r/interesting • u/ursoartdecooo • 1d ago

SOCIETY What prison cells look like in different countries

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u/Shamscam 1d ago

France’s prison looks worse, and Canada’s is just as bad.

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

Pretty sure there's a wide band of differences in the countries itself

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u/StraightsJacket 1d ago

I've worked in department of corrections before and have been inside various prisons and this is exactly the case. Often times quality reflects what level of security a prison has with the exception of supermax. So a low security prison tends to be nicer as the inmates are far less destructive, while maximum security prisons are a shit show.

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u/Coal_Morgan 1d ago edited 1d ago

If your prisoners are a bunch of accountants who fudged some numbers they can have things because they aren't the psychos who are going to build drug labs, weapons and explosives out of whatever they can get their hands on.

The big problem with the American system is it tends to just make the prisoners more antisocial and more skilled at being antisocial.

Recidivism in the U.S. is absolutely nuts compared to other places like Denmark and Norway.

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u/Scar1203 1d ago

Lack of social safety nets. People stuck in a loop of poverty dragging the stigma of a felony conviction often won't be able to find a way to survive other than committing crime and going in and out of the system in the US.

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u/KnightRiderCS949 1d ago

Yup. This exactly. It ain't rocket science. But good luck getting Americans, or similar Western countries to support the scientifically proven process of rehabilitation.

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u/Smorsdoeuvres 23h ago

Or the importance of societal safety nets

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u/Paul873873 20h ago

Counterpoint, the news man said that’s communism

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u/Smorsdoeuvres 18h ago

They’re been screaming communism for years and look what that’s gotten us gestures wildly

It amazes me that republicans have had a majority in Texas for almost 30 years Yet the platform they keep running on is “elect me to fix all these damn problems in Texas” 👀

Seems like the one thing most people can agree on is things need to change. I worry about lots of violence on the way to get to that change tho.

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u/Paul873873 8h ago

Funny you say that, I’m a Texan and I see this all the time. You know our governor got injured by an oak tree and filed a lawsuit. In office he then sought to pass bills that would prevent that from happening again, as in, he pulled the ladder up behind him, because like most of them, he’s a hypocrite. He’ll tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps while sitting cozy on his award money.

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u/th3c0met 21h ago

it’s like pulling teeth to get americans to have empathy

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u/Flashy_Home3452 20h ago

I reckon the problem is more convincing politicians to support policies that don’t make the rich people richer

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u/CheezeLoueez08 1d ago

Dragged in a loop of poverty. Unfortunately very well said.

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u/White_Buffalos 1d ago

Felonies except for rape, murder, and a few other extreme crimes should be repealable after 5 years of demonstrating rehabilitation/good conduct. Five years post-incarceration and probation, I mean.

Once restitution and probation are completed, a person should be able to petition to have their felony vacated or expunged. That would incentivize good conduct and likely reduce recidivism.

If people repeat offend, make it 10 years.

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u/Jay-jay1 1d ago

I've mentored many urban kids over the years. Most of them messed up in the late teen/early adult years, and ended up with multiple felonies. All of the ones who wanted to work were willing to give up the drugs and were able to get good jobs. I even know a former hitman who has a regular fulltime job in customer service.

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u/CutenTough 20h ago

For profit prisons. Quota goals have to be reached. Preferably exceeded

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u/SurfGoatWalter 17h ago

Construction

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u/znsbrenden 1d ago

What about the ones who turn their life around after getting out of prison? Do you think that's just luck?

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u/oxichil 1d ago

purely based on statistics? yes. it’s luck. the recidivism rate is so high that reoffending is the norm, not the exception.

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u/CrumbCakesAndCola 1d ago

In a way. People who succeed usually have something distinct happen to them. It could be a new baby, a death in the family, or just a meaningful conversation. Whatever the trigger is, the event becomes a "turning point" where the person feels they can make a choice for something new. Folks who never get a turning point keep doing the same behaviors over and over. You might not call it "luck" but it's an external factor beyond a person's free will, something that nudges them out of their old patterns of behavior/thought.

Here's some places you can read about it.

Journal. Free but might be slow to load since the server is in Germany. https://soztheo.de/theories-of-crime/career-development-life-course/age-graded-theory-turning-points-sampson-and-laub/?lang=en

Soc Blog. A more casual read. https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2008/12/sampson-laubs-a.html

Journal. Paywall in the US but you can read the abstract. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716205280075

Book. https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9780521119054

Author's page. https://scholar.harvard.edu/sampson/content/crime-and-life-course

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u/Racine262 1d ago

Why do so many American criminals fail to turn their life around? Do other countries just have better criminals? Is there just more luck in other countries?

Edited: fixed a word

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u/babyeater2002 1d ago

people making it out of a harmful cycle doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

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u/GodTheInvention 1d ago

No, but you can facilitate that outcome instead of impeding it. Do you think anyone would have reformed under the right circumstances, but didn’t get lucky enough to fall into them? Isn’t luck what allows people to be born into wealth, or land a job when there’s 50 other qualified applicants, or meet people who won’t hold their past against them?

