Poor minorities are worthless to corporations on the street. In prison they can bring in $40,000/yr

[Catherina]

The Business of Mass Incarceration - By Chris Hedges

Posted on Jul 28, 2013


Illustration by Mr. Fish

...

The murder of a teenage boy by an armed vigilante, George Zimmerman, is only one crime set within a legal and penal system that has criminalized poverty. Poor people, especially those of color, are worth nothing to corporations and private contractors if they are on the street. In jails and prisons, however, they each can generate corporate revenues of $30,000 to $40,000 a year. This use of the bodies of the poor to make money for corporations fuels the system of neoslavery that defines our prison system.

...

In poor communities where there are few jobs, little or no vocational training, a dearth of educational opportunities and a lack of support structures there are, by design, high rates of recidivism—the engine of the prison-industrial complex. There are tens of millions of poor people for whom this country is nothing more than a vast, extended penal colony. Gun possession is largely criminalized for poor people of color while vigilante thugs, nearly always white, swagger through communities with loaded weapons. There will never be serious gun control in the United States. Most white people know what their race has done to black people for centuries. They know that those trapped today in urban ghettos, what Malcolm X called our internal colonies, endure neglect, poverty, violence and deprivation. Most whites are terrified that African-Americans will one day attempt to defend themselves or seek vengeance. Scratch the surface of survivalist groups and you uncover frightened white supremacists.

...

The intrusion of corporations and private contractors into the prison system is a legacy of the Clinton administration. President Bill Clinton’s omnibus crime bill provided $30 billion to expand the prison system, including $10 billion to build prisons. The bill expanded from two to 58 the number of federal crimes for which the death penalty can be administered. It eliminated a ban on the execution of the mentally impaired. The bill gave us the “three-strikes” laws that mandate life sentences for anyone convicted of three “violent” felonies. It set up the tracking of sex offenders. It allowed the courts to try children as young as 13 as adults. It created special courts to deport noncitizens alleged to be “engaged in terrorist activity” and authorized the use of secret evidence. The prison population under Clinton swelled from 1.4 million to 2 million.

Incarceration has become a very lucrative business for an array of private contractors, most of whom send lobbyists to Washington to make sure the laws and legislation continue to funnel a steady supply of poor people into the prison complex. These private contractors, taking public money, build the prisons, provide food service, hire guards and run and administer detention facilities. It is imperative to their profits that there be a steady supply of new bodies.

...

If she goes to jail it will be catastrophic for her children. But this is not a new story. It happens to families every day in our gulag state. Bourne is one human being among hundreds of thousands routinely sacrificed for corporate greed. Her tragedy is of no concern to private contractors or supine judges and elected officials. They do not work for her. They do not work for us. They are corporate employees. And they know something Bourne is just discovering: Incarceration in America is a business.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_business_of_mass_incarceration_20130728/

...

[ShadowLiberal]

1. Considering how many Americans don't even make $30k to $40k a year this is unsustainable

We can't keep on paying an average of $35,000 a year per prisoner, with a constantly growing prison population, and not bankrupt ourselves.

A first step to fixing this problem is definitely two fold.

1) Ban private prisons. If a business, such as a prison, can't exist without the government as it's customer, then the government should cut out the middle man and build and run the prison themselves. Private prisons also pretty much bribe legislatures to make tougher laws and to give them better terms for the private prison (such as the government paying a big penalty to the private prison if it's ever under 95% capacity)

2) Repeal pointless and victimless crimes like marijuana and other drug use.

[nomorenomore08]

18. Agree thoroughly on both counts!

[They_Live]

21. That's right!

this is another reason why some do not want Marijuana legalized. It would severely damage their Police, Lawyer, Judge, and Prison funding.

[kelliekat44]

22. I've been trying to focus attention on the PIC for over a year. (prison-industrial-complex)

I received little response here and less than that from Congress. It's an issue that the civil rights activists ought to bring into the conversation. The PIC is a job killer and we should be pointing out who is making profit from this. Thousands of state and local workers have lost good jobs as their work was outsourced to the PIC, especially in southern and western states.

[Hydra]

25. It's one of the most dangerous stealth issues we face

I doubt anyone will get it until it hits them in the face, but I've already seen some of it. Prisoner status makes you a non-person to most people. Your rights as seen as "given up" because you did something society doesn't approve of. Slave labor, abuse and destroyed lives are irrelevant, because those aren't "real people" anymore.

