My friend said there is a clear difference and tried to explain it to me, but I still don’t really get it. Is jail like a holding place until you get to prison?
In: 5
Jails are run by a city or county, they are typically used to hold people with sentences of less than a year.
Prisons are run by the state and house people with sentences of one year or more.
I say “run” but they’re often subcontracted to private companies.
The distinction is made because the jail experience tends to be way less hardcore because the inmates know that good behavior or even neutral behavior and they’re out in a year but bad behavior can get you the upgrade to prison.
And in prison people have less hope and the experience tends to be much more harsh .
And as an added bonus the 13th amendment ended slavery “except as punishment for a crime.” This has been taken to mean that the operators of the prison can rent out the prisoners as extremely cheap labor. So private prison companies tend to be problematic for their resemblance to a slave rental corporation.
Aside and pet peeve: I should be able to rent or buy a guy from a prison according to the 13th amendment because it allows slavery, right? I find that particular loophole to be something that should be closed. No one seems to care in any of the halls of power but this whole “you are prisoner so you don’t have financial rights or control of your own labor” and we get to charge you outlandish fees to acquire the money you need to pay the outlandish prices offered in prison is kind of bullshit. Prisons should be a cost center not a profit center.
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