this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
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[โ€“] distal@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It does not matter! You are not engaging with the argument I was making. I was talking about people conflating specifics, one-offs, and so forth, with the mean and the median among other things. You are derailing the discussion here.

Let's get to the point about why prisons exist. Prisons and psychiatric institutions share two to three distinct roles.

  1. Containing individuals that pose a danger to themselves (which currently works so-so) or others (which currently works so-so).

  2. To make working people as terrified as possible of becoming part of the lowest rungs of society. Suicide rates in prisons are high! Employment after spending time in prison very unlikely. Many unhoused individuals are former prisoners and often times they are unhoused because they spent time in prison. There is a reason why parents tell their kids to be good in school and behave well, otherwise they might end up in prison or on the street. Prison is one of many methods to condition complacency in the face of restaurant owners ordering their staff to clean up blood in lavatories with minimal protective clothing and workers getting screamed at for not completing concrete pours fast enough.

  3. This doesn't really count as much but these institution are supposed to rehabilitate individuals. Though it can be argued that locking people up for that is not strictly necessary. And rehabilitation often means becoming a "productive" member of society, not a healed one.