I've seen people who relish this. They have permission to use and abuse these non-people, and they don't hesitate. If we judged our civilization level not by its high point, but its low...we're barely out of the jungle.

How long before half of us are in jail? 3/4? All but the 1%?

They make the laws. They can make it happen.

[MindPilot]

40. Yep and it is getting worse with the drug war (sort of) winding down

The next indefensible crime used to pack the private prisons is "child porn". Of course the natural reaction is "they should be in prison...forever." But a vast number of people now being convicted and sentenced for child porn have never gone near a child, many don't even know they have something illegal on their computer, and the reality is there doesn't even have to be anything on your computer. If you touched the wrong site at the wrong time, you are caught and there is nothing you can do unless you have a few hundred thousand on hand to mount a federal defense. Being innocent is not a get of jail free card. Not anymore.

[Hydra]

42. I'm sure I'll get a red brush for it

But you are entirely correct- busted for having information. Piracy and related activities similarly.

I'd rather police resources go after actual abuse and theft/fraud crimes respectively, but these new information crimes are flashy and have the dual purpose of shutting down non-approved thought processes.

When Wall St. can walk and possessing information is considered deadly...where are we going with this?

[MindPilot]

44. You are absolutely right.

This is an aspect of the PIC issue that simply cannot be discussed--I've had posts hidden for daring to broach the subject.

Child porn is the new tax evasion. When they can't get you for whatever they really want you for...child porn.

Did you know that under the federal mandatory sentencing rules, if you accidentally receive CP, and immediately delete it, you just added an upward departure to your sentence? Yes, that is "using computer skills to destroy evidence" and can add years to the sentence.

In fact in that scenario, you committed five separate felonies:
Receiving CP
Possession
destruction of evidence
And if you are running file-sharing software, distribution and trafficking

Yes, receiving and possession are two distinct charges.

If anyone thinks for a minute what you do online is not being monitored, well, you're wrong.


In the meantime most of the actual producers--if they get caught--are prosecuted under state laws and will likely serve less time than someone who hit the wrong site.

[Hydra]

48. I know thoughtcrime when I see it

And that even discussing it in an unapproved fashion is dangerous. I read an article once asking if we had lost our minds at some point when someone with child porn on his comp got 90+ years due to being sentenced for each picture/file while an actual child rapist who took 12 or so trophy photos was sentenced for less than 3 years including the sexual contact charges.

Who was the bigger monster?

It's interesting what you say about how they can attach all sort of crimes together to make a larger case against you. Brings to mind how they can try to arrest you without a charge but then accuse you of resisting arrest and obstruction of justice if you object.

Come to think of it, couldn't you get an Obstruction charge for deleting the file on top of what you listed? And some sort of evading the law charge for good measure?

[MindPilot]

52. They stack up the charges like you wouldn't believe.

It is also interesting to note they count each individual frame in a video as an "image". So while you may actually have 1 short, tiny video, that will be charged as tens of thousands of images.

And it is truly a thought crime because the assumption is that if you posses any material defined as CP, it is for sexual gratification.

[Change has come]

59. At one time, Senator Webb from Virginia was going to focus on this issue.

Not sure how or why it got derailed. I agree, we all have to focus on this immediately.

[SkyDaddy7]

33. Have you seen this?

This is just the modern version of slavery by another name. IMHO!

[link:http://video.pbs.org/video/2176766758/|

[think]

2. Prisons for profits is unAmerican

or at least it should be....

[PowerToThePeople]

3. There is a good starting point for setting minimum universal basic income.

[gollygee]

4. K&R

[woo me with science]

5. Sick. Corrupt. This should not be happening in America.

A profit motive for imprisoning human beings is not morally conscionable.

The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022568681

[SunSeeker]

30. Obama is not "aggressively growing private prisons."

The private prisons were there before he took office. He has not pushed for increasing private prisons. Nothing in you link shows otherwise. What he has done is push for sentencing reform, such as the racist disparity of sentencing for crack versus powdered cocaine.

The private prison industry knows who its friends are. That is why they overwhelmingly donate to Republicans.

[woo me with science]

32. Shamelessly, brazenly false.

The links show exactly what I wrote.

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?

Use of prison slave labor by corporations is skyrocketing.

Obama's 2013 budget: One area of marked growth, the prison industrial complex
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002392306

Obama selects the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/12/mars-d03.html

Private prison corporations move up on list on federal contractors, receiving BILLIONS
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

"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."

