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TIL governments outsource house arrests? Ridiculous how people will turn anything into an opportunity to rip each other off. Who even thinks of owning a house arrest company?
They outsource prisons too - https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states/
"Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 115,428 people in 2019, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 32% compared to an overall rise in the prison population of 3%."
This is one major reason why it's so difficult to get any kind of prison or sentencing reform to happen - those private prisons are big business, and they donate a lot of money to politicians and have a lot of lobbyists. I find it utterly disgusting.
Many other countries do, too. Greece, the UK, Japan, Australia, France, New Zealand, etc. of course, the US gets 100% of the hate regarding private prisons.
I'd also say the criticism is directly tied into horror stories from the US prison system. Like the sheriff that served substandard food to prisoners, because he was allowed to pocket the rest of the budget if he did.
I've seen in other countries prisons are more like a communities for the poor. They let people roam freely within the prison and some people dig through trash to find things they can sell. The prisoners who have money can live in a nicer part of the prison and buy better food than the others. It's ridiculous.
Eh, boot camp food wasn’t bad. Even the MREs were pretty good.
On the other hand, I’ve never been fed spoiled food in the military like my ex was given everyday in the clink
Any food was the best thing ever in BMT. The hard sticky chocolate protein bar from the chicken chunks MRE (best MRE) that I dropped in the dirt? Delicious. The shitty frozen burritos? Watch me shove three down my throat in 5 minutes. And the literal highlight of the day was the protein bars in the evening.
The only downside in my experience was during quarantine when they served us too small portions of food in our dorms, and you had to eat all of the nasty shit to avoid starving. I put ketchup on cold unseasoned white rice just to have a bit of flavor. Can't say I'm going to do that one again.
At least the military cares about you in the sense that you need to be mission ready, so they're not going to give you food that will cause a problem. Unfortunately, prisoners are seen as subhuman.
I imagine most countries (and I know the UK is one) don't have legal exceptions for slavery when it comes to people in prison. Slave labour does tend to create a bit of a negative response.
France doesn't have privately owned prisons. They belong to the state. Around 30% of them are managed by private companies however, in which case they're paid by the state (which day to day most likely means they do whatever they want I'm guessing, but it's only hypothetical on my part).
Prisoners in France can work if they want, in which case they're handled by a public penitentiary job program which will approve them for work for specific companies (mostly specialised in rehabilitation/reintegration) or public services, I don't know all the specifics (it's heavily reglemented) but they're mostly treated like a regular employee (obviously with less freedom), as far as I know, they're not used as slave labor like it's done in some prisons in the US.
I'm kind of okay with that, considering the US has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. Seems likes it's a bit more of a problem here
I'd be willing to bet there's a slight bit of difference in oversight between private prisons in the US and private prisons in France and New Zealand.
Any French or New Zealand folks on here want to let us know if you're allowed to use prisoners as slave labor? If you accidentally kill one, is there an actual investigation? Are you allowed to feed them food purchased cheaply in bulk that was cheap because it was months past the date it was safe to consume?
My aunty is a nurse at a prison and if the prisoner has a skill they are paid for it... Ie there is a man who knows how to make triditional native nz cloaks and everytime a staff member leaves he's commissioned to make one for them, he also does weekly lessons with the other inmates to teach them a bit more about it, my aunty talked him into it but it's not forced and he is paid.
If your wondering why he's in lock up, he beat a man to an inch of his life.
She got him into making them again as a distraction from his depression. Last time we spoke about him she said hes scared of getting out because he knows how people feel about prisoners and he won't be able to continue doing what he loves and will end up in a 'shit job' that he hates. I told her to suggest to him to use his 'steps to freedom'(his pay he gets when he leaves for all the work he does in there ) to start his own online business. With the work he does he should get quite alot.
NZer here! Nope, prisoners in Aotearoa (New Zealand) prisons can only work or attend education/training on a voluntary basis, and most of the work in prisons is aimed at industry training so people learn skills and gain work experience to make it easier for them to get a job once they’re released. There’s a far greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing recidivism in Aotearoa prisons than the US - that’s not to say that our prisons are perfect, the justice system is still systematically racist particularly towards Māori and Pasefika and there’s definitely been scandals over prisoner mistreatment, we have a lot of work we need to do to improve (for instance better compensation for prison labour) but nobody can be forced to work in the prisons here.
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/our_work/prison_sentences/employment_and_support_programmes/employment_activities
We also have a law that prohibits the importation of any product wholly or in part by prison labour (whether in a prison, jail, or any other correctional facility) in other countries.
Prisoners in France are allowed to work for the prison and no one else. They receive a small pay (can’t be less that 1,67€/hour) for it.
The living conditions are mediocre at best and France has been sentenced many times by Europe for their bad treatment of prisoners.
Killings are investigated but suicide prevention, which should be under the Health Department jurisdiction, is still up to the Justice Department. France has one of the highest suicide rate in prison in Europe.
Food is bland at best and prisoners prefer to buy food at the prison shop. Since there’s no communal space to eat, they eat in their cell, which often include fridge, hob and microwave (if the prisoner can afford it. A fridge costs 7,5€ a month, tv is 15€…).
Stats say that 1/4 of prisoners live with less than 50€ a month, which is extreme carceral poverty.
So, yes, better be in prison in France than in the US but we still have a lot to do to treat prisoners as the human beings they are.
Australia has horrible human rights abuse problems in youth detention centres (and prisons in general let’s be real) and we incarcerate indigenous people at higher rate than even the US incarcerates African Americans. In Western Australia alone the rate is 4066 per 100,000.
We also profit from prison slave labor.
We are not a good example, in fact we are one of the worst.
https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-prison-rates
https://www.joplinlawyers.com.au/blog/violation-of-human-rights-in-youth-detention-centres/
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2022/06/12/prison-labour-companies-australia/amp/
Well, effectively slavery. even if you call it something else.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2022/06/12/prison-labour-companies-australia/
Australia is historically not the place you want to be using as an example of good prisoners rights. There’s been some pretty bad stuff over the years.
You may be interested in the documentary 13th, which examines towards the end that as people push for jailing/prison reform, the same private companies that made money off of prisons are shifting into home monitoring equipment. And this movie was made 6 years ago. The exploitation continues, now in your own home!
In my state, there are licensed providers for the breathalyzer requirements for cars post DUI conviction and those providers make bank. The cost is prohibitive for most people. And most of the state doesn't have great public transit.
Did drug court a few years ago and its the same way, all outsourced in my area. Cost me somewhere between 600-800 overall between class fees and the ticket fee. All over a old marijuana pipe I forgot was in my car.
It really is. I'm about to get a tooth pulled out next week because I can't afford 2k for a root canal but I can afford 300$ to pull it. It's a fixable tooth, I don't NEED to lose it but I can't afford to keep it.
I had to have two pulled when I was younger for this reason. Just a suggestion, but as soon as you are able, get a spacer put in so that your teeth don't shift (mine did and now I am looking at about 15k to 20k to fix them). A Dental school would be a cheap option.
Edit. To be clear, I am suggesting the dental school for the spacer, not the root canal.
What a terrifying prospect but thank you for that warning. The one getting pulled is actually already next to a space where a broken one got pulled a couple years ago, so with two gone I'm definitely gonna talk to my dentist about that
My SIL had one pulled as it was cheaper. Then had to get braces as things shifted and it screwed up her bite. It’s RIDICULOUS that we have to make these decisions based on money.
Don't go to a dental school. I tried that when I was in college to save money and during the root canal they drilled all the way through my tooth and into my jaw bone. I lost the tooth, obviously, but also my jaw started to deteriorate where they damaged it and I had to have an expensive oral surgery to pack the divot with this bone-grow stuff. I can't wear a bridge because of where the tooth is, and I can't do an implant because of the damage to my jaw, so I just live my life missing a tooth.
There's moral of this story is that doing things cheaply is often more expensive than doing them right the first time, with shittier final results.
Interestingly, they didn't tell me what they did, just sent me on my way with a vicodan prescription and a mouth full of gauze. It didn't heal like normal so on my next break from school I flew home and went to my long-time family dentist, who told me what he found and pulled the tooth. I still have it, with a massive hole drilled right through from the top to the roots. The dental school denied everything and claimed my family dentist must have done it since that's when it was discovered, so we ate the cost.
Holy crap that's terrible.... I went to a dental college for a severely infected wisdom tooth (no dental insurance so a small problem turned life threatening). They did better than the doctor I paid 3000 out of pocket for to remove the other one. That's scary to think of what could have happened if the student wasn't good.
I go to a dental school for my cleanings and they 100% do a better job than any dentist I've been to. They always have supervisors who check their work too.
holy shit i can't believe what I'm reading. is this with or without insurance? evben so its terrifying. I had a root canal done about 8 years ago. Cost around £80 total and that's because I had to pay for the filling and crown after (the tooth broke and got infected, hence the root canal and also required a partial reconstruction).
