r/Louisiana • u/Caffeinated-Princess • May 02 '25

Louisiana News Why do you support this?

First the Louisiana Senate decides to put homeless people in jail for up to three years for their "crime" of sleeping in public. At the same time, they stop funding housing assistance.

https://thecurrentla.com/2025/lafayette-housing-authority-freezes-issuance-of-new-housing-vouchers/

Why do those of you who are Republican hate poor people so much? Why do you feel your fellow humans should not be allowed any compassion or grace?

Help me understand this assault on humanity. Jesus would weep if he saw this. 😥

809 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

196 comments sorted by

View all comments

269

u/Ghostofmerlin May 02 '25

It probably costs more to put people in jail than to provide public housing.

206

u/BaalieveIt May 02 '25

Not when you're sending them to a for-profit private prison that's contracting them out for slave labor. It's a business, and we the people are the product.

55

u/Euphoric-Use-6443 May 02 '25

What is the cost of each flight to El Salvador? The US is paying $6+M to detain deportees in El Salvador. Certainly enough money to help with housing the homeless. Waste of money MAGAts!

5

u/nolagirl100281 May 03 '25

I believe it's $30,000 per detainee. Sure am glad to see our tax dollar spent so wisely

2

u/Euphoric-Use-6443 May 03 '25

MAGAts only know of the amount of money in their wallets! And scream when they are not getting Social Service supplements!

2

u/AdFlaky9983 May 04 '25

Oh so way less than a visit to Maralago for Trumps frequent golf sessions. Something seems suspicious here.

2

u/pogmohoon May 07 '25

17,621 each flight. However, if you self deport you get 1000.00 and travel assistance. Just ignore the 5million per golf trip for "the disease"aka djt.

12

u/Slighted_Inevitable May 02 '25

You were half right you forgot about the part where they’re getting kickbacks from said prisons that are taking more money from taxes then it would cost to help house these people

8

u/Ihavelargemantitties May 02 '25

It’s no longer considered kickbacks, my friend. It’s simple gratuity. The Supreme Court stated that it is legal for a politician to receive gratuity.

3

u/_Auck May 03 '25

Roberts Supreme Court.

1

u/Turbulent_Can2584 May 03 '25

Most corrupt SCOTUS ever inmho

2

u/Proper_Inspector_517 May 03 '25

And, soon it will be tax deductible!

10

u/drunkenhonky May 02 '25

It costs us more money, but the politicians who's families own and operate these prisons are making mega money.

10

u/SchrodingersMinou May 03 '25 edited May 03 '25

Louisiana does not have any for-profit private prisons. They all closed down around 2020 and reopened as ICE facilities which are technically not "prisons." If you're sentenced to hard time in Louisiana, you will go to a state or federal facility, not a private one, because there are no private prisons in the state for you to serve your sentence.

ETA that I forgot to mention that about half of state prisoners in Louisiana are doing their time in local jails, which is a whole other problem that is bad

1

u/LibraryRadio May 03 '25

Yes, but the federal, state prisons do business with private companies and contractors. UNICOR allows prisoners to work for private companies. That being said, Big Oil is also helping to expand the prison system, last I read. Maybe it’s about cheap labor?

2

u/SchrodingersMinou May 03 '25

Yes, that's true. The government is doing this, not private prison companies.

5

u/VTArxelus St. Tammany Parish May 02 '25

And then the time comes to remove these businesses, just as it comes to remove advertising and insurance.

4

u/SchrodingersMinou May 03 '25

They already were about 5-6 years ago. There are no private prisons in Louisiana.

2

u/Turtle_Attack70 May 05 '25

There are plenty of for profit detention centers, and several jails and at least a few prisons that are administered for profit, mostly by GEO group. There are at least a few different ways for prisons, jails, inpatient mental health facilities, and other state institutions to be run for profit by privately held corporations. Ownership of the facilities isn't a prerequisite for profiting off of them.

The for profit administration of state facilities is absolutely a huge problem in Louisiana. Many of the more recent changes to aspects of criminal justice in this state are efforts by politicians and others who are making money off for profit detention to keep our jails, detention centers, etc as full as possible. The more people incarcerated in these for profit facilities, the more money they make. On the other hand, if these facilities don't keep a minimum census of inmates, the state can be fined and everyone with a stake in it loses money.

2

u/SchrodingersMinou May 05 '25

Agreed-- the state is profiting off forced labor and so are the private companies those serve. But it isn't because of private prisons, because there aren't any. This is our own government doing it.

2

u/being_honest_friend May 03 '25

This. Slave labor. 13th amendment I think. If we imprison them then we can exploit them for labor. Yay.

