Sentenced to a Slow Death... NY Times editorial.

[spiritguide]

Finally the MSM (main street media) is relating to some real social problems created by elected reps.

Article lead in...

Sentenced to a Slow Death

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: November 16, 2013

If this were happening in any other country, Americans would be aghast. A sentence of life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for trying to sell $10 of marijuana to an undercover officer? For sharing LSD at a Grateful Dead concert? For siphoning gas from a truck? The punishment is so extreme, so irrational, so wildly disproportionate to the crime that it defies explanation.

And yet this is happening every day in federal and state courts across the United States. Judges, bound by mandatory sentencing laws that they openly denounce, are sending people away for the rest of their lives for committing nonviolent drug and property crimes. In nearly 20 percent of cases, it was the person’s first offense.

As of 2012, there were 3,278 prisoners serving sentences of life without parole for such crimes, according to an extensive and astonishing report issued Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union. And that number is conservative. It doesn’t include inmates serving sentences of, say, 350 years for a series of nonviolent drug sales. Nor does it include those in prison for crimes legally classified as “violent” even though they did not involve actual violence, like failing to report to a halfway house or trying to steal an unoccupied car.

The report relies on data from the federal prison system and nine states. Four out of five prisoners were sentenced for drug crimes like possessing a crack pipe or acting as a go-between in a street drug sale. Most of the rest were sentenced for property crimes like trying to cash a stolen check or shoplifting. In more than 83 percent of the cases, the judge had no choice: federal or state law mandated a sentence of life without parole, usually under a mandatory-minimum or habitual offender statute.

Over the past four decades, those laws have helped push the American prison population to more than two million people, and to the highest incarceration rate in the world. As in the rest of the penal system, the racial disparity is vast: in the federal courts, blacks are 20 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to life without parole for nonviolent crimes.

The report estimates that the cost of imprisoning just these 3,278 people for life instead of a more proportionate length of time is $1.78 billion.

It is difficult to find anyone who defends such sentencing. Even Burl Cain, the longtime warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, which holds the most nonviolent lifers in the country, calls these sentences “ridiculous.” “Everybody forgets what corrections means. It means to correct deviant behavior,” Mr. Cain told the A.C.L.U. “If this person can go back and be a productive citizen and not commit crimes again,” he asked, why spend the money to keep him in prison? “I need to keep predators in these big old prisons, not dying old men.”

Link to rest of the article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/opinion/sunday/sentenced-to-a-slow-death.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131117&_r=1&

Peace!

[AutumnW]

Spiritguide, I thank and applaud you for posting this. The current prison population is out of sight and out of mind. And as you have pointed out, it is a travesty and not something that happens in the third world. It's not even something that happened in the middle ages, as they couldn't afford to feed and house all of the prisoners.

America has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners. This is beyond medieval! I read somewhere the other day, someone comparing the U.S. to Russia, declaring that, "well, we don't have gulag system!" Why, no America doesn't have a gulag system. It has more people in a network of prisons than Russia ever did. Of course Stalin killed millions in his purges, but to be thrown in jail for a joint, for a lifetime, is probably worse than a summary execution.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day about how 'dangerous' the U.S. is, what with all of their guns etc...I told her that the media is in the business of making the country look as crazy dangerous as possible, for ratings alone. The impression you actually get while visiting many areas is extreme clamp down, major control, compared to other societies. Feels like a police state to me...because...it is one.

[sunflower]

Just speculating.... where do most of these lifers end up: federal systems or private? Since the private ones are profit-oriented perhaps an agreement may have been arranged to keep their prisons full.

[AutumnW]

I would guess state prisons. I think the federal prisons are more for hard core cases.

[Spiral of Light]

Just speculating.... where do most of these lifers end up: federal systems or private? Since the private ones are profit-oriented perhaps an agreement may have been arranged to keep their prisons full.

I think you have hit the nail right on the head, Sunflower. Too much profit-oriented corporate greed involved where it doesn't belong, in my opinion.

[AutumnW]

From Huffington Post, Chris Kirkham, October 23, 2013

"Youth Services International confronted a potentially expensive situation. It was early 2004, only three months into the private prison company’s $9.5 million contract to run Thompson Academy, a juvenile prison in Florida, and already the facility had become a scene of documented violence and neglect."

