Sequestration Puts Spotlight on America’s Dangerously Overcrowded Federal Prisons

[ProSense]

Sequestration Puts Spotlight on America’s Dangerously Overcrowded Federal Prisons

By Jesselyn McCurdy

<...>

How did we get to this point? At a time of historically low rates of crime, our federal prison system is operating at almost 40% over capacity. We’ve seen the federal prison population balloon by nearly 800% since 1980. Meanwhile, many states have enacted innovative criminal justice reforms that contributed to the first decline in overall prison population in 40 years.

Testifying before the House of Representatives, Charles Samuels, Director of the BOP, attributed the explosion of the prison population to excessively harsh sentencing and the increasing prosecutions of drug offenses...We also know that immigration enforcement programs like Operation Streamline contribute to this unsustainable prison growth. Operation Streamline is a “zero-tolerance” program that requires the federal criminal prosecution and imprisonment of all unlawful border crossers in designated sectors. The program annually sweeps in tens of thousands of migrant workers with no criminal history and is a major contributor to prison overcrowding, privatization and the soaring federal rate of Hispanic and Latino incarceration.

We have focused so much on locking people up in this country that we have ignored viable and fiscally sound alternatives to prison. It’s time for our elected officials to seriously consider criminal justice reforms that will maintain public safety while reducing the federal prison population. These reforms include eliminating mandatory minimum sentences drug sentences, expanding time credits for good behavior, enhancing elderly prisoner early and compassionate release programs, and making the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. We also need to eliminate programs like Operation Streamline that have added immigration prisoners to BOP who would need to be housed in new facilities, which would likely be privately operated.

Sending people to prison should be the option of last resort, not the first. We did not have to get to this point, but fortunately we have an opportunity over the next few years to adopt sensible reforms to the federal criminal justice system while maintaining public safety. While Congress is debating how to prevent the sequestration, it’s time for a real discussion about how we can stop wasting money by incarcerating people who pose little risk to our communities for long periods of time for non-violent drug crimes.

If Congress is serious about trimming the budget, the answer is simple: reduce the federal prison population.

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/sequestration-puts-spotlight-americas-dangerously-overcrowded-federal

BOOM! Feds release hundreds of immigrant detainees in face of sequester
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022432010

[daybranch]

1. lets learn from this

necessity is the mother of invention so lets use the better ways to supervise illegal immigrants when this stupid sequester crisis is over!

[ProSense]

2. There are

"lets learn from this necessity is the mother of invention so lets use the better ways to supervise illegal immigrants when this stupid sequester crisis is over!"

...better ways to handle undocumented immigrants.

How Obama’s Path To Citizenship Actually Works
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/how-obamas-path-to-citizenship-actually-works.php

Obama’s Immigration Plan Protects Binational Same-Sex Families
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/29/1511861/obamas-immigration-plan-protects-binational-same-sex-families/

Nevada Republicans Embrace Path To Citizenship For Undocumented Immigrants As Civil Rights Issue
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/01/1527501/nevada-republicans-embrace-path-to-citizenship-for-undocumented-immigrants-as-civil-rights-issue/

ACLU Lens: ACLU Responds to President’s Immigration Announcement
http://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/aclu-lens-aclu-responds-presidents-immigration-announcement

[dtom67]

3. tthe only lesson...

That will be "learned" will b that we need to privatize the prison system...

[Fumesucker]

4. That is the sensible position I'm sure n/t

[woo me with science]

17. Sensible, lucrative.

My thesaurus needs updating.

[ProSense]

6. Actually,

"That will be 'learned' will b that we need to privatize the prison system..."

...that isn't working out.

Prisons, Privatization, Patronage

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Over the past few days, The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New Jersey’s system of halfway houses — privately run adjuncts to the regular system of prisons. The series is a model of investigative reporting, which everyone should read. But it should also be seen in context. The horrors described are part of a broader pattern in which essential functions of government are being both privatized and degraded.

First of all, about those halfway houses: In 2010, Chris Christie, the state’s governor — who has close personal ties to Community Education Centers, the largest operator of these facilities, and who once worked as a lobbyist for the firm — described the company’s operations as “representing the very best of the human spirit.” But The Times’s reports instead portray something closer to hell on earth — an understaffed, poorly run system, with a demoralized work force, from which the most dangerous individuals often escape to wreak havoc, while relatively mild offenders face terror and abuse at the hands of other inmates.

It’s a terrible story. But, as I said, you really need to see it in the broader context of a nationwide drive on the part of America’s right to privatize government functions, very much including the operation of prisons. What’s behind this drive?

You might be tempted to say that it reflects conservative belief in the magic of the marketplace, in the superiority of free-market competition over government planning. And that’s certainly the way right-wing politicians like to frame the issue.

