Too many people in jail: Private prisons and judicial corruption

[dblack]

Police States always need more Prisons. I'm actually surprised most don't get that. If you're going to imprison more Citizens, obviously you need more Prisons to house them. It shouldn't be too hard to grasp that reality.

Hey Paul.....how come you never answered my question....last post on page two?

Are you referring the question about who the global elite are? (pagination on these boards is different depending on your settings).

If so, I expect he was referring to the moneyed interests that finance our elections and lobby Congress to do their bidding. Multinational banks and corporate interests, and political organizations with enough money and power to influence government. Sure as hell not the 'little people'.

 

[paulitician]

Bottom line is, this Police State needs more Prisons. They need more space to lock up more Citizens. It is very sad but it is what it is.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Who's driving who here? The corporations making money from incarcerations or the states filling the prison beds? The corporations are the winners. I think it's more like: what else can be expected in a Corporate State? Privatization of prisons is a terrible idea, falling along the lines of schools and health care.

The worst state in the Union for Incarceration is California, where there are NO private prisons, but where prison guards make high 6 figure salaries and the prison guard union has corrupt politicians in their hip pocket. (Who do you think is paying for the lies against 32, and why?) California public prisons are THE single most corrupt enterprise in the nation, run PURELY to pad the pockets of the prison guards and their corrupt, public employee union.

Incarceration in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Uncensored2008]

Maybe we should work harder to convince people to stop committing crimes.

Maybe we should stop criminalizing every aspect of life?

The regressives attacked Todd Akin for correctly speaking of "legitimate rape." I'll go one step further and speak of "legitimate crime." We know what legitimate crime is, it's murder, rape (real rape,) burglary, robbery, assault, and fraud.

Someone ingesting something you don't like isn't legitimate crime, nor is pissing in the bushes at a party, but both will land you in prison, and one will get you the scarlet letter of "sex offender." If it is "victimless," it can't be legitimately called a crime.

 

[Steelplate]

Police States always need more Prisons. I'm actually surprised most don't get that. If you're going to imprison more Citizens, obviously you need more Prisons to house them. It shouldn't be too hard to grasp that reality.

Hey Paul.....how come you never answered my question....last post on page two?

Are you referring the question about who the global elite are? (pagination on these boards is different depending on your settings).

If so, I expect he was referring to the moneyed interests that finance our elections and lobby Congress to do their bidding. Multinational banks and corporate interests, and political organizations with enough money and power to influence government. Sure as hell not the 'little people'.

dingdingding! We have a winner!

 

[MikeK]

Locking them all up for as long as possible is the best solution, especially when they are convicted of doing drugs. Get caught using drugs three times, you deserve life in prison. It's a just sentence. Taxpayers don't mind footing the $1.5 million bill.

First, do you know the cost of punitive incarceration? When all factors are considered, including the projected pension costs of retired narcs and prison guards, it ranges between $50k and $80k per junkie, per year, depending on venue and circumstances.

That aside, persistent drug addiction is a crime against oneself. The only reason drug addicts commit crimes against others is to obtain that which society forcibly withholds from them. A much better idea than imprisonment and the wholly futile "drug war" is to provide a place where addicts may voluntarily go for the essential levels of shelter and food and to freely obtain their drug of choice. Make rehab treatment available to those who wish to "kick," but allow those who don't to eventually overdose and die.

The existence and the depressing nature of such addict "flops," when appropriately publicized, will serve as a powerful deterrent to the use of addictive drugs -- especially when videos are shown to high-school adolescents. And the overall cost of such a straightforward approach will be miniscule in comparison to that of the existing approach, which is a total and massively costly, wholly wasteful failure.

 

[Duped]

Suggesting that people stop committing crimes is not a means of reducing the prison population is it?

No victim, no crime! You can't stop drugs, prostituion, or gambling. Trying to do so only punishes society.
If you take non violent victimless " criminals " out of society, and lock them up with predators for years, you have diminished the chances for reacculturation. Many deserve prison, and should never get out -pot smokers don't!
When you place indivisuals in prison for monetary gain, and not to protect society -that is criminal. It will only baloon from here, greed is a dangerous impetus!

.

 

[Seawytch]

Police States always need more Prisons. I'm actually surprised most don't get that. If you're going to imprison more Citizens, obviously you need more Prisons to house them. It shouldn't be too hard to grasp that reality.

Hey Paul.....how come you never answered my question....last post on page two?

Are you referring the question about who the global elite are? (pagination on these boards is different depending on your settings).

