The Prison Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Prison Thread

AreWeDrunkYet: Jul 8, 2006

Apologies if this has already been posted, but

http://nplusonemag.com/raise-the-crime-rate

e: Not intended as an endorsement of the conclusions, but worth a read for the statistics and narratives, I think.

AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Jan 30, 2012

# ? Jan 30, 2012 20:35

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# ? May 29, 2024 17:57

Doughbaron: Apr 28, 2005

A.S.H. posted:

I believe this has been discussed before in this thread, the nature of criminal registers for public record, the only kind I know of being for sex offenders.

The other day we had a woman with her daughter leave where I work because she recognized one of my co-workers as someone who was on the offender registry. My morbid curiosity eventually brought me to use what my tax dollars are paying for, but frankly, I don't feel any better after confirming what I was told.

I feel bad for my co-worker, I feel as though he is being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, where his personal information, photograph, and place of work are there for anyone to see.

Why don't we have offender registries for other types of criminals, like con artists? I'd very much like to know people who have committed perjury or otherwise have been found of being criminal dishonest or abusing peoples trust in other manners, but we don't apply these conditions to those convicted.

This is why I think the sex offender registry is cruel and unusual, it's specifically targeting a minority of criminal and basically wholesale destroying their privacy after they have served their sentence.

One of the most difficult parts for me about informing people about the prison system is always the inevitable, "..but what about child molesters?" I can often get people to agree that our prison sentences are too long and that the conditions are too barbaric, but when it comes to sex crimes involving kids the system isn't nearly harsh enough in their eyes. It's very easy to get in a situation where you get accused of being a pedophile sympathizer or "white knighting" pedophiles. If I find that I am defending myself from this position I've realized that I simply don't have the arguing skills to get out of it. It's hard for me to blame individuals for this because I used to be the same way.

As for cruel and unusual punishment for pedophiles, sex offender registries are really only the tip of the iceberg. Many states have a "hospital" or treatment system set up for offenders who complete their sentence but are not deemed fit for release. Treatment can include anything from old fashioned therapy to penile plethysmograph to make sure that the offenders' sexual attractions have changed. In Texas this is known as Sex Offender Treatment Civil Commitment. Here is a quick summary from their web site:

"Sexually violent predators are committed not convicted. The intent of the law is to provide intensive outpatient rehabilitation and treatment to the sexually violent predator. Civil commitment is different than a criminal sentence in that a criminal sentence has a definitive time frame. Civil commitment continues until it is determined that the person�s behavioral abnormality has changed to the extent that the person is no longer likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence."

What this means in Texas and in several other states like California, is that no matter what sentence you receive in a court of law, the state can hold you for however long it wants. The only other type of criminal class I'm aware of that is treated this way are suspected terrorists.

# ? Jan 30, 2012 23:56

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Doughbaron posted:

What this means in Texas and in several other states like California, is that no matter what sentence you receive in a court of law, the state can hold you for however long it wants. The only other type of criminal class I'm aware of that is treated this way are suspected terrorists.

The good news is that in California, those deemed Sexually Violent Predators are entitled to a jury trial on that fact.

# ? Jan 31, 2012 04:12

vortmax: Sep 24, 2008; In meteorology, vorticity often refers to a measurement of the spin of horizontally flowing air about a vertical axis.

Interestingly enough, the Arkansas Times just did an in-depth article about the sex offender registry in this state. I think it does a good job of discussing why in some cases it's a good thing to have, but in other cases it really goes overboard.

Sympathy for the Devil
And the sidebars:
The Scarlet Letter
Sex Offense Crimes
Sex Offender Levels

# ? Jan 31, 2012 04:53

joat mon: Oct 15, 2009; I am the master of my lamp;
I am the captain of my tub.

nm posted:

The good news is that in California, those deemed Sexually Violent Predators are entitled to a jury trial on that fact.

Is that good news? I'd rather have a judge deciding whether the state should pay for (effectively) lifetime confinement in (effectively) prison for a :supaburn:

Sexually Violent Predator :wth:

than a jury who will believe that it's only until the offender is 'cured' and that the offender will actually be getting treatment.

What is your experience with the system?

