1 in 136 U.S. residents behind bars

[madmusic]

By ELIZABETH WHITE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in 2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.

Of particular note was the gain of 33,539 inmates in jails, the largest increase since 1997, researcher Allen J. Beck said. That was a 4.7 percent growth rate, compared with a 1.6 percent increase in people held in state and federal prisons.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Prison_Population.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. Prison for Profit America

next it will be illegal to vote other then republican

[Poll_Blind]

2. Private prisons lobbying for tougher mandatory minimums.

How about that for an eye-opener.

PB

[Turtlebah]

3. Police State, Amerika

pretty soon it will be 1 in 50 Americans that will be in prison! There will be no end to it, unless people speak up about the immoral and illegal drug war.

[newyawker99]

20. Hi Turtlebah!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[madmusic]

4. California Correctional Peace Officers Association

Introduction

The California Prison system is the third largest penal system in the country, costing $5.7 billion dollars a year and housing over 161,000 inmates. Since 1980 the number of California prisons has tripled and the number of inmates has jumped significantly. In the past few years controversies involving prison expansion, sky-rocketing costs, and claims of mismanagement and inmate abuse have put the California prison system under heightened public scrutiny.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) is the California prison guards' union. In recent years the CCPOA has become a major player in California politics. Its political influence has grown to the point that it is widely considered to be one of the most powerful political forces in Sacramento. Its lobbying efforts and campaign contributions have greatly facilitated the passage of legislation favorable to union members.

The CCPOA takes the position that correctional personnel perform a vital public service that puts them under great danger and stress, and therefore makes no apologies for its aggressive promotion of member interests and its high-profile role in California correctional policy. CCPOA's critics argue that the union has become too powerful in California politics, that it has used its power to unfair advantage, and that it has been an impediment to constructive debate and openness about the state of California prisons.


http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/htCaliforniaPrisonUnion.htm

[Asgaya Dihi]

10. There's an old documentary about that

American RadioWorks did a documentary in April 2002 about how the for profit prison system has grown and one of their main examples was the play between CCPOA and the Governors race for mutual support. You might find it interesting, I did. Audio link on the lower left hand side.

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/corrections/index.html

[madmusic]

11. Thanks, and WOW! I had no idea.

This is huge. Great link and that little slide show is, uh, enlightening.

Now to research "American Legislative Exchange Council."

[Asgaya Dihi]

13. No problem

The drug war and the prison system is a sore point with me, I've been researching it for a few years now and trying to change things. I hesitate to jump too hard on threads because I don't want to kill off conversation among others on the subject but if you're interested in a particular aspect of the drug war I could probably point you to some good resources on it. Three of the better ones for some info on where we stand with the prison system itself follow, though www.prisonsucks.com is a nice quick and dirty look at the stats if people won't take the time to read more. There's something to be said for shock value as well as for detail I guess.

Prison Policy Initiative
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/index.shtml

Prisoners of the Census
http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/

Prison Activist Resource Center
http://prisonactivist.org/

[madmusic]

14. Has anyone researched...

how they test these laws they make? Newt Gingrich said once we are entering a new Progressive Era, and this, I'm sure, is exactly what he meant. In the early 1900s, Harry Laughlin of the Eugenics Record Office would craft a law, then they would find someone to apply it to and test it all the way the the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell">Buck v. Bell they even had a guy on their side "defending" Carrie Buck (Irving Whitehead, her "lawyer"). They wanted her to lose, and thousands of women were sterilized, mostly in California. (If the feminists don't think that will happen again, they are wrong.)

I know the conservatives are still doing that. They have to be, but how to prove it? No one at the time ever suspected Carrie Buck was being setup, and no one would suspect it now.

I KNOW this is happening, but only in VERY important cases. Any research on this?

[Asgaya Dihi]

15. Not that I've run into

I know what you're talking about but I haven't run into what I'd call a well researched page on the subject. In some areas such as with abortion they do run test cases and try to stretch the limits of the law over time, you might have more luck with that angle in a subject like that. With the drug war as far as I've been able to see they just make it up as they go, results be damned. Groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council figure out what's good for business then they figure out how to write a law that makes it work. Same with other interests such as MADD, well meaning as they are they've done some damage here.

But, nothing is tested in any real sense and results don't matter. For something to be tested there has to be an opposition and so far everyone with money and resources has been on the prohibition side with isolated and mostly case by case exceptions that don't change underlying laws much. Heroin is a fraction of the price it used to be and more pure, so is coke, death rates on both are up several times and our prison systems are a nightmare, we're financing and arming our own enemies but hasn't the drug war been successful and wouldn't it be stupid to stop they say. I've been doing this for years and still can't get anyone to tell me what aspect of this has actually been successful.