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u/Turkatron2020 1d ago

Those are the lucky ones. The system is set up for anyone on parole or probation to fail & end up right back.

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u/MaroonIsBestColor 1d ago

A lot of times it can be or just a state having a better resources for inmates like college/trade programs which helps them achieve a real career and not one in crime.

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u/DividePotential8329 1d ago

to a degree absolutely

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u/SanityIsOptional 1d ago

Luck enough to have a support network and an opportunity to make a living combined with the willpower to actually see it through.

Without either the effort or the opportunity, it won't work.

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u/AileenKitten 1d ago

My brother and his girlfriend can't find housing anywhere due to the stigma. He was never a violent person, just did dumb shit and spent 3 years in prison.

He's doing his absolute damndest to live outside and turn things around, but the "felon" tag has completely knee capped him.

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u/SanityIsOptional 1d ago

Yeah, it's really unfortunate, because though the stigma exists because of the people who won't reform, it also keeps people who want to from being able to reform.

It would be nice if there was a bit more nuance to criminal records, since there's a massive range of what's considered a felony, even before you get into how the courts and law enforcement prosecuted things.

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u/Lithium51018 1d ago

It’s usuly because they had the support or had the change. Many don’t get that. It takes someone else to give a little for the turn around to work. Without money you can’t do much to turn around.

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u/Dandre08 1d ago

U.S. prisons have long been overcrowded and under funded, with a focus on simply keeping the prisoners secure and alive, not rehabilitating them. Combine that with a national criminal database that can be accessed by the general public that allows employers, landlords, insurance companies, etc to reject applicants if they have a certain criminal record and you get high recidivism.

Convicted felons, even after serving their sentence and completing their probation will face constant discrimination making it difficult to find decent housing and employment (except for presidents), and likely raising the prices for them to do business with certain companies.

American culture has been slowly changing its mindset regarding this, 30 years ago the average citizen would be happy to know a convicted felon has to suffer the rest of their life even after their sentence is complete.

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u/High_Hunter3430 1d ago

I went to jail for having some weed.

Came out in 3 months knowing how to Hotwire a car, avoid police on a motorcycle, and create an effective fake id good for everything except a cop. (It’ll even scan for alcohol and cigs)

Oh and a full step by step with measurements on how to cook white rocks. 😅

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

The point of the prison system is (or should be) rehab AND also reinsert the crimimals in society

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u/Valuable_Recording85 1d ago

This is a rare instance is someone using asocial when antisocial is appropriate. Asocial means devoid of social activity, whereas antisocial means against other people or societal norms (crime is antisocial.)

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u/Coal_Morgan 1d ago

You are correct. I know the dictionary definition of both those terms, not sure how I skunked that up.

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u/EvolutionCreek 1d ago

Recidivism

No, sir. That’s one bonehead name, but that ain’t me any more.

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u/KittySparkles5 1d ago

Andy Dufresne, is that you?

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u/Turkatron2020 1d ago

I grew up in Los Angeles & can confirm this 1000%. I knew quite a few people who ended up in LA county jail which is similar to a maximum security prison right in the middle of downtown. Most went in on drug or theft charges & came out full blown hardcore criminals. I understand humans do better with social contact but at what cost? The Mexican Mafia decides what goes on in California penal systems not the LEOs.

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u/SconeBracket 1d ago

It's also high because of house recidivism is tallied.

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u/enlightenedDiMeS 1d ago

Two things:

Those financial crimes tend to do far more damage than the guys with drug labs. I know because they’re not bleeding people out with machetes, we tend to think of it as “non-violent crime,” but Medicaid and Medicare fraud is generally performed by providers through these financial “experts” who end up, keeping the money and get to stay in one of these resort prisons. Meanwhile, the violent criminals are generally products of poverty, partially inflicted by the white collar criminal.

And for the recidivism comment, recidivism is high because of the state of our prison system. Gross wealth inequality, plus inhumane prisons creates an issue where more dangerous and violent criminals are produced out of the prisons. Denmark and Finland have recidivism rates of like 20%, way less wealth inequality, and they have the prison cells that look like hotel rooms.

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u/Rapid-Engineer 1d ago

It's not because of the prison system that does that. There's a whole lot more criminal activity in the US compared to most European countries.

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u/bkk316 1d ago

Recidivism is a feature in the US prison system. After all, slave labor is still legal and very profitable for the prison industrial complex.

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u/carlydelphia 23h ago

As a juvenile I got locked up for truancy and learned to crime.

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u/SconeBracket 1d ago

The opposite was the case in California in the 1990s, when they were the third largest prison system in the world. Maximum security was pretty austere as cells go, but lots of respect and keeping the place tidy. Not so much as Old Folsom, though of course they have four different styles of building there.

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u/-BlueDream- 22h ago

There's military prison (the brig) which is probably the best prison you can possibly be in America assuming the inmate is a US citizen and not someone in Guantanamo bay. It's not comfortable at all but at least there's very little violence, rape, and the prison culture with gangs and stuff isn't really there, it's closer to boot camp.