(Such a bill just got introduced in our legislature)

# ? Jan 31, 2012 18:18

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

joat mon posted:

Is that good news? I'd rather have a judge deciding whether the state should pay for (effectively) lifetime confinement in (effectively) prison for a Sexually Violent Predator than a jury who will believe that it's only until the offender is 'cured' and that the offender will actually be getting treatment.

What is your experience with the system?

(Such a bill just got introduced in our legislature)

Never done a svp cases, but my understanding is that juries are the way to go.
The elected judge is too worried about letting the guy go then he rapes and murders someone, then the judge loses an election to go for it.

We don't have a high win rate, but it is slighly higher with juries.

# ? Jan 31, 2012 20:17

The Valuum: Apr 11, 2004

Thanks for explaining civil commitment! I watched that Louis Theroux documentary "A Place For Pedophiles" and kept wondering how they could detain them after they served a prison sentence. It made no sense to me, I had no idea something like that existed.

Also one thing that bugged me was the entire therapy was based around changing their sexual desires. Is that even possible? It seems like focusing on why it is wrong and not succumbing to such desires would be more effective in preventing future cases.

Goddamnit nm you have me paranoid about my record now. So when records is officially "expunged" yet it still appears on databases those would be databases viewable by whom? Police (or can't they still see cases even if they were expunged or what not)? Potential employers?

# ? Feb 1, 2012 06:34

Doughbaron: Apr 28, 2005

The Valuum posted:

Also one thing that bugged me was the entire therapy was based around changing their sexual desires. Is that even possible? It seems like focusing on why it is wrong and not succumbing to such desires would be more effective in preventing future cases.

There is this case in which a man developed pedophilic tendencies because of a brain tumor, which went away when the tumor was removed. Other studies have shown that offenders with attractions to adults as well as children can be taught to focus their desires on adults. For preferential offenders, however, I've never seen any study that shows that their desires can be changed. This may be because, biologically, pedophilia is a sexual orientation like homosexuality and heterosexuality, but there is a lot of debate on that.

What I'm wondering is if it ends up being proven that attraction to children is incurable, will we decide to just keep these people there forever anyway?

# ? Feb 1, 2012 09:24

Incident Number: Nov 22, 2011; by T. Fine

Not sure if this has been posted in here yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdQlng_-Jog

This is a doco by Louis Theroux called 'A place for pedophiles' focusing on how California is not releasing them at the end of their prison terms, but is instead committing them to a psychiatric institution for 'treatment'.

I saw it today and found it pretty interesting, it seems really sad that these guys are basically locked up forever because of the nature of their crime rather than being released when they have completed the imposed sentence.

# ? Feb 1, 2012 10:22

19 o'clock: Sep 9, 2004; Excelsior!!!

The Valuum posted:

Goddamnit nm you have me paranoid about my record now. So when records is officially "expunged" yet it still appears on databases those would be databases viewable by whom? Police (or can't they still see cases even if they were expunged or what not)? Potential employers?

I am finally able to petition for expungement this year. Five years from my date of sentencing for a misdemeanor back in Michigan. I hope to now be able to apply for jobs and not get stonewalled when my record comes up. Here's hoping the judge deems that my progress since the sentencing warrants expungement.

If it comes up after being expunged I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that my criminal record is gone. I believe that the point of expungement is that it is completely removed from the public record. I would encourage any employer to call up the arresting agency and ask about my record, in which case I believe they would only get "No...he has no record."

Not being able to get a proper job has pained me long enough.

# ? Feb 1, 2012 19:57

ugh its Troika: May 2, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

Orbis Tertius posted:

Nice profile picture/discussion synergy

TRIGGER WARNING _{I think? does that apply here?}

Trigger warnings never applied anywhere except LF. If you read SA you are expected to have a thick skin.

# ? Feb 1, 2012 23:16

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

-Troika- posted:

Trigger warnings never applied anywhere except LF. If you read SA you are expected to have a thick skin.

And not suffer from PTSD.

# ? Feb 2, 2012 02:07

ugh its Troika: May 2, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

Really, if someone's PTSD is bad enough that reading words on a forum known for rough and raunchy humor is enough to set them off then they have no business surfing the net or even being around the general public.