But if you think about it even for a minute, you realize that the one thing the companies that make up the prison-industrial complex — companies like Community Education or the private-prison giant Corrections Corporation of America — are definitely not doing is competing in a free market. They are, instead, living off government contracts. There isn’t any market here, and there is, therefore, no reason to expect any magical gains in efficiency.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/opinion/krugman-prisons-privatization-patronage.html

Flashback...

February 2011:

Democrats fight Gov. Christie's plan to privatize N.J. government functions

By Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau

TRENTON — Democrats are pushing back against Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to privatize some state government functions by calling for a change in the state constitution to put a short leash on agencies that want to hire private firms.

<...>

A Christie administration task force last year recommended privatizing functions like health care for prison inmates, toll collections, state parks, highway rest stops and career centers for the unemployed. The task force estimated the state government could save $210 million through the changes.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority recently put out a request for proposals that calls for toll collectors to make $12 per hour — less than half what experienced employees now make.

Democrats said they were trying to avoid abuse and waste that occurred in the 1990s with the privatization of vehicle inspections and the installation of the E-ZPass toll system.

- more -

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/democrats_fight_gov_christie_p.html

July 2012 editorial:

Privatization no panacea for government

A task force assembled by Gov. Christie recently reported that New Jersey’s government could save a bundle simply by turning over many of its core functions — from motor-vehicle services to school facilities — to the private sector. But thanks partly to another governor named Christie, New Jerseyans need not wait in suspense for the results of this government innovation. That’s because the state already has some disastrous and relatively recent experience with privatization — much of it in the areas singled out by the task force.

Christie deserves credit for cutting the state budget and looking for more ways to do so. And so far this is only a report (though one ordered up and roundly praised by the governor himself). But given the state’s history, some of the task force’s ideas weren’t even worth examining, let alone pursuing any further.

In 1998, Gov. Christie Whitman’s outsourcing of motor-vehicle inspections to a private company led to epic lines and widespread outrage. It later emerged that the sweetheart contract had gone to a company associated with avid campaign giving. Whitman’s privatization of motor-vehicle agency offices also contributed to interminable waits, as well as corruption and security breaches. That helped end the Division of Motor Vehicles’ long death spiral and bring about an overhaul that replaced it with today’s Motor Vehicle Commission.

- more -

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq_ed_board/Privatization_no_panacea_for_government.html

Privatizing the DMV was worse than a disaster. Using Krugman's phrase, it was "closer to hell on earth."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002842069

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. The "war on drugs" and "prison-industrial complex" are enormous sources of profit

so they're not likely to be going away anytime soon. In fact, private, for-profit prisons are on the rise, with all of their easily anticipated potential abuses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal

"The "Kids for cash" scandal unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were accused of accepting money from Robert Mericle, builder of two private, for-profit juvenile facilities, in return for contracting with the facilities and imposing harsh sentences on juveniles brought before their courts to increase the number of inmates in the detention centers.

For example, Ciavarella sentenced children to extended stays in juvenile detention for offenses as minimal as mocking a principal on Myspace, trespassing in a vacant building, and shoplifting DVDs from Wal-mart."

via drm604 in Occupy Underground.

and

How Corporations Make Money from Prison Labor: They’re Happy to Have More Inmates

http://www.techyville.com/2013/02/news/how-corporations-make-money-from-prison-labor-theyre-happy-to-have-more-inmates/

"From the inmate’s perspective, it’s more than frustrating. He’s worked construction for free for almost a year until a slot opens and he can finally make $.12 per hour. Inmates with more tenure might be making $100 per month to build things for Unicor, who only sells to government agencies at top dollar. Some can’t work and get $4.50 per month 'maintenance allowance,' enough to buy deodorant and a candy bar.

A year ago they had little room but now three sets of bunk-beds cram six people together in a place designed for two. They once had four television rooms but those are being converted into more bed-space as well. All the while, the conversation is alive about how much money the prison is making off them.

The Bureau of Prisons and Department of Justice run state and federal prisons, both of whom point to the national budget. If asked, representatives for these prisons say that no one profits from the inmates, that the prison labor is to sustain and maintain the prison itself and that it is government funded.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), on the other hand, owns and manages over 65 correctional institutions and prisons at every level, representing over 91,000 beds in 20 states. According to the public financial information available, CCA received 43% of their total revenue from federal correctional and detention authorities. The remaining 57% would be profit derived from prison labor. In 2011 alone they generated $351.1 million in cash."

The best part about private prisons is that they're funded by our tax dollars. That is, for their owners.

[ProSense]

7. It's always interesting

"The 'war on drugs' and "prison-industrial complex" are enormous sources of profit so they're not likely to be going away anytime soon. In fact, private, for-profit prisons are on the rise, with all of their easily anticipated potential abuses. "

...when the argument in response to proposed solutions is basically nothing is going to change. I mean, how does one make that argument while constantly railing against the "war on drugs" and other policies that reinforce the prison system status quo?

