The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
If rehabilitation is the point of our justice system, government agencies shouldn’t punish people who’ve paid their debt, and who are trying to do the right thing.
Altimont owns Carmen’s Corner Store in Hagerstown, Maryland, a community where around 20 percent of people rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy their groceries. But a federal agency decided that Altimont can never accept SNAP as a form of payment at Carmen’s.
That decision isn’t because Altimont has done anything wrong as a business owner, but rather because of unrelated crimes from 2004, for which he’s already served his time.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) permanently bans anyone with drug, alcohol, tobacco, or firearms convictions from participating in the SNAP program—a harsher punishment than the agency dishes out to those who have actually defrauded the program. That’s not just irrational, it’s also unconstitutional, which is why Altimont teamed up with our organization, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to file a federal lawsuit against the agency on Tuesday.
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Seems like a natural consequence of the 13th amendment. Why would you make it easier for an escaped slave to remain free? There are literally shareholders who have a vested interest in recidivism.
Edit: In case it wasn't clear, I find the situation monstrous. Just stating my thinking behind why it happens at all, and might be hard to change.
Imagine investing in for-profit prisons, as a regular person. You're hoping that society tears itself apart so you can watch line go up. Monstrous indeed.
A sane society would accept that finance is inherently sociopathic to some degree and explicitly prohibit speculation, regulatory capture, and other overtly destructive practices - rather than make the fines for such things a minor cost of business. That's without even getting into legalized slavery loopholes written into the actual constitution.
America is not a sane society.
I don't think you even have to go that far - a sane society would ensure that you don't create incentives at odds with the good of the society
It's pretty basic stuff - some of our most ancient laws touch on the subject
It's plenty sane, just not built for the success of regular people.
“Well, I’m in no way part of the problem, so I should profit from what I see as the worst of society.”
Imagine investing in for-profit prisons, as a regular person. You’re hoping that society tears itself apart so you can watch line go up. Monstrous indeed.
I have a "ethically challenged" investment set that I put money into. I hate every one of the companies, and every one of their missions. But it means when things go horribly with society, I make money... So I get to feel like a rich person, and then almost instantly feel like an asshole because I'm not making enough money to assuage the moral issues I have with it.
When the pandemic hit, I bought a bunch of food service company stock... and various pharma companies. When I found out real estate companies were gouging people's rent... I bought real estate investment trusts... and when I found out the GOP was going to revert roe v wade, I bought a bunch of health care companies stock (that particularly service the south...)
Funny thing is, every time I get a shareholder vote notice, I always vote my conscience, but it doesn't matter everyone else votes their pocketbook every time.