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html


Financial growth of the private prison industry:

[SunSeeker]

37. Nothing I said was false. The private prisons were on contract when Obama took office.

And with regard to the USMS appointment, I assume you are referring to your link to the 2010 "World Socialist Web Site" article that complains that Obama had nominated Stacia Hylton as director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) after she worked for 6 months at a consulting firm that represented a private prison (GEO). Other than her brief stink in consulting work, the vast majority of her time was spent in government, previously serving as deputy director of the USMS starting in 2001, as the article notes.

As the article admits, "Despite the suspicious timing, there is no indication as of yet that Hylton and GEO supporting each other financially crossed any legal boundaries." As the article also notes, The USMS' "duties include apprehending fugitives, transporting federal prisoners, and providing protection for federal witnesses" and has "conducted a wide range of policing operations throughout its history." It does not appear they are in the business of contracting with private prisons, but rather they are involved in policing. Privating prison contracting is the responsibility of the U.S. Federal Detention Trustee as I understand it, not the USMS Director. It appears she was appointed because of her many years of experience at USMS. Groups which supported her nomination included the 26,000-member Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association, which cited her three decades in law enforcement and years as a deputy U.S. marshal and inspector with the Witness Security Program. The Senate (including Bernie Sanders!) confirmed her by unanimous consent.

I don't see how Hylton's nomination as the first female USMS Director is evidence that Obama is "aggressively growing private prisons."

Obama is not and has never pushed private prisons to my knowledge. Quite the opposite. He wants to bring the prison population down. As another poster noted in one of your cited OPs (thanks for the link):

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

Plus President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act. Under Obama, U.S. incarceration fell for the first time since 1972. http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/3293 This is not a President who is "aggressively growing private prisons."

[woo me with science]

50. Brazenly false AGAIN. The CCC private prisons DO contract with the U. S. Marshal's Service.

Shame on you for posting blatant disinformation. I should not have to post proof of what anyone who has been paying attention already knows is true:

Corrections Corporation of America Contracts With the United States Marshals Service
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corrections-corporation-of-america-contracts-with-the-united-states-marshals-service-72580302.html

The use of private prisons by the federal government is rising dramatically:

The number of inmates held in private prisons by the Federal Bureau of Prisons increased by 14% from 2010 to 2011. On December 31, 2011, 6.7% of the state and 18% of the federal prison populations were incarcerated in private facilities."

US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Dec. 2012
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf

Your shameless attempts at disinformation and distraction aside, this administration's actions, and the growth of private prison use by the federal government, are clearly documented. It is interesting that you post the *very same* obfuscating links that ProSense has posted in these threads in the past, only ProSense was not brazen enough to try to proclaim that the US Marshal's service has nothing to do with federal prison contracts.



The an$wer is clear to the disturbing, glaringly obvious question$$$$$$$$::

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?

[SunSeeker]

55. I did answer your questions, you just ignored my links and repeated your questions.

You cite a contract CCR has with detainees, but there is no evidence that this is new; i.e. that they did not previously house detainees.

The fact is, U.S. incarceration did go down in 2010, under Obama, for the first time since 1972, as the link I provided states. You do not dispute this. Your link regarding the increase in percentage of inmates in private facilities doesn't open, but I am guessing it does not say there was a 14% increase in incarceration, just that the number of inmates in federal prison, which is going down, is becoming a smaller percentage of the overall federal prison population.

I imagine this can be explained to a large extent by the fact that private prisons got some sweet deal contracts under the Bush administration that guaranteed them occupancy, i.e. we have to pay them whether they are holding prisoners or not. So, when stuck with these contracts, you might as well send them the prisoners rather than incur the costs in a government run prison AND pay a private prison.

I answered your concerns about Hylton's nomination. You do not address anything I talked about. She has been Director for a few years now. Got any links of her signing new contracts with GEO?

For that matter, got any links of Obama saying private prisons are a good thing? I reposted an exchange Obama had on the subject of prisons from a ProSense reply to one of your OPs that YOU gave me the link for, otherwise I would not have known about it. ProSense did not mention Hylton, nor the drop in incarceration in 2010. I got that from a simple Google search.

And that Google search did not yield any statement by Obama complimenting, supporting or suggesting we should use more private prisons.