If so, I expect he was referring to the moneyed interests that finance our elections and lobby Congress to do their bidding. Multinational banks and corporate interests, and political organizations with enough money and power to influence government. Sure as hell not the 'little people'.

Maybe it's time for pharmaceutical companies to push legalization. They're who will benefit from it.

 

[dblack]

Hey Paul.....how come you never answered my question....last post on page two?

Are you referring the question about who the global elite are? (pagination on these boards is different depending on your settings).

If so, I expect he was referring to the moneyed interests that finance our elections and lobby Congress to do their bidding. Multinational banks and corporate interests, and political organizations with enough money and power to influence government. Sure as hell not the 'little people'.

Maybe it's time for pharmaceutical companies to push legalization. They're who will benefit from it.

???

Are you kidding?

 

[Seawytch]

Are you referring the question about who the global elite are? (pagination on these boards is different depending on your settings).

If so, I expect he was referring to the moneyed interests that finance our elections and lobby Congress to do their bidding. Multinational banks and corporate interests, and political organizations with enough money and power to influence government. Sure as hell not the 'little people'.

Maybe it's time for pharmaceutical companies to push legalization. They're who will benefit from it.

???

Are you kidding?

Yes I'm kidding about them pushing it, no I'm not kidding about them being the ones that would profit.

 

[dblack]

Maybe it's time for pharmaceutical companies to push legalization. They're who will benefit from it.

???

Are you kidding?

Yes I'm kidding about them pushing it, no in not kidding about them being the ones that would profit.

Well, I suppose it depends on how it went down. If drugs were legalized libertarian style, big pharma would take a loss. If the "legalize it and tax/regulate/control it" crowd had their way, it would no doubt be a corportist cash cow.

 

[paravani]

... But that's certainly an original idea, Mike.

Locking them all up for as long as possible is the best solution, especially when they are convicted of doing drugs. Get caught using drugs three times, you deserve life in prison. It's a just sentence. Taxpayers don't mind footing the $1.5 million bill.

First, do you know the cost of punitive incarceration? When all factors are considered, including the projected pension costs of retired narcs and prison guards, it ranges between $50k and $80k per junkie, depending on venue and circumstances.

That aside, persistent drug addiction is a crime against oneself. The only reason drug addicts commit crimes against others is to obtain that which society forcibly withholds from them. A much better idea than imprisonment and the wholly futile "drug war" is to provide a place where addicts may voluntarily go for the essential levels of shelter and food and to freely obtain their drug of choice. Make rehab treatment available to those who wish to "kick," but allow those who don't to eventually overdose and die.

The existence and the depressing nature of such addict "flops," when appropriately publicized, will serve as a powerful deterrent to the use of addictive drugs -- especially when videos are shown to high-school adolescents. And the overall cost of such a straightforward approach will be miniscule in comparison to that of the existing approach, which is a total and massively costly, wholly wasteful failure.

So, essentially you're proposing that we allow addicts to sentence themselves to a self-inflicted "death penalty" for drug abuse?

I can see a few problems with that, but most of the problems occur if the drug of choice is one that is known for sometimes causing violent behavior -- like crack, meth, and Valium.

It would work for heroin, though. I've met heroin addicts, and they want nothing so much as to get really, really high. All you'd have to do is offer them some ultra-pure China White, and they'd happily leap off of their own drug-induced cliff.

I just can't quite put a finger on why that sounds so horrifically... EVIL.

But hard drugs aside -- it's just stupid to put marijuana users in jail. I live in a state where marijuana is decriminalized, and about half the population smokes it at some time or another. And nobody steals to buy their marijuana, or commits violent crimes on it, or hangs out in gangs for it, or indulges in any of the anti-social, culture-destroying behavior associate with hard drugs. Marijuana is a less dangerous drug than alcohol; a recreational drug that can't kill you no matter how much you smoke, and that isn't normally addictive.

Honestly, to put pot smokers in jail is really incredibly stupid.

-- Paravani

 

[Clementine]

In an article entitled “Jailing Americans for Profit: The Rise of the Prison Industrial Complex,” author John W. Whitehead revealed startling facts about America's prison system. According to Whitehead, “Presently, one out of every 100 Americans is serving time behind bars …. one in fifty Americans are working their way through the prison system, either as inmates, or while on parole or probation.” Whitehead also observed that most of those held in federal prisons were convicted of the non-violent and victimless crime of marijuana possession. ...

The rest of John Whiteheads fine article can be read at the following link.

Jailing Americans for Profit: The Rise of the Prison Industrial Complex - BlackListedNews.com

Hi, Professor!