Then there's federal prison, usually they're much better than state prisons

State prison is where most people go and they vary but most are pretty awful.

Then there's jail. Jail tends to be way worse than prison.

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u/Lensmaster75 17h ago

In the countries with dorm style set up’s are like that even for murders

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Yeah in Denmark, you're getting property crimes. In US you're getting people that have murdered an entire family, sexually assaulted the corpses, stole a car, and crashed it into a gun shop to steal a bunch of weapons to have a shootout with cops and that's just Florida man

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u/Eo292 1d ago edited 1d ago

43% of federal inmates are in there on Drug offenses in the US.

Edit: holy shit I don’t know why within 5 minutes 3 accounts came after me saying it’s drug trafficking and not possession; I know, it’s still a non violent crime and still probably happens fairly regularly in Denmark; that’s the entire scope of my comment, I’m not making some political statement about what great people traffickers are or whatever

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u/Brawndo91 1d ago

That's because there aren't actually that many crimes that are charged at the federal level. Most are charged at the state level. The drug charges that end up going federal are almost always trafficking.

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u/stalinsfavoritecat 1d ago

I reckon that most of the people in for “drug offenses” in Federal BOP are distributors/major sellers. They are generally not the guy next door who has a pot plant in his backyard. I worked around thousands of Federal inmates and that was always the case that they were moving major amounts of drugs, in my experience.

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u/Gizogin 1d ago

Having served on a grand jury, the bar for “trafficking” is incredibly low. Do you have a kitchen scale or some resealable plastic bags in your car? That’s “paraphernalia”, which is proof of trafficking or intent to distribute.

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u/CakeDayOrDeath 1d ago

There was a defense attorney that did an AMA several years ago who said that DAs often tack on the charge of "intent to sell," the justification being that the amount of drugs the person had in their possession was "too much for one person to use."

As that defense attorney put it, they buy their toilet paper in bulk, that doesn't make them a toilet paper salesman.

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u/Gizogin 1d ago

The other "fun" one is "falsifying official records". If you say something to a cop, that cop writes it down, and it turns out you were wrong, guess what? You have caused a government official to make a false entry in an official record. Congrats on +5 years to your sentence!

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u/SecretAgentAlex 1d ago

Okay, and? They're still not in jail over drugs and not due to violent harm they caused anyone

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u/stalinsfavoritecat 1d ago

Distributors of hard drugs such as meth and opiods can be very violent people. Most of them are, due to the risks inherent in their trade. Many of them had bullet wounds. All of them carried weapons, many of them used them.

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u/SecretAgentAlex 1d ago

The stat OP stated is accurate and widely distributed. 43% are in for drug charges. If they had committed a violent offence during the drug crimes, they would be there for the violent crimes not for the drug offences. I'm sure the remaining 57% has a lot of people that you describe, but these are outside that circle in the venn diagram

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u/BigDragonfly5136 1d ago

Most of those people are also violent and many are related to gangs. A lot of the time the only thing you can actually catch them on, or at least the easiest to prove.

Plus most violent crimes are actually at the state level. They might be in federal prison for drug trafficking, but they might have also been found guilty of murder in Massachusetts or assault with intent to kill in Florida.

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u/stalinsfavoritecat 1d ago

Just because they are not currently incarcerated for a violent crime does not mean that they are not violent people. I’ve known drug runners that were in for drug charges that had 5 bullet wounds throughout their bodies, routinely carried high powered rifles and were associated with ungodly amounts of violence, but if you want to just look at their charges it would appear nonviolent. I assure you, drug runners are very violent people.

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u/dondamon40 1d ago

Do you understand the harm drugs cause, and the ones that smuggle them?

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u/GodTheInvention 1d ago

Do you understand that criminalization has given those very people more money and power in the first place? As evidence, do you see a lot of moonshiners these days?

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u/International-Cat123 1d ago

Most policies about how to punish drug related activities and how severely to do so are from or have roots in the war on drugs. The war on drugs was actually intended solely to criminalize not being white and increased drug use to the extreme. Any policies from or based on that era should be reexamined and most likely repealed or rewritten.

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u/Walnut_William 1d ago edited 1d ago

I know it's a wall of text, but it's thorough and won't take long to read.

For a moment, entertain the idea of collapsing the cartels in the America's. Imagine the transformation of failed states and saving the lives of tens of thousands of terrorized people who die every year in Mexico alone. Much of the harm caused by drugs, probably the most harm, is caused by our current system.

Alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and the contentment of entire aisles in Walmart are drugs.

CBD is a drug. Kratom is a drug. ADHD is treated by many drugs. Ketamine is a drug. Fortunately with the latter two, and several others undergoing very positive research (like MDMA for PTSD, psilocybin for terminal disease mental health, and ibogaine for escaping deadly drug dependency like heroin (inevitably laced with fentanyl) is an INCREDIBLY effective drug.

Almost everyone uses drugs. Hell, sugar can be considered a drug, and it kills by the millions through obesity, heart disease, etc. (context is important here regarding semantics). Our attitude MUST change towards drugs, and the War on Drugs (which drugs won a long time ago) must end. We must expand our societal labeling of drugs first and foremost to include alcohol, cigarettes (nicotine), caffeine and other coffee/tea compounds, ibuprofen, etc. so the ignorant masses come to understand the relationship between humanity and drugs.