“From day one, it was hell,” said Jerry Blanton, a former monitor with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, who was then tasked with inspecting Thompson Academy.
Conditions appeared so foul and perilous that he told his supervisors that he “emphatically recommended that the facility be closed,” according to a memo about the discussions.

What happened next speaks to how Youth Services International has managed to forge a lucrative business running private juvenile prisons in Florida and 15 other states even amid mounting evidence of abuse. The company used connections with state officials to complain that Blanton was intimidating staff. Less than a week later, the state removed him as monitor of the facility. Two months after that, he was fired."

http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/prisoners-of-profit-2

[spiritguide]

Both state and federal systems are being used. My heart cries because of this political prisoner system, many hearts and souls, although misguided, are being restrained. Wake up, for someone you know will fall subject to this evil system.

Peace!

pucNf0_KP-o

[GCS1103]

I would guess state prisons. I think the federal prisons are more for hard core cases.

In reality, there are more violent criminals and more violence by offenders in State prisons. Federal prisons house a large amount of white collar offenders charged with money scams, tax fraud, misappropriation of funds, IRS violations, etc. (non-violent prisoners). The DOJ also puts drug offenders in the federal system, but attorneys that practice criminal law will tell you that conditions in federal corrections facilities are far better than State prisons. The main problem with going into a federal facility is that there is very little leeway for early parole, whereas in State prison a good portion of a sentence can be reduced for "good behavior", etc.

[grannyfranny100]

Glad this is hitting mainstream media. But who writes these idiotic laws, State legislators. I suspect many of them are trying to look tougher on crime to get reelected. This does happen with local yolkels, once they get a taste of power. Their sacred duty turns into an addiction to power.

We have been learning how out of control our national politicians have gotten because we are not paying attention. Now we are learning the same is true locally where most of our national politicians start.

Thank you spiritguide

[AutumnW]

It's a depressing topic, but this thread should be kept alive!

From Salon:

"Kirby was joined Wednesday by interstate transfer critics including Danielle Rigney, the mother of a California inmate who was shipped to Arizona in July. Before that happened, she told reporters, “he continued to have hope for the future” and “was able to watch his sisters grow up, share in our joys and our sorrows.” Now, she said, “because he is 15 hours away, each trip costs close to $1,000” and “his father hasn’t been able to visit.” Rigney added,“I can truly see him becoming institutionalized … we are losing touch. We are losing the battle … When my young son was arrested, he was a boy. He is now a man.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/22/humans_shipped_across_the_country_how_america_exports_inmates_to_private_prisons/

[Sunny-side-up]

The number of Demons (TPTB,TPTW) just grows every day :(

This Subject needs sorting?
This post needs keeping alive!
Bump!
:bump:

[AutumnW]

Yes, and a call out to any of our brothers and sisters suffering under such an oppressive system. It IS going to change. You are not alone. We are thinking about you. Out of sight does not mean out of mind!

[carriellbee]

Thank you for bringing this up, spiritguide. This is one of the issues which led directly to my own understanding of what is really happening in the US.

I remember reading that in 2004, an IT company in Texas fired all of its employees and closed it doors, only to reopen two months later in a prison. And this is not an isolated event. The practice of what Bob Sloan has termed "insourcing" -- moving jobs into prisons -- has devastated our jobs and disadvantaged small businesses.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/05/1191920/-Thank-ALEC-For-Prison-Labor-Jeopardizing-Small-Businesses-and-Jobs-Nevada-Latest-Battleground

I believe that it is no accident that sentences for minor crimes are getting longer and longer and that individuals are coerced into waiving their right to a jury trial, thereby guaranteeing that they will be sentenced, even IF they are innocent. IMO, the war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing, the three strikes law, etc. are all designed with the express purpose of creating a large prison labor force. Things have been bad for quite awhile and are getting worse.

Below is an excerpt from a June 2013 post by Bob Sloan at Daily Kos :

"Most now know that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) wrote the Prison Industries Act in 1995 and that legislation is now being used in Nevada and elsewhere to promote allowing corporate access to state owned prison factories and prisoners. Today hundreds of prison factories employing nearly a million inmate workers are in operation across the U.S.

