[danuker]

Digitized mail is one more straw on the camel's back. It is an example of the deeper issue: the prison-industrial complex going backwards on rehabilitation, because it is following the bad incentives written into law.

Meanwhile, in Norway, the incarceration rate is 10x lower, while the 2-year recidivism is about 20% instead of the US's 50-60% [1].

[1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20100509171347/http://www.time.c...

Here's an idea: pay prisons a meaningful amount when people coming out of them stay out and/or get jobs. For example, a bonus each year for five years.

Another idea: penalize them for every death or recidivism.

[nobody9999]

>Here's an idea: pay prisons a meaningful amount when people coming out of them stay out and/or get jobs. For example, a bonus each year for five years.

I get that you see financial incentives to prisons as the solution. However, that doesn't really solve the problem. Because it's not the prison or its administrators who deny housing and employment to those released from prison.

Which is why many folks (myself included) support "Ban the box"[0] laws.

Unless and until the societal stigma of incarceration (or even just an arrest -- both are public records) is satisfactorily addressed, this issue can't be solved. And certainly not with incentives to prison administrators.

[0] https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/ban-the-box-...

[D13Fd]

I agree with all of that (except maybe the "another idea" that was added via your edit). The U.S. prison system is in need of deep reform and this article is another great example of why. It's a completely misguided proposal that puts yet another private and profit-driven entity in a position of power over prisoners, extracting money from them and providing little if any value to the system.

The article still has nothing to do with police departments, though.

[Buttons840]

Yes. To connect this with my point. The prisons will end up with a fancy IT mail system. The jail will be able to provide digital mail for a fee, while not providing physical safety for the inmates. Priorities are wrong.