There are two things to highlight from the OP that represent change:

Meanwhile, many states have enacted innovative criminal justice reforms that contributed to the first decline in overall prison population in 40 years.

Testifying before the House of Representatives, Charles Samuels, Director of the BOP, attributed the explosion of the prison population to excessively harsh sentencing and the increasing prosecutions of drug offenses...It’s time for our elected officials to seriously consider criminal justice reforms that will maintain public safety while reducing the federal prison population. These reforms include...making the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive.

That can have a huge impact and should be one of the first things done in terms of reform.

Justice Is Served

June 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of or demand for drugs in the United States, and has contributed to making America the world's largest incarcerator. Throughout the month, check back daily for posts about the drug war, its victims and what needs to be done to restore fairness and create effective policy.

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/justice-served

Chance at Freedom: Retroactive Crack Sentence Reductions For Up to 12,000 May Begin Today
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/chance-freedom-retroactive-crack-sentence-reductions-12000-may-begin-today

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Thank you very much. I was unaware that anything was being done beyond activists drawing

attention to the problem!

[woo me with science]

9. Here come the private prisons.

President Obama’s IncarcerNation
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

....In October 2011 President Obama tapped Broderick Johnson as a senior advisor for his re-election campaign. According to OpenSecrets, a clearinghouse for lobbying data, Johnson lobbied extensively on behalf of the GEO Group since the mid-1990s. And Johnson’s so-called “advisorship” comes on the heels of President Obama’s 2010 nomination of Stacia Hylton as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS). Just months before her nomination Hylton started a private prison consulting firm— Hylton Kirk and Associates—while working at the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the Federal Detention Trustee. After retiring as a trustee, Hylton agreed to a consulting contract with The GEO Group worth $112,500.

As current Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, Hylton now leads an agency that has a well-established contractual relationship with The GEO Group. In 2011, the U.S. Marshal’s accounted for 11% of GEO’s revenue. With Hylton in a position to recommend government contracts with private prisons, the ongoing influence of private prison companies in the public sphere remains largely undisturbed.

Since President Obama’s first day in office the Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group have been awarded $1.7 and 1.8 billion dollars in federal contracts, respectively. And beginning in October 2011 the Corrections Corporation of America has taken its place as the government’s top contractor whereas the GEO Group comfortably maintains the third-place position. Finally, according to USAspending, over one-quarter of private prison contracts have been established under “non-compete” agreements.

The Obama Administration’s complicity with the private prison industry must not go unnoticed today or this November. For more information on private prison divestment please visit the National Prison Divestment Campaign’s website at http://prisondivestment.wordpress.com.

[ProSense]

10. Actually,

"Here come the private prisons."

...I don't thing that's going to happen, failure rates and all: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434686

It's certainly not going to happen if reforms work: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434723

How Obama’s Path To Citizenship Actually Works
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/how-obamas-path-to-citizenship-actually-works.php

Obama’s Immigration Plan Protects Binational Same-Sex Families
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/29/1511861/obamas-immigration-plan-protects-binational-same-sex-families/

Nevada Republicans Embrace Path To Citizenship For Undocumented Immigrants As Civil Rights Issue
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/01/1527501/nevada-republicans-embrace-path-to-citizenship-for-undocumented-immigrants-as-civil-rights-issue/

ACLU Lens: ACLU Responds to President’s Immigration Announcement
http://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/aclu-lens-aclu-responds-presidents-immigration-announcement

[woo me with science]

12. *Sigh.*

Those are all links about immigration, and you ignored the content of the post:

....In October 2011 President Obama tapped Broderick Johnson as a senior advisor for his re-election campaign.

...Since President Obama’s first day in office the Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group have been awarded $1.7 and 1.8 billion dollars in federal contracts, respectively. And beginning in October 2011 the Corrections Corporation of America has taken its place as the government’s top contractor whereas the GEO Group comfortably maintains the third-place position. Finally, according to USAspending, over one-quarter of private prison contracts have been established under “non-compete” agreements.

Immigrants aren't the only potential inmates of these prisons. Imprisoning people for profit is wrong. And the system is being actively grown.

[ProSense]

13. No,

"Those are all links about immigration...Immigrants aren't the only potential inmates of these prisons. Imprisoning people for profit is wrong. And the system is being actively grown.

...they're not, but let me repost this...

There are two things to highlight from the OP that represent change:

Meanwhile, many states have enacted innovative criminal justice reforms that contributed to the first decline in overall prison population in 40 years.

Testifying before the House of Representatives, Charles Samuels, Director of the BOP, attributed the explosion of the prison population to excessively harsh sentencing and the increasing prosecutions of drug offenses...It’s time for our elected officials to seriously consider criminal justice reforms that will maintain public safety while reducing the federal prison population. These reforms include...making the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive.