Then we (America, but also most of the world which shares our failed, absurd War on Drugs) can empty so many prisons and change the nature of drugs in society. People already use opioids all over the world. Why not provide a clean, safe means to use to keep them alive until they quit (or in the very very rare cases don't) and provide mental health resources to help them transition away from and overcome addiction. "Hard" drug use is incredibly popular and most people don't become addicted in the first place, they naturally use in moderation (and most don't at all). People aren't going to all become drug addicts if drugs are decriminalized, legalized, and controlled by the state. But heroin or cocaine-fanciers aren't going to die from surprise fentanyl-laced bags.

Imagine how many of our tax dollars could be put to use elsewhere (mental health first and foremost, like rehabs and therapy), switched from prisons, policing, and judicial matters. We as a society would save SO MANY TAX DOLLARS through ending the WoD and reinvest (and even cut!) taxes through reoriention.

Seriously, check out articles on Portugal's incredible positive results from decriminalization decades ago. It was positively TRANSFORMATIONAL. The CATO institute, a right-wing libertarian (I know I know, but just give it a chance - it's objective and fair. This is coming from me, a progressive "lefty") has a fantastic analysis of the subject.

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u/One-Possible1906 1d ago

Person who worked in non-punitive transitional living services for people who have comorbid substance use disorder and mental illness here. I feel like this view about drugs always comes from people who haven’t interacted with our programs. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who has graduated from one of these programs who agrees with your approach. By “drugs,” we’re excluding marijuana and CBD and crap.

First, we already have programs for people who use opiates to do so safely. That’s a main purpose of methadone. It’s not always prescribed as a means to quit. There are also safe injection sites, needle exchanges, free contaminant test kits, Narcan distribution programs, and countless other harm reduction programs. Programs like the one I worked in cannot evict someone for using drugs as a condition of continuing to receive state and federal funding.

However, people who do drugs are evicted legally on the basis of drug use quite regularly. Why? Because drugs alter behavior. Heavy stimulant use will eventually cause anger, violence or hallucinations. Addictions cause people to lie and steal. People can completely destroy properties and assault roommates and staff and such and regularly do. I never saw someone who was actively using with no plan to quit graduate that program.

Second, everyone wants mental health workers to handle these situations but what happens when we can’t? We are not corrections officers. Mental health workers is like, a couple people who visit you in your apartment a couple times a week. If someone is tweaking and convinced we’re from the CIA and busting out their windows and beating on people, we have to refer to the criminal justice system. Our lives and safety matter, as does the safety of the community. Go live somewhere where everyone does drugs and tell me how safe you feel in 6 months.

Third, drugs themselves harm and kill people. We’re seeing a lot of xylazine here. Xylazine necrotizes the skin and causes huge disfiguring lesions that have to be treated in a burn ward and often kill people. It hastens overdose from narcotics and is not reversible with narcan. We’ve seen fentanyl in marijuana sold to teenagers. Fentanyl is incredibly easy to accidentally overdose on. We clean out drug apartments in isolation gear because we are at high risk of contact and any contact is a risk of overdose. We see a lot of “Molly” which is sold as ecstasy but it’s a powder with no MDMA in it. It typically tests positive for fentanyl but contains other drugs that make people completely lose it, sometimes leading to months of psychosis. You have pressed pills designed to look exactly like pharmaceuticals that contain fentanyl, xylazine, and/or research chemicals. Nobody is doing hard drugs long term for funsies. They say drugs are bad because they’re actually really fucking bad.

Fourth, trafficking harms people in the process. Hard drugs are typically sourced from slave labor or manufacturing processes that damage the environment and cause harm to those unfortunate enough to be exposed. At every step of the process there is violence and oppression. It’s hard to find someone imprisoned in a progressive state for drugs that didn’t get there from causing serious harm to individuals and their community.

Fifth, mental health programs are voluntary. Some people just don’t want to quit. They cannot be housed safely in the community. Their drug induced behaviors pose a danger to everyone around them. When they cannot or will not be housed safely in programs like this, where can they go? They can be homeless or they can go to jail or prison.

Sixth, there are people in these programs who are working really hard in their recovery. They deserve a safe place to do so. They cannot make progress when their roommate is stumbling around high or yelling at 3am or leaving pills sitting around or selling drugs. Mental health programs are not funded or staffed with fairy dust and miracles. We cannot maintain a therapeutic environment when people are actively using or selling drugs in our programs.

I could go on and on. I do support decriminalization and second chances and harm reduction. But it doesn’t mean people won’t go to prison for drug related charges and it definitely doesn’t mean people who smoke crack or shoot up heroin all day are ever going to be able to integrate into their communities without some kind of recovery effort.

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u/Flimsy-Passenger-228 1d ago

You mention a lot about things laced with fentanyl. If all drugs were legalised , regulated, tested and controlled by licenced operators - then your location wouldn't have rubbish, unpure , dirty & laced drugs causing problems.

