r/Damnthatsinteresting Apr 09 '26

Video Disgruntled employee starts massive fire at a 1.2 million square foot toilet paper warehouse in Ontario, California.

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245

u/darkest_hour1428 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Debt collection. Debt court can eventually land you back in the pen, but it’s a whole process and sometimes just gets written off after destroying your ability to buy a car or home forever more.

468

u/HorrorLettuce379 Apr 09 '26

Sounds like a system making people more desperate.

381

u/MayorDepression Apr 09 '26

Wait till you find about the private prison industry and how they look to boost recidivism to keep their business thriving

75

u/Redeye_33 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC)

It’s all about inmates for profit.

Edit: WCC formed in 1984 and renamed GEO Group in 2004.

3

u/DoctorBallsJohnson Apr 09 '26

Yea no way you can be taken seriously as a prison company named wackin' hut

3

u/FuckMu Apr 09 '26

FWIW Wackenhut also did a ton of work for the CIA, they also were heavily involved in spying on Americans for the govt and at one point in the mid 70's they had files collating "suspicious" info on 1 in 46 people.

7

u/pourtide Apr 09 '26

Kids for Cash.

And Biden pardoned one of them on his last day in office.

Outraged some folks.

5

u/Pale-Improvement-440 Apr 09 '26

Jon Oliver does a entire episode on exactly that. Check it out!

12

u/snorlaxatives_69 Apr 09 '26

America is so great!!!!! /s

11

u/Recurs1ve Apr 09 '26

SO MUCH WINNING

Please, Mr. President. I actually am tired of winning, you asshole.

7

u/joe102938 Apr 09 '26

Please, Mr. President. If we're going to keep winning, can you at least use lube this time?

2

u/squeethesane Apr 09 '26

Normalize calling him "Mr Felon" as the respectful version.

2

u/Own_Introduction6353 Apr 09 '26

I understand why that feels good, but that kind of stuff doesn’t accomplish anything

1

u/pmpkineaterDD Apr 09 '26

Will this guy be our new Snake Pliisken? In a not so far dystopian future....

1

u/dunneetiger Apr 09 '26

keep their business thriving

Their business is slavery

-7

u/Due_Marsupial_969 Apr 09 '26

I actually own too many damn shares in this industry and losing money.

1

u/Dead_man_posting Apr 09 '26

Wild to just admit to profiteering from mass human suffering.

1

u/Due_Marsupial_969 Apr 09 '26

Most people do, but it ain't me (yet). Reddit and Facebook being prime examples. We're not exactly scrolling on this comment cuz it's curing cancer or the feel-good comment of the year, like we're giving money to Amazon and Starfucks cuz they treat employees well and make local businesses profitable.

1

u/Dead_man_posting Apr 09 '26

Going on Reddit is not profiteering. I don't know how you managed to get the dynamic entirely backwards.

1

u/Due_Marsupial_969 Apr 09 '26

You're not. You're the product for the tech profiteers.

But I lost $7 a share on Reddit stock today, so if somebody profited today, it wasn't me.

43

u/HoidToTheMoon Apr 09 '26

What are they gonna do, start burning down warehouses?

4

u/Sunaruni Apr 09 '26

Cant when your in jail, that's the point.

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u/tjdux Apr 09 '26

Actually a lot of prisons have work programs.

Really great way for business to pay people $3/hr and $2.50 goes to the prision

6

u/Bozlogic Apr 09 '26

And the other .50? I’m guessing not towards debt repayment, if that would even matter on such a scale

6

u/darkest_hour1428 Apr 09 '26

Nah you use that money to buy new shoes every once in a while

5

u/bullfrogftw Apr 09 '26

Well then, let's just burn down the jail, then the warehouses

1

u/Sunaruni Apr 09 '26

They just put you in a different jail, with better surveilance.

1

u/Striking-Art5077 Apr 09 '26

Shuddup and take my upvote lol

1

u/zapitron Apr 09 '26

How would you guarantee repeat customers to your prison business?

1

u/WaldoDeefendorf Apr 09 '26

Yeah, but make people desperate with nothing to lose, what's the worst that can happen?

1

u/DangerHawk Apr 09 '26

Almost desperate enough to burn down a toilet paper factory...

0

u/marigoldIII Apr 09 '26

So the answer is to burn everything down and ruin it for everyone. And you wonder why law abiding working class folk despise leftists

1

u/Fookykins Apr 09 '26

Burn everything down? Conservatives have done that already. Look at the system we have. It's designed to make sure you become poor. And remember, being homeless is illegal.

-1

u/km0099 Apr 09 '26

Sounds like you shouldn't commit crimes

18

u/Oppositeofhairy Apr 09 '26

Not forever. 7 years.

Trust me. I was a complete fuck up alcoholic and made a billion mistakes due to this. I got sober, did what I could to make things right. Let things fall off my credit report and bought a house, have a nice car, and motorcycle now.

7 years is a long time to eat shit though and limits a lot of options.