That can have a huge impact and should be one of the first things done in terms of reform.

Justice Is Served

June 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of or demand for drugs in the United States, and has contributed to making America the world's largest incarcerator. Throughout the month, check back daily for posts about the drug war, its victims and what needs to be done to restore fairness and create effective policy.

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/justice-served

Chance at Freedom: Retroactive Crack Sentence Reductions For Up to 12,000 May Begin Today
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/chance-freedom-retroactive-crack-sentence-reductions-12000-may-begin-today

Your argument doesn't hold water.

In the President's own words: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434881

[woo me with science]

14. You still are ignoring the content of the post.

Why is the Obama administration increasing government support for private prisons?

Why did he deliberately select the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)?

And why are billions of dollars in federal contracts going to private prisons under the USMS Director Obama selected?

[ProSense]

15. You posted a one-year old piece that

links to the 2012 SOTU and makes claims based on someone being tapped as a campaign adviser in 2011. I mean, what the hell is that supposed to prove? All the evidence posted here runs counter to your assertions.

[woo me with science]

16. Prosense, that was a pathetic and shameful

attempt at wiggling sideways, even for you.

I didn't ask you about Broderick Johnson.

I asked you why Obama deliberately selected the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the *current* Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS).

I asked you why billions of dollars in federal contracts are *currently* going to private prisons under the USMS Director Obama personally selected.

I asked you why the Obama administration is actively increasing government support for private prisons.

[ProSense]

19. woo me with science, your argument is bullshit.

You posted something that has little to do with the point of the OP, to which you responded

"Here come the private prisons."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434829


No: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434845

No: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434845

No: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2434881

[woo me with science]

21. Thank you for linking back to the thread.

Nice touch to link to your immigration post twice.

But you're still avoiding my questions:

Why is the Obama administration increasing government support for private prisons?

Why did he deliberately select the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)?

And why are billions of dollars in federal contracts going to private prisons under the USMS Director Obama selected?

[ProSense]

22. Thanks for continuing to kick this thread.

Appreciated.

[woo me with science]

23. It's important.

People need to be aware of this despicable industry, and the fact that it is being actively grown under this administration.

Putting a profit motive on incarcerating human beings is nothing short of evil.

You still haven't answered my questions:

Why is the Obama administration increasing government support for private prisons?

Why did he deliberately select the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)?

And why are billions of dollars in federal contracts going to private prisons under the USMS Director Obama selected?

[ProSense]

11. Here:

Did President Obama Just Open the Window to Smart Criminal Justice Reform?

By Kara Dansky,

As everyone who follows criminal justice policy knows, the last 40 years have witnessed an American correctional system dominated by tough-on-crime policies and unrelenting growth. Under this four-decade long regime, criminal justice reform has faced an unrelenting wall of resistance.

But there are signs that change is on the horizon. State lawmakers, strapped for resources, have been forced to scrutinize proposals to increase their prison populations. And other issues, such as health care and immigration, have to some extent replaced fear of crime in the public discourse.

Enter President Obama, named as Time magazine Person of the Year. In his interview, President Obama has some potentially promising words about the need for smart criminal justice reform (see page 88 of the magazine, out this morning):

Q: One of the other things that I’ve heard being discussed is the idea of criminal justice reform. What would your goals be in that area?

A: I tend to be pretty conservative, pretty law and order, when it comes to violent crime. My attitude is, is that when you rape, murder, assault somebody, that you’ve made a choice; the society has every right to not only make sure you pay for that crime, but in some cases to disable you from continuing to engage in violent behavior. But there’s a big chunk of that prison population that is involved in nonviolent crimes. And it is having a disabling effect on communities. You have entire populations that are rendered incapable of getting a legitimate job because of a prison record. And it boggles up a huge amount of resources. If you look at state budgets, part of the reason that tuition has been rising in public universities across the country is because more and more resources were going into paying for prisons, and that left less money to provide to colleges and universities. I think we have to figure out what are we doing right to make sure that that downward trend in violence continues, but also are there millions of lives out there that are being destroyed or distorted because we haven’t fully thought through our process?

Q: That means alternative sentencing?
A: Potentially. You can’t put a price on public safety; on the other hand, we’re going to be in an era of fiscal constraint at the state, federal and local levels. It makes sense for us to just ask some tough questions.

- more -

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-prisoners-rights/did-president-obama-just-open-window-smart-criminal

This from a President who signed the Fair Sentencing Act.

[L0oniX]

18. Hey you stupid fucks ...let the pot smokers out!

Oh yea ...and get rid of the mugshot extortion website bullshit!

[woo me with science]

20. Don't be silly.

They're working to get the debtors IN.

Remember, 90 percent occupancy must be guaranteed for the shareholders!