Every home has at least one...and every consumer has bought at least one prison made good in the last year. Think not? Eaten at Wendys? McDonalds? Flown on a Boeing made airliner? Eaten an "Idaho" potato? Visited a Starbucks? Bought AM/PM coffee? Have hardwood flooring made by Anderson? All of those companies are using inmate labor to manufacture, package or ship their products or make uniforms for workers."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/11/1215508/-Labor-and-Business-Win-Prison-Industry-Battle

[grannyfranny100]

carriellbee, I have been quite unaware about slave labor private prisons. One contract was let for privatization here in MI but had to be rescinded since it was a failure compared with the place when it was under state management. I am shocked with the variety of products you mentioned. Thank you for this awakening.

I am still a believer in free enterprise but it has become quite distorted here in the U.S. The single bottom line of short term profit is often subsided by government IRS tax breaks with this terrible outcome. And it is compounded by the public being kept in the dark by a lack of investigative reporting by a truly free media.

Just as insidious is the recent clamoring for decent wages at Mac Donald's and the company's response to employees: break your food into smaller pieces so you will feel fuller. Moreover, they advised employees to apply for food stamps and other government subsides which is Walmart's wicked business philosophy.

This is such a distortion of free enterprise. When you add in Congress's dependence on company lobbyists and their "campaign contributions," it get even more ridiculous. I wonder if that pay off money to Congress would be sufficient to pay decent wages to employees. If not, then these mega-corporations should go out of business like small start up companies have to do under free enterprise.

All of this is so sickening and as citizens, we need to be more vigilant which we have not been in several generations. Once again, thank you for the wake up call.

[GreenGuy]

A nation's karma is as irresistible as an individual's. I too am a believer in free enterprise, but the obsession with profit throws wide open the door to every kind of evil. Our country is in mid-self-destruct.

[grannyfranny100]

GrreenGuy, I hope you are wrong with your "mid-self-destruct" conclusion. I hope we are entering a time of self correction. Many Indian tribes consider implications for seven generations and I think we are learning that we can no longer be inattentive and irresponsible unless we want to be slaves to crafty greed.

[Lifebringer]

Yes it has and there is a article on PA today about a government chemist that tainted evidence against innocent people for the prosecutor, and the number over ten years is 40,000 Americans. She is spilling her guts on it to not discredit the organizational lab she works for, but they've had to release hundreds of prisoners and so many more that will have to be thrown out.

Corrupt system on the take?

You betcha.

On your comment , yes they have busted a judge who had stock shares in the for profit prison system, with stipulation that all prisoners lose their civilian rights when convicted and serving and they are used in competition with NAFTA countries where the prisons make all that money and pay little or nothing, while charging the prisoner for their stay and medicines, communication and phone service with high end corporate cronies.

It is so time, to get this right for our children. How many decades are left for us here?

[GreenGuy]

GrreenGuy, I hope you are wrong with your "mid-self-destruct" conclusion. I hope we are entering a time of self correction. Many Indian tribes consider implications for seven generations and I think we are learning that we can no longer be inattentive and irresponsible unless we want to be slaves to crafty greed.

I would love to believe you're right, grannyfranny. I find it very difficult. I especially have a hard time imagining how Western culture can convert from a greed-based economy to one that features egalitarianism and unity without one of two things happening: a) a horribly destructive and violent civil war, which as other members have pointed out, is totally old-paradigm and plays right into the hands of TPTB; or b) a complete collapse of all our institutions and life as we know it. I find the collapse a better choice, and I tend to think that in the long run it will be a good thing. I tend to view it as pretty much inevitable.

The PTB are essentially parasites, and they will do what parasites do: kill the host. The saving grace in this is the growing population of self-aware sovereign integrals who are approaching enlightenment. I hold out hope that a true golden age is approaching for all humanity, but we won't get there without a lot of self-inflicted pain.

[Kimberley]

Great thread... I started another thread that is in sink with this one...

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?67097-No-country-incarcerates-a-higher-percentage-of-its-population-than-the-United-States.

[gripreaper]

OK, I just went and looked through the 1000's of pages of archives in my folders and found this "Prison Treatise" by Jean Keating. I would venture to guess there might be one other person here who even knows who Jean Keating is. At any rate, if you really want to dig into this rabbit hole and see how deep it goes, start here. Then, once you see it is all intertwined in securities fraud, tied directly to the same securities which are holding your alleged assets in place, and makes you culpable, then we'll see which fingers we are pointing and which point back.

http://freedom-school.com/law/prison_treatise.shtml

I have more on this somewhere and will keep looking.

http://freedom-school.com/money/jail-bond.htm

http://freedom-school.com/admiralty/how-to-beat-criminal-charges-in-admiralty-courts.pdf