Paying your dues to society takes on a whole new meaning in California. For US$171 a day, prisoners can get cell upgrades that offer access to iPods, laptops, mobiles, better food and, the biggest selling point of all, isolation from violent inmates.
One police department makes this fear of sexual predators its main sales pitch: "Bad things happen to good people."
In the pay-to-stay scheme, the cells are bare but cleaner than the communal ones and inmates are allowed to take in personal possessions denied non-paying prisoners. Payments have to be made in advance for short stays but those serving longer sentences can pay in installments.
The offer is available only to those facing what the justice system classifies as minor offenses, such as drink driving. Violent offenders are automatically ruled out. The cost of upgrades varies from county to county: ranging from US$70 a day -- though there is an initial US$100 application fee -- in Seal Beach to US$171 a day in Torrance.
Details of the scheme on the Torrance police department Web site are not dissimilar from many hotel brochures, with details ranging parking facilities to check-out times.
"We compute sentences on a 24-hour basis. If you have three days to serve, check-in would be 8:30am Monday, check-out 8:30am Thursday," it said.
Applications to take part in the scheme can be made online. Unlike hotel guests, inmates are required by law to work a minimum of four hours a day.
"You will assist with chores such as cleaning, laundry, trash removal and vehicle washing," it said.
Police say paying prisoners "are housed separately from all other inmates, but may have minimal contact with the regular inmate population during meal service."
The low profile scheme, which began several years ago, has received publicity in recent weeks after prosecutors objected to George Jaramillo, a former assistant sheriff sentenced for misuse of public funds, being allowed to benefit from it. They were furious to read that he would be able to enjoy meals on a patio with his family with food brought in from restaurants.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in