[madmusic]

18. They don't care if it's drugs.

Druggies will get caught in the panic anyway, so no need to concentrate on them. The California 3-strikes law is the perfect example.

Any law like that is what they want and they crafted and passed it not sure it could pass Supreme Court muster, though they had been laying the groundwork (Federalism) for years. But they knew once they passed it, it would spread, with their help, across the country.

The big question now is, did one of their own "defend" the 3-strikes law before the U.S. Supreme Court? Was it supposed to lose all along like Buck v. Bell? They might not go that far, but how do we know?

Hell, I wouldn't put it passed them to pay a budding criminal attorney fresh out of law school to help those poor criminals beat that draconian 3-strikes law knowing he/she had little chance of winning.

Read the CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY et al. v. DOE oral argument at the Supreme Court site. Doe's attorney either tried to lose, was over her head, or was incompetent. That doesn't mean an excellent attorney would have won, but this one didn't have a chance against Olsen.

You can see what I mean here (PDF):

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/01-1231.pdf


That very weak argument is what got me to thinking real hard about this, though after reading WAR AGAINST THE WEAK I knew something was still going on. Note that there is already some push to register drug offenders, and they already do in California.

They are sneaky suckers.

[Asgaya Dihi]

19. Not my angle, but this might help

I tend to stick more to the facts and figures angle with this. Since I post on a number of types of boards if I get caught up in making it too partisan or too conspiracy oriented I'd lose half of the people I'm trying to reach before they got through the first few lines. Convincing them there is a problem and we can fix it seems more useful to me at the moment, the whys more a matter for historians.

The best single source I know of for research on most aspects of the drug war would be the DRCNet online library. Might want to bookmark the main page since it's easy to get lost. It's a collection of collections so to speak, activists and researchers on several aspects of the drug war who collected their own info which was then gathered here. Enough to keep even a speed reader happy for ages ;)

http://www.druglibrary.org/

[madmusic]

26. Understandable

Some people do prefer rational logic for some reason when debating laws. That doesn't mean there isn't a conspiracy though. The Dems are just waking up to it and starting a counter attack with things like The American constitution Society. Then there are the Nancy Grace liberals and libertarians feeding the Radical Right's machine. Grrr.

I was just reading U.S. v. Strong and was surprised to learn that attempted burglary and larceny are now both violent crimes. The guy got busted for possession, someone, maybe he did, had a gun in the car. Now he's a career criminals and may never get out.

In Lawrence v. Texas, sterilization was overturned because of equal protection reasons, meaning someone busted for larceny wouldn't be sterilized. For a LOT of these people, when sterilization becomes an option, they will gladly take it. The excuse before was that it was so much cheaper than incarceration. That is just around the corner. They just need more women in prison first, and they are working on it.


If you do catch some drifts, even if you can't say anything publicly, I hope you let someone know. The next "moral panic" already underway is against meth and meth users. Look for crack-like mandatory sentencing since it is "destroying families."

EDIT: And thanks for the link. Worth a look.

[Asgaya Dihi]

27. Sure

If I catch anything like that I won't have a problem with saying it publicly. The LEAP tag in my sig is a group that I support and used to work a little with formally but I'm not a member and am not restrained by anything other than what I feel is most effective. That's part of why it's used to be, I didn't want to feel restrained.

I'm more a fan of coinciding interest rather than conspiracy though it might be a polite way of saying the same thing I guess, we see signs of it in the interplay between business, prison and police unions and the government, but it's hard to show much other than people doing what's good for themselves and the rest of us not caring enough to look very deep. We care some when it's Constitutional, but tend to lose interest when assured it's only against the users.

We'll need cops on our side to solve this, they make some of our best spokesmen once they come around, check the following video. We'll also need to bring around a lot of voters from the other party, can't make it too partisan or we lose time we could have used to end it on blame instead. Once people get into the history and details most seem to think the way both parties have handled it was wrong and are a lot more open the idea that people in power screwed us and still are. We just have to let them figure it out for themselves, start with that and they get defensive.

http://leap.cc/audiovideo/leappromo.htm

[sweetheart]

30. exposing it in the world media

Opinion is very slow to realize truth in US media, so why wait,
pravda.ru's english speaking forum is a great place to put uncomfortable
american dirty underwear for more global scrutiny. When the world realizes
that cooperating with the american war on drugs is really just a crime scam
to give over control of your laws to the american degenerate coroporatocracy,
that cooperation will break down as it has in bolivia and venezuela, and will
continue to break down for the rest of our lives... the empire s falling fast,
no matter what CNN says... heck, even the nyse is trying to buy its way out
of the north ameircan market by buying in to european exchanges so that the
collapse of its own market won't wipe out the newly-listed company... talk
about rats leaving a sinking ship.