# ? Feb 2, 2012 14:39

duck monster: Dec 15, 2004

nm posted:

Never done a svp cases, but my understanding is that juries are the way to go.
The elected judge is too worried about letting the guy go then he rapes and murders someone, then the judge loses an election to go for it.

This, by the way is the tragic perversion at the heart of the prison system. Electable judges are loving insane and most of the world you'd be treated like an illiterate nutter for proposing it.

The judge should *never* act with fear or favor, but thats exactly what judge elections are about. The truth is never democratic.

# ? Feb 2, 2012 15:33

Forums Terrorist: Dec 8, 2011

-Troika- posted:

Really, if someone's PTSD is bad enough that reading words on a forum known for rough and raunchy humor is enough to set them off then they have no business surfing the net or even being around the general public.

"I think people with crippling mental issues should be locked away forever" - Something Awful forums poster Troika

# ? Feb 2, 2012 16:39

Soulcleaver: Sep 25, 2007; Murderer

Doughbaron posted:

One of the most difficult parts for me about informing people about the prison system is always the inevitable, "..but what about child molesters?"

One of the most difficult things about fighting for prisoners' rights (other than being fought every drat step of the way) is that not everyone in prison is a harmless nonviolent potsmoker. Some amount of the people you're defending are the monsters that they are made out to be, and trying to convince the average person that they need to recognize the human rights of some kiddie loving scumbag is a Sisyphean task. This is why the ACLU has such a bad name; if you defend a maniac's rights, you must be approving of that maniac's actions!

The reality is that even evil bastards deserve competent medical treatment, therapy, and a chance to reform themselves rather than being thrown in some medieval dungeon to be raped and murdered by a fellow inmate. Or a guard. Or to be released with no employment options and therefore forced to cause suffering again to survive. The cycle of revenge has to stop somewhere. Yet even the most leftist of Americans are usually appalled by this kind of talk. CANT DO THE TIME DONT DO THE CRIME

# ? Feb 2, 2012 20:16

VH4Ever: Oct 1, 2005; by sebmojo

It seems to me that, from the very beginnings of this country, we've had lofty ideals about "rights" and the like, but only for certain groups of people. I cringe when people parrot the whole "Our Founding Fathers believed all men were created equal" direct from elementary schol without seeing through to the explicit and implicit hypocrisy in that statement. Back when this country was founded, the only groups of people that counted were white male property owners. Over time the circle of those who "count" and get afforded all the rights of this country has gotten bigger, but it still doesn't cover everyone.

This country needs to stop acting like it supposedly believes EVERYONE regardless of whatever has inalienable rights, when we do nothing but draw lines and exclude this group and that group from the discussion. Hell, post 9/11 the president can now REVOKE rights of citizenry at will if you're suspected of being a "terrist". I think ultimately, those who have committed sex crimes against children are seen as fairly equal to that, and the general public seems OK with the notion that they lose all human rights once the accusation is made. That's where all the rest of these things like civil commitment, and children and adults being posted side-by-side on sex offender registries, and etc come from. The moral question I guess is: is that a good thing or a bad thing?

# ? Feb 2, 2012 21:04

HidingFromGoro: Jun 5, 2006

A.S.H. posted:

Why don't we have offender registries for other types of criminals, like con artists?

We do.

US Department of Justice posted:

Closing the Gap Between Incarceration and Probation

Drug offenders place an extraordinary burden on the criminal justice system. Existing correctional institutions are overwhelmed by the task of incarcerating serious drug offenders. Probation alone is an inadequate tool for dealing with drug offenders. However, lower level drug offenders are not routinely incarcerated unless they also commit a serious offense or have multiple drug-related convictions. To close the gap between incarceration and probation, the U.S. Department of Justice has explored numerous intermediate steps or punishments, including civil penalties, license suspension and revocation, boot camps and shock incarceration, halfway houses, electronic monitoring, drug testing, and denial of federal benefits such as grants, contracts, purchase orders, financial aid, and business and professional licenses.

