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Do the poor need jail?
You're going to think this is funny. But if you're poor, you need jail. You really do. That's where I disappear to. The food is good and it's better in the winter; the people are okay to you, except for the guards that try to get up in your kootchie. And you get some peace. I mean, you have to know when to go! You can't go right after [check day] when everyone's in there because they're drunk. No. You go middle of the week, slow time, get a few days, get rested, get warm. See, everyone around here does that. That's why we know the cops so well; we see them all the time. They're like our landlords.
That is from an interview with Carla, in Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 13, 2006 at 06:39 AM in Law | Permalink
Comments
From George Bernard Shaw: If the prison does not underbid the slum in human misery, the slum will empty and the prison will fill.
Posted by: Jonathan at Dec 13, 2006 9:23:06 AM
O. Henry was ahead of his time:
http://classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1757/
Posted by: Matthew at Dec 13, 2006 10:20:14 AM
There's some endogeneity with the poor wanting prisons. Imprisonment limits ex-offenders' labor market opportunities (see here). Also, imprisonment can lead to recidivism, as you note in the earlier post about Shapiro's paper.
Posted by: Jason Voorhees at Dec 13, 2006 10:57:11 AM
Jason, there's a big difference between prison and jail.
Posted by: radek at Dec 13, 2006 12:38:32 PM
I purchased this book about a month and a half ago but have yet to get to it. Looks like it is going to be a great read!
Posted by: Neal at Dec 13, 2006 1:32:46 PM
Radek. Embarrassed. Yes, there is a big difference between jails and prisons. My point is much weaker in light of that clarification. Might still be that the high rates of imprisonment in those communities makes jails preferable for the reasons I note, though. The reduced labor market opportunities of ex-offenders would likely have the feedback effect for jails was my main point.
Posted by: Jason Voorhees at Dec 13, 2006 1:39:07 PM
See also "Come With Me," a number from the 1938 Rogers & Hart musical, Boys from Syracuse.
Posted by: Brian at Dec 14, 2006 4:05:35 PM
