Comment by beej71
3 years ago
> The fact that you already paid some money for the other people doesn’t necessarily give you any reason why you should pay more for another expense, big or small.
You're right, but in the wrong place.
You're paying for another big expense when the person commits another offense and ends up with another round of prison. BIG bucks. If you'd just paid for their phone calls when they were in the last time, you'd have had a much better chance of not needing to spend that additional money.
People that become incarcerated have also paid for their phone calls and prison sentences by virtue of having been part of the public. They also don't cease producing value while incarcerated, but the prison system captures that, not the public.
Think of it like health insurance. Everyone pays, it's a service available to all of us, but not everyone uses it.