Alerting Casual Drug Users

The denial of federal benefits sanction (Section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act) helps ensure that individuals found guilty of violating the Controlled Substances Act will, at the very least, forfeit their claims to most taxpayer-supported economic benefits and other privileges. Federal benefits are defined by statute as "the issuance of any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of the United States or by appropriated funds of the United States." The program alerts casual drug users to the fact that, as students, they can lose their student loans; as broadcasters, they can lose their Federal Communications Commission licenses; as physicians, they can lose their authority to prescribe medicine; as pilots, they can lose their Federal Aviation Administration licenses; as businessowners, they can lose their Small Business Administration loans or the right to contract with the Federal Government; and as researchers, they can lose medical, engineering, scientific, and academic grants.

Types of Federal Benefits That May Be Denied:

Selected Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs

Procurement programs that may be denied under Section 5301. All contracts or purchase orders issued by federal agencies or by others using monies appropriated by the Federal Government. This will include all federally awarded acquisition and personal property sales.

Nonprocurement programs that may be denied under Section 5301. All taxpayer-supported economic benefits, defined by statute as "the issuance of any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of the United States or by appropriated funds of the United States.

Categories of Benefits as Shown in the CFDA Catalog
The following list is an excerpt from the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) and contains the types and brief definitions of federal benefits that may be denied an individual under Title 21, U.S. Code, Section 862.

Project grants. The funding�for fixed or known periods�of specific projects or the delivery of specific services or products without liability for damages for failure to perform. Project grants include fellowships, scholarships, research grants, training grants, traineeships, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants, planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, construction grants, and unsolicited contractual agreements.

Direct payments for specified use. Financial assistance from the Federal Government provided directly to individuals, private firms, and other private institutions to encourage or subsidize a particular activity by conditioning the receipt of the assistance on a particular performance by the recipient. This does not include solicited contracts for the procurement of goods and services for the Federal Government.

Direct payments with unrestricted use. Financial assistance from the Federal Government provided directly to beneficiaries who satisfy federal eligibility requirements with no restrictions being imposed on the recipient as to how the money is spent. Included are payments under retirement, pension, and compensation programs.

Direct loans. Financial assistance provided through the lending of federal monies for a specific period of time, with a reasonable expectation of repayment. Such loans may or may not require the payment of interest.

Guaranteed/insured loans. Programs in which the Federal Government makes an arrangement to indemnify a lender against part or all of any defaults by those responsible for repayment of loans.

Sale, exchange, or donation of property and goods. Programs that provide for the sale, exchange, or donation of federal real property, personal property, commodities, and other goods including land, buildings, equipment, food, and drugs. This does not include the loan of, use of, or access to federal facilities or property.

Use of property, facilities, and equipment. Programs that provide for the loan of, use of, or access to federal facilities or property wherein the federally owned facilities or property do not remain in the possession of the recipient of the assistance.

Don't take my word for it.

Also: "Casual drug users."

# ? Feb 3, 2012 04:47

HidingFromGoro: Jun 5, 2006

Let me see if I can answer a lot of your PM's at once:

Is someone in prison as punishment, or for punishment?

# ? Feb 3, 2012 05:24

Incident Number: Nov 22, 2011; by T. Fine

HidingFromGoro posted:

Let me see if I can answer a lot of your PM's at once:

Is someone in prison as punishment, or for punishment?

Unfortunately, at least in your country, it is promoted as and believed to be for the second reason.

As a victim of a fairly violent crime, I can understand the sentiment, especially when it results in permanent injury and mental health issues. Also, as a victim of a fairly violent crime, I understand that at some point you have to realise that, despite the poo poo it put you through, the incarcerated individuals are loving people. They deserve humane treatment and to be rehabilitated and forgiven for the bad poo poo they did, not raped, beaten and dehumanised.

Coming to terms with that is hard, because you want 'revenge' of a sort, but being locked away from the world for a minimum of six is, when you think about it, pretty loving bad in itself.

If I can come to terms with this crap to the level that I visit with, and feel genuine sympathy for, the person who hosed me up, you have to wonder about what kind of people sit back in front of the idiot box and feel happy that prison is a genuine horror show in the US.

# ? Feb 3, 2012 07:16

leokitty: Apr 5, 2005; I live. I die. I live again.

A friend of mine is in prison in New York State and is not allowed to receive any books or magazines at all through the mail. I've heard of crazy restrictions before, is an outright ban pretty common?

