Perhaps, this thread would be best served if it were proposed in the Seniors / employment board for indeed I have found a proposition in which seniors could possibly gain a small bit of money by doing a small stretch in California or Washington D.C. Following Mr. Obama's thoughts on the number of prisoners held in the "Grey Bar Hotels" scattered throughout our country, the idea of paying criminals to be good is taking a good foothold. The model of D.C.'s recent approval of paying tribute to heretofore known criminals is already going gangbusters in California whereby said criminals are paid a stipend of $9000.00 a year. The word "tribute" isn't used in the ruling of course but the payment is exactly what the true nature of a tribute implies. It was a payment made in ancient times to those who were conquered in order to keep them from being troublesome to their new rulers. Please do note: More often than not, the paid party would take the cash and still run raids and harass the conquering party. There is one stipulation to the payment which must be met unfortunately. The criminals must attend some meetings bent on changing their behavior. Yup, jail couldn't do it with all of the councilors, schools, and employment training techniques made available, but a good bit of cash and behavior classes will. I am sure that the classes will absolutely work because I NEVER heard of anyone attending any AA or NA meetings backsliding into the old habits they once endured. Do please forgive the sarcasm. Recently, social security recipients were denied a raise and possibly there MIGHT be some small reason for it but think about it. If a person has to retire early then he / she will only receive a little more than 8K a year. Now, if those retired people who take heavier meds decide to sell their scrips to an undercover cop, a trip to jail is eminent. Following such internment, said retired person could go to a class once a week, collect an additional 9 G's and add it to his S.Security benefit of 8K and have a much better life style than before. The only problem that I see thus far, is you have to do the time in California or Washington D.C. What I find really funny though, is in 1967-70 Army vets were being offered early outs of the military if we volunteered to join up with the Washington D.C. or CHP's police programs. Let's see now, if I looked up Washington D.C. convenience stores I might find one close to a police station and.......................! Or better yet.......donut shops, yeah, case out a donut shop............
Well, I already live here so that's a start. I just hope I'm not too pretty for jail. I've always had women come on to me for some reason, maybe I'll find someone to change smoke alarm batteries and do some other handyman projects around my house. You also forgot to mention if you're in jail a year you would be saving a lot on your own living expenses too. One reason I wouldn't do it is the jail food! I'd gain 30 lbs on the starchy crap.
You do have a point concerning the food, but perhaps you could start an aerobics dance class in the hoosgow. But, I also understand that if you choose your crime wisely you could go to a state institution which might also have a gym. Saving money could be a part of jail life and if you do things right you could come out a little richer for the crime. Say, if you charged 5 cents per person, per aerobics class it could amount to a pocket full of nickels at the end of a year or so. 1 student X 365 =a whopping $18.25 over a period of a year. wow! Now, after you get out you will have enough money to go down to the state office by cab and get your $9000.00 a year stipend for being good. Now, with that money in tow you could start a pyramid scheme and move to Cancun where the extradition laws are somewhat loose. See? I have your whole future planned out and all it took was the present resident of the White House influencing one state and a district to pay our new really nice criminals a living wage to continue being nice. Have you thought of a really good crime yet? Best hurry cause all the best ones are probably being taken by now.
Because of my high morals and caring spirit it would have to be a victimless crime, so maybe prostitution but only single men. Of course, now my age is a factor...who wants a 64 yr old hooker, lol.
A friend and I joke about committing a crime just to get our medical/dental/vision issues addressed, along with free housing/food/utilities. I must say, I admire how Martha Stewart turned her situation around and made lemon souffle out of the lemons she was handed for insider trading. Too bad she didn't spend time in Congress, instead of building an empire, then she wouldn't have been punished for breaking the law. Crime certainly pays for Jesse Jackson, Jr. http://www.allenbwest.com/2014/05/convict-jackson-jr-8k-a-month-idisability-for-mood-disorder/
Pardon me for this segue. When I was younger, there used to be crafts sold as souvenir items like those big bottles with wooden boats inside or neatly-carved wooden statues. They were made by the prisoners, that's a way of earning money for them despite being in prison. But those were the olden days and now there are no more handicrafts by prisoners. It is unimaginable that in a span of 2 months, the penitentiary is being raided, in fact it has been raided 14 times and each time the raiders find weapons, appliances, drugs. Would you believe that one structure has a swimming pool on the roof deck? That is unimaginable.
Now @Diane Lane , is getting closer to what I think would work. No jail for me. If I was younger, and knew what I know now, I would go into politics. No jail, but lots of money, and I would get attention, which is what criminals and politicians want most. Now days when I see some young person confused as to what to study that won't take anymore effort than crime, I tell them to study metrology. They can be wrong 90% of the time and still hold on to their jobs.
Now, That is something to write about!! I mean, here in the good ol' U.S.A. our prisoners have been known to work on roads, pea farms, cabbage farms and even hog farms to make money. They are known to have to make license plates and even work on cars to make the jail or prison a couple of bucks or even line a politicians pocket with little extra cash. And yes, when our prisons get raided they find guns, knives, drugs, cigarettes, booze, and even an occasional hooker. Appliances and TV's are allowed though but have to be purchased and cannot be purchased through a month to month least to own plan unless of course the prisoner is a lifetime subscriber. But, what I cannot see nor fathom, is how on earth did those prisoners get bricks or blocks, concrete mix, rebar, wood for supports and forms, bricks, tiles, the gunite machine with the gunite (or cement and sand) plumbing with pumps and filters, all the way up on that roof in order to build a pool? Just the extra water being used should have been noticed even if all of the other materials were not seen by the guards and certainly the auditor. I IMAGINE that some heads indeed rolled when such a discovery was made. Tell me, is that prison now closed down and perhaps turned into a luxury hotel?
Can I have an ipad in prison, Bobby? I actually think I could do time in a minimum security facility, as long as nobody messed with me. I'd probably have more friends than I do now! Lol. I'd be a do gooder and get them to serve healthy meals as an option to those who want them, don't want to ruffle any feathers.
I am not sure about having an IPad Chrissy but from what I hear a lot of prisons have a computer facility mainly to teach the uninformed how to manage in a tech world. That said, I understand that people do watch some movies, play games and even write whole novels with the time they have in the computer room. Just about every jail house has someone who does a little good now and again. Generally they are called the chaplains assistant but maybe, just maybe the head cook needs someone to guide him/her along.
@Chrissy Page , Run now! You wouldn't last a month there. I worked in a man and a women's prison, for 12 hours a week for three years. (I was trying to understand why some people could murder.). One thing I did learn was that those inmates, and especially the women will hurt you in a secound. Martha Stewart was lucky she was such a high profile celeberty, and her money didn't hurt. Study meteorology !!!!
That's the state of our penitentiary, the national and the city jails. You can guess that the warden and prison guards are accomplices since they allow the entry of so many items - videoke machines, television and all other kinds of appliances, and even people. Can you imagine there is a nightly stag party with female dancers? They hand converted part of the prison to a bar or disco. One cell has a bath tub. Oh, so many unimaginable items to mention. And those are aside from the illegal drugs and marijuana that were collected not to mention the wads of money that obviously points to drug transactions. It gives me a headache to think about that.
Is this more like what you had in mind, @Chrissy Page? If so, be sure to do your crime in Norway, or one of the other countries that don't believe in punishment the way we do here in America. I could have handled this sort of life for several years, it would be a lot less stressful than how I've lived at times, especially with no bills to worry about. Here's a separate article on Sweden's justice system, I read this back when it was first published, and was pretty astounded to see how well the prisoners lived.