1 out of every 100 Americans are in Prison.

[aaaaaa5a]

Watch this short Youtube video discussing the plight of American Prisons.

The United States imprisons more people than any other nation on earth.

They call the U.S. Prison system... the new slave trade.

&feature=player_embedded#!

[frazzled]

1. Let's get more precise

Nearly 40% of those (39.4% as of 2009, to be exact) are African Americans. That fact is equally shocking.

[aaaaaa5a]

2. Assuming the facts in the video are true

I had no idea prisoners contributed that much to the economy. It literally is forced labor!

And the 3 strikes rule is downright ridiculous.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. +10000000000000000000000000

[tabasco]

3. 100,000 Americans become felons every year

for growing pot.

[aaaaaa5a]

4. They are cycled into the military industrial complex....

Did you hear the numbers in regard to how much military stuff the prisoners make?

The prisons have become the breeding ground for our slave labor to feed or constant need to go to war.

[ProSense]

5. And

"1 out of every 100 Americans are in Prison."

...it's at the lowest level in four decades.

Criminal Justice Reform 2011 – The Good, the Bad, and the Work Ahead
http://www.democraticunderground.com/100252507

[aaaaaa5a]

6. But these numbers are really only part of the problem...

because once you get out of prison, you can't get a job with a criminal record. Regardless of what you do, you are relegated to lower class society for life. If you could add up the current prison population and the number of people essentially "dead to society" because they have a criminal record, the human cost is truly staggering.

[ProSense]

16. True. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

7. Its not a British TV show about American prisons

Its QI which is a quiz show with a panel of comedians hosted by Steven Fry.

[aaaaaa5a]

10. Thank you for the correction. I have edited the OP. NT

[dipsydoodle]

13. I wasn't having a go at you

I was just clarifying.

[aaaaaa5a]

14. Oh.. please it was no problem at all....

I want my posts to be as factually accurate as possible.

And trust me, I often need a lot of help!

[provis99]

11. British quiz\comedy shows are more factual than our news.

[aaaaaa5a]

12. Isn't it sad in our society...

how often we have to go to comedians like Maher, Stewart, or an otherwise ridiculous game show to get factual news?


It doesn't say a lot for our "journalists."


Why can't this be a lead topic on the Nightly News?

[dipsydoodle]

17. You bet.

Most of your stuff is no more than shadow of ours. Thats why even the likes of Stewart don't really work here - he's so lame compared with what we've had for nearly 50 years now.

[ZombieHorde]

9. Authoritarian win.

Authoritarians love this shit.

[Mac1949]

15. The program the clip is from is Qi (which stands for Quite Interesting) A British trivia show.

I absolutely adore the show, as well as the panelists they have on (different each week, except for Alan Davies). As far as I can tell their factoids are carefully checked by their researchers (known as the Qi elves), and I have never caught them in a falsehood. I particularly enjoy the show because it shows, quite starkly on occasion, how Britain and Europe see us. Stephen Fry is generally positive about the US, except in cases like this, where we have gone off the deep end.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Do you know what

Even I didn't that was what QI was the initials of and I'm here. I'd never thought about it.

Check out Mock The Week on Youtube.

[Mac1949]

26. Marvelous program, though I liked it better when Frankie Boyle was on.

I have to admit to a weakness for Would I Lie To You as well. Actually, I'm a complete Anglophile when it comes to TV.

[dipsydoodle]

28. Try going back to where it all began here with "That Was The Week That Was" in 1962

aka TW3.

Only the occasional banner at the bottom has been added for the purpose of explanation.



edit to add : thought I'd better add that the bit at c. 7 minutes is a parody of a group we had here at the time who were called the Black and White Minstrels.

[Mac1949]

29. TW3 was an excellent series, and I'm well acquainted with the Black and White Minstrel Show.

I hate to let on how really ancient I am, but I go all the way back to the Goons, A Show Called Fred and Son Of Fred. Loved Spike Milligan. Wish the BBC hadn't wiped so many of the Q series.

[dipsydoodle]

31. The Goons

Years ago , and I never did quite figure their origin on disc, I found on ebay a complete set of all of the Goon Shows on MP3. format.

There's plenty on Youtube. This a favorite : YouTube - The Goon Show - What Time Is It Eccles

I'm 68 : used to listen to it on a crystal set.

[Mac1949]

32. One of my favorites as well.

Just out of curiosity, have you read any of Milligan's war memoirs? Never thought I could find anything about WW2 so amusing. The reason I bring it up, is that he goes over the sources and origins of the Goon Show. Interesting stuff.

[3waygeek]

18. So 1% of Americans are in prison...

Unfortunately, it's, for the most part, the wrong 1 percent.

[aaaaaa5a]

22. So sad...

people are in jail for pot, or for stealing 4 cookies on a 3 strikes rule.


And yet not one person from the fallout of 2008, is behind bars.

[killbotfactory]

19. This has been true for a long time

More prisoners than China.

And people still support the stupid fucking drug war.

I don't think people understand just how obscene this is.

[Zalatix]

30. China has fewer prisoners because of on-the-spot executions.

That and they stuff a lot in deep dark holes, a little deeper than their official paperwork goes.

One might also look at their in-prison execution rate...

[killbotfactory]

34. That's not true at all, we have a staggeringly large prison population

We still end up with more prisoners, accounting for executions

Let's do the math:

"The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all

2,300,000,000 prisoners in the US plus about 40 executions per year for the US.

According to HRW: The death penalty and executions. The government does not publicize figures for the death penalty, but it is mandated for no fewer than 68 crimes. Though the exact number is a state secret, it is estimated that as many as 10,000 executions are carried out each year.
http://china.hrw.org/agenda_for_reform

10,000 suspected executions plus:

"China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison." -NYT

So we have:

China: 1,600,000 + 10,000 suspected executions.
US: 2,300,000 + 40 executions

So, unless China is actually executing 700,000 more people than estimated, that is not the reason for their lower prison population. And these are just raw numbers.

China has a population of over a billion people
US has a population of over 300 million

If China imprisoned people at the rate we do, they would have close to 10 million people in jail. You will only arrive at that number if you include the estimated population of forced labor camps in China.

That the US has a prison population comparable to China with it's huge forced labor camps is atrocious. These are not good numbers, no matter how anyone tries to shrug them off.

[Zalatix]

35. China keeps its execution numbers secret

What makes you think it doesn't underestimate its prison population? And how many suspected criminals in China even make it to a prison?

America's prison population is terrible, but China is well known for keeping LOTS of secrets. You can't trust their numbers at all. BTW what is the population of forced labor camps in China? Do they release any numbers about that?

I didn't say America's record was great. Heck, we're jailing people over Pot. POT, for crying out loud. I just said that saying we're worse than China is relying on China's honesty about their numbers, and they're known to lie.

[killbotfactory]

36. I used estimates from Human Rights Watch.

And other sources which don't rely on China being truthful.

[stillwaiting]

21. They have become labor camps for corporations. Hmmmmmm.... nt

[aaaaaa5a]

23. Prisons are very profitable.

Free and forced slave labor.

Tax payer funded health care.

Terrible working conditions.

Workers have no rights.

Its a corporation's dream.

[stillwaiting]

24. Indeed it is. It's disgusting we as a society have let them get away with it. nt

[sarcasmo]

25. The for profit prison system will make this % even higher in the next decade.

[spanone]

27. crime pays for the privatized prison corporations

[greytdemocrat]

33. And the problem could be...

solved so simply it's amazing it hasn't been done.