I am really mad about this and think it's totally counter productive if you want people in prison to do things other than be up to no good.

# ? Feb 6, 2012 22:56

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

leokitty posted:

A friend of mine is in prison in New York State and is not allowed to receive any books or magazines at all through the mail. I've heard of crazy restrictions before, is an outright ban pretty common?

I am really mad about this and think it's totally counter productive if you want people in prison to do things other than be up to no good.

Depends what you mean.
No books/mags unless sent directly from the publisher is common.
No books/mags at all is troubling.

# ? Feb 7, 2012 00:17

atelier morgan: Mar 11, 2003; super-scientific, ultra-gay; Lipstick Apathy

leokitty posted:

I am really mad about this and think it's totally counter productive if you want people in prison to do things other than be up to no good.

As a society, we don't.

# ? Feb 7, 2012 00:30

leokitty: Apr 5, 2005; I live. I die. I live again.

nm posted:

Depends what you mean.
No books/mags unless sent directly from the publisher is common.
No books/mags at all is troubling.

I looked into it further and he's been placed at a "Shock Facility" so I suppose it plays into the whole fake bootcamp thing they have going. Doesn't really make it better, though. He's a literate guy who just made a stupid (non violent) decision

# ? Feb 7, 2012 02:25

Mark Kidd: Feb 15, 2006

leokitty posted:

A friend of mine is in prison in New York State and is not allowed to receive any books or magazines at all through the mail. I've heard of crazy restrictions before, is an outright ban pretty common?

I am really mad about this and think it's totally counter productive if you want people in prison to do things other than be up to no good.

Jails and prisons regularly violate the first amendment because it can be difficult for those affected by these policies to bring a case. I've done some work with an organization that tracks a dozen or more first amendment cases like this at any given time.

I have no idea about the circumstances of your friend, but I suggest you contact the NY ACLU if you are interested in finding out. Jails and prisons break the law in this area regularly, and unfortunately legal action is the most effective tool to deal with it.

In cases where the prisoners are not able to bring a case, sometimes publishers whose material has been banned have standing to pursue the matter. Depending on what your friend is trying to read, the publishers may know how to handle it.

Mark Kidd fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 7, 2012

# ? Feb 7, 2012 03:12

Action Potential: Sep 7, 2004

Slavery by Another Name airs tonight on PBS. It's a great documentary about how the justice system affected african americans in the late 19th and early-mid 20th centuries. I saw a preview about a month ago and would highly recommend it for anyone interested.

They don't touch on the current system, but there are many similarities.

# ? Feb 14, 2012 02:16

Fardels Bear: Oct 27, 2006; Lookit me flash, boss.

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Apologies if this has already been posted, but

http://nplusonemag.com/raise-the-crime-rate

e: Not intended as an endorsement of the conclusions, but worth a read for the statistics and narratives, I think.

This passage from the above article completely blew my mind:

quote:

After asking around, and performing some calculations, the Justice Department came up with a new number: 216,000. That�s 216,000 victims, not instances. These victims are often assaulted multiple times over the course of the year. The Justice Department now seems to be saying that prison rape accounted for the majority of all rapes committed in the US in 2008, likely making the United States the first country in the history of the world to count more rapes for men than for women.

The author calls the U.S. prison system a "moral catastrophe," and I can't help but agree.

# ? Feb 14, 2012 20:31

HidingFromGoro: Jun 5, 2006

Good news: SEC rejects CCA's objection to shareholder effort to reduce prisoner sexual abuse.

quote:

Criminal justice, sexual abuse prevention and women�s right organizations support shareholder resolution to hold CCA accountable for reducing rape and sexual abuse of prisoners at the company�s for-profit detention facilities.

...

The resolution, introduced by Alex Friedmann, a former prisoner who was incarcerated at a CCA- operated facility in the 1990s, seeks bi-annual reports describing the Board of Directors� oversight of the company�s efforts to reduce incidents of rape and sexual abuse of inmates housed at each of CCA�s prisons. Friedmann is employed as the associate editor of Prison Legal News, a publication of the non-profit Human Rights Defense Center.

