this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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[–] obvs@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

You got that backward, chief.

It's not a coincidence.

It's literally the point.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 46 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Any government that can financially profit from its prisoners also has an incentive to imprison more of its population.

[–] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, the government isn't profiting from it. Its the people running the government who are invested in private prison companies are personally profiting from it. Along with their golf buddies running said companies.

Privately run prisons as a for profit business is a crime against humanity.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The government would have got a payday when they sold off the prisons in the first place.

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[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I agree with the sentiment, but were prisoners able to vote, prisons would get gerrymandered to hell and back. That said, they should still be able to.

[–] SuspiciousCatThing@pawb.social 5 points 20 hours ago

Yeah that just means that gerrymandering is the problem.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

I think you're touching the heart of the problem: the US election system.

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In Sweden, prisoners keep their home address and vote in their home district.

To be fair, Sweden's prison system is more progressive than the non-imprisoned experience in some countries.

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 day ago (9 children)

In the US, slavery is legal for prisoners. The US has the largest prison population in the world. This is not a coincidence.

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

Us people: criminals shouldn't be allowed to vote!
Then proceed to vote for and elect a criminal.
Then they do it again. Just because.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 135 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

Not only do I think non-incarcerated felons should have the right to vote, I think currently incarcerated should as well. Hell, set up a voting location in the prison.

[–] Klear@piefed.world 76 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's how it works in most civilised countries.

[–] RmDebArc_5@piefed.zip 47 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's how it works in ~~most~~ civilised countries.

[–] Klear@piefed.world 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I added the qualifier mainly because of New Zealand. AFAIK the country has otherwise its shit together.

[–] ProfessorHoover@infosec.pub 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

New Zealand also lets the team down by allowing medical advertising. IRC it's the only country other than the US with prescription medical advertising.

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That is how it works in a democracy

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Especially since those states are counting those prisoners among the residents in the census.

The entire fucking point is to get the benefits for those additional people, while not having to worry about them voting (likely against the people who put them there)

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Important distinction, the census counts the prisoners as residents of the county in which the prison sits. The prisoners are almost always already residents of the state. It’s called prison gerrymandering, and it unfairly advantages the county and districts in which the prisons lie, almost always rural and almost always to Republican advantage.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Even better, let's stop doing prisons

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

I'd settle for getting rid of for profit ones

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 36 points 2 days ago (9 children)

Certainly cutting back 9 out of 10 prisons is a good idea. I don't object to the idea that there is a certain amount of people who need to be removed for their own and the public's safety.

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 day ago

Start with getting rid of private prisons, and then go from there

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Holy F…..yea

[–] Radical_Socialist_t00t@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Switch to Scientific Socialism. Problem solved.

Also quit letting any 2bit idiot have a say on what the country's policies are unless they're qualified to be in that conversation.

[–] kshade@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Also quit letting any 2bit idiot have a say on what the country’s policies are unless they’re qualified to be in that conversation.

That is such a tempting setup...

[–] SuspiciousCatThing@pawb.social 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Switch to Scientific Socialism.

I was bracing for a CCP shill here tbh. Had is in the first half XD

[–] Radical_Socialist_t00t@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago

China isn't Scientific Socialism. Hell its not even real socialism to begin with, its just fascist-capitalism with a nice coat of socialism paint over it.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 10 points 1 day ago

If anyone needs representation, it's prisoners.

[–] asg101@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 day ago (2 children)

More fun facts, slavery is still legal in the USA (for prisoners) and the USA imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other country. The ruling class just makes everything illegal and enjoys unlimited slave labor!

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 1 day ago

They intend to greatly increase the use of prisoner slave labor, and will be using it to punish political prisoners they have labeled ANTIFA terrorists, just for posting messages like this one.

They want to identify everyone on the Internet, not so they can keep children from learning that boys and girls have different genitalia, but so they can find the ANTIFA Terrorists, imprison them, take away their right to vote, and then lease them out to Sociopathic Oligarchs for whatever dangerous, unregulated work they need done - mining, environmental clean-up, construction, roadwork, crop harvesting, etc.

All those jobs that immigrants used to do? ANTIFA Terrorists can do them.

[–] Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago

More non violent prisoners behind bars than any country to ever exist!

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 37 points 2 days ago (3 children)

An imprisoned felon has no voice, but a free felon can be president.

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One of the many ways in which those in power in the US systematically enslave and disenfranchise people of color to this day.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 9 points 1 day ago

red states use prisoners as part of the census, so they can maintain the gop house seats in thier states.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

MAGAs looking to make trump derangement syndrome a mental illness.

mark someone as mentally unstable > hall them of to an asylum > drug or kill them under wraps

america has no idea what its dealing with.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 17 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Currently it depends on the state/district.

https://legalclarity.org/in-what-states-can-felons-vote-state-by-state-laws/

Only the District of Columbia, Maine, and Vermont allow people with felony convictions to vote at all times, including while serving time in prison

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Lee Carter is a former Democratic Socialist member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2018–2022) who actively championed prison abolition and criminal justice reform.

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