[Asgaya Dihi]

35. Agreed

I don't talk with many Russians but do talk with a number of Swedes and Danes on one gaming board, they seem well represented there at least. We need to work outside as well as inside, pressure from both counts. Latin America is key these days too.

[madmusic]

31. Justisice Stevens

I think is, is very aware of this trend.

Also...

The US Supreme Court: The Federalist Society

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I met a woman lawyer at Baker Botts in Dallas who worked for the Reagan White House and vetted candidates for the federal judiciary. If they belonged to the Federalist Society, as she did, then it was a green flag for the nomination to be put forward. She created this formula and, according to her, the White House and the Attorney General wholeheartedly adopted it. She worked for both the White House and the US Department of Justice.

I think her litmus test was outrageous and ensures that our judges will be the type of people who, rather than think for themselves, have predetermined views on a wide variety of topics. In my opinion, this is nearly unethical. Politicians are not supposed to ask judges to predetermine issues but, effectively, that is what the Republican administrations have done".

My questions: I suppose Baker Butts is connected with Jim Baker III, whom we discussed earlier. It sounds as though the Federalist Society has a secret power comparable to that of the Skull and Bones Society, a skeleton in our political closet. What says Hank Greely?

Ronald Hilton - 9/9/02

http://wais.stanford.edu/USA/us_supremecourtfederalistsociety9902.html

[area51]

23. Drug war

You might be interested in this show on KPFT (7-7:30pm Central Time Fridays), & here's a page w/listening links. (Here's the whole enchilada schedule.)

[Asgaya Dihi]

25. Thanks

It's a great show, I've listened to it for years when I have the time. They help to sponsor another page with links to a lot of the guests they've had on the show such as LEAP and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Some links are outlined black so not as obvious as others but it's a good resource to back up the one you mentioned and get more info on some of the guests and topics covered.

http://www.endprohibition.org/

The link on their page for the King County Bar Association is wrong though, I'll have to drop them a note on that. It should be http://www.kcba.org/ScriptContent/KCBA/druglaw/index.cfm and that's too important a one to miss. They are pro reform all the way and are making decent progress with local papers and agencies.

[madmusic]

12. Fuuuuucccccckkkkk!

American Legislative Exchange Council is like the old Eugenics Record Office. So that's what they mean by Federalism!

I knew it!

[TahitiNut]

5. Over 5 million ex-felons (so far) are DENIED the right to vote.

Over 50% are black males and/or Hispanics. That's a really handy way to keep those most 'informed' of the need for prison reform from influencing any politician who'd 'stoop' to caring about a vote. (Everyone knows that money is more important than votes - and buys all that're needed.)


That's also a very convenient 'cheap labor' force. Ex-felon? Good luck getting any job. There's always the exception: Republican Political Criminals like North, Poindexter, Liddy, et. al.

[Sinti]

6. This is a spreading social disease, IMO

greatly exacerbated by the privatization of the prison system. Just how many of those inmates are actually violent criminals, I wonder. When they get out, they often go right back in, because no one other than parasites working the system will hire them... well, almost no one. God bless the few who do with honest intentions.

We love law and order, though, so who wants to jump up and address the problem. You can't even convict law officers for abuse when they beat the snot out of some guy, or fill his chest with bullets, regardless of the fact that you have it on film. I wonder if a real liberal will ever come around that is willing to look at and deal with the cause of all this mess.

[madmusic]

9. The Scam of the California Prison Guards Union

"It is a total scam, and yet, I am more scared of them than I am of anyone else, because if, God forbid, I ever got into their sights as someone they wanted to get, they could get me. Have me put into prison for some trumped up reason, and they can guarantee that you never walk out alive. Their power makes Abu Ghraib look tame by comparison."

A working Public Defender had the balls to say that:

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/006658.html

[Recursion]

34. Seriously. Who is "for" outsourcing prisons?

I can't even comprehend that. It seems like it's governments absolute most fundamental responsibility, to protect innocent people from wrongdoers. If they're outsourcing that, WTF do we even need a government for?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. The GOP thinks of it as a good start.

Pot Pot Pot! Arrest them!