�The purpose of the resolution is twofold,� said Friedmann. �First, to ensure that shareholders know the scope of the problem of sexual abuse at CCA�s facilities, the risk that problem poses, and what the company is doing to mitigate that risk. Also, if CCA knows it will be accountable to shareholders, then the company will have an incentive to take actions to reduce sexual abuse of prisoners, particularly by CCA employees � which is a significant problem.�

# ? Feb 19, 2012 03:29

Shooting Blanks: Jun 6, 2007; Real bullets mess up how cool this thing looks.

-Blade

Incident Number posted:

Not sure if this has been posted in here yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdQlng_-Jog

This is a doco by Louis Theroux called 'A place for pedophiles' focusing on how California is not releasing them at the end of their prison terms, but is instead committing them to a psychiatric institution for 'treatment'.

I saw it today and found it pretty interesting, it seems really sad that these guys are basically locked up forever because of the nature of their crime rather than being released when they have completed the imposed sentence.

Thanks for posting this, it was worth watching.

# ? Feb 19, 2012 05:32

Tiny Deer: Jan 16, 2012

Soulcleaver posted:

The reality is that even evil bastards deserve competent medical treatment, therapy, and a chance to reform themselves rather than being thrown in some medieval dungeon to be raped and murdered by a fellow inmate. Or a guard. Or to be released with no employment options and therefore forced to cause suffering again to survive. The cycle of revenge has to stop somewhere. Yet even the most leftist of Americans are usually appalled by this kind of talk. CANT DO THE TIME DONT DO THE CRIME

This, this right here.

Knowing a...significant quantity of people who are in prison because they did terrible things, what goes on is so inhumane that I can't understand how a rational person can justify it. Hell, I struggled with reporting the boyfriend who threw me down a flight of stairs and threatened to murder me because I knew what would happen. I still feel guilt over the fact he's in prison. It's an impossible situation. I think he needs therapy and treatment, not bouncing in and out of a system that only fucks him up more, and makes him more likely to commit a crime. Such as a crime against me, for example, which would be terrible for both of us. It's terrible that domestic abuse victims (or victims of any kind) who know things like this often have no choice but calling the police.

(Who were, in this case, startlingly kind and sympathetic. The guy who kept touching his wedding ring while I gave my report in particular.)

There's no purpose in psychologically maiming these people more. Did I want him away from me and anyone else he could hurt? Yes. Do I want him systematically tortured? No. If he gets better I'd still never want to see him again, but as it stands I am afraid for any woman he dates after he gets out, because he's only going to be worse. That's what hard punishment people miss. Prison makes people worse. I have never spoken to any of my friends who have left prison who have become better people for it: at best they're more broken and hurt than they were before. At worst, they're desensitized and newly hateful.

# ? Feb 27, 2012 15:37

KingEup: Nov 18, 2004; I am a REAL ADDICT
(to threadshitting)

Please ask me for my google inspired wisdom on shit I know nothing about. Actually, you don't even have to ask.

The Corrections Corporation of America are getting some push-back:

quote:

The American Civil Liberties Union and a broad coalition of 60 policy and religious groups today urged states to reject a recent offer by the nation�s largest private prison company to buy and privatize state prisons.

In a letter sent to governors in every state, the ACLU and 26 other organizations said a recent offer by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to buy prisons currently run by state officials is a backdoor invitation to take on additional debt while increasing CCA�s profits and impeding the serious criminal justice reforms needed to combat the nation�s mass incarceration crisis.

Two similar letters are also being sent today by religious coalitions to governors. One of the letters, sent by 32 faith groups including the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, the United Church of Christ/Justice and Witness Ministries, the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness, says there is a moral imperative in reducing incarceration through evidence-based alternatives to imprisonment and re-entry policies that ease the transition of prisoners back into society. A third letter, from the Presbyterian Criminal Justice Network, argues that the principles of mercy, forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation are largely absent from the private prison industry.

http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/aclu-urges-states-reject-cca-offer-privatize-prisons

The CCA are the fuckers who published this in their annual report:

quote:

The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them. PDF: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTg3MDJ8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1

# ? Mar 3, 2012 13:04

Skyworks: Oct 2, 2010; by angerbutt

Shooting Blanks posted:

Thanks for posting this, it was worth watching.