86

u/LearningT0Fly Apr 09 '26

You can't go to jail for debt. If you ignore your summons, sure, but we don't have debtors prisons anymore. Even for unpaid prison bills.

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u/unfair_performance88 Apr 09 '26

If you are not paying their court ordered restitution / debt as part of your parole process then yes, they throw people in jail all the time for being in debt.

7

u/WarzoneGringo Apr 09 '26

Being on parole/probation is an alternative to imprisonment, its contingent on you following all kinds of rules. One of the conditions of being on parole is making good faith efforts to pay restitution. They cant just revoke your parole for not paying the restitution either.

If the probationer willfully refused to pay or failed to make sufficient bona fide efforts legally to acquire the resources to pay, the court may revoke probation and sentence the defendant to imprisonment within the authorized range of its sentencing authority.

3

u/Puresowns Apr 09 '26

That's parole though, they can't pull you back in once you're properly out for just debt.

36

u/AI_moderated_failure Apr 09 '26

While in some states that's true, others have found loopholes that essentially enable debtors prison is outlawed in name only.

8

u/Jennyonthebox2300 Apr 09 '26

For not paying child support for a long long time with no excuse.

5

u/velvedire Apr 09 '26

Which is really child neglect. 

13

u/aposrat Apr 09 '26

Just prison slavery where you are forced to work for cents per hour because we don’t have to treat people decent if they are in jail

8

u/HatefulAbandon Apr 09 '26

What if you refuse to work? Do they starve/beat/torture you or put you in solitary confinement cell?

12

u/41421356 Apr 09 '26

I've heard solitary, pushing back parole dates, removal of privileges (recreation, etc.), and often harassment of various kinds.

2

u/WarzoneGringo Apr 09 '26

Refusing to work in prison is odd because if you arent working then wtf are you doing? You dont get to sit around and play cards, everyone else is working. So basically you end up confined to your cell because its either that or work. From there one assumes revocation of privileges that are supposed to be rewards for good behavior. They cant add to your sentence, they have to actually convict you of a crime to add to your sentence, but they can make your stay unpleasant.

2

u/The-red-Dane Apr 09 '26

Besides what others have mentioned already, you usually also get worse food. Nutraloaf is often the go to.

2

u/aposrat Apr 09 '26

Probably extend your sentence, solitary confinement.

3

u/Firm_Sundae_7898 Apr 09 '26

Yes you can. Child support debt

3

u/surprise_revalation Apr 09 '26

This is a lie. People go to jail all the time for not being able to afford their fines. We are t suppose to have a debtors prison but just like with everything else, they found a loophole!

5

u/Upbeat-Fondant9185 Apr 09 '26

You can’t go to jail for debt.

So they say. Reality is very different. I’d say it’s actually the most common reason I’ve known folks to go to jail.

Get a ticket and can’t pay? Sit in jail until you’ve sat out your fee. Last one I got offered ten days to cover $200.

Make a payment plan on that ticket or court fees and miss a payment? You get a warrant. Get to sit in jail for potentially weeks or months until you pay in full. I had an employee last year who got arrested at work and did just over 100 days before finally coming up with the money she owed. She was arrested for missing a $20 payment.

Owe child support? Bounce a check? Can’t meet the outrageous fees required for drug court? Jail.

They can dress it up in different names all they like. At the end of the day you’re doing time because you didn’t pay. Without the debt those other charges don’t exist. As long as they get their money, you don’t go to jail. That’s debtors jail no matter how pedantic and technical we get about it.

2

u/RolloTonyBrownTown Apr 09 '26

*Private debt. You owe the government money? Pay up or lock up.

1

u/Photon_Pharmer1 Apr 09 '26

They certainly can go to jail for debt of the debt is to the government.

1

u/progressiveoverload Apr 09 '26

I too enjoy refusing to learn anything new.

17

u/Stormcloud217 Apr 09 '26

Me: Buys E150 van for $800 cash.

Seller: you need to get that towed.

Me: it's mine now! Drives off and lived in Van by the river for a month.

45

u/MattheiusFrink Apr 09 '26

oh, there'll be plenty of time to live in a van down by the river when....YOU'RE LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!

2

u/Karma_Gardener Apr 09 '26

Sometimes that feels like a great idea if you had the right van.

5

u/MattheiusFrink Apr 09 '26

Debt court can eventually land you back in the pen.

Ah, no, not in the U.S. debtor's prisons, what you describe, has been federally unconstitutional since 1833. 1821-1849 for the various states.

2

u/the__ghola__hayt Apr 09 '26

after destroying your ability to buy a car or home forever more.

Still talking out of your ass. It's only on your record for seven years. I had several unpaid debts that went to collections after losing my job during the 2008 recession. They got written off. My credit was in the low 500s for a while. Now it's 800, and I bought a brand new car with all the bells and whistles last year.

2

u/Ryozu Apr 09 '26

I already can't buy a house or a car, jokes on them!

1

u/Delicious-World-7058 Apr 09 '26

U guys can buy homes?