News, Inmate Visits Now Carry Added Cost in Arizona. (upkeep, tax)

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

And I would like to see the money come from the rich. OK? The main reason we have jails and courts and cops is to protect the rich and let them take everyone else's money without having to worry about the social consequences of their rapacious behavior. So let them pay.

They don't need to protect me from the criminals. I'm quite capable of doing that myself and I would save the taxpayers a LOT of money by their no longer having to prosecute the dead guy.

[rich67]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

And I would like to see the money come from the rich. OK? The main reason we have jails and courts and cops is to protect the rich and let them take everyone else's money without having to worry about the social consequences of their rapacious behavior. So let them pay.

Please tell me you are being sarcastic or you are joking with this attitude. Are you not aware that the people who use law enforcement's services are mainly the middle class, poor and indigent?? They are primarily the victims, victims of person crimes, assaults and batteries, robberies, etc. Contrary to popular belief, there aren't many rich people being burglarized- they can afford security and alarms, live in gated communities, etc.
Read the other articles pertaining to this issue. The $25 is not a repeat charge, it's a ONE TIME charge. There's other articles out there about this other than the slanted NY Times version.

[rich67]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Fees are what they're called when they're politically impossible to pass as a tax. I don't smoke (anymore). Do I pay a cigarette tax? Or do I only pay it in the form of bond payments on money borrowed against projected income from cigarette taxes that only smokers pay?

Good point.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

$25 is a couple weeks of school lunches, or a backpack, or shirt and pants It matters to people who have nothing. It's the worst of a mean-spirited Arizona on display - once again.

Good grief! Nowadays, $25 is hardly anything. Besides, many of the "working poor" who supposedly have nothing are often seen cruising around in big SUVs or trucks, which often cost 1,000 times $25 brand new. And the same poor souls & their children who have nothing certainly aren't lacking in their Ipods, cell phones, and other fancy modern devices.

So please spare us the sob story about how $25 is a lot of money for those who are struggling, or how this fee is mean spirited. Hell, compared to the property taxes we have to pay to send everybody else's rugrats to their free public daycare, and all the taxes swiped out of our salaries to subsidize many wasteful local, state, and federal programs, a $25 fee for visitation is barely a drop in the bucket.

[roundball]

Just another way that ALEC and private prisons are raping us. The monies go into a special fund that only the legislature can dole out to upgrade infrastructure. Who do you think it will go to?... Maybe a small percentage will go to a state run prison. Most will got to private corporations that are already supposed to have this figured into their fees they charge us taxpayers...and yes all private prisons are under the dept. of corrections. SB 1621

What a disgrace!

BTW I would have no problem with this if it wasn't going to private prisons.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by rich67

Please tell me you are being sarcastic or you are joking with this attitude. Are you not aware that the people who use law enforcement's services are mainly the middle class, poor and indigent?? They are primarily the victims, victims of person crimes, assaults and batteries, robberies, etc. Contrary to popular belief, there aren't many rich people being burglarized- they can afford security and alarms, live in gated communities, etc.
Read the other articles pertaining to this issue. The $25 is not a repeat charge, it's a ONE TIME charge. There's other articles out there about this other than the slanted NY Times version.

I am not being sarcastic. The reason the poor prey on the poor is because the wealthy have created a permanent underclass in their greed. They live large and eat fat and the poor are left to battle each other for the crumbs. Police are here to keep the poor in S. Phoenix and Guadalupe and out of north Scottsdale, to keep the banks from being robbed, the rich from being assaulted on the street. The poor are forced into ghettos where they can be safely managed. No one really cares if they are crime victims. The main objective of the criminal justice system in AZ is to lock as many poor people (or black and Hispanic males if you want it straight) in prisons as possible. AZ does it better than just about anyone locking them up on victimless drug possession charges and mandatory sentencing. Then they have the gall to tax their mothers, wives and children for the privilege of seeing them again.

[observer53]

This thread is steering off topic into much broader issues. Back to topic, please. If you want to discuss topics other than the fee, start another thread -- which may belong in a different forum.

[azriverfan.]

I don't agree with this law. People may be guilty of crimes but their families shouldn't have to suffer at their expense. Just because someone is a criminal, it doesn't mean their children are criminals. All this law will do is hurt already poor families and impact a poor child's ability to visit his father or mother in prison. It is a stupid law and if anyone knows my reputation on this forum, they know I'm not a naive bleeding heart. I like the idea of making criminals pay and helping generate additional revenue. I really don't care about the criminal's feelings nor do I blame rich people for poor people's crimes. However, the reality is this law negatively impacts the families more than the criminals.

[BrianH]

I am sure the inmate can pay with monies that are on his/her books if they really want to.

[Jalhop]

Originally Posted by Bummer

As expected, the ridiculous Boo Hoo arguments have arrived . . .

Why should I, or any other taxpayer, be expected to cover the additional expenses involved in order for criminals to have visitors? Jail is supposed to be punishment for committing a crime . . . NOT a vacation or a picnic.

Why? It's when that reduces the crime rate, lowering the overall expense and aggravation to the citizens below the additional expense in question. That's a financially prudent argument. Some other Boo Hoo countries have much lower rates of recidivism. I'm in support of whatever they're doing to achieve that. Prison in those places is still no vacation.