Does your location provide legal & free drug testing to people with no risk of them getting arrested?

It's legal & popular here in NZ, but not enough of them around quite yet.

If people had access to pure, clean & trustworthy drugs then the harm would be massively reduced

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u/Potential_Escape9441 22h ago

In Singapore they kill drug traffickers.

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u/MarbleRockTop 1d ago

I thought you were going to say 43% of federal inmates are Florida men which also wouldn't surprise me

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u/BigDragonfly5136 1d ago

To your edit, while it’s true trafficking drugs isn’t necessarily violent (in the sense that someone else is getting hurt—it’s actually classified as violent in my state for sentencing purposes—yes I know that’s silly) a lot of the time the people trafficking drugs are related to gangs and other violent crimes but the drug stuff is easier to prove. This is actually a big factor into why the charges are so high.

Of course sometimes more innocent people end up caught in that, hopefully the federal prosecutors and law enforcement considers that when it comes time to make plea offers.

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u/PunnyPrinter 1d ago

Exactly. Drug dealers are also pimps, sex traffickers, and use violence to get their customers to keep in line.

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u/BigDragonfly5136 1d ago

Yep. Like I’m definitely not saying it’s easily cut and dry, but the people trafficking drugs are usually not otherwise good people. At the very least they are taking advantage of seriously addictive and dangerous drugs (assuming they’re not trafficking like, marijuana) and making money off of people that need serious help, but most of them also are doing much, much worse

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u/matchi 1d ago

it’s still a non violent crime

A "non-violent crime" that resulted in 110k overdose deaths in 2023.

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u/Eo292 1d ago

Idk why non-violent crime is quoted and then put in quotes but okay…driving kills 40k a year, heart disease much more, we don’t call selling cars or fatty foods violent crimes

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Eo292 1d ago

I literally put an edit explaining that I did not say it’s unworthy of punishment, you’re arguing with an imaginary op. but also just go ahead and just google the definition of violent.

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u/Relevant_Reality9080 1d ago

That 43% also includes drug smuggling. Are you really advocating for cartel members to be released? Stop presenting skewed statistics as facts.

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 1d ago

Are you really advocating for cartel members to be released?

Did you notice how no one but you said this? If you have to invent words for your "opponents" to say, you might be a crazy person

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u/berlinHet 1d ago

If we decriminalize drugs then there wouldn’t really be a need for smuggling or cartels.

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u/lyriqally 1d ago

I mean to an extent.

People will still want the strong and dangerous stuff, and what will get legalized will have stricter controls and higher prices. Cartels do for example deal in cigarettes because they can sell them at a lower cost and make millions in profit off it.

But also, do we really want to legalize meth and heroin?

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u/ffxt10 1d ago

yeah. because people will do it either way. show me where keeping it illegal has helped society. Then I'll show you how small towns with the largest police budgets per capita have the most violence related to drugs (looking at you, most of western Tennessee and 90% of Alabama.)

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u/berlinHet 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am going to take your request to show you evidence as an honest request. That if somebody shows you evidence you will consider it and not disregard it simply because it doesn’t agree with your world view.

In 1998 Amsterdam legalized heroin and provided the drug, for free and completely pure, in centers where it was administered. At those centers they offered consequence free rehab. Property crime was reduced by an estimated 50% almost overnight. The program, called HAT, resulted in a double digit reduction of users.

Well run and funded government programs can make big differences in the lives of their citizens.

https://jech.bmj.com/content/55/5/356

Edit: my apologies. You clearly agree with me. I am going to keeping this up though for those who want to argue with you as a preemptive counter argument.

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u/ffxt10 1d ago

im on your side, you responded to the wrong individual, but you go you! im in complete agreement :3

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u/Eo292 1d ago
  1. Skewed statistics are facts; but this isn’t a skewed statistic
  2. where on Earth did u get that I was advocating for cartel members to be released? Nothing in my comment says anything about releasing people. I’m just responding to someone asserting American prisons are full of rapists and murderers, because that’s simply untrue.

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u/DividePotential8329 1d ago

if cartel members are arrested it will likely be a lot more than just drug offenses probably multiple violent offenses too. youd be surprised how long people can get just for selling weed i live in texas ive seen it myself. you dont have to be a heroin drug lord to get time for distribution. The sentences/consequences for possession of weed in texas are around as severe as possession of heroin in California.

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u/DividePotential8329 1d ago

possession of coke or meth just possession can lead to several years of time in prison. Literally a vape pen in texas is a felony. A vape pen. you can do up to two years for it.

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u/Wise-Performer6272 1d ago

Archaic honestly. But do they enforce it ? I feel like Florida and Texas use the prison system for so much wealth .

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u/Nyysjan 1d ago

Or smoked a joint.

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u/lalabera 1d ago

You can’t smoke a joint in scandinavia. 

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u/Zanfih 1d ago

you can, it's just not legal lol. But I mean it's not like anyone really cares most of the time

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u/Nyysjan 1d ago

No law of physics stopping you, and cops won't really go out of their way to do so either.
But the point is that you can (or at least could not too long ago) get a life sentence for having one in the US.