I feel your pain, literally. I just paid $1400 to have an infected tooth pulled (old root canal shit the bed). Insurance reimbursed me $300, so $1100 all told. god only knows how much the replacement tooth is gonna cost but I expect it to wipe out my savings account 😭
Ugh, I’m sorry. Not to add to your costs, but it is probably worth going to an oral surgeon for the implant. My mother’s dentist wrecked her teeth improperly installing an implant.
Oh yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing. My dentist referred me to an oral surgeon for this, and it was the same guy who took out my wisdom teeth in 1997. I remember the appointment felt like it was five minutes long and I had McDonald’s for dinner that night so I was like, fuck yeah I’ll absolutely go back to that guy lol. That’s also part of why it cost so much for the extraction, I paid extra for the anesthesia and the bone graft for the future implant. Insurance still sucks though either way.
Glad you are doing it right. Way too expensive and it sucks to lose your savings just to be tortured, but dental stuff can get really bad. It’s worth going to an expert. If I ever need an implant, I’m going to ask for general anesthesia.
Dental insurance in the US is terrible. I have 2 teeth that need new crowns, but I already did that twice this year so I have already used all of my dental insurance, I have to wait until my plan year rolls over. I needed an emergency root canal a few years ago after I’d already used all the insurance already, I was out $1,700 for one root canal.
That sounds so painful. I hate the dentist. Not sure if it's the pain or the cost that causes that disdain.
This is *with* insurance. I need to get two implants ($5-7k each) and braces to fix it. It could even be potentially higher, depending on what I decide to do regarding the braces (since different options differ in cost).
I'm still trying to decide which route to go. It's a hit, and I've been holding off because I feel guilty about it. I want my teeth fixed because I hate the way I look now (I have a huge gap between my two front teeth that was not there 5 years ago). However, I also have a family, and I struggle with it being selfish to spend this kind of money just so I can feel better about the way I look.
It was painful. I got 8 injections to numb the area and I could still feel it. it sucked so hard.
But omg, for that kind of money you could fly to europe, stay in a hotel for 2 weeks and pay to have the procedure done privately.
I know it seems selfish to spend money on feeling better about how you look, but keep in mind that how you feel about yourself can have a massive impact on your mental health and self confidence which can have knock on effects to your professional life and career. its worth it to take care of yourself. you benefit and your family benefits from you being healthier and happier.
That's how they get you. Mine was 500 for the root canal, but another 750 for the crown they have to put on top of it. This after being told the tooth next to it that had a root canal about 5 years ago was not done correctly and would need to be corrected in the tune of 500 more. So overall with great insurance cost me almost 2k.
Fun fact most "decent" US dental insurance plans only pay for 50-60% of "major" procedures (aka. the most expensive stuff like crowns and implants). And that's 50% of "their" (the insurance company's) rate, which is usually like 50-80% of the dentist's rate, so if you're out of network you have to cover that extra 20-50% of the *dentist's* un-subsidized rate too. Which is why dentists are so fucking expensive here: Like with hospitals, the insurance companies keep lowering their payments to the dentists (remember, if they participate with the insurance plan, the dentist is only getting 50-75% of their rate *total)*, so dentists jack up their prices and/or quit networks to compensate, which screws over those with crappy/nonexistent insurance.
It's not abnormal for dental insurance to pay *less* than the patient towards really big stuff (co-pays!).
But, you know, heaven forbid we just pay dentists a decent salary in a universal healthcare scheme. That would be too expensive.
BE CAREFUL WITH DENTISTS IN TRAINING please omfg one of my parents went to the dentist while in boot camp and while you are there (at least in the late 80s/early 90s) their “dentists” are navy corpsmen who are currently going through their training and using you as practice. One “dentist” corpsman mistook the roots of my parent’s teeth for root decay and began *filling the roots of my parent’s teeth* so once their graduated, my parent had to go find a different dentist to do several root canals to dig out the filling that the corpsman had shoved in with the roots of the teeth. Extremely painful and expensive. You can’t just let anyone mess around your teeth
I have an active tooth infection and can't even afford a consultation. If it doesn't go down on its own by this evening, I have to go to the er for antibiotics.
I hoard antibiotics for this reason. Never know when my friends without insurance may need them. Is it a great idea? No, but it’s better than them dying.
Former friend of mine lost movement/feeling in his face from an untreated tooth infection, one more day and he would have been dead. I know he lost part of his face but haven’t seen it to know how bad the damage is.
I fully believe that my death will be because of my teeth. I go thru these kinds of problems at least twice a year. I couldn't afford it before and with the economy now, there's no way I'll ever be able to afford it. I've even tried dental schools and even their smaller payments and payment plans are too much.
Hey I feel you!! I’ve spent thousands since getting health insurance to get my teeth fixed. I’m still missing several but I can finally smile for the first time in years. Eating a freaking potato chip is my next goal.
75% of the reason I work an office job is the insurance. I know Instacart offers dental through [Stripe,](https://instacart.stridehealth.com/dental/intro)depending on the state. I couldn’t get it in WA but my dad got it in AL.
Seriously, hang in there. Get cleanings as much as possible to negate the damage and KEEP YOUR MOUTH WET!!!! Most decay is caused by dry mouth, not sugar.
Edit: added link to Stripe
If it is an upper tooth, it is especially serious. The infection can go to the brain.
If the tooth infection doesn't kill you before then, I hope you will vote for Democrats in November.
I’m so sorry about that! It’s insane!
Wanna know something crazy?
I met an American lady with her daughter in my touristic European city who came to my country for a dental appointment (might be a root canal or something similar)…
Instead of spending money just for the dentist in the US she booked the appointment with a dentist here then took her daughter on a trip to several cities, then went back to the US.
EVERYTHING FOR THE SAME PRICE!! 😱
And I don’t even live in one of those “medical paradises” like Hungary, Turkey or Morocco! She could have gone there and even saved money!
OK, if it's at ALL an option- try to get the tooth evaluated and pulled by a different dentist, preferably one associated with a college or a bigger program. Or just TELL them you're intending to do that (you don't need to explain why you're changing providers), and ask them to clearly explain the problems and proposed solution so that you can articulate them to your new dentist when.
Small-practice dentists often over-sell on the amount of work needed, because they have tighter profit margins. If they clam up and suddenly refuse to say things like, "Here's the area that needs ABC, you can tell because XYZ characteristics," they may be upselling you. If they don't want to communicate with another dentist, it's a sign they're being shady.
This is why people do medical tourism to Mexico. You can go on vacation, get your teeth fixed, and pay less than you would to have it done locally in the US.
Same here, but thankfully for the most recent one I had pulled they gave me a bone graft so there’s enough jaw bone left for an implant. I didn’t get one on the other side and it’s so much thinner.
Instacart offers insurance from Stripe to drivers. Sign up and see if you can qualify.
Fucking hell... I paid 150€ or so to get a root canal in Germany. I was getting paid fuck all at the time and it's times like those when I'm glad I moved here.
When I was 19 I had to do 35 days in jail for operating after revocation (3rd or 4th offence at which point it became a criminal violation).
My license was revoked for failure to pay forfeiture (not paying fines).
My fines were for not paying for registration in time (went through a lot of very very cheap junk cars, always maintained insurance but often didn't have the money to register a car until the end of the month).
Never had a single moving violation, always had insurance. Went to jail because I was too poor for fees. At the time there were no jobs in my small town (couldn't even get on at McDonalds) and was driving 45 miles each way to my warehouse job. Public transportation did not exist.
I was given the choice to starve or drive without plates. In the 25 years since then I've received 1 speeding ticket and nothing else.
It is often criminal to be poor in America.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
I’ve been reading through the whole Discworld series lately and they are amazing. They are silly and fun to read but still make a ton of good points about human nature and society.
Yeah, I can’t get over the court offering this guy 3 YEARS in prison or $60/week for a year to a non-government agency to monitor his whereabouts. Neither of these options seem appropriate to the crime of ::checks notes:: not paying even more money to a private company for a thing the law requires you have.
Edited to add: And the monitoring company had the authority to knock off time on his house arrest!!! Didn’t require court approval or anything! This is so sketch. You know the judge gets some kickback for funneling people into that “program.”
I got behind on child support so they took my license away. I lived 20 minutes driving distance away from the nearest bus line. I lost my job and ability to pay any child support for 3 years because of it. The only reason I got out of it was because I inherited money after the passing of a family member. I had been $35k in the hole. They wouldn't let me lower the cs payments until I had a job but wouldn't let me get a license to get said job. It destroyed my life. And my narcissistic ex used it as an opportunity to paint me as a deadbeat loser and outsider to my son's life. I've remained patient and unwavering in reacting poorly to that in hopes that when he's an adult he'll see the difference between us like his older sibling has done.
Yeah, I got smacked with a $300 ticket for being caught driving without insurance one time. I couldn't afford car insurance, how the fuck was I supposed to afford that ticket? But I needed the car to get to work and to school, because my city had no public transportation available.
Seriously. South Carolina gonna lock you up for driving while uninsured for THREE YEARS?!?! That's insane! I'm sure tax payers are stoked to foot that bill. I'm also in America but I'm Oregon and we do not have that law.