[tjwash]

8. Hey, at least we are #1 in SOMETHING.

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, the U.S. currently has the largest documented prison population in the world, both in absolute and proportional terms. We've got roughly 2.03 million people behind bars, or 701 per 100,000 population. China has the second-largest number of prisoners (1.51 million, for a rate of 117 per 100,000), and Russia has the second-highest rate (606 per 100,000, for a total of 865,000). Russia had the highest rate for years, but has released hundreds of thousands of prisoners since 1998; meanwhile the U.S. prison population has grown by even more. Rounding out the top ten, with rates from 554 to 437, are Belarus, Bermuda (UK), Kazakhstan, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), the Cayman Islands (UK), Turkmenistan, Belize, and Suriname, which you'll have to agree puts America in interesting company. South Africa, a longtime star performer on the list, has dropped to 15th place (402) since the dismantling of apartheid.

[Swede]

16. The streets of the USA must be so safe.

Crime is a thing of the past.

[madmusic]

17. It isn't about crime.

Crime is only the "moral panic" they are using, and using well, for propaganda. The real goal is the master race, meaning those with their values.

[slackmaster]

21. US crime rates hit a peak about 1990 and have been falling steadily

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

[ChairmanAgnostic]

22. But possession of pot SHOULD be a felony, esp. if you have AIDS or

glaucoma. How dare you steal potential profits from big Pharma?

[madmusic]

28. Here's a graphy

[madmusic]

29. Another

[lonestarnot]

24. Runaway train can't be stopped!

[ReadTomPaine]

32. Not until it's wrecked on a hillside. n/t

[Recursion]

33. Yeah, but...

...they're mostly the poor, black, and uneducated ones so it doesn't matter.

:sarcasm:

[dogday]

36. Prison Industries Stock

One of the top growing stocks around... It's a freaking shame....:mad:

[madmusic]

37. Those damn liberal judges!!!

They let everyone off. Just ask Nancy Grace who lied about that. So what is the real deal? Are the police and judges bound by law to be soft on crime? This is especially good if you like crime shows and stuff:

Criminal Procedure Online

[madmusic]

38. Is there a "new right" on criminal sentencing issues?

I have noted in previous posts the interesting new reality that now Republicans, far more than Democrats, are promoting what might be called progressive sentencing reform. Recall that, as detailed here, it was Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee who were questioning AG nominee Alberto Gonzales about prison reform and rehabilitation. (Kansas Sen. Brownback spoke of prison reform as "a compassionate conservative topic"; Oklahoma Sen. Coburn said, "As a physician, I believe that we ought to be doing drug treatment rather than incarceration."; Pennsylvania Sen. Specter spoke of the importance of providing some prisoners with "literacy training and job training and drug rehabilitation.")

Moreover, as noted previously here and here, Republicans Governors have often led efforts in many states to cut back on harsh mandatory sentences and to expand treatment-centered alternatives to incarceration. (Recall, as just one recent example detailed in this LA Times article, that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a plan for California's prisons to "emphasize rehabilitation, marking a shift away from an era when punishment was the overriding mission.")

Part of what makes these issues so interesting and dynamic is that sentencing reform (especially in the federal system) can appeal in various ways to different wings of the Republican party. Republicans who favor small government (or at least small federal government) might well be distressed by the size and power of the federal criminal justice machine. Consider in this vein the advocacy of Timothy Lynch, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, in this piece about Booker which appeared in Legal Times yesterday. Lynch urges President Bush and Congress in response to Booker "to consult the long-term, strategic vision that can be found in the legal opinions of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas." For Lynch this means, inter alia, that "Congress should jettison the real-offense sentencing paradigm and move to a convicted-offense model" and that "President Bush and Congress should appoint a blue-ribbon commission with a mandate to propose a rollback of the federal criminal code."

Meanwhile, for the religious wing of the Republican party, concepts of redemption and forgiveness have often made religion a progressive criminal justice force in areas ranging from advocating abolition of the death penalty to faith-based prison programming. (I touched on some of these issues in this prior post.) Consider in this vein the advocacy of Mark Early, the President of the Prison Fellowship. In this commentary praising Booker, Early asserts, based on his experiences counseling prisoners, that the federal guidelines "have not produced justice, only bitterness." He likewise calls upon Congress to do better and says "Christians, who understand that doing justice is a matter of wisdom, not fear, should give their representatives the permission they need to resist political posturing and undo past mistakes. Then, perhaps the fairness and wisdom of our system will also be beyond any reasonable doubt."

http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2005/01/does_moving_rig.html

It's the neocons.