Thank you for posting this information. I've heard that the US has a higher percentage of its population incarcerated than any other country in the free world. I would think that people might be concerned that "the land of the free" is in fact "the land of more prisons" -- but I guess not.

Sad, really.

-- Paravani

Be careful Buying into stats like that. Do you think Iran, or Syria Give honest numbers when asked what % of their people are behind bars? What About China?

lol

Those entire countries are prisons, so no need to put prisons within a prison.

There is so much crime on our streets and it doesn't seem to get better. New laws are being made constantly and many are ridiculous, which likely ensure that nearly everyone has broken at least one law. I wish law enforcement would focus more on the violent criminals instead of the ones that are easy to catch. The feds charge a lot of people with crimes concerning their use of their own land. Many have been charged because they break one of the many strict environmental laws, like the guy who built a reservoir for rain water or the people who fill in holes on their property or disturb a bird nest when they trim their trees.

I do think there are too many laws and too many in prison. There are people in prison who are innocent or overcharged. Yet, the streets are no safer. Even with prisons bursting at the seams, no one in their right mind would walk alone down the streets in many cities. Reports of violence, drive by shootings and gang fights fill the news constantly. It's not that there are no criminals who should be serving time, but police never seem to catch the worst offenders. It's easier to catch the average person who may not even know they are breaking a law.

There have been way more bank robberies in my state the last few years, maybe because people are more desperate. Most haven't been caught yet, but I'm sure any farmer who accidentally killed an endangered kangaroo rat with his plow is doing time.

Not sure I buy it that the police, prosecutors and prison owners are all in cahoots with each other, but our system is only as good as the least honest link.

 

[Seawytch]

???

Are you kidding?

Yes I'm kidding about them pushing it, no in not kidding about them being the ones that would profit.

Well, I suppose it depends on how it went down. If drugs were legalized libertarian style, big pharma would take a loss. If the "legalize it and tax/regulate/control it" crowd had their way, it would no doubt be a corportist cash cow.

With our politicians being beholden to the cash of lobbyists, it's the only way it will go down. The "libertarian style" ain't gonna happen.

 

[dblack]

Yes I'm kidding about them pushing it, no in not kidding about them being the ones that would profit.

Well, I suppose it depends on how it went down. If drugs were legalized libertarian style, big pharma would take a loss. If the "legalize it and tax/regulate/control it" crowd had their way, it would no doubt be a corportist cash cow.

With our politicians being beholden to the cash of lobbyists, it's the only way it will go down. The "libertarian style" ain't gonna happen.

Probably. That's why I'm not really pushing for legalization anytime soon. Recreational drugs are more 'freely' available as an underground commodity than they would be if the corporatists took control. We have more fundamental changes to make to our government before we can begin to move toward a freer society. Sadly, it may be too late.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

This a stupid article.
prisoners properly convicted,deserve the fruits of what they get.
bottom line,if you dont want to do time.
dont commit crime.

May 3, 2013

Kids For Ca$h​

"Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to almost three decades in jail after conspiring with private prisons to trade kids for cash.

In the private prison industry, longer sentences earn more money from the state.

Since 2003, Ciavarella received millions of dollars in bribes for condemning minors to maximum prison sentences. In one case, Ciavarella sentenced a 10-year-old to two years in a detention facility for accidently bottoming out his mother’s car.

According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, over 5,000 young men and women were unjustly sentenced to prison and denied their constitutional rights. Many of them have now been released and cleared of their charges.

Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom manner, was convicted of racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, and tax evasion. He was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

"Unfortunately, two judges in Luzerne County have caused unimaginable taint to the laudable efforts of many dedicated individuals,” Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said, “conduct for which those two judges presently are paying dearly,"

​

 

[Katzndogz]

We can't be realistic. In California a federal judge ordered thousands of prisoners released and some of them committed murder within four hours.

 

[whitehall]

Another sneaky pot-head advocacy post.

 

[MikeK]

This a stupid article.
prisoners properly convicted,deserve the fruits of what they get.
bottom line,if you dont want to do time.
dont commit crime.

You need to give some thought to the Rockefeller Minimum Sentencing Guidelines which routinely impose cruel, unreasonable, and wholly counterproductive prison sentences on drug offenders. While I have no problem with severely punishing criminals whose offenses harm innocent persons, sending someone to prison for years for harming no one -- except themselves in some cases -- is stupidly pointless, wasteful, and harmful to society in a number of ways.

 

[tjvh]

If you don't like jail, don't break the law... Problem solved.