About 10 minutes or so."

"Then why were you still hanging around?"

"I guess I was kind of in shock or something. I mean, it was my first murder."

First murder. So great. I was pretty happy to finish up and get out of there.


Like it or not - all the while trying to remember they are fellow humans - a lot of people find it hard to have a lot of empathy for this demographic. I found that guards and "civilian" staff to be more respectful and kind than one might think. I didn't see them at their worst, of course...or in situations where they aren't being watched...or feeling they have to exert their authority.

[Reality Primate]

10. Just an anecdote

In USA we jail a higher percentage of our population than any other country.
EU jails, in some countries, less than 10% of what we do, yet they have lower crime levels.
Research shows, counterintuitively, that jailing more people actually increases crime levels because of the disruption to the social fabric.
Either that, or Americans are 10 times more likely to be criminals than some of our EU peer nations citizens.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. We have 4% of the world population, but 22%+ of...

... all prisoners.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/dec/15/jim-webb/webb-says-us-has-5-percent-worlds-population-25-pe/

There's fewer social safety nets in the USA, which can encourage illegal activities just to survive.

Not to mention the "war on drugs" and other national policies that many countries would consider crazy.

[RockRaven]

11. A couple months ago, on the tail of the winter spike, there was an article in my SF Bay Area paper

about how the new case rate in CA prisons had dropped ten-fold (or so) in the prior month(ish?). The explanation offered was that the CA prison system had nearly achieved herd immunity.

For clarity it should be pointed out that the infection rate in CA prisons, pre-vaccine, was an abomination. And that's after the state released many many thousands of prisoners (like 1/5 or 1/4, IIRC) on early parole because of overcrowding -- overcrowding relative to COVID, anyway.

What I recall of the numbers provided was that 70-some% of prisoners were either prior infected or vaccinated (about half and half) and about the same percent of prison guards (but majority vaxxed).

The article went on to point out that CA was vaccinating guards AND prisoners, while some states only offered vaccines to guards, and some states (no surprise red red red Repuke states) were not even vaccinating their guards ("blue lives matter" indeed!).

34% nationwide? This is shameful. And not at all surprising.

[hay rick]

12. Shame squared.

This is not somebody else, it's us.

[enid602]

13. incidence of infection

This disease has largely been a European and North and South American disease. Very little infection so far in Asia and Africa, where a very large part of the human race resides.

The one thing that the US can be ashamed of, however is that ALL of the vaccines going to Latin America are from China, India and Russia.

[dutch777]

14. No one is reporting stats for prisons and the military. I understand why for the mil but curious

about the numbers. I bet on ships at sea especially infection rate is higher than general population. Military worries about image of readiness, or lack thereof, to our enemies so numbers will not be shared for a long time if they can help it.

[uponit7771]

15. Incarcerated people are legally slaves so we don't have to care That's the shame

[Raine]

17. I wonder what prison rates are Worldwide

for comparison. 🤔

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. The USA is #1 by prisoner rate too.

That is, prisoners per 100,000 population.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country

[Raine]

19. Oh wow, thanks for that info

it sure doesn't say anything good about us, sadly.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

20. Yes, it's terrible.

My earlier screen capture doesn't include the many countries with FAR lower incarceration rates, of course.