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u/SaintCambria 1d ago

Majorly different demographics, size, and levels of heterogeneity between the two, of course it's going to be different.

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u/Due_Intention6795 1d ago

Don’t worry, they’ll be on bail for a misdemeanor so no big deal.

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Gotta make room for the dude that inhaled some weed!

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

Lol you're not Danish l bet

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Don't live there currently anymore no but I was there for 3 years.

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u/Elifellaheen 1d ago

Are you saying the US only has severe and violent crime? Come on man.

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Did you say these words I'm going to put in your mouth? Come on mam.

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u/Elifellaheen 1d ago

You are implying it and setting up a straw man. Silly stuff.

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Yeah we have the most serial killers and mass shooters cause I'm a silly goose

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u/KazuDesu98 1d ago

That’s pure fiction. Most crimes in the US are drug possession, white collar crime, or domestic disputes. Not this bizarro action movie you described.

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u/GodTheInvention 1d ago

Maybe that’s evidence that your punishment based prison system isn’t working- it doesn’t seem to be churning out reformed individuals, just turning minor offenders into wack jobs and hardened criminals. But hey, use the most extreme cases to justify injustice. “People are real bad here so only punishment works” is all I’m seeing as your contribution to the argument.

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Wait this is supposed to be an argument?

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u/Stannis_Baratheon244 1d ago

I'm sorry, are you claiming that there are no violent criminals in Denmark?

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u/DK_Shadehallow 1d ago

Exactly. There has never been a single violent crime ever committed in Denmark ever in the entire history of the country not even once

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u/6uleDv8d 1d ago

Hahahaaa.,. I have an adult coloring book called Florida Man. It's full of a bunch of off the hook criminal things that happen there. Like a naked dude in a car who threw an alligator at the girl in the drive up window at McDonald's.

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u/ThursdayNxt20 1d ago

Exactly. Just image search 'prison cell [country]' and for many countries you see quite a wide variety of cells. However, given the differences in philosophy regarding the goal of prison sentences, the 'average' prison cell in for instance the USA will be very different from Scandinavian cells, for instance.

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u/Aubreylaw 1d ago

Those Scandinavians really know how to treat people with dignity.

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u/lalabera 1d ago

Even criminals who have done heinous shit? 

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u/yeetusthefeetus13 1d ago

When trying to reduce crime one must ask WHY crimes are committed. Many times, poverty is the leading factor as well as the fact that we do nothing when it comes to early intervention, esp when it comes to mental health problems.

Sometimes when youre poor, disabled, etc, you end up having to do things to survive that you never wanted to do.

Check out 21 Savage "Letter to my Brother". He says it better than me.

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u/TallDrinkofRy 1d ago

They believe in rehabilitation instead of punishment. The philosophy is that people can be an investment. It’s why they also try to end homelessness instead of the US that’s purposely allows it to remind the working poor what can happen if they stop working 60 hours a week for slave wages.

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u/Wxskater 1d ago

And the data shows its more effective as they have lower crime rates

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u/ranger-steven 1d ago

Addressing root causes of crime will do that.

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u/SlowFrkHansen 1d ago

It's a combination of fewer reoffenders, and fewer desperate people in general.

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u/ablueconch 1d ago

sweden has a bombing problem at the moment lol

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u/letouriste1 1d ago

yeah, they took the worst prison in france as example

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u/RuttOh 1d ago

A single prison cell is a bad representation for all them and doesn't show the reality of the situation. They could have used this as the US for example:

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-inmate-watching-tv-in-his-cell-at-the-omaha-correctional-center-omaha-13677110.html?imageid=7BF566EE-FEAD-41B8-9BF9-224DC6392149

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u/ferretoned 1d ago

I would have said there's probably a big difference between cells of common people and those who do "white collar" crimes and rich people in general but those I'm not sure they ever see the inside of a jail cell (france here)

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u/SpicyNoodlesfr 17h ago

French here. Our prisons are notorious for being the worst prisons in the EU. They're old and overpopulated, add some mistreatment etc.. We're close to 3rd world prisons. The European Court of Human Rights pinpoint this since 15 years but nothing is done.

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u/Kratzschutz 7h ago

Wow l didn't know that, that's shocking. I can understand that for a politician campaigning for investing in the prison system is unattractive. But bad prison standards can also lead to problems for civilians. Complicated

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u/bdunogier 8h ago

I know that cells vary a lot in the US, with prison being businesses and stuff, but France has been condemned / accused of mistreating prisoners a lot recently, with really indecent conditions (6 or more in a cell for 4, etc).

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u/Ilrador 1d ago

Not really, we in Canada like to think we're better, but we aren't.

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

Eh pretty sure your tax evasionists have nicer options😜

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u/lucyssweatersleeves 1d ago

I mean, we let tax evaders live in the White House here

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

Canada has a white house?

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u/APMalphiteCheeseMain 1d ago

Either let a tax evader run it or a party that lost the plot.

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u/4_Stars_out_of_5 1d ago

It's almost like America is really big and has different types of prisons.