I personally think we should not use ANY private prisons. But the contracts have already been signed, and we've been relying on private prisons for decades, rather than building government-run prisons, so we are stuck. Until the Republicans loosen the purse strings (or we get a Democratic congress), I am not sure where we would put prisoners. I also think marijuana should be legal; that would drop the prison population quite a bit. Unfortunately, that is not a mainstream position yet, and I can understand why Obama does not want to pick that battle. Hell, we could not even get marijuana legalized here in California; the 2010 initiative to do it failed. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/politics/03ballot.html?_r=0

There are a lot of problems to solve. But the way to solve these problems is to work with your fellow progressives instead of maligning them.

[woo me with science]

56. Last reply, just to underscore the disingenuous MO here.

1. The poster fails to acknowledge having been caught posting blatant disinformation. Obama selected the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS). The poster shamelessly tried to suggest that the U.S. Marshall's Service has nothing to do with contracts for private prisons, which is a brazen falsehood. In fact, federal contracts for private prisons are in the billions and growing under this outrageous selection.

2. The poster tries to obfuscate by citing numbers for overall incarceration, hoping to distract from the proof I posted that federal incarcerations in private prisons are skyrocketing, which is the relevant point here. A fourteen percent increase in one year should outrage every American, particularly since our government is now complicit in contracts that *guarantee* certain levels of profit based on the imprisonment of predetermined numbers of human beings.


The rest of the post is ridiculous irrelevance. I also can't find a quote online where Obama *praises* force-feeding detainees or double tapping first responders, but his administration is nevertheless doing it.

The poster will, of course, seek the last word, as per the pattern we all know so well.

[SunSeeker]

60. Sounds like YOU were caught in a lie, since don't want to give any links. nt

[woo me with science]

61. The links were already in the previous post, and you know that.

This, DU, is the level of outright dishonesty we are dealing with.

[SunSeeker]

62. Where are the links that Obama supports private prisons?

Where are the links that Hylton signed new contracts with GEO?

[Number23]

64. "The poster will, of course, seek the last word, as per the pattern we all know so well."

Who are you talking to?

[great white snark]

51. And crickets.

Outstanding response. Truly. Don't get too good though, you might be called a paid troll. (if you haven't been already)

[Number23]

63. Careful now. You guys will lead to the 47th "iGnore de ProPaganDa!!1" post

Some folks around here don't cotton too well to having their BS so blatantly called out as SunSeeker did so perfectly.

[MindPilot]

46. As Skittles has told me on more than one occasion...

"can't argue with the swooners"

[woo me with science]

53. Skittles KNOWS, and you are right. The brazen falsehoods say it all.

What a familiar script, down to the cheering Mini Me.

I'm finished now, as the MO is blatantly obvious to any critical reader.

[nashville_brook]

6. build 'em and fill 'em

quite a scam they have going there. too bad we can't fill 'em with bankers.

[rhett o rick]

7. I wish this could be told to all Americans. We will go broke paying for our own imprisonment. nm

[TroglodyteScholar]

8. Brilliant. K&R n/t

[theHandpuppet]

34. I'll add to that

Another K&R

[Octafish]

9. It's win-win.

Slave labor.

The State houses, feeds and provides health care.

Heh heh heh.

[Mnemosyne]

13. How very convenient that is for them. If they had consciences, they would feel ashamed. nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. IMO, the most racist policy since slavery and Jim Crow laws is the one shipping manufacturing jobs

from American cities (and particularly inner cities) to foreign countries, and substituting the warehousing of people in prisons instead of having a policy to maintain manufacturing jobs in American cities.

It benefits the international super-rich but not Americans as a whole.

[Alameda]

38. actually, a lot of off shore work is returning....to the US prisons

because, as one man I spoke with once told me, "it's cheaper than India.", he had call centers all over the US in women federal prisons....ugh...

You would be amazed at the products produced in prison. It almost seems like an incentive to hunt for certain "talents" for the work force.

[MindPilot]

41. "It almost seems like an incentive to hunt for certain "talents" for the work force."

That is exactly what is happening. Please see my post #40 above. They are using "child porn" charges to sweep up skilled workers; obviously that is automatically giving them people with computer skills. And there is a surprising number of military people caught up in that dragnet.

Non-violent, skilled and educated with something to lose...perfect docile compliant slaves.

[Alameda]

49. Sigh, yes, it's legal slavery...

...people think slavery has been outlawed. It hasn't, it's still legal. Read the 13 amendment:

Section 1. 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.

[Starry Messenger]

11. k&r

[The Straight Story]

12. k&r(nt)

[WillyT]

14. K & R !!!

[Overseas]

15. K&R. One of the worst kinds of privatization.

[ErikJ]

16. Judges on the take from private prisons too to increase prisoners.

I cant remeber when or where but a judge recently was found guilty of accepting bribes from private prisons to find innocent people guilty with long sentences.