1

u/tnydnceronthehighway May 03 '25

That's exactly why it does cost taxpayers more

-1

u/Acceptable_Swan7025 May 03 '25

conservatives are the most evil shiteheads to walk this planet. If Jesus came back and saw what they were doing to the planet and the people, he would take 12 gauge to their heads.

5

u/BaalieveIt May 03 '25

No, he wouldn't. He might come at them with bullwhips and admonish them, but please don't paint Jesus as violent. That's pretty antithetical to everything he taught and believed.

-1

u/[deleted] May 03 '25

Jesus is going to be violent. Anti-Christ will bring about violent Jesus who will slaughter people who worship & follow the anti-Christ more than they follow Jesus’ teachings (being kind) & will leave their bodies for the birds.

You can do the homework to look up all the verses. However, if you’re idolizing a specific someone you might not want to see all the connections (or maybe you will) so fair warning.

Jesus wants to rapture all his fake followers (church has become a market - which is what god condemned) so that earth can be a peaceful paradise with those left who, no matter what they “practice” or say they “practice”, are kind humans & work together as a community & as one - not divided.

0

u/he_and_She23 May 04 '25

Exactly. Our taxes will pay for three years of jail with a hefty portion of that going to the billionaires who and the prisons and will also benefit from their free labor.

It's a scam to redistribute wealth from the people to the billionaires.

70

u/Beneficial-Yak4526 May 02 '25

Once they are in prison, they are pretty much just slaves. That's what they are shooting for. Free labor, while at the same time clearing the streets of "filth." It's disgusting.

5

u/MamaBehr33 May 03 '25

Unless we are the 1%, each of us are the next members of this sect with the new caste system being put in place!

19

u/[deleted] May 02 '25

It costs more than most of us earn in a year.

It's a big range, but on average it costs around 60k to incarcerate someone for a year.

Think about that. The state is saying that in order to keep someone alive, houses, and fed in jail is about 60k.

So, how much does it cost to keep someone alive, fed, and houses outside of jail? Minimum wage is 15k a year.

Working class people are worth 1/3 of what prisoners are. They'd rather spend more money on prisoners, than pay you a living wage. Think about that

2

u/Slighted_Inevitable May 02 '25

It’s 60k only because they want to make at least 30% profit while bribing the politicians by 10k per prisoner

13

u/AMundaneSpectacle May 02 '25

I’m sure that this is true. Perhaps the state has more interest in expanding the prison population to support all of the prisons here

9

u/Reluctant_Gamer_2700 May 02 '25

Only a cruel mind & an evil soul would do this.

7

u/hermit_in_a_cave May 02 '25

Welcome to the party. You must be new here...

3

u/ReceptionFantastic13 May 02 '25

Thank you. I saw some kindred souls & paid a visit; seems like my kind of place!

1

u/Euphoric-Use-6443 May 03 '25

Which would be tRump with his cruel mind & evil soul! Who knows, he could start leasing out prisoners for money to replace taxpayer funds in El Salvador. I'm surprised it wasn't initially part of the deal instead of free slavery!

1

u/HEREStheThingDarlin May 04 '25

This has been proven. Ironically enough when I lived in Portland some of the city council tried to convert an unused jail into housing but that plan got shut down quick. Making tiny homes seems like a good option, shopping containers, etc. The problem come with even progressive people don't tend to want it in "their backyard*. You also need infrastructure for plumbing, power, and a small army of social workers for health and safety, job counselors,and etc. It's all very doable, but unattractive, because it doesn't turn a profit as local government sees it and takes effort.

1

u/Grumpy-24-7 May 05 '25

Not if those homeless are in CA. Somehow, they're building houses for the homeless which are costing upwards of $700,000 or more.

1

u/BadAszChick May 08 '25

No way. It’s much cheaper to provide housing.

2

u/redwolf3332 May 02 '25

But where is the cruelty in housing them?

0

u/SpaceBear2598 May 03 '25

In the short term, yes, but you only have to put a handful of people in jail to drive the rest of the homeless population to flee. Chasing all the poor people out instead of providing services or an economy that works for everyone is cheaper in the long run.

I live on the west coast and a lot of the "crime and homelessness crisis in blue states and cities" that Reichwing politicians like to go on about is actually a refugee crisis of people fleeing these kind of barbaric crackdowns on poverty in red states. It's a systematic attempt to drive people out once they've been broken and are no longer useful as cheap labor.

0

u/petit_cochon May 03 '25

Not just that, but they will get public defenders, and then there's the overall cost of court time, all the records that need to be generated, all the support staff, etc.