Millions in the Slammer: We Must Reverse America's Zeal to Incarcerate

[marmar]

from The Women's Int'l Perspective, via AlterNet:




Millions in the Slammer: We Must Reverse America's Zeal to Incarcerate

By Nomi Prins, The Women's International Perspective. Posted December 30, 2007.

The U.S. has the most prisoners and the highest jailing rate of any country -- the insanity must stop.



The movie Atonement is a heart-breaking love-story, a historical WWII saga. Without giving away the ending, which must be seen to be adequately felt, it tells the tale of two lovers' lives irrevocably changed by false testimony against one of them -- for a crime he did not commit. Thus, it's also a condemnation of unreliable witnesses, the willingness of people to believe the worst, particularly of those in a lower economic-class, and the havoc that a false accusation and conviction can wreak upon human life. It's a film and message that every judge, jury member, and prosecutor should see and consider before convicting or sentencing anyone accused of a crime.

On December 10th, the United States Supreme Court voted 7-2 to recognize a gross injustice with respect to sentencing guidelines which disproportionately penalize those convicted of crack versus cocaine related crimes. The disparity gives equal punishment to a person caught with 5 grams of crack (a poor person's cocaine) and one caught with 500 grams of coke (a drug dealer's amount). In their validation of a federal district judge's below-guideline sentence for a crack case, the Supreme Court reconfirmed the 2005 Booker ruling that federal judges could have more discretion in levying below-guideline sentences. They did not rule on the validity of the guidelines themselves.

This decision should be viewed as the tip of an iceberg. American prisons teem with non-violent prisoners. Our juries are caught between wanting to rush home for the evening and wanting to appear law-abiding. Members are too quick to bow to the loudest voice amongst them, and not necessarily in The Twelve Angry Men direction. Meanwhile, false convictions, due to witness error, prosecutorial misconduct, inferior defense lawyers or coerced "snitching," continue to destroy multiple generations of lives. They throw the idea of "equal protection under the law" under the same bus as our Declaration of Independence mantra of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

We've simply got to reverse this zeal to incarcerate. The United States has more inmates and a higher incarceration rate than any other nation: more than Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Iran, India, Australia, Brazil and Canada combined. Nearly 1 in every 136 US residents is in jail or prison. That's 2.2 million people, an amount that quadrupled from 1980 to 2005. (There were only 340,000 people incarcerated in 1972.) Adding in figures for those on probation or parole, the number reaches 7.1 million. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/72031/

[lonestarnot]

1. Too big to stop. Keep fighting!

[LiberalEsto]

2. Prison corporations make big $$$

and there have been long-standing rumors that Barbara Bush is or was an investor in the prison industry. I've tried to research this but unfortunately was never able to find confirmation of it.

[Selatius]

6. They will use their money to paint any reformer as being "weak on crime"

And I'm afraid many Dems will be cowed into silence because of the unfair attack. A prison system should be built around not just punishment but reform. Our system emphasizes punishment and little else. It's becoming a gladiator arena in some prisons.

[BridgeTheGap]

3. She's probably been placed on a list just for writing this

I'm sure they can make room for her!

[groovedaddy]

4. Check this out: Infection Hits a California Prison Hard

COALINGA, Calif. — When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think flu, bronchitis or even the common cold.

They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they are right.

In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both widespread and lethal.

At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including Arizona, where the health department declared an epidemic after more than 5,500 cases were reported in 2006, including 33 deaths.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30inmates.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[NorthernSpy]

5. talk about zeal to incarcerate: 102-year sentence for training fighting dogs...

http://www.wtvynews4.com/news/headlines/11254851.html


Yes, dog fighting is a grim business. For enjoyment and gain, people pit two dogs against each other. The dogs rip each other up and sometimes they die. It's bad.


But it's not worth any goddamn 102 YEARS in prison -- especially not in a hypocritical society that allows factory farming, trapping, and vivisection for even the most trivial of reasons. Such a sentence is justifiable only for the most heinous crimes against people.


Our culture has lost perspective completely. If we truly want to solve the over-incarceration problem, we've got to stop allowing pressure groups to whip us up into rage and panic over their pet issues. We always end up going too damn far. It's like we're addicted to hysteria.

[High Plains]

7. 2.2 million prisoners, 500,000 drug offenders

Prison is a growth industry in America.

America is an insanely harsh and punitive country.

Here's something to chew on: About 600,000 people a year are re-entering society after receiving their graduate degrees from the college of criminal knowledge.

[Indy Lurker]

8. I've never thought long prison sentences were a crime deterent

Criminal don't think they will get caught.

For non-violent crimes, I'd much rather see:

1. high fines and confiscations.
2. Mandatory 90 day sentences.
3. A much greater police presents.

Bring back neighborhood cops.

If EVERY TIME someone tried to deal drugs they would lose their savings, and their car, and spend 90 days in jail, they may consider another career.

[NorthernSpy]

9. no, they'll probably just take your car and your stuff...

... and start dealing again to recoup their lost income.


We need to get over this dumb idea that we can make Prohibition a success by ratcheting up the penalties "one more time".

[yardwork]

10. Huge profits. A few people are making a lot of money on prisoners.

It's easy to demonize prisoners - who is going to defend them? So much money to be made. So easy to pass laws against drugs and lock people up.

All that profit is coming from our tax dollars.