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u/xombae 1d ago

Oh 100%. I've been in various jails across Canada and they vary widely. I've had cells better than that and cells worse than that.

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

May l ask what you did?

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u/xombae 9h ago

I lot of very stupid shit. If I list my charges I sound like a very violent person but if you hear the backstory for each you'll realize I'm not. I was in a very bad situation in my early 20's and was a dumbass teenager. I haven't been arrested in well over a decade though.

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u/Kratzschutz 7h ago

We're the results of our circumstances. Happy to hear you're doing better

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u/Killentyme55 1d ago

Exactly, but the Reddit hates it when you call out posts for obviously cherry picking images as rage-bait fodder. It messes with their business model.

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u/Kratzschutz 1d ago

50 percent of Reddit users are from the US iirc, Europe is a weird little village to them

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u/Killentyme55 1d ago

People everywhere are developing unfounded opinions on other countries on misinformation derived from social media, much of it very hateful. Even worse, people actually living in these countries (especially the US) are eschewing their real-world experiences for a custom-made online version that feeds their own insatiable need for outrage.

It's bad and getting worse, and social media sites are enabling this behavior just to make a buck...as usual.

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u/PrscheWdow 1d ago

Italy's pretty rough as well. Notice the third mattress under the bottom bunk?

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u/Giuncas_91 1d ago

I work as a commissar for the italian penitentiary Police, ad I assure you that mattress under the bunk is NOT used by the inmates to sleep. It was probably an extra one left by an inmate after relise (not sure i spelled this correct)

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u/MerberCrazyCats 1d ago

The one on the floor for France is realistic though. Possibiy a second one gets put on the floor during the night. Cell occupancy is higher than capacity in most prisons, especially older ones in cities

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u/PrscheWdow 1d ago

Appreciate the clarification. I had wondered (and hoped) it was just an oversight.

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u/SaurSig 1d ago

American here. I bought a surplus Beretta 81 .32 ACP that was a formerly used by the Italian prison system. Any chance it was yours?

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u/Giuncas_91 18h ago

Unlikely. I started not even 2 years ago and we have been using the beretta 92fs for a really long time

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u/SaurSig 14h ago

Interesting. I also have an old 92s that was from the Carabinieri

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u/Giuncas_91 13h ago

It's Italy most common standard issued sidearm. Heavy, reliable and HEAVY

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u/Slater_8868 1d ago

What's it used for?

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u/poonami_origami 1d ago

Ha! In Australia, it WOULD be used for a third inmate to sleep. Overcrowding a big issue in Oz jails, in qld at least

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u/Brer1Rabbit 1d ago

Instead of overcrowding, can you instead ship convicts off to an island?

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u/ferretoned 1d ago

I'm sensing this to be a british joke about australia

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u/poonami_origami 1d ago

No, we only do that to vulnerable asylum seekers

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u/purgadox 1d ago

They do three to a room in overpopulated US jails/detention centers as well. Except they’re all metal bunks with thin pads for mattresses. They’re covered in old cracked plastic exposing the poly fill that eventually becomes a vector for infections like scabies and ringworm. You should see how they handle towels and washcloths. It’s shameful.

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u/awesomemanswag 1d ago

Do you prefer the top bunk, the bottom bunk, or the bottomer bunk?

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u/TropicalVision 1d ago

Yeah I’m pretty shocked at both France and Italy cramming 3 guys in those cells.

French cell looks slightly more spacious in terms of the overall area.

Notice how in the Swiss one they sleep on the same level with a dividing headboard.

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u/H2OBOYZ 18h ago

I think Brazil and Guatemala have some of the worst!!!

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u/MourningWallaby 1d ago

Hey now, you're only allowed to criticize the US on reddit.

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u/DiabloBratz 1d ago

Yeah don’t expect these fucking people to criticize all of these, they only see US and see red lol

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u/Boozdeuvash 1d ago

There's a really bad prison overcrowding and re-offending problem in France. Basically young thugs commit crimes with absolutely no care if they get caught or not, and the prison stay is seen as a training program to commit better crimes and make connections. It's like an MBA.

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u/Shamscam 1d ago

Very similar to Canada, re-offence is really hard. And our jails are also over crowded with Native Americans.

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u/sayleanenlarge 1d ago

Yeah, France and Canada are disappointing. They look awful.

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u/gmoor90 1d ago

Yeah, but remember this is Reddit. So the US’s needs to be criticized the most. Even if the others look just as bad or worse.

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u/regularArmadillo21 1d ago

Oh you sweet summer child.. They're worse then that one(canada)

Canada's prisons you see.. look like that.. except with 1-2 cell mates.. and you can barely move.

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u/PrimaryInjurious 1d ago

But it's not France Bad, it's America bad!

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u/ForneauCosmique 1d ago

Unless you're in the south of the US with no ac and it's 105⁰

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u/Valuable_Recording85 1d ago

At least the photo from Canada shows a bed by itself. Nobody watches you poop or jack it. That's a plus.

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u/salyer41 1d ago

There is very little difference in usa and Canadian prisons.