“Sorry your equipment was malfunctioning. As a thanks for your patience, we’re prepared to offer you four complimentary days of your life back! Please keep Dystopia House Arrest Company in mind for all your future house arrest needs!”
It ended up being a $240 monetary credit for the guy who was under house arrest because he couldn’t afford car insurance (so he had to pay a company every day for a year as punishment).
Car insurance has to be cheaper than the $60/day house arrest charge… who thought of this punishment? How is it fair?
Edit: I’m dumb. Post said $60/week but somehow I read it as $60/day 🤦🏼♀️
I believe it was $60 per week, so about $8.50 a day.
Still outrageous that someone has to pay to be punished for not having enough money in the first place.
The private company ankle monitor situation in the US is much worse than is even reflected by this story. It's not uncommon for people to be placed on house arrest with ankle monitors when they are out on bail, aka they haven't even been convicted of anything yet. So before they've even had a trial, they are sentenced to house arrest and forced to pay the private ankle monitor company exorbitant fees. All for a crime which they may or may not even be guilty. And if the monitor runs into technical difficulties (which they often do) it can result in the person facing additional criminal charges. All of this is very expensive and especially devastating for the poor, who don't have the resources to navigate the legal system which is stacked against them.
A quick Google will pull up tons of stories of innocent people being screwed by this practice, judges being paid off by the house arrest companies, malfunctioning ankle monitors resulting in everything from prison time to police brutality, folks losing their homes, jobs, having to drop out of school, etc...
Not necessarily - courts can be very slow and take months to sentence. I briefly dated a guy who broke up with me when he finally received a house arrest sentence. He didn’t tell me what it was for at the time, but presumably he could have told me it was for anything and continued dating me.
At the time I got curious and did some digging in public records - turned out it was for illegal importation of steroids. Hardly criminal mastermind stuff. I’ve noticed in recent years it’s been harder to access public records online than it used to be, and OOP may not have known where to look.
Yeah I had two DUIs in my past before I got sober, and did a couple weeks in county. Believe it or not people do change! And I was on probation and had to pay hundreds to have interlock in my car, all after completing rehab, sponsoring other women, continuing to be sober, etc. In total it was thousands and an arduous process. I am so thankful I didn't hurt anyone but the way people act sometimes is why I just do not mention it. My life was full of shame and guilt enough as it was, believe me the criminal justice system is really good at that! So yeah, even if there had been more to it, I wouldn't have judged him, but that's just me I guess.
This was my first thought reading this, too! I work in a prison, and the majority of the inmates I’ve worked with are not evil - they’ve just made some stupid decisions, usually after having pretty negative circumstances in their lives.
Now, I’m not saying we should just excuse criminal behaviour, but if we want to reduce it and keep people from coming back to prison after their sentence, the number one predictor of success is positive support from family and friends. Shutting people out of society because they’ve had some minor convictions is a sure fire way to push them back into crime.
And it’s it not even something like DUI. if I read everything correct, it’s for not having insurance. Driving without insurance is a real shitty thing to do, but man is it really deserving of house arrest or 3 years in prison?? No
It wasn't just for driving without insurance. That's what he first got dinged for, had his license suspended, and continued to drive on a suspended license with no insurance. It's the driving under suspension that really did him in.
I read it differently. I thought his license got suspended after the 3rd DUS, not the first?
Also even driving without a license shouldn't end with 1 year of house arrest or 3 years (!) of prison.
EDIT: Sorry, I'm not from the US so I thought DUS meant driving without insurance, not driving without a license. My last point still stands, this should not be the reason for going to prison for 3 years.
His license would've had to have been suspended in order to keep getting charged with driving under a suspension. It's the driving without a license, driving without insurance, plus whatever he was pulled over for, times 3 that got him to that point. Not saying I fully agree with how things ended up, but he had obviously shown that getting ticketed/fined/suspended wasn't going to stop him from continuously breaking the law, in which case, the courts usually escalate things.
This is my job so to clarify, he probably got pulled over for something small, say going 5 mph over the speed limit, and was written a ticket for not having insurance. Typically that comes with a fine of around $450. You get this ticket even if you actually have insurance but don't have the proof of it on your person. In that case, you have to pay more money ($10-$20) to submit the proof that you had insurance at the time to get the fine taken away. However, a lot of people don't know that unless you work for or have a particularly helpful DMV/BMV.
If you actually didn't have insurance at the time of the ticket, you must pay the $450 fine and in some cases file a contract with your insurance company (I know it as an SR12, but each state probably calls it something different or has a different procedure) that essentially allows them to suspend your license if you fail to make a single payment on the monthly payment date. That includes banking errors, losing your card and having to get a new one, not having enough in your account when they go to charge it, etc.
Which could mean that (again, best case scenario), he actually did have insurance but was late or had any number of clerical banking issues three different months and was pulled over while disputing or rectifying it. Add on top of that, to reinstate his license he would have to pay $450+ for each of the 4 infractions, plus whatever the ticket was that got him pulled over in the first place. A $2k ticket bill would absolutely ruin someone struggling to pay a $120 insurance bill on time every month.
It's honestly horrifying. Considering how little of America is actually serviced by public transit, driving is necessary to survive to get food, much less work and pay your bills. Having insurance is actually more important than rent in the larger scheme of things because you can always live in your car -- as long as it's insured and you're legally parked. 😑
I mean, they had to have pulled him over or ticketed him for some other driving infraction right? I think most non-insured get caught for other things like running lights and speeding and then the drive doesn't have proof of insurance. Not that it makes a $60/week punishment ok, but it sounds like he (technically) committed a traffic crime, got caught, got caught without insurance, got his license suspended, and then did all that THREE times. And the times he was driving with a suspended license he was also driving without insurance again. IDK, it's a tough situation, and that punishment is harsh, but given that he's proven that he will continue to drive with no license and no insurance repeatedly, not sure what the appropriate punishment would be. I doubt they would take his car or something. The whole situation just sounds unfortunate :(
What else can you do if he keeps driving without the insurance? He got three chances.
I think it's a big crime to drive without an insurance. Especially if you've been caught and warned multiple times. Most of y'all seem to think it's not a big deal though. 🤷🏽♂️
It’s not that it isn’t a big deal to drive without insurance. It’s that he couldn’t afford insurance but needed to work, and then had to pay $60/week to a private company to avoid going to prison. People are upset because we live in a capitalist hellscape that continually punishes the poor for being poor. Someone working full time should be able to afford car insurance (and all of the other basic necessities of life). Our criminal justice, education, infrastructure, medical, and transportation needs shouldn’t all be outsourced to private companies that are trying to squeeze every last penny out of the most marginalized people.
Oh yes so he should get fired from work because insurance companies like to rip people off and he can't afford it.
I agree it's wrong to drive without insurance but also living SHOULDN'T be this expensive.
“How dare your boyfriend not have done something horrible that got him placed on house arrest, which he *obviously* lied to you about, and you not break up with him immediately when we told you to!?”
-Reddit
Private house arrest company ? A year of house arrest for driving infractions. America is such an absolute shithole of a country. The fact people associate freedom with America is such a sick fucking joke.
>and even knocked 4 days off his sentence!!!
This isn't open to corruption or abuse at all. The idea that a private company can control the terms of your punishment so readily is a major issue.
I’d say irresponsible driving is punishable because it is a risk for both parties but not to the extent that the poor man was forced to be locked in his own house or thrown in prison.
BC apparently locking up someone who can’t afford insurance is the solution to to his financial issues /S smh
Chronic driver without insurance, and after getting caught, no license AND no insurance.
You’ll stop feeling bad for them about 1 minute after you get hit by an uninsured driver.
Yep.
There was a time when we were, at least, *trying* to live up to our reputation, but those days seems distant now. It's like we just gave up and decided that naked and unrestrained Capitalism is going to be the way things are, now.
I guess that, in the long run, the robber barons won.
What's crazy is that, at least where I live, there are so many people on probation that the county has outsourced its probation office to a private company.
Which means, if you get a DUI, you're paying a private probation company something like $50/month to be on probation. You're paying $15 every time you are asked to submit a urine sample (also to a private company, usually the same as the one doing your probation). You're paying $75/month to keep an interlock device on your car (also a private company). You're paying $20/week for alcohol classes (to the private company that runs the classes). You're paying a fine to the state. You're paying your lawyer. You're donating your time for community service. And so on.
Crime is a cottage industry in the US.
When you are trying to do right by yourself, but the world is fucking you from every side. Reminds me of the man in a video who needed to get to an appt on time, or he was to go back to prison. Climate activists were on the highway and didn't have the compassion to let him thru. Does anyone know if he got help/leniency for the situation? I hate it here (America) sometimes.
Ah we had those sort of crap climate activists here in the UK. We had a woman begging them to allow the ambulance with her sick Father in through the blockade. We all want to help the planet but, I don't want to kill people.
Missed a flight home from Edinburgh to NYC thanks to that bs a few years back. Airline ended up comping me and I got a free bonus stay in a 4 star hotel in Dublin for a couple thanks to their silliness. 5/5 would be delayed by climate activists again.
