New York Times article on our prison system. 1 / 100 adults are now in prison.

I just read that too...wow. So much for 'progress'

Prisons are big money. I agree a lot of laws should be re-examined.

reminds me of this song

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1JaMBEIM0kM

And something like 3X that many are under court supervision ... ie. house arrest, out on parole, halfway house, etc.

And much of the increase is directly related to the "drug war", which continues to esculate.

Ron

agreed

"drug war" - lol ... it's all a big scheme for big $$ - prisons are part of it.

Big money in the prison business.

thats crazy! 1/9 black makes ages 2-34 in jail! somethings not right

Yeah it should be more like 2/9 but most crimes go unreported.

I love it how all you stupid pot heads make excuses for criminals.

and 65% of them aren't white...

It is definitely a problem that is ultimately a burden on everyone's wallet.

I wouldn't say it's an excuse, actually.

It is abundantly clear that their socio-economic circumstances play a large part in this, and it is quite possible (though this is speculation on my part) that black men receive different treatment in courts from white men.

This does not excuse the choices of individuals to commit crimes, but at the same time, it also indicates that the system, right now, is not functioning well. What needs to be done remains in doubt - it could range from projects to increase their chances in society to punishing all criminals harder to deter crime. What is not in doubt, however, is that there is a problem that needs fixing.

1/100 people, that's just 1% of people aged 18 -to 100 or almost dead. It's better than a Mexican prison I bet.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and more than 50% of prisoners are in for crimes relating to the 'War on drugs'

Oh I see so it is our fault they are poor? No one has to be poor in America, people CHOOSE to be poor in America. This isnt some communist country where opportunity is suppressed by the state.

Of course you would decriminalize drugs? Well let me know when your daughter hits 18 Ill introduce her to some good stuff.

Perhaps you should look at the results of the dutch model vs the american one .. if you really care.

Opportunity is suppressed by those who already have the power. You are confused with a free market, America is corporatist.

You are telling me there are no small businesses participating in a free market in America? Perhaps you have seen to many Ron Paul conspiracy films.

No I dont think most American people really give a fuck about the Netherlands. They want pot heads, dope heads, crack heads and all you sick deviant fucks off the streets and into jail.

And upon their release from jail they are still pot heads, dope heads, crack heads and sick deviant fucks.

The answer is not longer prison sentences, but instead various forms of treatment. The fact that so many people are locked up is proof that the system is a failure as a form of punishment and as a deterrent.

thats a lot of ass rapings

I am pretty sure they get clean in prison?

hahahahahahahahhahaha

do you know much drugs are in prisons???

" They want ... all you .. off the streets and into jail."

Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use (ages 12+)
US : 36.9%
Netherlands : 17.0%

Past month prevalence of marijuana use (ages 12+)
US : 5.4%
Netherlands : 3.0%

Lifetime prevalence of heroin use (ages 12+)
US : 1.4%
Netherlands : 0.4%

Incarceration Rate per 100,000 population
US : 701
Netherlands : 100

Per capita spending on criminal justice system (in Euros)
US : €379
Netherlands : €223

Homicide rate per 100,000 population
US : 5.56
Netherlands : 1.51

source : http://presscue.com/node/32978



oh and btw:

de·vi·ant
1. deviating or departing from the norm; characterized by deviation: deviant social behavior.
2. a person or thing that deviates or departs markedly from the accepted norm.


not many of those among the pornographers of the world.. math and facts always fucking shit up for the television educated

You didnt even address my reply to your comment, I said AMERICANS WANT DRUG USERS LOCKED UP, and you come back at me with some shit about the Netherlands? Oh also my usage of the word deviant is very appropriate, it may come as a shock to you but using drugs departs markedly from the accepted norm.

Some people choose NOT to operate prisons or start "private security" firms.

If you would have clicked the link that i started the post with, you would have found this article.


Slavery, the Prison/Industrial Complex, and American Hypocrisy
Submitted by Richard on Fri, 08/24/2007 - 7:52am.
Activism & advocacy

The United States has less than 5% of the world?s population, but we incarcerate 25% of all the prisoners in the world. We leave China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and all the other nations we like to look down our noses at far in the dust. We not only lockup more of our citizens than all totalitarian nations, we even lockup more people than China which has more than 4 times the number of Americans, and India which has almost 4 times the number of Americans, and Iran COMBINED. The US not only leads in the numbers of prisoners but far outpace China when measured per capita. We rank 1st among all nations with 715 prisoners per 100,000 people. China, ranks 71st with 119 prisoners per 100,000 people.

According to a report released by the Bureau of Prison Statistics, one out of every 32 adults in the United States was in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole at the end of 2005.

US leaders love to point out China as a violator of human rights and their penchant for slave and prison labor. While it?s principled to point out abuses by the Chinese, Americans should also recognize that slavery is not only legal in the US, it?s also practiced. The 13th Amendment authorizes it, ?Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.? The key word here is ?except? and being convicted of a crime in the United States is that exception.

