[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

So some info:

It costs around $80/day for the state to incarcerate someone. If a person is convicted and jailed for 30 days for shoplifting, that means the shoplifter's jail term is costing $2400 for room and board.

The convicted shoplifter has to pay $50/day for the privilege, bringing that $80 total down to only $30/day. For 30 days, that's $900 that the taxpayer has to pay, to incarcerate someone who might've been caught stealing a pack of gum.

Prisoners in Florida don't get paid to work, so when they get out of jail they'll be in debt $1500 (the total of $2400 minus the $900 that the taxpayer has to pay for). Now that they're ex-convicts, they aren't likely to find a job. Their credit score tanks, they can't get a loan, any loans they have will be called in, putting them further into debt. They can't rent, they can't mortgage, they can't work, they can't pay that debt back. Their only choices then, are a) end up on welfare, food stamps, and medicaid and the taxpayer pays for their future expenses, b) commit more crimes to make ends meet, or c) marry someone with money.

All that, because someone stole a pack of gum and got caught.

Nope - jailing shoplifters without regard to *what* they stole - isn't the answer. It doesn't teach the shoplifter a lesson, there's no rehabilitation, and there's a high probability that it'll cost the taxpayer a LOT more than it would've cost, if they just told the shoplifter to stop being stupid.

"All for a pack of gum"...

Yes, that is exactly what people are talking about...

Are you familiar with the "reductio absurdum fallacy"?