this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
347 points (100.0% liked)

A Boring Dystopia

12006 readers
453 users here now

Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.

Rules (Subject to Change)

--Be a Decent Human Being

--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title

--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article

--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.

--Posts must have something to do with the topic

--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.

--No NSFW content

--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 194 points 3 months ago (4 children)

I hate everything about this, but the part I hate more than everything else is how 'normal' jails being rife with violence and abuse is just treated as a matter of fact, not as something that needs to be fixed.

“They tried to tell me he was afraid of the general population … but that’s part of jail,” he said in a recent interview. “That’s what makes you not want to go back, it being such a horrible experience.”

No it fucking shouldn't be, what the hell is wrong with these people?

[–] [email protected] 114 points 3 months ago (1 children)

we dont have a justice system. we have a revenge system. it all makes sense when you view it from its reality.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Well if we had reform oriented prisons we would run out of slave labor, duh. That's why it's in the constitution 🦅🦅

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

In Australia we don't have the slave workhouses you have in the states, but our justice system is still focused on retribution rather than rehabilitation.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Unsurprisingly, both countries started in part as British penal colonies for debtors and convicts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Hurt people hurt people on a cultural scale

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

......stop being right!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah, prison reform is very badly needed in this country.

Essentially torturing people and subjecting them horrific conditions has never left a person better off than they were before.

This is why we need educated, qualified, and ethically motivated people to make decisions about how places like prisons are run. Not greedy, soulless, corporate husks who exist purely to accumulate money.

The for profit prison system needs to be abolished.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Yeah the reason you don't want to go back is that you aren't allowed to leave for an extended period of time. We need to be fostering jails that leave people capable of reintegration to society.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

GOOD point.

They forgot the part where only people who have been in jail can comment on it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I’d like to gauge how informed someone is on a topic before taking them too seriously.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

EXACTLY. And only former prisoners can be informed on the topic of jails/prisons.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (4 children)

No, I haven't. I don't see how that has any relevance, but if you have and disagree with me, please explain why?

To be clear (and head off one potential objection), I'm not saying all jails are actually as awful as they make them sound (as I really don't know), I'm referring specifically to the tone of the article, which definitely paints a very specific picture and then normalizes it.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What kind of question is that?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 46 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Reading this shit as European...

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Ghost of Christmas Future bud.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Seriously, the most American article I've read today. Time for a nap, just after I scrub my brain.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago

Holy shit. Every time I think we can’t go lower I see something that blows my mind despite deep cynicism.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 months ago

It's insane to me that even the "luxury" jail looks like a horrendous dungeon, and the implied solution in the article is that everyone should be in the even worse county jails. It's no wonder the US has the recidivism rate that it does. All of the cells for all prisoners need to be upgraded to something that looks like a living space if there's going to be any hope for the persons in them to be able to reintegrate into normal society when they're released. Being afraid of getting raped and murdered everyday while living in a gray concrete box doesn't exactly produce well adjusted individuals. I thought the punishment was supposed to be the incarceration itself, not the added daily violence in jails. It's so barbaric, people who manage to get out of these places and become productive members of society seem almost superhuman to me.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (3 children)

After he pleaded no contest to statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl who attended his South L.A. church in 2011, Leonel Pelayo, then 45, compiled a list of every pay-to-stay jail he could find.

“County jail, you’re verbally abused, physically abused by everybody,” said Pelayo, who was a church leader. “I didn’t want to spend one day there.”

Is this an Onion article?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

compiled a list of every pay-to-stay jail he could find

was he doing a youtube top 10 video?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Is this the real life......is this just fantasy.......

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Which also goes to show what kinds of offenders will be able to afford this kind of princess treatment. Church leader that raped a teenager deserves better than someone caught with a dime bag.

If you want your blood to really boil, look up some of the leaks about how Josh Duggar gets whatever he wants. That TLC money goes a long way behind bars. (He had the Peter Scully video on his hard drive btw - with children near Daisy’s age.)

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

In the Bible Belt, you pay to stay and perform free or seriously underpaid labor for garbage cells, and phone calls are expensive.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago

But what started out as an antidote to overcrowding has evolved into a two-tiered justice system that allows people convicted of serious crimes to buy their way into safer and more comfortable jail stays.

The most hilarious part is believing that this is not the system behaving exactly as expected.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

So... In other jails in the US, probably for profit, it costs money to stay and they don't give the option for a better room

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Cheaper than my rent. Where can I sign up?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Commit a non violent felony that doesn't step in to federal jurisdiction. Hire a good lawyer that can convince a judge to let you continue under your own recognizance working while you're living in jail awaiting trial. Every time you're trial date approaches push for an extension or a delay. Enjoy living in the premium cell at the zoo.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But living conditions and quality of life is so extremity better here in the Netherlands, so I'll stay here :) Plus, for at least the coming 4 years I wouldn't want to step foot in the US anyway.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Eh you'd be fine. Doesn't really matter who's in the white house if you're just visiting. The president has very little actual impact on day to day life. Who's in the white house is a symptom of the health of a country, not a cause of it. And, like herpes, one symptom may subside but the country is still infected.

What I'm saying is, if you wouldn't visit under trump, maybe reconsider visiting at all. Though I maintain that as a visitor you'd find the people you meet to be mostly polite and even kind, if maybe a little extra interested in you because you have an accent.

Definitely don't fucking move here though holy shit what an awful mistake that would be. In fact, if you ever do visit take me back with you. I'm cool, I'm handy, I make a mean chili. My wife loves to garden you'd basically have no chores!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I've seen many places around the world. I would like to see certain places in the US too but there are too many reasons I'd rather go somewhere else.

Why don't you leave by yourself? Plenty of really good countries you can go to. The Netherlands is nice but we have the biggest housing crisis of the EU, so maybe check other places first :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I went to American public School.

I speak precisely one language, with maybe a passing interest in a few others. My wife doesn't even have that. Her job requires her to be able to communicate effectively. So that limits us to English speaking countries, Canada, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Of those, New Zealand and Ireland are tempting, though our careers aren't in high demand in either location.

Emigrating to a country we'd buy be interested in would be expensive and time consuming, and we have neither the time nor the money to accomplish that. Not to mention our families and friends are all here. We both have decent careers here.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

I thought you were joking and then I did the math... Unfortunately I lose my pay if I'm locked up so I'll go back to looking at campground commuting...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

$3k a month? in rent? Are you renting a 5 bedroom house in Manhattan?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's a 200 sqft studio with no kitchen in Manhattan.

Shit my rent is 2400 and that's considered a steal for the place I live.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

🤮 jesus christ

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

$3k a month gets you a small 2br apartment 45-60 minutes from Manhattan

Ask how I know

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

lol 3k$/mo is a studio apartment in manhattan.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

This is a Cali thing, as far as I know. It's meant to reduce overcrowding.

This would not fly in some other areas of the US, like the south.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm not willing to Google search this but, is this a cheap Marriott? Or a more expensive county jail

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Well the room looks pretty crappy, but versus a dormitory with 8 bunks in a room, this is a Marriot.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

A possible dystopian future will have the actual Marriott brand running these pay-for-premium jail cells. Future advertisements will boast about using credit card reward points to book fancier accommodations while awaiting trial for white collar crimes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That article was fun on mobile.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I assumed this was sarcasm and expected a ton of ads or huge margins or something... You were right, that was fun on mobile.

load more comments
view more: next ›