In today?s America, drug laws have become the new Jim Crow laws, the prison/industrial complex has become the new plantation, and the warden has become the new overseer. America?s newest slaves aren?t picking cotton. They?re assembling computers, making women?s lingerie, booking airline flights over the phone, telemarketing for major corporations, and doing all kinds of tasks that free Americans used to be employed at doing. What appeared to be a normal plant closing by U.S. Technologies when it sold its electronics plant in Austin, was actually the company relocating its operations to a nearby Austin prison. One hundred and fifty ?free? employees lost their jobs to the new slaves.

If you book a flight on TWA over the phone, a prisoner may be taking your order. If you buy yourself or your loved one something from Victoria Secret, it may have come from a prison in South Carolina. Corporations like Chevron, Boeing, IBM, Motorola, Honda, Toys R Us, Compaq, Dell, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Hewett-Packard, Microsoft, Nordstrom?s, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and AT&T are a few of the ever-growing list of companies that are, or have at one time, used this kind of slave labor. Federal prisons operate under the trade name Unicor and use their prisoners to make everything from lawn furniture to congressional desks. Federal safety and health standards do not protect prison labor, nor do the National Labor Relations Board policies nor does the minimum wage apply. Corporations that use slave labor don?t pay overtime, sick days, pensions, and don?t have to deal with unions for this work. Prison/slaves are paid about 25 cents an hour.

Who are these new slaves?

The vast majority of illegal drug users, importers, and distributors in America are white. Whites make up 72% of illegal drug users, but, the greatest percentage of those who are incarcerated for drugs are black. While whites are getting probation, blacks and Hispanics are being sentenced to prison, sometimes for the exact same crime whites got probation for. Disparities in sentencing is well-known and documented and can be confirmed by the Department of Justice, DEA, FBI, Human Rights Watch, the Sentencing Project, Amnesty International, and a host of academic and social organization studies and research. The injustice of the Justice System is devastating communities and families all across America.

African-Americans have been cast as the icon for illegal drug use in America even though they comprise between 12% ? 14% of illegal drug users, about proportional to their percentage of the population. The ?war on drugs? is in fact, a war on African-Americans.

It appears that the new slaves look a lot like the old ones.

African-Americans are the most loyal constituency the Democratic Party has by far, but the Democratic Party will not adequately address this critical issue for fear of being seen as ?soft on crime.? Thus, the Democratic Party itself perpetuates the stereotype. The biggest explosion of Americans going to prison happened under Bill Clinton. Under Clinton, more people went to federal and state prisons than under any president in American history. Clinton also signed a bill that prevented U.S. Sentencing Commission amendments to equalize the penalties for crack and powder cocaine from taking effect.

The disparities in sentencing and probation are well-known and were certainly known to Bill Clinton. Then Attorney General Janet Reno said the sentencing disparity is unfair. "Clearly I think [penalties] should be equalized with respect to possession offenses," she said. "And equally clearly, I don't think the 100-to-1 ratio is fair." She also said that people who provide powder cocaine to those who cook it into crack should get "the more appropriately stiff sentence than the person who distributes the crack.? Under Clinton, the federal 3 strikes law was enacted and many states soon followed with similar legislation of their own.

Eighty-five percent of those sentenced under the ?three strikes you?re out? law in California faced prison for a nonviolent offense. The law requires a mandatory 25 years to life sentence. Two years after the law went into effect, there were twice as many people imprisoned under the three-strikes law for possession of marijuana as for murder, rape and kidnapping combined. More than 80 percent of those sentenced under the ?three strikes? law are African-American and Latino. It was supposed to be meant to protect society from violent and dangerous criminals, but is fueling the prison/industrial complex with those caught for non-violent crimes. Up to 75% of American prisoners are locked-up for non-violent crimes.

Here In Georgia, it was the democratic candidate for Governor in the last election, Mark Taylor, who used his capacity as then Lt. Governor to sponsor SB 400, a draconian piece of legislation from the dark ages that treats children as adults in criminal courts. Children convicted under this law usually serve their time in adult prisons and SB 440 allows children to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ninety percent (90%) of children sentenced under SB 440 and its companion legislation, SB 441, are African American. I'm sure he was real shocked when blacks did not go to the polls to support his run for Governor. After all, he's a democrat.

During the past two decades roughly a thousand new prisons and jails have been built in the United States. Nevertheless, America's prisons are more overcrowded now than when the building spree began, and the inmate population continues to increase by 50,000 to 80,000 people a year In 1977 the inmate population of California was 19,600. Today it?s over 170,000, which amounts to more inmates in its jails and prisons than do France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands combined. After spending $5.2 billion on prison construction over the past fifteen years, California now has not only the largest but also the most overcrowded prison system in the United States, and for the first time among large states, California will spend more on its prisons than on its public universities.

