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by haberman 2164 days ago
What is that comparison meant to show?
1 comments
femiagbabiaka 2164 days ago
that atrocities are not the domain of any particular political or economic ideology or system, but rather a danger that we need to fight against actively everywhere, and now.
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haberman 2164 days ago
According to the BJS data sheet linked in grandparent, the leading causes of death in prison for 2016 are:

    - Cancer (1,128)
    - Heart Disease (1,025)
    - All Other Illnesses (525)
    - Liver Disease (260)
Cancer and Heart Disease are also the leading causes of death for people not in prison. I don't think this is at all convincing evidence of an "atrocity."
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femiagbabiaka 2164 days ago
What's the threshold for when prison deaths cross over to atrocity? For me it is 1 preventable death.

Healthcare in prisons is terrible: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-prison-was-built-to-h...

Taken as categories, 44% of people in prison die as a result of illness, 31% as a result of suicide. (both sourced from BJS still) Both avoidable with the right funding, and yes, atrocities. If we're going to have a justice system that lives up to what it claims, a side effect of a prison sentence shouldn't be death.

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