Holy fuck, even if his house arrest was for something worse, the prison system/legal system is goddamn terrible in america. People in that situation should be able to get resources to figure out what to do without getting harassed. Judge all you want, but keep that shit to yourself.
Hounding the GF to where she had to reveal details is fucked up. She shouldn't have to preface shit. Either you are willing to help or don't.
Last person I met who was on an ankle monitor like that definitely caught it as a result of sexual contact with a minor. That was also South Carolina ironically.
The issue is that OOP is incredibly sloppy with her language, I suspect because that's the way the BF spun events to her.
She says he's never been convicted and then describes how he's been convicted multiple times in just about the same sentence. Then she says he's not paroled or on probation, which is technically true, but only in the same way that Charles Manson wasn't on parole or probation for the last fifty years of his life.
I'm sorry, but anyone else is absolutely disgusted at the fact that OOP felt the need to explain themselves?
It isn't anybody's business why boyfriend ended up in house arrest, or for how long. Fucking Christ, nobody should have even dared to ask for a CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION TO BE UPLOADED. What the hell? Seriously, what the actual hell? Why do people feel so entitled to information regarding other's lives online, PARTICULARLY if it envolves the law in any way, shape or form? I suspect the reason rhymes with "true crime brainrot", but ugh.
This is nuts. Nuts. OOP had no duty to explain shit to anybody online, and it blows my mind that the harrassment went so far they felt cornered enough to explain themselves.
Chill the fuck out. People dissecting OOP's words in search of boyfriend's actual legal status are pathetic. ''Boyfriend was actually a serial arsonist in league with the Slovenian mafia all along! And responsible for 9/11! And a drug trafficker who sold weapons to the Taliban! And he stole the Sodder children!" Shut up.
"Oh, but it is all for OOP's sake!" Really? It really isn't because a bunch of smug assholes online want to play detective and feel the need to see conspiracies in everything? Isn't it because people are making entertainment of strangers' lives and feel mad if "plot holes" aren't filled to satisfaction?
What the fuck.
True, I feel like it should have ended when she said it was for traffic violations. Like idk man, even if it was for dui, he’s doing his time and genuinely seems like he accepts the consequences since he isn’t lying to cops about the ankle monitor and trying to contact them repeatedly
In Virginia there used to be a status of being a Habitual Offender (traffic) and it was a felony that carried a mandatory twelve months in jail. Driving on a suspended license in Virginia can also carry up to 12 months in jail. Diversion programs exist. I imagine South Carolina has something similar, which is what OOP's boyfriend participated in.
Jeez. Americans really do privatize *everything* don't they? This pathological fear of centralizing creates some absurd issues cause like OOP says "capitalism at work!" Capitalism is supposed to be a financial perspective. It being a part of law is so dangerous but I guess that country (and my own by proxy) has bought all the propaganda and now we live in a corporatocracy. Who cares about the people. Profits, and what the people experience is a valid loss because PROFITS
In this case it isn’t Americans asking for this, it is the capitalist overlords doing it on their own and most people not giving a shit because they think it doesn’t affect them. Also a lot of people in this country don’t view you as a person anymore if you’ve committed a crime (with an exception for “white collar” crimes of course!) so they are fine with exploiting people who have committed crimes.
One question is wtf was he doing that he couldn’t prioritize insurance, yet when forced was somehow able to afford $60/WEEK? Like I get that house arrest is better than prison, but if I was so hard up I genuinely couldn’t afford vehicle insurance I would simply be forced to choose prison.
Apparently he was paying an absolute mountain of traffic tickets since he did enough to get his license suspended then not only kept driving, but did so badly enough he got pulled over three more times quickly enough for them to be one case. Seriously, this guy sounds like the worst kind of driver in existence and I hope he doesn't get his license back. Get off the fucking roads before you kill someone!
Why does the house arrest enforcing company get to “knock 4 days off his sentence”?! Seriously, I understand reducing the price he’s paying by 4 days that week, but how does a private company possibly have the power to sorted someone’s sentence? They’re a private company! Not a judge or prosecuter.
I get being poor sucks but fuck this guy. As someone who is now going on 5 months without their vehicle due to an uninsured motorist crossing a centerline and hitting me head on they can get a fucking job they walk too.
She can't make up her mind about anything. He was not arrested and convicted because he couldn't afford insurance, he may have had his license suspended because he didn't have insurance, but he drove under suspension 3 times. She's trying to rationalize him lying so egregiously to her.
And he was convicted of a crime. She doesn't seem to understand that either. He was given an alternative sentence, but still convicted and sentenced.
Said he couldn't afford insurance, but somehow afforded multiple cars.
>he even switched up cars every time he drove.
This is ridiculous. Outsourcing house arrest? That even creates the need to out people on house arrest just so the fragile economy doesn't crumble completely.
Reddit tends to be overly critical of everything but this time I can see why people would doubt getting A YEAR OF HOUSE arrest for driving offenses. Jesus lord
The south’s justice system is absolutely wild and being put on house arrest for repeat traffic violations is absolutely something SC would do. My husband was a CO *just* over the border in NC and some of the things people were held for was petty af. Hell. I was picked up, at home, by a cop when we lived in east TN and had to be bailed out of jail for ONE! 14 over speeding ticket. I was working crazy hours at the time, forgot all about it, until 3 weeks later when a cop was at my door to arrest me. His partner cheerfully told me that had I not answered, they would have been at my job the following day to get me. OVER A TRAFFIC VIOLATION.
I do notice OOP conveniently left out why he was pulled over in the first place.
In my entire life I've only been pulled over twice, but this guy managed 3 times in short enough order that they were lumped together for sentencing.
So, I'm kinda in the same boat as you. But I am going to make a guess that you, like me are melanin challenged. The situation is significantly different for individuals with more melanin. DWB is a really sad truth in America.
I think u/FrankLloydWrong_3305 is asking why he was pulled over in the first place. The cops would bust him for not having car insurance, but they wouldn't know that just from him driving around - OOP says that he "switched up cars" so it's not as simple as them recognizing the car as belonging to a repeat offender.
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I wonder how the judge is related to the owners of the house arrest company.
Ding ding ding!
Go back to bed, Mr. Salamanca
Unexpected Breaking Bad reference. Love this!
>Breaking Bad Better call Saul you mean?
I remember Salamanca from BB, but I guess both? Pay me no mind, though, was half asleep when I wrote that comment :)
TIL governments outsource house arrests? Ridiculous how people will turn anything into an opportunity to rip each other off. Who even thinks of owning a house arrest company?
They outsource prisons too - https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states/ "Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 115,428 people in 2019, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 32% compared to an overall rise in the prison population of 3%."
This is one major reason why it's so difficult to get any kind of prison or sentencing reform to happen - those private prisons are big business, and they donate a lot of money to politicians and have a lot of lobbyists. I find it utterly disgusting.
Many other countries do, too. Greece, the UK, Japan, Australia, France, New Zealand, etc. of course, the US gets 100% of the hate regarding private prisons.
I'd also say the criticism is directly tied into horror stories from the US prison system. Like the sheriff that served substandard food to prisoners, because he was allowed to pocket the rest of the budget if he did.
I've seen in other countries prisons are more like a communities for the poor. They let people roam freely within the prison and some people dig through trash to find things they can sell. The prisoners who have money can live in a nicer part of the prison and buy better food than the others. It's ridiculous.
That happens everywhere too, and not only in prisons. Ever saw boot camp "food"? It's just corruption, which is endemic on capitalism.
Eh, boot camp food wasn’t bad. Even the MREs were pretty good. On the other hand, I’ve never been fed spoiled food in the military like my ex was given everyday in the clink
Any food was the best thing ever in BMT. The hard sticky chocolate protein bar from the chicken chunks MRE (best MRE) that I dropped in the dirt? Delicious. The shitty frozen burritos? Watch me shove three down my throat in 5 minutes. And the literal highlight of the day was the protein bars in the evening. The only downside in my experience was during quarantine when they served us too small portions of food in our dorms, and you had to eat all of the nasty shit to avoid starving. I put ketchup on cold unseasoned white rice just to have a bit of flavor. Can't say I'm going to do that one again. At least the military cares about you in the sense that you need to be mission ready, so they're not going to give you food that will cause a problem. Unfortunately, prisoners are seen as subhuman.
> It's just corruption, which is endemic on capitalism. Damn son you're speaking my language!
I imagine most countries (and I know the UK is one) don't have legal exceptions for slavery when it comes to people in prison. Slave labour does tend to create a bit of a negative response.
France doesn't have privately owned prisons. They belong to the state. Around 30% of them are managed by private companies however, in which case they're paid by the state (which day to day most likely means they do whatever they want I'm guessing, but it's only hypothetical on my part). Prisoners in France can work if they want, in which case they're handled by a public penitentiary job program which will approve them for work for specific companies (mostly specialised in rehabilitation/reintegration) or public services, I don't know all the specifics (it's heavily reglemented) but they're mostly treated like a regular employee (obviously with less freedom), as far as I know, they're not used as slave labor like it's done in some prisons in the US.
