21stCentury posted:

I'm starting to wonder... When will Americans, you know, do something?

You look at pretty much every part of American society and you can see it's full of bullshi. From a party with a platform that's basically "Disagree with the other guys" to a legal system where a cop who doesn't like you can beat you up and convict you as a rapist. I mean, how long can Americans stand for the 1% who own 90% of everything?

Kawalimus posted:

You might look at it and see bullshit but most of those Americans can't. A large portion of the population is indoctrinated to believe that they live in the best and most virtuous nation in the world. This will be very difficult to change.

21stCentury posted:

The indoctrination can't be that good that it cannot possibly be broken! I mean, after all, plenty of posters are Americans and post all about how terrible America really is, right?

They wouldn't do that if they were sure it was entirely in vain.

Panzeh posted:

Of all the marginalized groups in the country, prisoners are the most isolated from the suburban white guy.

Fire posted:

Or this thing where some girl from the suburbs got abducted and sold into sex slavery, where she was drugged and repeatedly raped and these heartless pimps just brazenly sell these women over craiglist like a used couch.

Nodrog posted:

Woozy posted:

This is the problem? Really?

nm posted:

It is in my line of work (Public Defender).
When you call the police, don't be shocked when someone gets arrested.
Every drat day (ok, several weeks), I get a client who gets his rear end kicked because someone called the police, generally a family member, who is SHOCKED that it happened.
If there's a real victim, call the police. If your son is "moody," don't call the cops, call a shrink. You call the police when you want someone arrested, whether it was the guy who shot you or the guy who broke your window. That is what they are there for. They are not mediators. They are not shrinks. They are cops. And they arrest people. (They also taze people).

(Ok, this is not the police thread, but still)

Kawalimus posted:

I would consider that a problem with the police, not the people.

ACLU posted:

JACKSON, MS – The American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Jackson civil rights attorney Robert B. McDuff today filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the for-profit operators of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (WGYCF), charging that the children there are forced to live in barbaric and unconstitutional conditions and are subjected to excessive uses of force by prison staff. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all the teenagers and young men in the facility.

Among the named defendants in the lawsuit are the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority and the Geo Group, Inc., which is the second-largest private prison company in the country. The facility houses youth between the ages of 13 and 22 who have been tried and convicted as adults, more than two-thirds of whom are incarcerated for non-violent offenses.

"Lawmakers deciding to send children as young as 13 into the adult criminal justice system is a symptom of our nation's addiction to mass incarceration," said Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the ACLU National Prison Project. "Studies show that young people diverted into the adult criminal justice system are far more likely to re-offend than those treated as juveniles. And it ratchets up the likelihood of bad outcomes when the law commits kids to prisons run by profit-driven corporations that skimp on basic supervision and services to squeeze out more profit, leading to the kinds of suicides, rapes and beatings that are commonplace at WGYCF."

The lawsuit describes a facility known for its culture of violence and corruption. Some prison staff exploit youth by selling drugs inside the facility or by entering into sexual relationships with them. Staff members savagely beat young prisoners who are handcuffed and defenseless, or spray them with chemicals when they are locked in their cells.

WGYCF, which opened in 2001, was constructed with over $41 million of taxpayer money. Since then, the Mississippi legislature has tripled the size of the facility, leading to significantly increased profits for Geo Group.

"The Mississippi legislature established WGYCF with the hope that the young men housed there would be provided a second chance," said Sheila Bedi, Deputy Legal Director of SPLC. "Unfortunately, private prison companies prioritized their profits over the well being of Mississippi's youth. As a result, the young men imprisoned in this facility endure unspeakable abuses at a tremendous cost to Mississippi's taxpayers."

According to the lawsuit, one young man was tied to his bunk for over 24 hours, brutally raped and sexually assaulted after prison staff failed to heed his pleas for protection. Other youth have suffered multiple stabbings and beatings, including one youth who will live with permanent brain damage as a result of an attack in which prison staff were entirely complicit.

Michael McIntosh, the father of a young man who was incarcerated at the facility and a founder of Friends and Family of Youth Incarcerated at Walnut Grove, a coalition of individuals who advocate for the youth at WGYCF, said, "Because of the abuse my son suffered at WGYCF, he will live with permanent brain damage for the rest of his life."

duck monster posted:

If the judge ignored or misinformed the jury, that ought get turned over in a higher court, assuming he's got the $$$ to pursue it (Which can be a hard call when your rotting in a cell)

Careful though. Reason Mag is a libertarian publication, so you'll want to treat it with a degree of suspicion.

