[tptacek]

Moralism aside, there's a point at which prisoner benefits can create an incentive to commit crimes. Not rape and murder, of course, but if you're 18 years old and driftless and already weighing the costs and benefits of, say, a commercial B&E, the fact that your worst case scenario includes a college education will have an impact. I'm not silly enough to think it would make criminals out of people who weren't already, though.

[anigbrowl]

I've come across several cases of people who were not professional criminals committing crimes so they could get access to medical care, although this is obviously not an issue in the UK.

Robbing a bank for $1 is still a crime, though not as severe one as intended: http://volokh.com/2011/06/21/man-commits-1-robbery-to-get-he...

A similar case: http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/08/...

Career criminals do so as well, of course: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/on-purpose...

According to this local news story, 80% of inmates at one Colorado county jail are either mentally ill or have serious medical issues that are diagnosed on arrival: http://kdvr.com/2014/07/07/expensive-trend-people-committing...

I could go on and on about this :-(

[vidarh]

> 80% of inmates at one Colorado county jail are either mentally ill or have serious medical issues that are diagnosed on arrival

The creation of the mental health system in the UK in the first place was a direct result of the observation that a large percentage of people incarcerated were mentally ill.

[anigbrowl]

The US used to have better mental health care but ended up going in the opposite direction to that of the UK, sadly. These two articles provide a decent overview, although they omit some important legal cases.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/timeline-mental-...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/12/w...

[GigabyteCoin]

>Moralism aside, there's a point at which prisoner benefits can create an incentive to commit crimes.

That already exists in our current prison system. Here in Toronto, 'criminals' are found every year standing beside broken windows of downtown businesses late at night because they couldn't stand the frigid cold and the homeless shelters were full. All they usually want is a warm place to sleep and some food that didn't come out of a dumpster.

While the prospect of running a lucrative commercial B&E enterprise with the "worst case scenario" including a college education might be tempting...

You will still be a known criminal to your family and friends, which will take years to change their opinion of you if at all possible. Nobody will feel comfortable leaving you alone in their home. Nobody will allow their children to approach you. Your options for employment will drop drastically once you are released from prison.

You will still lack freedom. Feel like taking a jog in the park? Not for another 10 years, you can't.

Etc.

If the above seem like a better scenario than your current situation, perhaps you need some guidance in a community college type setting.

[AnthonyMouse]

There is an extent to which this is already the case. If you're homeless and unemployed, three hots and a cot starts to sound mighty attractive.

The obvious solution is to make sure the same benefits are available to the general public without the requirement of criminality.

[tptacek]

Since the obvious solution is politically intractable and would require fundamentally altering the way all resources are allocated and collected by the government, you can see why a program to extend that benefit only to prisoners (which, but for the optics, might have been tractable) would cause an uproar.

[atmosx]

To me is strange for anyone to choose a life where he is absolutely not free, just to get a college degree. Degree or not, having jail time in your resume will have a (extremely?) negative impact.

[Fuzzwah]

What about people joining the army for just this reason?

[Retra]

You don't lose that much freedom in the military. At least, most of the things you would be permitted from doing are things that you wouldn't need/want to do anyway.

But I suppose you could say the same about prison, for some people.

[MichaelGG]

How pervasive is that attitude? I've worked with plenty of people with records. So long it's not something real violent or something lame/morally questionable (robbing an old woman because you're her financial advisor) the only real question I think of is "why were you caught" and if that is strong evidence of anything else. Like, it could indicate a poor understanding of information theory, or badly calibrated risk assessment.

Someone committing a nonviolent crime to get free room and board and college, of explained, sounds rather clever. Most people end up in significant debt for a similar outcome. (And low security prison in the US isn't so bad, about the same level as sharing a 2 star hotel room with a coworker, from what I've seen.)

[ceejayoz]

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/238488.pdf

> The majority of employers indicate that they would “probably” or “definitely” not be willing to hire an applicant with a criminal record.

[colechristensen]

Don't underestimate the value of a place to sleep, a roof over your head, and a rudimentary education to a large portion of the least fortunate. Having the certainty of those things could easily beat trying to hold on to a terrible job and keep a place to stay with food on the table.

[vacri]

That's sounds more like a "game theory" statement than a real life decision. The demographic you're describing isn't known for it's long-term planning capabilities, and most crimes are committed with the expectation that you won't get caught.

[lazyant]

that's what the biggest welfare system in the US is for (the military)