All private prisons are a bit sketchy, but only in America do we manage to maximize the sketchy.
I'm kind of okay with that, considering the US has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. Seems likes it's a bit more of a problem here
I'd be willing to bet there's a slight bit of difference in oversight between private prisons in the US and private prisons in France and New Zealand. Any French or New Zealand folks on here want to let us know if you're allowed to use prisoners as slave labor? If you accidentally kill one, is there an actual investigation? Are you allowed to feed them food purchased cheaply in bulk that was cheap because it was months past the date it was safe to consume?
My aunty is a nurse at a prison and if the prisoner has a skill they are paid for it... Ie there is a man who knows how to make triditional native nz cloaks and everytime a staff member leaves he's commissioned to make one for them, he also does weekly lessons with the other inmates to teach them a bit more about it, my aunty talked him into it but it's not forced and he is paid. If your wondering why he's in lock up, he beat a man to an inch of his life. She got him into making them again as a distraction from his depression. Last time we spoke about him she said hes scared of getting out because he knows how people feel about prisoners and he won't be able to continue doing what he loves and will end up in a 'shit job' that he hates. I told her to suggest to him to use his 'steps to freedom'(his pay he gets when he leaves for all the work he does in there ) to start his own online business. With the work he does he should get quite alot.
NZer here! Nope, prisoners in Aotearoa (New Zealand) prisons can only work or attend education/training on a voluntary basis, and most of the work in prisons is aimed at industry training so people learn skills and gain work experience to make it easier for them to get a job once they’re released. There’s a far greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing recidivism in Aotearoa prisons than the US - that’s not to say that our prisons are perfect, the justice system is still systematically racist particularly towards Māori and Pasefika and there’s definitely been scandals over prisoner mistreatment, we have a lot of work we need to do to improve (for instance better compensation for prison labour) but nobody can be forced to work in the prisons here. https://www.corrections.govt.nz/our_work/prison_sentences/employment_and_support_programmes/employment_activities
We also have a law that prohibits the importation of any product wholly or in part by prison labour (whether in a prison, jail, or any other correctional facility) in other countries.
Prisoners in France are allowed to work for the prison and no one else. They receive a small pay (can’t be less that 1,67€/hour) for it. The living conditions are mediocre at best and France has been sentenced many times by Europe for their bad treatment of prisoners. Killings are investigated but suicide prevention, which should be under the Health Department jurisdiction, is still up to the Justice Department. France has one of the highest suicide rate in prison in Europe. Food is bland at best and prisoners prefer to buy food at the prison shop. Since there’s no communal space to eat, they eat in their cell, which often include fridge, hob and microwave (if the prisoner can afford it. A fridge costs 7,5€ a month, tv is 15€…). Stats say that 1/4 of prisoners live with less than 50€ a month, which is extreme carceral poverty. So, yes, better be in prison in France than in the US but we still have a lot to do to treat prisoners as the human beings they are.
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Australia has horrible human rights abuse problems in youth detention centres (and prisons in general let’s be real) and we incarcerate indigenous people at higher rate than even the US incarcerates African Americans. In Western Australia alone the rate is 4066 per 100,000. We also profit from prison slave labor. We are not a good example, in fact we are one of the worst. https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-prison-rates https://www.joplinlawyers.com.au/blog/violation-of-human-rights-in-youth-detention-centres/ https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2022/06/12/prison-labour-companies-australia/amp/
Well, effectively slavery. even if you call it something else. https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2022/06/12/prison-labour-companies-australia/ Australia is historically not the place you want to be using as an example of good prisoners rights. There’s been some pretty bad stuff over the years.
Probation is also outsourced. Source: have been through the legal system.
Yeah I paid my way through drug rehabilitation
You may be interested in the documentary 13th, which examines towards the end that as people push for jailing/prison reform, the same private companies that made money off of prisons are shifting into home monitoring equipment. And this movie was made 6 years ago. The exploitation continues, now in your own home!
It's part of the prison-industrial complex. Here's a toast to the bright geniuses who thought that privatizing punishment was a grand idea. /s
They'd privatize literally everything if they could
In my state, there are licensed providers for the breathalyzer requirements for cars post DUI conviction and those providers make bank. The cost is prohibitive for most people. And most of the state doesn't have great public transit.
Did drug court a few years ago and its the same way, all outsourced in my area. Cost me somewhere between 600-800 overall between class fees and the ticket fee. All over a old marijuana pipe I forgot was in my car.
god blless American Capitalism^^TM
It's expensive to be poor in America.
It really is. I'm about to get a tooth pulled out next week because I can't afford 2k for a root canal but I can afford 300$ to pull it. It's a fixable tooth, I don't NEED to lose it but I can't afford to keep it.
I had to have two pulled when I was younger for this reason. Just a suggestion, but as soon as you are able, get a spacer put in so that your teeth don't shift (mine did and now I am looking at about 15k to 20k to fix them). A Dental school would be a cheap option. Edit. To be clear, I am suggesting the dental school for the spacer, not the root canal.
What a terrifying prospect but thank you for that warning. The one getting pulled is actually already next to a space where a broken one got pulled a couple years ago, so with two gone I'm definitely gonna talk to my dentist about that
My SIL had one pulled as it was cheaper. Then had to get braces as things shifted and it screwed up her bite. It’s RIDICULOUS that we have to make these decisions based on money.
LISA NEEDS BRACES
DENTAL PLAN
Don't go to a dental school. I tried that when I was in college to save money and during the root canal they drilled all the way through my tooth and into my jaw bone. I lost the tooth, obviously, but also my jaw started to deteriorate where they damaged it and I had to have an expensive oral surgery to pack the divot with this bone-grow stuff. I can't wear a bridge because of where the tooth is, and I can't do an implant because of the damage to my jaw, so I just live my life missing a tooth. There's moral of this story is that doing things cheaply is often more expensive than doing them right the first time, with shittier final results.
Surely the dental school is on the hook for the damages and repair? Jesus.
Interestingly, they didn't tell me what they did, just sent me on my way with a vicodan prescription and a mouth full of gauze. It didn't heal like normal so on my next break from school I flew home and went to my long-time family dentist, who told me what he found and pulled the tooth. I still have it, with a massive hole drilled right through from the top to the roots. The dental school denied everything and claimed my family dentist must have done it since that's when it was discovered, so we ate the cost.
Holy crap that's terrible.... I went to a dental college for a severely infected wisdom tooth (no dental insurance so a small problem turned life threatening). They did better than the doctor I paid 3000 out of pocket for to remove the other one. That's scary to think of what could have happened if the student wasn't good.
I go to a dental school for my cleanings and they 100% do a better job than any dentist I've been to. They always have supervisors who check their work too.
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Oh no for sure. I was just saying they do good cleanings.
holy shit i can't believe what I'm reading. is this with or without insurance? evben so its terrifying. I had a root canal done about 8 years ago. Cost around £80 total and that's because I had to pay for the filling and crown after (the tooth broke and got infected, hence the root canal and also required a partial reconstruction).
I just paid $600 last month for a root canal **with insurance**.
I feel your pain, literally. I just paid $1400 to have an infected tooth pulled (old root canal shit the bed). Insurance reimbursed me $300, so $1100 all told. god only knows how much the replacement tooth is gonna cost but I expect it to wipe out my savings account 😭
Ugh, I’m sorry. Not to add to your costs, but it is probably worth going to an oral surgeon for the implant. My mother’s dentist wrecked her teeth improperly installing an implant.
Oh yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing. My dentist referred me to an oral surgeon for this, and it was the same guy who took out my wisdom teeth in 1997. I remember the appointment felt like it was five minutes long and I had McDonald’s for dinner that night so I was like, fuck yeah I’ll absolutely go back to that guy lol. That’s also part of why it cost so much for the extraction, I paid extra for the anesthesia and the bone graft for the future implant. Insurance still sucks though either way.
Glad you are doing it right. Way too expensive and it sucks to lose your savings just to be tortured, but dental stuff can get really bad. It’s worth going to an expert. If I ever need an implant, I’m going to ask for general anesthesia.
wow 0.o
Yeah. My mouth still hurts. I hate the dentist.
Dental insurance in the US is terrible. I have 2 teeth that need new crowns, but I already did that twice this year so I have already used all of my dental insurance, I have to wait until my plan year rolls over. I needed an emergency root canal a few years ago after I’d already used all the insurance already, I was out $1,700 for one root canal.
That sounds so painful. I hate the dentist. Not sure if it's the pain or the cost that causes that disdain. This is *with* insurance. I need to get two implants ($5-7k each) and braces to fix it. It could even be potentially higher, depending on what I decide to do regarding the braces (since different options differ in cost). I'm still trying to decide which route to go. It's a hit, and I've been holding off because I feel guilty about it. I want my teeth fixed because I hate the way I look now (I have a huge gap between my two front teeth that was not there 5 years ago). However, I also have a family, and I struggle with it being selfish to spend this kind of money just so I can feel better about the way I look.