HidingFromGoro posted:

ACLU and SPLC file federal lawsuit challenging inhumane conditions at for-profit youth prison

Full complaint

HidingFromGoro posted:

ACLU and SPLC file federal lawsuit challenging inhumane conditions at for-profit youth prison

Full complaint

Nodrog posted:

Is there another source for this because it seems really really fishy to me, like its been massively media sensationalised (or just made up). I googled and all the stories seem to be secondhand pieces based on the same documentary.

lurkaccount posted:

I wonder if it's the same at youth prisons, but there are many reports of inmates being threatened with reprisals for talking to the ACLU and filing complaints. I have no reason to believe it would be, especially at private prisons.

AmbassadorFriendly posted:

Human trafficking and sex trafficking is a lot more prevalent than you would think. It happens in the US with alarming frequency, and I'm not sure where you're from, but I'm willing to bet it happens in your home country. I don't want to go all crime control and "think of the children" here, but it's one of those crimes that you don't see getting a lot of coverage. I can't really comment on the accuracy of the story you're talking about, though.

http://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/womensrights/200705humantraffickingfs.pdf

Nodrog posted:

Im aware trafficking exists, however that story is probably either exaggerated or altered, and the idea that suburban white kids are likely to be snatched off the street and sold as prostitutes sounds like moral panic.

Rutibex posted:

My bet is the pimp was providing her with crack or meth and she went willingly.

A lot of human trafficking starts voluntarily, for a variety of reasons like searching for a job in a foreign country. It's only once they get there that they realize they are a slave and can't leave. Kind of like Dubai.

anonumos posted:

I wouldn't say that. Consider how many privileged white girls go missing every day, never to be heard from again. Consider also cases like Elizabeth Smart, held for 9 months by a fringe Mormon as his "wife".

Not all missing white girls are involuntary abductions; there are still a lot of rebels who get themselves in bad situations. But I'm also convinced there's a thriving trade in "white cargo".

And it's not exclusive to white girls. Or even girls in particular.

Rutibex posted:

If you are looking for white girls why go to the hassle of kidnapping an American? She could run away and just go to the police. If you trick and import a Russian girl she will have much less of an ability to escape. If she goes to the police she'll just be deported.

HidingFromGoro posted:

Inmates who want to see a doctor or nurse will be required to make a $15 co-payment. The prison board on Wednesday approved the new fee, along with a $20 booking and processing fee. [...] "The inmates were abusing their medical privileges, and this eliminated overcrowding in the medical units," said Sue Bensinger, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/guestcolumn/s_709919.html

VoidAltoid posted:

Yeah, charging them for medical care when they make next to nothing, I'm sure no preventable medical problems will come from this

Rutibex posted:

This isn't a matter of stupidity. They know exactly what will result from this new policy, and they don't give a poo poo.

Rutibex posted:

This isn't a matter of stupidity. They know exactly what will result from this new policy, and they don't give a poo poo.

flux_core posted:

Any particular reason that the programs which don't come across as obvious prisons, or sell themselves as 'therapy' haven't gotten ANY attention by the ACLU yet?

Really, do you have an inkling? If it's just them not knowing I'd happily call them.

Hourly. Until they do something, of course.

Xandu posted:

I'm sure they know. The ACLU just doesn't have enough time or money to actually pursue every case of injustice, unfortunately. Even the case HFG quoted, it looks the SPLC and a local lawyer are doing a lot of the work.

The programs you are talking about are horrific though.

Xandu posted:

I'll check it out, I don't think I've seen it. Honestly the saddest part of that is that parents willingly send their kids there. I'm sure in some cases they don't know how bad it is, but a lot of it is just giving up on their kids and washing their hands of them.

I can't turn up anything from Google, but didn't one of the companies in Utah actually get shut down?

Rutibex posted:

This isn't a matter of stupidity. They know exactly what will result from this new policy, and they don't give a poo poo.

Thlom posted:

two countries within the (more or less) same cultural sphere

HidingFromGoro posted:

We're radically different in our racial makeup than Norway, and that contributes greatly to the realities of our police and prison systems. I mean, policies and procedures in the prison system were implemented immediately after the end of our Civil War to maintain the ability to essentially buy or lease black people to do work- and as soon as those were enacted, the percentage of black inmates increased greatly, sometimes as much as tenfold, immediately following the War.

HidingFromGoro posted:

We're radically different in our racial makeup than Norway, and that contributes greatly to the realities of our police and prison systems. I mean, policies and procedures in the prison system were implemented immediately after the end of our Civil War to maintain the ability to essentially buy or lease black people to do work- and as soon as those were enacted, the percentage of black inmates increased greatly, sometimes as much as tenfold, immediately following the War.

joat mon posted:

Do you have some sources for this? I'd like to do some further reading on it.