Profiting from slavery

Prisons are rising all over America. It?s a fast rising growth industry with investors on Wall Street and corporations we all know are paying peanuts to prisoner/slaves so they don?t have to employ those who buy their products. Even when crime goes down, jail population still goes up. Prison labor has its roots in slavery. After the Civil War ended, blacks were imprisoned on a variety of trumped up reasons and were then loaned or hired out to plantations and farms and all would share in the profit, except the prisoner/slave of course. That same ?hiring out? of prisoners is still practiced in the United States today.

The prison/industrial complex is a multi-billion dollar industry complete with lobbyists, trade shows, and conventions. It profits from an evil in the US that neither democrats nor republicans will seek to remedy.

Money is the hole in the concept of democracy. Inject enough money into the system and that system will morph into a plutocracy, such as exists in America today. The corporate will has replaced the will and conscience of the people. Democrats, even more than republicans, have abdicated their responsibility to their most loyal constituency.

As I was growing up and learning the history of slavery in America, I used to wonder how slavery could exist here for more than 250 years. How was that possible? Where were the good people? The answer to that is obvious in America today. The good people simply do nothing. They pretend the evil doesn?t exist. Slavery exists today in America, and again, the good people do nothing.

http://www.greencommons.org/node/770

"One in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34."


that is fucking insane...

Damn.. never knew it was that bad

the numbers are shocking because most people that have been to prison dont go around sharing the fact. if you knew how many people you have met or interact with that have been to prison, it might shock you.

shit my uncle had to go to prison for something my cousin did as a minor. its insane.

yup.. USA prison system sucks

And how many people live in the Netherlands?

God you are stupid, those stats are based on percentage.

I wonder if splum is going to come out from under his rock more often now that the election draws nearer.

America is a cultural black hole. American museums are filled with foreign paintings, American libraries with foreign books, American universities with foreign students. It's no wonder many feel they are the center of the world, they are a big cultural black hole in the middle of our dear Western civilization.

The US exports television shows for retards, and imports Italian marble, Australian wine, German cars.

Where is the generation of Howard Hughes, Carnegie, Rockefeller and Henry Ford?

Thrift was a national value, US industry was incredibly strong, America was the world's banker.

America is a black hole and the Federal Reserve since 1913 is the center of this hole.

George Washington warned his people against currency speculation.

"This tribe of black gentry work more effectually against us, than the enemy's arms. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties, and the great cause we are engaged in. It is much to be lamented that each State, long ere this, has not hunted them down as pests to society, and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America."

so i looked up UNICOR hoping to call B.S. - not so. Story checks out and they sell items at market value or better. I would think that in America below market labor would equate to below market prices. How naive of me....

http://www.unicor.gov/shopping/ViewC...796&iStore=OFC

A lot of black cock for you to suck when you go...

that's a disturbing figure...

Nice info...

Hold on Cory - are you saying let all the drug users out of jail. Blasphemy.

I just got out of prison...

Guys finally got a break a few months ago when they amended the crack law and reduced it from 100/1 to like 10/1 or whatever, and lots of guys got to go home. A little late, but better than never. Second Chance passed in April so that means more $ for drug treatment, diversion programs, and more HWH time. Unicor can compete with big companies right here without going overseas for cheap labor...they got prisoners they pay 1.29 /hour to work. In the feds, you become a slave, they work you starting at .24 cents an hour. ...and mexican prisons aren't too bad if you got a little $, they at least let you see your family and have conjugal visits, plus they encourage business an let you run one, not so in the feds. The feds don't give a fuck about you or your family...

true. i know people who have been in prison who got drugs easy.

One of the problems is that the State attorneys are putting a lot of people in Jail by getting them to take a plea to things they could NOT have proven in Court. For them it goes down as a win and thats all they care about.

1/30 americans will go to prison at some point in their life... thats means every class you sat in in highschool... ONE of those kids will go to prison, if not yourself.

I agree with this. I came from a wealthy family when I was a kid, and the moment I left home I was on my own - with zero financial support from my family, or any other kind of support. As a high school drop out who was into drugs, homeless some of the time, with a crappy job making minimum wage I had few options. I ended up in the Marines, afterwards moved to California, went to college, and I'm living the life high on the hog.

People choose to be poor in America???




wow you are dumb

lets see how these numbers change as the price of food, and oil aling with increased average debt and people on the brink of losing homes increse

and then maybe... your brainless mind will understand the effects economics on social demographics and people in general

but not likely

welcome to my ignore list for being an idiot ... believe me you are in good company there.

no need to reply as I never read the posting of those on my ignore list ... never seriously

that's because 90% of the poorest of the poor aren't white, do you seriously think that a black doctor with a huge house, a porsche, and a model wife half his age, would start robbing gas stations just because he's black???

people are as fucked up as the system lets them (makes them) be and skin color has nothing to do with it