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I often hear liberals say that rich white people get to go to prisons that are like luxury resorts. However, I've never seen any evidence that nice prisons exist anywhere in the U.S. I know that some are better than others, but the "nice" ones are still like 3rd world conditions, are nothing like prisons in Norway. I've done a small amount of time in jail and it amazed me that it's even legal to forcibly house 20+ people in a room the size of a 1-bedroom apartment. It's a fire hazard at the very least. It felt like Auschwitz or something. And this was in a county jail in an affluent area. I'm pretty sure Bernie Madoff isn't in some luxury suite.
So, do nice prisons exist or is this just part of the "White/Rich Privilege" myth?
I often hear liberals say that rich white people get to go to prisons that are like luxury resorts. However, I've never seen any evidence that nice prisons exist anywhere in the U.S. I know that some are better than others, but the "nice" ones are still like 3rd world conditions, are nothing like prisons in Norway. I've done a small amount of time in jail and it amazed me that it's even legal to forcibly house 20+ people in a room the size of a 1-bedroom apartment. It's a fire hazard at the very least. It felt like Auschwitz or something. And this was in a county jail in an affluent area. I'm pretty sure Bernie Madoff isn't in some luxury suite.
So, do nice prisons exist or is this just part of the "White/Rich Privilege" myth?
It varies by facility but for the most part those incarcerated in the federal system are in for "white collar" crimes as opposed to the violent felons you see in most state lock-ups.
Opposed to the gang-bangers, rapists, murders, serial/career felons, armed robbery and so forth in state prisons, on the federal level you get tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, SEC/financial/Wall Street and other "white collar" criminals.
Yes, the feds do get some violent and dangerous people, but no where near the numbers seen in state lock-ups. Even the "dangerous" or "violent" criminals they do get are often mobsters that can be somewhat defanged without a support network around them. Think of John Gotti, Al Capone, and the rest.
As such the federal system does not usually have the need for the repressive type of incarceration often found in state prisons. Martha Stewart, Bernie Madoff and other convicts like them aren't violent, nor likely to become so; as such the strong show of force and again often repressive conditions aren't usually warranted.
Again this does vary as the federal system does have low, medium and high security prisons.
Consider also unlike a state convict who must be kept within the borders of where the conviction resides, federal prisoners can be sent anywhere in that system. If you commit a federal crime in say Utah, you can be sent (upon conviction) to CA or anywhere else in the system.
As I've proved to myself several times, I can be happy living in a single room. Give me access to a library and an iPod, and I'm good. And maybe yarn and knitting needles.
But even a white-collar prison limits where and when you can go somewhere, subjects you to the company of people whose company you'd rather avoid, puts you on a schedule you don't choose, and serves you food you'd rather not eat.
Some federal prisons are literally open with no fencing, towers, etc. I can't think of the name offhand but one such example is in West Virginia.
Others like ADX in Florence, Colorado - the federal supermax facility, are literal fortresses. ADX for instance was designed with just as much focus on keeping people out as it was to keep people in. The Federal Bureau of Prisons officers at ADX reportedly have access to MANPAD anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns.
Yeah, they should have stuck Martha Stewart in the prison laundry! *LOL*
Dunno where Stewart worked, but the article I cited above said that all inmates were required to work 7 1/2 hours per day.
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