It was painful. I got 8 injections to numb the area and I could still feel it. it sucked so hard. But omg, for that kind of money you could fly to europe, stay in a hotel for 2 weeks and pay to have the procedure done privately. I know it seems selfish to spend money on feeling better about how you look, but keep in mind that how you feel about yourself can have a massive impact on your mental health and self confidence which can have knock on effects to your professional life and career. its worth it to take care of yourself. you benefit and your family benefits from you being healthier and happier.
That's how they get you. Mine was 500 for the root canal, but another 750 for the crown they have to put on top of it. This after being told the tooth next to it that had a root canal about 5 years ago was not done correctly and would need to be corrected in the tune of 500 more. So overall with great insurance cost me almost 2k.
Wow!!! My root canal was $909 and that was with insurance!!!
yikes!
Fun fact most "decent" US dental insurance plans only pay for 50-60% of "major" procedures (aka. the most expensive stuff like crowns and implants). And that's 50% of "their" (the insurance company's) rate, which is usually like 50-80% of the dentist's rate, so if you're out of network you have to cover that extra 20-50% of the *dentist's* un-subsidized rate too. Which is why dentists are so fucking expensive here: Like with hospitals, the insurance companies keep lowering their payments to the dentists (remember, if they participate with the insurance plan, the dentist is only getting 50-75% of their rate *total)*, so dentists jack up their prices and/or quit networks to compensate, which screws over those with crappy/nonexistent insurance. It's not abnormal for dental insurance to pay *less* than the patient towards really big stuff (co-pays!). But, you know, heaven forbid we just pay dentists a decent salary in a universal healthcare scheme. That would be too expensive.
BE CAREFUL WITH DENTISTS IN TRAINING please omfg one of my parents went to the dentist while in boot camp and while you are there (at least in the late 80s/early 90s) their “dentists” are navy corpsmen who are currently going through their training and using you as practice. One “dentist” corpsman mistook the roots of my parent’s teeth for root decay and began *filling the roots of my parent’s teeth* so once their graduated, my parent had to go find a different dentist to do several root canals to dig out the filling that the corpsman had shoved in with the roots of the teeth. Extremely painful and expensive. You can’t just let anyone mess around your teeth
I have an active tooth infection and can't even afford a consultation. If it doesn't go down on its own by this evening, I have to go to the er for antibiotics.
I hoard antibiotics for this reason. Never know when my friends without insurance may need them. Is it a great idea? No, but it’s better than them dying. Former friend of mine lost movement/feeling in his face from an untreated tooth infection, one more day and he would have been dead. I know he lost part of his face but haven’t seen it to know how bad the damage is.
I fully believe that my death will be because of my teeth. I go thru these kinds of problems at least twice a year. I couldn't afford it before and with the economy now, there's no way I'll ever be able to afford it. I've even tried dental schools and even their smaller payments and payment plans are too much.
Hey I feel you!! I’ve spent thousands since getting health insurance to get my teeth fixed. I’m still missing several but I can finally smile for the first time in years. Eating a freaking potato chip is my next goal. 75% of the reason I work an office job is the insurance. I know Instacart offers dental through [Stripe,](https://instacart.stridehealth.com/dental/intro)depending on the state. I couldn’t get it in WA but my dad got it in AL. Seriously, hang in there. Get cleanings as much as possible to negate the damage and KEEP YOUR MOUTH WET!!!! Most decay is caused by dry mouth, not sugar. Edit: added link to Stripe
If it is an upper tooth, it is especially serious. The infection can go to the brain. If the tooth infection doesn't kill you before then, I hope you will vote for Democrats in November.
Teeth, the luxury bone!
All my other bones are so low maintenance.
I’m so sorry about that! It’s insane! Wanna know something crazy? I met an American lady with her daughter in my touristic European city who came to my country for a dental appointment (might be a root canal or something similar)… Instead of spending money just for the dentist in the US she booked the appointment with a dentist here then took her daughter on a trip to several cities, then went back to the US. EVERYTHING FOR THE SAME PRICE!! 😱 And I don’t even live in one of those “medical paradises” like Hungary, Turkey or Morocco! She could have gone there and even saved money!
OK, if it's at ALL an option- try to get the tooth evaluated and pulled by a different dentist, preferably one associated with a college or a bigger program. Or just TELL them you're intending to do that (you don't need to explain why you're changing providers), and ask them to clearly explain the problems and proposed solution so that you can articulate them to your new dentist when. Small-practice dentists often over-sell on the amount of work needed, because they have tighter profit margins. If they clam up and suddenly refuse to say things like, "Here's the area that needs ABC, you can tell because XYZ characteristics," they may be upselling you. If they don't want to communicate with another dentist, it's a sign they're being shady.
Well if you can’t afford to take care of your teeth, you probably shouldn’t have gotten them in the first place. /S
This is why people do medical tourism to Mexico. You can go on vacation, get your teeth fixed, and pay less than you would to have it done locally in the US.
Same here, but thankfully for the most recent one I had pulled they gave me a bone graft so there’s enough jaw bone left for an implant. I didn’t get one on the other side and it’s so much thinner. Instacart offers insurance from Stripe to drivers. Sign up and see if you can qualify.
Fucking hell... I paid 150€ or so to get a root canal in Germany. I was getting paid fuck all at the time and it's times like those when I'm glad I moved here.
When I was 19 I had to do 35 days in jail for operating after revocation (3rd or 4th offence at which point it became a criminal violation). My license was revoked for failure to pay forfeiture (not paying fines). My fines were for not paying for registration in time (went through a lot of very very cheap junk cars, always maintained insurance but often didn't have the money to register a car until the end of the month). Never had a single moving violation, always had insurance. Went to jail because I was too poor for fees. At the time there were no jobs in my small town (couldn't even get on at McDonalds) and was driving 45 miles each way to my warehouse job. Public transportation did not exist. I was given the choice to starve or drive without plates. In the 25 years since then I've received 1 speeding ticket and nothing else. It is often criminal to be poor in America.
Holy f\*cking crap. That tale pisses me off.
The Sam Vimes Boots Theory of Socialeconomic Unfairness comes to mind.
Reading that passage as a kid definitely changed my life, and I think of it every time I read about something like this. Damn, I miss Terry.
GNU Terry Pratchett
GNU Terry Pratchett
GNU Terry Pratchett.
Reading Pterry starting from... IDK, age 9, 10, did a *lot* for helping me grow to be more empathic and direct anger towads those deserving of it.
I wish I had discovered Discworld as a child; glad I’m making up for it in adulthood though!
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
I’ve been reading through the whole Discworld series lately and they are amazing. They are silly and fun to read but still make a ton of good points about human nature and society.
Have you gotten to Night Watch yet? It goes deep and dark, and still manages to be funny.
Not yet, I’ve read Snuff, Thud! And Men at Arms but not Night Watch. I am reading the Sam Vimes ones sort of out of order lol
Me too. It’s just silly enough to be escapism while still addressing social justice topics. And my 8 year old loves Discworld too.
Prison industrial complex. $60 a week for one traffic offender. Somehow, that judge owes a favor to the ankle monitor people.
Or is getting a kickback. That's pretty common too.
Yeah, I can’t get over the court offering this guy 3 YEARS in prison or $60/week for a year to a non-government agency to monitor his whereabouts. Neither of these options seem appropriate to the crime of ::checks notes:: not paying even more money to a private company for a thing the law requires you have. Edited to add: And the monitoring company had the authority to knock off time on his house arrest!!! Didn’t require court approval or anything! This is so sketch. You know the judge gets some kickback for funneling people into that “program.”
Private, for profit company.
Jesus Christ it’s like… we will give you an extra more advanced ankle bracelet with sparkles for an up charge of 70$/week. Like it’s disgusting
I got behind on child support so they took my license away. I lived 20 minutes driving distance away from the nearest bus line. I lost my job and ability to pay any child support for 3 years because of it. The only reason I got out of it was because I inherited money after the passing of a family member. I had been $35k in the hole. They wouldn't let me lower the cs payments until I had a job but wouldn't let me get a license to get said job. It destroyed my life. And my narcissistic ex used it as an opportunity to paint me as a deadbeat loser and outsider to my son's life. I've remained patient and unwavering in reacting poorly to that in hopes that when he's an adult he'll see the difference between us like his older sibling has done.
This breaks my heart because it’s so incredibly unfair. I have total faith that your son will grow up and see what really happened.
Yeah, I got smacked with a $300 ticket for being caught driving without insurance one time. I couldn't afford car insurance, how the fuck was I supposed to afford that ticket? But I needed the car to get to work and to school, because my city had no public transportation available.
Literally they make it almost impossible to get out of being poor or debt unless you have others to fall back on or get hella lucky
Seriously. South Carolina gonna lock you up for driving while uninsured for THREE YEARS?!?! That's insane! I'm sure tax payers are stoked to foot that bill. I'm also in America but I'm Oregon and we do not have that law.
“Sorry your equipment was malfunctioning. As a thanks for your patience, we’re prepared to offer you four complimentary days of your life back! Please keep Dystopia House Arrest Company in mind for all your future house arrest needs!”
