Arnold may be onto something.

[Bobcat]

Send California inmates to Mexico, says Schwarzenegger
AFP

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SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested California could ease its crowded prison system by sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built jails in Mexico.

Speaking to reporters at the Sacramento Press Club, Schwarzenegger said California could ease its strained finances by a billion dollars if 20,000 illegal immigrants currently held in the state were housed across the border.

"I think that we can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take, inmates for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here and get them to Mexico," Schwarzenegger said.

"Think about it -- if California gives Mexico the money. Not 'Hey, you take care of them, these are your citizens'. No. Not at all.

"We pay them to build the prison down in Mexico. And then we have those undocumented immigrants down there in prison. It would half the costs to build the prison and run the prison. We could save a billion dollars right there that could go into higher education."

Schwarzenegger's remarks come as California prepares for the latest in a long line of state budget crises.

Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency earlier this month, warning severe cuts were necessary to stem a 19.9-billion-dollar deficit.

California has some of the most overcrowded prisons in the United States, with an estimated 170,000 inmates housed in facilities designed for 100,000 people, according to 2007 figures.

Schwarzenegger said he believed the financial burden of California's prisons could be eased if the private sector moved into the industry.

"I think that there is no reason why we should have just state employees and public prisons," Schwarzenegger said. "Why shouldn't we have private prisons and private prisons competing with public prisons?

"I don't want to go and get rid of public prisons, not at all. It's not an attack on their labor union even though they may take it as such.

 

[Expensive Date]

Works for me.

 

[JupiterSunsation]

Great concept........probably a bomb in reality. Crooked Mexican officials will take a portion of that "billion" dollar savings for sure. What checks/balances would California have once the illegals are turned back over to Mexico? Obviously not too many would care since the problem is gone one way or another but if they are locked up they won't be committing more crimes in California.

They should implement a policy for illegals that if you are convicted of a felony in America and returned to your homeland (after serving your sentence) and you RE-ENTER America you will be executed (no trial, after finger print confirmation/ dna/ whatever and you are on US soil......bang your dead). I suspect a life in a poverty stricken area with high crime will look like a great alternative to re-visiting America!

 

[Sea-Dated]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Wrinkleface]

Sounds great! Reality??????

 

[cigdaze]

That's one thing we definitely should outsource.

What ever happened to penal colonies? That seemed like a good idea. Any remote islands left?

 

[jayboat]

Any remote islands left?

Staten Island, NY. (joking, New York, I'm joking...) :sifone:

This is just populist blather from Ahhnold. California is in a money vise from years of budgetary stupidity and he's grasping at any little straw, hoping to get some traction with it. Besides, Mexico would REALLY go for it- dumb idea all around.

Like all the rest of our useless politicians, they should be trying fix the things that are causing the problems and stop blabbering about band-aid solutions.

Our prison system is completely out of control and the current trends of 'outsourcing' it as a 'business' is something I find very troubling. One very simple step we could take would be to release everyone currently incarcerated for pot possession. It's beyond crazy.

Sorry for the rant. I'm avoiding the whackadoodle thread. :ack2:

 

[Expensive Date]

What ever happened to penal colonies? Any remote islands left?

How about Marco:bump:

 

[clayinaustin]

One very simple step we could take would be to release everyone currently incarcerated for pot possession. It's beyond crazy.

I would go a (huge) step further. Legalize pot (and a few other drugs). You would see an immediate drop in the overloaded prisons and court systems.

Stop fighting a losing war on drugs, and legalize it with a nice "sin tax".

 

[cigdaze]

I would go a (huge) step further. Legalize pot (and a few other drugs). You would see an immediate drop in the overloaded prisons and court systems.

Stop fighting a losing war on drugs, and legalize it with a nice "sin tax".

Not to mention make a few billion dollars to add back into the drained state coffers.

 

[ROGUE]

I would go a (huge) step further. Legalize pot (and a few other drugs). You would see an immediate drop in the overloaded prisons and court systems.

Stop fighting a losing war on drugs, and legalize it with a nice "sin tax".

And create even more non-productive people. good idea there.

 

[clayinaustin]

And create even more non-productive people. good idea there.

The people that would smoke "legal" pot are the same people that smoke "illegal" pot.

Making pot (and other drugs) legal would NOT greatly increase the number of drug users.

just my humble opinion.

 

[jayboat]

And create even more non-productive people. good idea there.

Zing! Right over your head.

 

[Dude! Sweet!]

Hmmm, outsourcing our prisions eh? Wonder if we could ship everyone to Bangalore?! :sifone:

I've read that the biggest mistake the governement made with the war on drugs was calling it a "war". There's only two ways out of a war, win or lose. And the US isn't going to step up and say "hey guess what everyone, the war on drugs is over, we lost..."

 

[jayboat]

Hmmm, outsourcing our prisions eh? Wonder if we could ship everyone to Bangalore?! :sifone:

I've read that the biggest mistake the governement made with the war on drugs was calling it a "war". There's only two ways out of a war, win or lose. And the US isn't going to step up and say "hey guess what everyone, the war on drugs is over, we lost..."

That might be a bit of an oversimplification, but I get your point.

Recent studies have shown that the 'war on drugs' has had NO EFFECT AT ALL on worldwide usage.

Think about how much money we're talking about. Think about if all that money had been spent on education here at home- school improvements or teachers' salaries, for example. Makes me ill to think about it.

This is just one of many good examples of wrongheaded politicians doing stuff that looks good to the voters, but in reality does nothing but blow money with no tangible results.

 

[BBB725]

I would go a (huge) step further. Legalize pot (and a few other drugs). You would see an immediate drop in the overloaded prisons and court systems.

Stop fighting a losing war on drugs, and legalize it with a nice "sin tax".

What I've heard, and can't prove or disprove it, the biggest problem with pot is a test to see if someone's stoned, booze has a blood alcohol level but with pot they can only test for THC in your system but can't tell how much. true false?

 

[Wrinkleface]

Why, instead of pay'n don't we just just shove these illegals back 2 where they came from in the first place??????? Is this an unreasonable thought????:toetap05:

 

[Dude! Sweet!]

Why, instead of pay'n don't we just just shove these illegals back 2 where they came from in the first place??????? Is this an unreasonable thought????:toetap05:

We could build a giant catapult and charge money to watch! Man, that would help out the state's bottom line!

 

[MarylandMark]

Not 'Hey, you take care of them, these are your citizens'.

Why not, they are....

Like all the rest of our useless politicians,

From the top down! :sifone:

 

[jayboat]

What I've heard, and can't prove or disprove it, the biggest problem with pot is a test to see if someone's stoned, booze has a blood alcohol level but with pot they can only test for THC in your system but can't tell how much. true false?

Currently, this is true, but technology marches on. I'm not sure how they will ever make it work unless they figure out how to measure the quality as well as the quantity of THC in your blood.

The argument that tries to equate driving stoned and driving drunk is an apples to oranges thing- totally useless. If you are smashed, you lose cognitive reasoning ability as well as physical abilities such as depth perception, hand-eye and muscle coordination, etc. When a person is REALLY baked, they KNOW they are in no condition to drive.

Very unscientific argument, I know. Based mostly on decades of personal experience (nothing recent... )