Senator:US Prison System 'Point of National Disgrace'

[Echo In Light]

Senator:US Prison System 'Point of National Disgrace'
by William Fisher

NEW YORK - Despite the lackluster performance of so-called "blue ribbon commissions" in the United States over the years, sponsors of the latest proposal - the National Criminal Justice Commission - are optimistic that it will become a reality and that its recommendations will be taken seriously by the president, Congress and the U.S. public.

The reason, says its sponsor, Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, is that "America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace."

He added, "We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration."

Given the checkered history of blue ribbon commissions in the nation's capital, a spokesman for Sen. Webb told IPS that "with nearly 40 Democratic and Republican cosponsors, there is a strong likelihood of success".

In the past, Congressionally-appointed commissions are typically set up, staffed, complete their investigative and analytical work, make recommendations that are received by a senior official, a press release is issued, and then the commission's report is consigned to a shelf where it gathers dust.

Throughout U.S. history, there have been relatively few bodies that have gained the notoriety, media coverage, and attention from Congress and the president as the 9/11 Commission, established in the wake of the terrorist attacks if Sept. 11, 2001.

Over time, most of its recommendations were implemented. One reason was the severity of the issue - almost 3,000 deaths. Another was ongoing, well-organized, effective support from the families of the 9/11 victims.

A prison commission has none of those attributes - and prisoners can't vote. So the political incentive appears minimal.

But the issue is not. Statistics compiled by the Congressional Research Service begin to tell the story.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate on the planet - five times the world's average. A total of 2,380,000 people are now in prison. The U.S. has five percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prison population.

[Rex]

1. We would have to deal with racism and actual rehabilitation

and no company wants to do that...easy $$$ is just throwing them in a hole and charging the taxpayer for decades. Wow @ 1/4 of worlds prison population, insane really.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended for actually creating "The land of the free and home of the brave."

Good luck with that.

Thanks for the thread, Echo In Light.:thumbsup:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. I applaud Jim Webb so much for taking on the orphan issue of prison reform

I have written and told him so. We have the largest percentage of our population in the world incarcerated. And then what happens while under incarceration, is just unthinkable. Not to mention the new slavery - exploitation of prison labor by for profit private companies.

Go Webb! (He is so different than our other Senator - empty suit Mark Warner)

[randr]

4. The criminial justice sytem is the largest growth of government

we have ever experienced. The growth needed for the expanded "war on drugs" is the greatest increase of any government agency from the federal level to local town cops.
Where are the teabaggers?

[Flaneur]

5. Remember when we used to say "Don't make a federal crime out of it."

Well, we did. A few years ago, the federal prison system didn't even have 100,000 prisoners. Now it's got 100,000 drug offenders alone.

It's not just the feds. The prisons everywhere in this country are a shame and a disgrace. And they are filled with many, many people who don't need to be there at all and are only damaged by being run through the criminal justice grinder.

The punisher posse rides strong in this country.

[Solly Mack]

6. k/r

[Nite Owl]

7. Aren't private companies

running the prison show? Just like the 'reform' of healthcare we can't obstruct the private market.