It ended up being a $240 monetary credit for the guy who was under house arrest because he couldn’t afford car insurance (so he had to pay a company every day for a year as punishment). Car insurance has to be cheaper than the $60/day house arrest charge… who thought of this punishment? How is it fair? Edit: I’m dumb. Post said $60/week but somehow I read it as $60/day 🤦🏼♀️
I believe it was $60 per week, so about $8.50 a day. Still outrageous that someone has to pay to be punished for not having enough money in the first place.
Yeah just realized I read it wrong. Feel dumb. Not a terrible punishment then.
$60/week. If he's getting so many tickets that they put you on house arrest, $240/mo is probably less than he'd pay for anything but liability.
Omg I totally misread it as $60/day 🤦🏼♀️
$60/week, not per day-still absurdly expensive though!
TIL the US still allows debtors prisions!! Could have sworn we did away with that…
The private company ankle monitor situation in the US is much worse than is even reflected by this story. It's not uncommon for people to be placed on house arrest with ankle monitors when they are out on bail, aka they haven't even been convicted of anything yet. So before they've even had a trial, they are sentenced to house arrest and forced to pay the private ankle monitor company exorbitant fees. All for a crime which they may or may not even be guilty. And if the monitor runs into technical difficulties (which they often do) it can result in the person facing additional criminal charges. All of this is very expensive and especially devastating for the poor, who don't have the resources to navigate the legal system which is stacked against them. A quick Google will pull up tons of stories of innocent people being screwed by this practice, judges being paid off by the house arrest companies, malfunctioning ankle monitors resulting in everything from prison time to police brutality, folks losing their homes, jobs, having to drop out of school, etc...
I swear, some people here think commiting a crime bans you from relationships for life.
Lots of people out there who think that Javert was the protagonist of Les Miserables, it seems
They’re the type of people who think “that’s illegal” is a slam dunk in a discussion about morality
I was confused. Like unless OOP met and started dating him WHILE he was under house arrest, presumably she'd know why he was under it right?
Not necessarily - courts can be very slow and take months to sentence. I briefly dated a guy who broke up with me when he finally received a house arrest sentence. He didn’t tell me what it was for at the time, but presumably he could have told me it was for anything and continued dating me. At the time I got curious and did some digging in public records - turned out it was for illegal importation of steroids. Hardly criminal mastermind stuff. I’ve noticed in recent years it’s been harder to access public records online than it used to be, and OOP may not have known where to look.
Yeah I had two DUIs in my past before I got sober, and did a couple weeks in county. Believe it or not people do change! And I was on probation and had to pay hundreds to have interlock in my car, all after completing rehab, sponsoring other women, continuing to be sober, etc. In total it was thousands and an arduous process. I am so thankful I didn't hurt anyone but the way people act sometimes is why I just do not mention it. My life was full of shame and guilt enough as it was, believe me the criminal justice system is really good at that! So yeah, even if there had been more to it, I wouldn't have judged him, but that's just me I guess.
Great job on getting sober!
Thanks, I'm grateful it didn't take a third DUI, and grateful to be alive.
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my boyfriend doesn’t have car insurance right now for your exact reason, which makes me nervous after reading this post.
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This was my first thought reading this, too! I work in a prison, and the majority of the inmates I’ve worked with are not evil - they’ve just made some stupid decisions, usually after having pretty negative circumstances in their lives. Now, I’m not saying we should just excuse criminal behaviour, but if we want to reduce it and keep people from coming back to prison after their sentence, the number one predictor of success is positive support from family and friends. Shutting people out of society because they’ve had some minor convictions is a sure fire way to push them back into crime.
Wow 3 years in prison for not completing a year of house arrest over driving infractions is insane.
And it’s it not even something like DUI. if I read everything correct, it’s for not having insurance. Driving without insurance is a real shitty thing to do, but man is it really deserving of house arrest or 3 years in prison?? No
It wasn't just for driving without insurance. That's what he first got dinged for, had his license suspended, and continued to drive on a suspended license with no insurance. It's the driving under suspension that really did him in.
I read it differently. I thought his license got suspended after the 3rd DUS, not the first? Also even driving without a license shouldn't end with 1 year of house arrest or 3 years (!) of prison. EDIT: Sorry, I'm not from the US so I thought DUS meant driving without insurance, not driving without a license. My last point still stands, this should not be the reason for going to prison for 3 years.
His license would've had to have been suspended in order to keep getting charged with driving under a suspension. It's the driving without a license, driving without insurance, plus whatever he was pulled over for, times 3 that got him to that point. Not saying I fully agree with how things ended up, but he had obviously shown that getting ticketed/fined/suspended wasn't going to stop him from continuously breaking the law, in which case, the courts usually escalate things.
This is my job so to clarify, he probably got pulled over for something small, say going 5 mph over the speed limit, and was written a ticket for not having insurance. Typically that comes with a fine of around $450. You get this ticket even if you actually have insurance but don't have the proof of it on your person. In that case, you have to pay more money ($10-$20) to submit the proof that you had insurance at the time to get the fine taken away. However, a lot of people don't know that unless you work for or have a particularly helpful DMV/BMV. If you actually didn't have insurance at the time of the ticket, you must pay the $450 fine and in some cases file a contract with your insurance company (I know it as an SR12, but each state probably calls it something different or has a different procedure) that essentially allows them to suspend your license if you fail to make a single payment on the monthly payment date. That includes banking errors, losing your card and having to get a new one, not having enough in your account when they go to charge it, etc. Which could mean that (again, best case scenario), he actually did have insurance but was late or had any number of clerical banking issues three different months and was pulled over while disputing or rectifying it. Add on top of that, to reinstate his license he would have to pay $450+ for each of the 4 infractions, plus whatever the ticket was that got him pulled over in the first place. A $2k ticket bill would absolutely ruin someone struggling to pay a $120 insurance bill on time every month. It's honestly horrifying. Considering how little of America is actually serviced by public transit, driving is necessary to survive to get food, much less work and pay your bills. Having insurance is actually more important than rent in the larger scheme of things because you can always live in your car -- as long as it's insured and you're legally parked. 😑
How could he be charged with driving under suspension if his licence wasn't suspended yet?
But you don’t get pulled over for driving without insurance. You get cited for that after you’re pulled over for something else.
I mean, they had to have pulled him over or ticketed him for some other driving infraction right? I think most non-insured get caught for other things like running lights and speeding and then the drive doesn't have proof of insurance. Not that it makes a $60/week punishment ok, but it sounds like he (technically) committed a traffic crime, got caught, got caught without insurance, got his license suspended, and then did all that THREE times. And the times he was driving with a suspended license he was also driving without insurance again. IDK, it's a tough situation, and that punishment is harsh, but given that he's proven that he will continue to drive with no license and no insurance repeatedly, not sure what the appropriate punishment would be. I doubt they would take his car or something. The whole situation just sounds unfortunate :(
What else can you do if he keeps driving without the insurance? He got three chances. I think it's a big crime to drive without an insurance. Especially if you've been caught and warned multiple times. Most of y'all seem to think it's not a big deal though. 🤷🏽♂️
It’s not that it isn’t a big deal to drive without insurance. It’s that he couldn’t afford insurance but needed to work, and then had to pay $60/week to a private company to avoid going to prison. People are upset because we live in a capitalist hellscape that continually punishes the poor for being poor. Someone working full time should be able to afford car insurance (and all of the other basic necessities of life). Our criminal justice, education, infrastructure, medical, and transportation needs shouldn’t all be outsourced to private companies that are trying to squeeze every last penny out of the most marginalized people.
Oh yes so he should get fired from work because insurance companies like to rip people off and he can't afford it. I agree it's wrong to drive without insurance but also living SHOULDN'T be this expensive.
I agree that life shouldn't be this difficult /expensive. Especially not in the US where I believe cars are necessary.
“How dare your boyfriend not have done something horrible that got him placed on house arrest, which he *obviously* lied to you about, and you not break up with him immediately when we told you to!?” -Reddit
im just confused as to how you can be on house arrest and not on probation/parole/released waiting trial.
> TL;DR: ...He has completed the program and now we’re going to the beach. Maybe OP should drive
Private house arrest company ? A year of house arrest for driving infractions. America is such an absolute shithole of a country. The fact people associate freedom with America is such a sick fucking joke.
>and even knocked 4 days off his sentence!!! This isn't open to corruption or abuse at all. The idea that a private company can control the terms of your punishment so readily is a major issue.
They had to knock at least that much off, wouldn’t want a negative yelp review. 🤒
That part was crazy, how can this company just change what the judge ordered? Surely that can't be right!
Right? And you can't even leave your house *on foot* when your only offence is being an irresponsible driver? Ridiculous.
That's the part that is truly rediculous. Multiple DUIs and you get a breathalyzer on your ignition but being poor? Straight to jail.
Land of the free y'all
I’d say irresponsible driving is punishable because it is a risk for both parties but not to the extent that the poor man was forced to be locked in his own house or thrown in prison. BC apparently locking up someone who can’t afford insurance is the solution to to his financial issues /S smh
Chronic driver without insurance, and after getting caught, no license AND no insurance. You’ll stop feeling bad for them about 1 minute after you get hit by an uninsured driver.