[nomorenomore08]

19. Even worse - assuming we're thinking of the same case - this was done to juveniles.

Get them into the "system" at a young age and, in most cases, they'll never truly escape it...

[lolly]

26. He sent teenagers to jail

For status "crimes" like truancy. He had a friend of a friend who had a contract to provide juvenile detention "services" to the state.

I believe it was in Pennsylvania. He was ultimately convicted and sent to prison himself.

But not before plenty of teens lost their high school years, their freedom--well, you get it.

[nomorenomore08]

17. K&R for some hard (but necessary) truths!

nt

[DeSwiss]

20. Once again, you've nailed it!

The truth is -- this applies to all us slaves, those who are incarcerated and those of us who're allowed to live free-lance.

We were warned this day was coming but took little heed of it then. There seemed as if there'd be plenty of time to attend to it ''later.'' Now that later is here however, we find that the rules of the game have been changed without notice of any kind. And while we might not have been winning at the time, at least we were holding our own, right? Yeah. It's all bullshit.

Alvin Tofler wrote the book ''Future Shock'' back when I was a high school senior. It made a huge impression upon me because I could clearly see its truth. Toffler later said: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

- This is where we are now. No one will save us but ourselves......

K&R

[MindPilot]

47. I did too...actually I think it was a bit after high school for me.

But yes, that book was an eye-opener.

Thanks for that quote, I had forgotten it. I think it may be my new email sig at work.

[AgingAmerican]

23. These corps lobby for longer sentences

And a continuation of the Drug War®

[Blue Owl]

24. Private prisons = human merchandise

[valerief]

27. And they tell us slavery is dead. It's thriving in the US and around the globe. nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

28. This should be illegal. Period.

The state should not be allowed to contract out police or prison functions. It's just completely wrong on its face. Next thing, will be contracting out courts -- just as ludicrous so why not? Tax collections, same thing; some localities contract it out which is absolutely wrong.

All contracting does anyway is remove any oversight, and pad up the cost by adding in a (big) profit margin.

[Catherina]

36. Who else is left to exploit?

Capitalism is based on profit. We no longer manufacture anything except bullshit, GMO's, and a few pharmaceuticals to export which means our working, productive class has very few jobs left. Who else is left to squeeze? The poor whose homes we can still to flip for clueless yuppies who think their jobs manufacturing bullshit are secure and the slave population.

The UK is now forcing "welfare leeches" and sick people getting healthcare payments to work for free in open air prisons. We're headed there next. Watch and weep.

It "should be illegal. Period" but the profit motive trumps all.

[KamaAina]

29. Meanwhile, people with disabilities are warehoused in private nursing homes.

In effect, ultra-minimum-security prisons, many operated by chains, with a similar profit motive. Fully one-quarter of the U.S. nursing home population is under age 65. This despite the Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. that established the civil right of people with disabilities to live in community rather than institutional settings. (Think back to how spottily Brown v. Board of Education was being enforced in the late '60s.)

[phantom power]

31. Hindsight is 20/20, but non-govt prisons should be unconstitutional

There ought to be some clause in the constitution about fed, state and local govts being the only entities allowed to operate a jail or prison.

[MindPilot]

43. If we had a Constitutional Law Professor for a president, I bet things would be different.

He might actually have something to say about that, or even be outspoken against it. But I guess Snowden or something.

[malaise]

35. I've been saying this for years

Time to shut down the private prisons and the prison industrial complex

[Rex]

39. The private, 'paid for' prison system is banking on it!

Money!!!!!!

[MindPilot]

45. I think those numbers are a little low

I know at least one facility where GEO bills $300 per day per inmate. That is pushing $120,000 per year.

Is shameful. And even more shameful is the when you realize than many people are in prison--particularly federal prison--not because they are guilty, but because only a tiny percentage of accused can afford to defend themselves. Most will take a deal for five, rather than face a jury and risk 20. Fewer than 2% of cases go to trial.

[woo me with science]

54. kick

[reformist2]

57. It would seem to me that forced labor not related to prison or community service is unconstitutional

How on earth could we allow private companies to profit from the labor of prisoners???? I really don't get how this is even tolerated.

[Uncle Joe]

58. The for profit prison industry is an immoral, corruptive cancer on democracy.

It should be outlawed post haste before it totally undermines the American Peoples' representative government.

Thanks for the thread, Catherina.