California jail starts a premium service

One of the advantages of living in a NYC at the moment is that our budget is balanced, which makes our government less tempted to pull stunts like this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/california-prison-pay-to-stay_n_3667573.html?utm_hp_ref=business

Once you start doing things like this, you never get credibility back....

Key words are "Less likely." Jails and prisons should be one of those class neutral things by default.

The oxymoron of this whole thing comes to light when the lieutenant says the prisoners get no special treatment but just by being in those less crowded, quieter cells they're getting special treatment. Oh well, it's the difference between first class and economy seating on the plane.

Needless to say, most people who regularly get arrested are quite broke.

This pay-to-stay scheme seems like it is a service for the small subset who are arrested rarely, and have otherwise have intact careers and bank accounts.

Because there are so few of these folks, most criminal cases are handled by legal aid attorneys.....

So, we're talking about the occasional DWI who gets in the slammer for a few days and maybe some small time white collar criminals. I wonder if they'll have 4 o'clock tea as well.

I wouldn't need tea.

I'd be willing to pay the fee, merely to be away from those who can't pay the fee.

...good old fashion classism at its best.

Capitalism is its best....none of this socialism crap for us!!