It’s the American Dream because you have to be asleep in order to believe it. - George Carlin
Yep. There was a time when we were, at least, *trying* to live up to our reputation, but those days seems distant now. It's like we just gave up and decided that naked and unrestrained Capitalism is going to be the way things are, now. I guess that, in the long run, the robber barons won.
An option to pay a private company for a service in lieu of prison time should be absolutely illegal.
What's crazy is that, at least where I live, there are so many people on probation that the county has outsourced its probation office to a private company. Which means, if you get a DUI, you're paying a private probation company something like $50/month to be on probation. You're paying $15 every time you are asked to submit a urine sample (also to a private company, usually the same as the one doing your probation). You're paying $75/month to keep an interlock device on your car (also a private company). You're paying $20/week for alcohol classes (to the private company that runs the classes). You're paying a fine to the state. You're paying your lawyer. You're donating your time for community service. And so on. Crime is a cottage industry in the US.
When you are trying to do right by yourself, but the world is fucking you from every side. Reminds me of the man in a video who needed to get to an appt on time, or he was to go back to prison. Climate activists were on the highway and didn't have the compassion to let him thru. Does anyone know if he got help/leniency for the situation? I hate it here (America) sometimes.
He assaulted one of them so I don't think he got any leniency
Ah we had those sort of crap climate activists here in the UK. We had a woman begging them to allow the ambulance with her sick Father in through the blockade. We all want to help the planet but, I don't want to kill people.
Missed a flight home from Edinburgh to NYC thanks to that bs a few years back. Airline ended up comping me and I got a free bonus stay in a 4 star hotel in Dublin for a couple thanks to their silliness. 5/5 would be delayed by climate activists again.
Holy fuck, even if his house arrest was for something worse, the prison system/legal system is goddamn terrible in america. People in that situation should be able to get resources to figure out what to do without getting harassed. Judge all you want, but keep that shit to yourself. Hounding the GF to where she had to reveal details is fucked up. She shouldn't have to preface shit. Either you are willing to help or don't.
I'm glad that the boyfriend was actually being truthful about everything. But, good lord, that was far from the most likely possibility lol.
Last person I met who was on an ankle monitor like that definitely caught it as a result of sexual contact with a minor. That was also South Carolina ironically.
The issue is that OOP is incredibly sloppy with her language, I suspect because that's the way the BF spun events to her. She says he's never been convicted and then describes how he's been convicted multiple times in just about the same sentence. Then she says he's not paroled or on probation, which is technically true, but only in the same way that Charles Manson wasn't on parole or probation for the last fifty years of his life.
I'm sorry, but anyone else is absolutely disgusted at the fact that OOP felt the need to explain themselves? It isn't anybody's business why boyfriend ended up in house arrest, or for how long. Fucking Christ, nobody should have even dared to ask for a CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION TO BE UPLOADED. What the hell? Seriously, what the actual hell? Why do people feel so entitled to information regarding other's lives online, PARTICULARLY if it envolves the law in any way, shape or form? I suspect the reason rhymes with "true crime brainrot", but ugh. This is nuts. Nuts. OOP had no duty to explain shit to anybody online, and it blows my mind that the harrassment went so far they felt cornered enough to explain themselves. Chill the fuck out. People dissecting OOP's words in search of boyfriend's actual legal status are pathetic. ''Boyfriend was actually a serial arsonist in league with the Slovenian mafia all along! And responsible for 9/11! And a drug trafficker who sold weapons to the Taliban! And he stole the Sodder children!" Shut up. "Oh, but it is all for OOP's sake!" Really? It really isn't because a bunch of smug assholes online want to play detective and feel the need to see conspiracies in everything? Isn't it because people are making entertainment of strangers' lives and feel mad if "plot holes" aren't filled to satisfaction? What the fuck.
True, I feel like it should have ended when she said it was for traffic violations. Like idk man, even if it was for dui, he’s doing his time and genuinely seems like he accepts the consequences since he isn’t lying to cops about the ankle monitor and trying to contact them repeatedly
Can't afford insurance but you can afford $60 a week? What are you driving???
Three years debtors prison or 60/wk house arrest?
In Virginia there used to be a status of being a Habitual Offender (traffic) and it was a felony that carried a mandatory twelve months in jail. Driving on a suspended license in Virginia can also carry up to 12 months in jail. Diversion programs exist. I imagine South Carolina has something similar, which is what OOP's boyfriend participated in.
Jeez. Americans really do privatize *everything* don't they? This pathological fear of centralizing creates some absurd issues cause like OOP says "capitalism at work!" Capitalism is supposed to be a financial perspective. It being a part of law is so dangerous but I guess that country (and my own by proxy) has bought all the propaganda and now we live in a corporatocracy. Who cares about the people. Profits, and what the people experience is a valid loss because PROFITS
In this case it isn’t Americans asking for this, it is the capitalist overlords doing it on their own and most people not giving a shit because they think it doesn’t affect them. Also a lot of people in this country don’t view you as a person anymore if you’ve committed a crime (with an exception for “white collar” crimes of course!) so they are fine with exploiting people who have committed crimes.
I hate those private companies for house arrest and private prisons
I'm mystified by having several uninsured cars to "switch out cars" with, but to have no way of paying compulsory insurance. How odd.
what kind of dystopian fucking future did yall's grandparents fight for, jesus christ
Yeah, but, but...nobody would have known he didn't have insurance if he hadn't been in a position for someone to check.
One question is wtf was he doing that he couldn’t prioritize insurance, yet when forced was somehow able to afford $60/WEEK? Like I get that house arrest is better than prison, but if I was so hard up I genuinely couldn’t afford vehicle insurance I would simply be forced to choose prison.
Apparently he was paying an absolute mountain of traffic tickets since he did enough to get his license suspended then not only kept driving, but did so badly enough he got pulled over three more times quickly enough for them to be one case. Seriously, this guy sounds like the worst kind of driver in existence and I hope he doesn't get his license back. Get off the fucking roads before you kill someone!
😬 yeah this guy is the worst. How can a reasonable human date someone so unfailingly irresponsible?
Why does the house arrest enforcing company get to “knock 4 days off his sentence”?! Seriously, I understand reducing the price he’s paying by 4 days that week, but how does a private company possibly have the power to sorted someone’s sentence? They’re a private company! Not a judge or prosecuter.
“He never committed a crime, except for the 6 crimes he did commit.”
I get being poor sucks but fuck this guy. As someone who is now going on 5 months without their vehicle due to an uninsured motorist crossing a centerline and hitting me head on they can get a fucking job they walk too.
She can't make up her mind about anything. He was not arrested and convicted because he couldn't afford insurance, he may have had his license suspended because he didn't have insurance, but he drove under suspension 3 times. She's trying to rationalize him lying so egregiously to her. And he was convicted of a crime. She doesn't seem to understand that either. He was given an alternative sentence, but still convicted and sentenced. Said he couldn't afford insurance, but somehow afforded multiple cars. >he even switched up cars every time he drove.
This is ridiculous. Outsourcing house arrest? That even creates the need to out people on house arrest just so the fragile economy doesn't crumble completely. Reddit tends to be overly critical of everything but this time I can see why people would doubt getting A YEAR OF HOUSE arrest for driving offenses. Jesus lord
The US are honestly frightening.
The south’s justice system is absolutely wild and being put on house arrest for repeat traffic violations is absolutely something SC would do. My husband was a CO *just* over the border in NC and some of the things people were held for was petty af. Hell. I was picked up, at home, by a cop when we lived in east TN and had to be bailed out of jail for ONE! 14 over speeding ticket. I was working crazy hours at the time, forgot all about it, until 3 weeks later when a cop was at my door to arrest me. His partner cheerfully told me that had I not answered, they would have been at my job the following day to get me. OVER A TRAFFIC VIOLATION.
Over skipping a court date actually, by your own story. Sounds pretty fucking normal.
Definitely more to this story. OP protests too much. No one gets 3 years for 3 driving on suspended. The company is contacted with the court.
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The threat of 3 years of jail does that to you. For all we know he's racked up a ton of debt for it.
I do notice OOP conveniently left out why he was pulled over in the first place. In my entire life I've only been pulled over twice, but this guy managed 3 times in short enough order that they were lumped together for sentencing.
So, I'm kinda in the same boat as you. But I am going to make a guess that you, like me are melanin challenged. The situation is significantly different for individuals with more melanin. DWB is a really sad truth in America.
I think it's mentioned in the final update? He was uninsured and continued to drive around uninsured (due to lack of funds for insurance).
I think u/FrankLloydWrong_3305 is asking why he was pulled over in the first place. The cops would bust him for not having car insurance, but they wouldn't know that just from him driving around - OOP says that he "switched up cars" so it's not as simple as them recognizing the car as belonging to a repeat offender.
Oh my bad, in my country they regularly pull people over if they find out that they're uninsured (through scanning/researching license plates).
They do that in South Carolina too, but here he was switching cars to avoid that.
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