Being "socialized to prison gangs" isn't a matter of having too much time on your hands. It's a matter of survival.
[WS:] I take your point, but I was not speaking merely about time. I was talking more of the organization of time that leaves very little room for interacting with one another, and interacting with work supervisors and program staff. I saw that in China (on a documentary, of course) - most the prisoner time is devoted to work and "re-education."
I also agree that keeping people in jail for mere drug possession and similar non-violent offenses is sheer idiocy - it turns prisons into academies of crime and petty crooks into hardened criminals. This is a matter of socialization. Unfortunately, many people get a similar socialization in the streets, so whether they are in or out of jail does not matter than much - they will be socialized into the subculture of crime one way or the other. To me, it is a far greater problem than incarceration rate or prisoner labor.
Doug:
I am all for higher wages in ag and elsewhere, but they do not do much to solve structural problems that push people over the edge: the lack of housing, affordable transportation, financial services, work skills, work habits, social networks, job opportunities - the list is long. Why is that subsidizing consumption (through higher wages or welfare transfers) attract so much attention, but investment in "human capital" and infrastructure gets hardly mentioned?
Wojtek