Obama is So Bad on Drug Policy, He Got Endorsed By Prison Guards

[High Plains]

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2007/sep/24/obama_is_so_bad_on_drug_policy_h

I guess the title says it all. Barack Obama is far and away the worst democratic contender when it comes to drug policy and criminal justice reform. It is unsurprising, therefore, that people who make a living off our grotesquely bloated criminal justice system are supporting his candidacy. Via Talkleft:


…one of the largest municipal jail unions in the country said Monday it would endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for president. The endorsement would be Obama's first from a union.
…

Obama said, "It's an honor to have the endorsement of these men and women who put themselves at risk every day to serve on the front lines of our nation's criminal justice system."

Ah, the ever-expanding front lines of our criminal justice system. Obama just keeps saying things like this. It remains perplexing to watch the so-called "change" candidate gaze with reverence upon our massive drug war and criminal justice system. Obama's support from incarceration specialists is richly deserved to be sure.

[High Plains]

1. It would be nice to see Democratic candidates take on the

horrible injustice that is the war on drugs.

Too much to hope for, I suppose.

[book_worm]

2. the title says it all? just because the prison guard union endorses him?

"incarceration specialists"? Should there not be any prison guards? Oh yeah on DU everybody who is in prison is innocent. I guess I don't see what the endorsement of prison guard has to do with the illegal war on drugs by our government.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Obama has the same drug policy

as the rest of the Democratic candidates, except for Kucinich, of course, who recognizes the drug wars for what they are -- a giveaway to the prison industries and a knee-jerk topic for the law-and-order crowd.

I was watching a stand up routine by Roseanne Barr the other day and she said something that was very profound. (Please excuse the paraphrasing.) She said, "The war on drugs is a war waged by rich people from the pharmaceutical industry on poor people and their cheap street drugs."

[Pawel K]

4. Are you high? The people that make money off the prison system?

These people are doing their job, they make around $30,000 a year tops. These barely middle class americans are who you blame for the prison system?

And what the fuck do these guards have to do with drug policy? I occasionally do see idiotic posts on this web site, I think yours takes the cake.

[High Plains]

5. Uh, I didn't write this; I only posted it, but...

labor.about.com/od/industryprofiles/p/prisonguards.htm

Median salary for prison guards: $44,500. Some of those guys in California, where the prison guards union is extremely powerful and regressive, make $100,000 a year with overtime. Poor prison guards!

If you are unaware, and you clearly are, prison guard unions lobby for their interests. What are their interests? More job security, more pay. Gee, what kind of policy prescriptions do you think they might have?

By the way, the number of imprisoned drug offenders in this country is around 500,000. That's a lot of prison guard jobs (and cop jobs and prosecutor jobs and prison contractor jobs).

So, fuck you, too.

[Pawel K]

6. $100,000 a year for a CO? You got to be kidding me

I trust that you have a source for this information?

Here in new mexico a corrections department job will start you off at $9.50 - $10 an hour. Maybe in California, where everybody makes more money since the standard of living is higher they make 40K a year, but there is no way in hell they can make anywhere close to $100,000 a year, I simply can not believe this.

I know you didn't write this but you seem to endorse it. So I will ask you again, what do prison guards have to do with drug laws? Do you honestly believe a guy making $10 an hour goes in to work and thinks to himself, shit, thank god for all those unfair drug laws. You seem to be the same type of person that would call me up when I had a call center job and bitch at me as if I was the bank of america and as if I gave a flying fuck as to where they put their money.

[Jed Dilligan]

9. Our prison guards' union is the most powerful lobby in the state

and they routinely spend millions of dollars opposing any change in law that will reduce the inmate population.

[Kingshakabobo]

14. Here:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060228/news_1n28guards.html

Prison guards lock up bundle in OT pay

2,400 officers made more than $100,000

By Steve Schmidt
STAFF WRITER

February 28, 2006

Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime.

Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows.

Graphic:


Big bucks in the big house
One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office.

At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one out of five guards was paid more than $100,000 last year.

[LeftyMom]

13. 30K? ha!

I don't know about everywhere else, but the CCPOA is the most powerful union in CA and a major influence on California politics. Guards here frequently make six figures with bonuses and overtime, and the prisons are mostly in the areas with comparatively low cost of living.

[PDenton]

16. Right on

These guys aren't making lots of money, and job security comes down to who gets a shiv that day and who gets to go home. Prison guards have one of the toughest jobs around.

[Jed Dilligan]

7. There goes my vote.

I will now be voting Kucinich in the primary. Thanks for posting.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. If We Decriminalized Drugs We Could Focus On The Real Bad Guys

I think Cali has a pretty good approach; diversion for first time offenders... I don't think most drugs are good for you but they aren't so bad it should result in being placed in the hoosegow...

[Romulox]

10. How is his Drug Policy any different from Clinton's or Edwards?

All seem to be on board with the War on (people who use) Drugs.

[mark414]

11. and so is Hillary. and Edwards. and pretty much all of them.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. It's A Form Of Intellectual Vanity To Single Out Individual Candidates

They are politicians... They need to say crap like that to get elected in a national campaign...Obama, Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Clinton, the whole gang...

So then we are left with the dilemma of opposing them because they are so wrong on this issue, even though they are closer to us on a host of other issues, at the risk of empowering those who aren't close to us on any issues at all...

[Jed Dilligan]

15. That's why I'm voting DK in the primary

then (probably) choking down my bile to vote for the primary winner in 2008.