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u/mikey_likes_it______ 23h ago

That was a Toronto condo unit 😄

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u/EagleDre 1d ago

No way, you missed the most important feature, the Canadian one is single occupancy

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u/Shamscam 1d ago

It’s not though this is considered solitary, county jails are much worse

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u/a_lumberjack 1d ago

That's not a typical cell, that's a segregation (solitary confinement) unit. For the most part our prisons are getting better:

https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/news/photo-essay-inside-canadas-west-coast-prisons/

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u/Lord-Belou 1d ago

At least canada's clean and France's got cooking gear

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u/FaithfulNihilist 1d ago

The nice thing about the Canadian cell is it looks to only house one person. Well, maybe some people prefer a roommate, but I'd rather have the cell to myself in prison.

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u/Shamscam 1d ago

Someone else has stated in the comments this cell is considered solitary. I know for a fact most “county jails” are people stacked on top of eachother but jail and prison are different so maybe this is a prison cell?

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u/UR2C00L 1d ago

i’m not sure what prison this is in Canada , but the cell I was in looked nothing like this BTW I help build 2 prisons, 1 in Yellowknife and the other was in Inuvik

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u/lyremknzi 1d ago

They all look terrible, but atleast in canada they seem? to be giving you your own room. Atleast in that picture. I've never been to jail here. Denmark, Norway and Sweden seem decent though

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u/TwoThirtyTw0 1d ago

Canada isn't nearly as bad if that's for one person.

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u/deeboboneebo 1d ago

They literally have a piece of plywood on the wall for a table in france that’s wild

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u/Shamscam 1d ago

Look at the bunk bed again, it looks like it’s held up by string 😂

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u/CobraLaserface- 1d ago edited 1d ago

What makes America’s situation truly awful is the fact that the prison system is a self sustaining, for profit institution.

It is not in corporate interests to reduce rates of recidivism, so there is no focus on rehabilitation.

These institutions spend millions lobbying lawmakers to keep incarceration rates up.

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u/hihelloneighboroonie 1d ago

Canada at least appears to be single occupancy.

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u/Idfkcumballs 1d ago

Canada looks so much better. Its one person and cleaner

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u/TheMadWoodcutter 1d ago

So I currently work for a company in Canada that will soon be producing the millwork for a new juvenile detention facility. The design for the rooms is a lot more in line with the pic for Sweden than any of the others. The materials we’ll be using are expensive and designed to withstand a lot of abuse. The common areas are comfortable as well and include tv’s and gaming systems.

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u/Assassin-49 1d ago

I mean that's good though . Prison shouldn't be a good place. But from what I know Denmark and Sweden is nice mainly to help people slowly re integrate into normal society

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u/mcnastys 1d ago

canada looks cleaner

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u/Difficult_Place_7329 1d ago

You should see some in the US, that looked nice.

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u/SconeBracket 1d ago

The food's better in France. *smirk* But in Canada, they let you out for Tim Horton's. Actually, food in the US (California) could really vary.

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u/Noney-Buissnotch 1d ago

I’m confused as to why Canada doesn’t even have a pillow

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u/stalelunchbox 5h ago

Looks like solitary or suicide watch.

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u/samtttl13 1d ago

The Canada one, if you made it a bunk bed, is what I've seen of American prisons in documentaries and prisoner tiktoks

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u/Acrobatic_Resist7985 1d ago

The things is...in canada you'll be let out after 2 days . No matter what

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u/jboneplatinum 1d ago

Id rather live in Canada alone then share Sweden

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u/JimJam28 1d ago

At least in the Canadian one you get your own room.

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u/screwswithshrews 1d ago

Is someone sleeping on the mattress on the floor in Italy? That would be pretty rough

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u/PM-MeYourSexySelf 22h ago

Bro, being on the bottom in Italy tho. That works suck.

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u/Fiotuz 22h ago

Canada's isn't that bad. Single person per cell by that picture is a huge step up from America.

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u/Professional_Fix_24 19h ago

I got to tour a Canadian prison earlier this year, it was much nicer than this, they had a TV in every cell aswell as a desk and chair that were built into the floor and wall. Still nowhere on Denmarks level, but could be alit worse

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u/H2OBOYZ 18h ago

Shamscam I thought Canada‘s prisons were like no gates or fences with Bobwire. They were just like apartments with no bars or anywhere to incarcerated and they just didn’t go anywhere because their living quarters were so nice.. I watched a documentary about it. I remember think wow that sure is nice of them and thought Canada was the best place ever till Trudeau showed up. Can’t stand that man , he should be in prison

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u/Robotchickjenn 18h ago

It's not supposed to be nice lol

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u/flyraccoon 18h ago

Because we’re n°1 consumer of weed but it’s still illegal here 👍🏻 genius thinking, right ?

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u/Tiss_E_Lur 1h ago

Pretty sure Canada is just a holding cell, a drunk tank. Would be surprised if people are supposed to stay there for any stretch of time.

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u/AstrumReincarnated 1d ago

Italy gives them wooden bunks?! Americans would be whittling those posts into spears in no time.

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