This is based off of my conclusions from watching Narcos. The narcotraffickers in Colombia were terrified of being extradited to the US because they knew they would never be able to break out of prison, whereas they were certain that they could strong arm their way out of any Colombian corrections facilities. Their methods in Colombia were to either use political corruption or intimidate corrections officers with severe consequences.

Why did the narcos believe that they would not have been able to use those methods in the US? Basically, I’m trying to understand why the US corrections system is seemingly more secure and capable of maintaining drug traffickers in custody compared to Colombia.

  • snooggums@midwest.social
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    4 months ago

    US corrections don’t provide opportunities for prisoners to intimidate their way out of jail, and if someone escapes it tends to get plastered all over the news. Plus the courts just are not as vulnerable to threats and we don’t openly accept bribes in the US so the worry about appearances is a factor.

    Our corruption in government officials tends to be about personal financial gain that doesn’t involve violent crime.

  • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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    4 months ago

    Prison guards are generally better paid in the USA and American politicians are more sensitive to the consequences of escapes than Colombian politicians.

    Even with mafia infiltration of American prisons, it was usually only done to increase the quality of life for mafia affiliated peoplein prison as it would be too risky to try to break them out and get three attention of the public.

    • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Even with mafia infiltration of American prisons, it was usually only done to increase the quality of life for mafia affiliated peoplein prison as it would be too risky to try to break them out and get three attention of the public.

      Yep, which is why you get scenes in mafia movies where some dudes go to prison and while they’re inside they get steak and lobster every day and stuff like that. Like in The Goodfellas.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    A US prison guard, if they were to help a prisoner escape, would themselves be hunted down as a criminal.

    It does happen in municipal or state jails/prisons, and the jailers that helped are captured and charged. Here’s one example

  • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Escaping is a crime in of itself in the US, so most prisoners will just try to keep their heads down and stay out of the way of getting their sentences extended. Also, US prison can be where you’re stuck for the rest of your entire life if you keep pushing it, as opposed to in LAM where some countries have a maximum term you can spend on a single prison sentence.

    There are also inner gangs inside the prisons that will basically act as a trap for the really dangerous criminals, both for serially getting them into sentence extensions, and for the fact that they’re as liable to come after you for trying to escape as the justice system is, and not even getting moved to another prison will be enough to save you from some of them if they think you were trying to flake on them.

  • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    The US DOC sometimes rotates high influence criminals through different facilities for reletively short stays to prevent then from getting a foothold in the prison or among the COs.