Rethinking the Idea of Ownership of Prisons – 

Cooperative Ownership

Through the Eyes of Women: What a Co-operative Can Mean in Supporting Women During Confinement and Integration

http://usaskstudies.coop/socialeconomy/?page_id=1495

This is a tremendously promising idea.

One of the things that always disturbed me most about Anarcho-Capitalism was the promulgation of the idea of privatized prisons and police forces.  was stuck in the concept of private ownership when I rejected the idea out-of-hand. We see the results of private ownership of prisons and militias and they are nightmarish.

However, the integration of the concept of Co-Operative in the ownership of prisons and police forces is entirely different.

Let's concentrate in the space of this preliminary discussion on prisons.

If prisons are Cooperatively owned, they will be owned by a group of people who are essentially different in their weltanschauung than are Capitalists. Moreover, there will be a number of people supervising the project. Additionally, that Cooperative will no doubt be part of a cooperative Network, which will provide moral, as well as economic, checks and balances.

Earning shares in the Cooperative prison can be integrated into the Rehabilitation process. As prisoners show more identification with society and willingness to be part of society, they earn the right to be owners, and therefore decision-makers, in the prison.

Training in various other types of Cooperatives can be offerred in prisons and job opportunities in Cooperatives will be part of the process of release from prisons.

This discussion was initiated in a group called Cooperatives on LinkedIn.

The idea is not just for women, of course. I'm offerring this article because it is the only article I know of that considers the idea of Cooperative prisons.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

DoreenDotan@gmail.com