Holy crap, this is good. The thing I like about Theroux, like when he went into the white power movement and refused to tell them he was not a Jew or the Florida prisons is the fact that he deliberately moves outside of the 'normal' journalist. I still remember him walking into a jail cell when even the guards would not to talk to a prisoner who, it eventually transpired, was a heavy duty guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2kTQKZaSU

Louis in the Miami mega jail is a good watch. Also worth a watch is when he lived in a Nevada brothel for several months.

# ? Mar 3, 2012 13:41

Cerri: Apr 27, 2006

You have got to be kidding me... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1#.T1gWBnnBUHs.email

quote:

At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.

I was really hoping to gods it was an Onion article. There's so much what the gently caress there, I don't even know where to start.

# ? Mar 9, 2012 11:10

Tias: May 25, 2008; Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Took some time off reading this thread, got back in, immediately got sick to the heart. Seriously, we've reached the point where even releasing all prisoners, them killing everyone else, and re-evolving into a humane society probably wouldn't be bad odds at reform :gonk:

# ? Mar 12, 2012 12:10

Knockknees: Dec 21, 2004; sprung out fully formed

Everybody's in on the Prison Industry Cash Cow:

quote:

Mimi Mattel has a lot going on in her life right now. She's in jail and she's currently transitioning from a man to a woman.

"You know not a lot of transgenders have support from their family, and thank God my mom is behind 100 percent about my transition and so it doesn't matter how much times I call, doesn't matter what the cost is, she's going to always answer," says Mattel.

But the cost is high. The calls are $7 on the low end, but can be as high as $15. The rates are inflated because Cook County makes money on the calls. The county has a contract with Securus technologies that requires the phone company to pay almost 60 percent of what it makes from phone calls back to the county. The deal has netted the county about $12 million over the life of the three-year-old contract. The cost falls on the mostly poor families who can't afford to post bond so their loved ones are left in jail while awaiting trial. Those families pay for calls they can't afford, either.

Mattel is wearing an orange jumpsuit and sitting at a metal table in a windowless dayroom at Cook County. She refers to the jail as a billion-dollar franchise. She says, "Sometimes I be so depressed and I want to talk to my mother, my brothers, my sisters and my family and I have to call them so I have to make sure that my mom keeps money on the phone."

"Money's hard to come by now days. Even for people out there, the economy's so messed up. These people can't constantly have to be forced to pay 10, 15 dollars for a phone call even if it is to speak to their loved ones," says Ava, another inmate living on the wing set aside for transgendered people. This is probably a good place to say that the fact that Ava and Mattel are transgendered has nothing specific to do with this story. They just happen to be the inmates who were available to talk about phone rates when we visited the jail. Anyway, Ava says she likes to call her sister but hasn't talked to her in a month and a half. "These phones were made purposely to separate us from speaking with our loved ones and from getting the support that we need. And the way that they do that is by implementing these charges," says Ava.

Actually Ava couldn't be more wrong on that point, according to Bob Pickens, the COO for Securus. "Do you want the call to go out? Yeah, we all want the call to go out because we want the inmate to be able to contact the friend and family member, hopefully to set up an account," says Pickens. He says the company and the county don't make money unless inmates can contact the family members who will pay for phone calls.

As for the $15 calls, according to county numbers, inmates made more than 10,000 calls at that rate in just one month. So in our phone conversation I asked Pickens to explain why those calls need to be so expensive. I asked him to tell me what that $15 pays for, but he says he can't tell me. He says, "I don't know first of all, and two, that would be proprietary information. We're a private company, we don't disclose profits."

Pickens says they do run an automated announcement on each of those $15 calls. "We're making sure everybody hears that they can set up an account and avoid those types of charges in the future, just set up an account. You can get a call much cheaper than paying 15 bucks for it."

As I was reporting for this story I spent time at the Cook County Court Building talking to families who were there attending hearings for loved ones behind bars. All the families - all of them - were outraged by their experiences paying inflated phone charges.

But this isn't just an issue in Cook County. Securus has contracts with a total of 2,200 jails and prisons. According to its website, the Dallas-based company provides phone service for 850,000 inmates. It's one of several large companies offering this kind of phone service where governments can turn a profit. There's a simmering national backlash against these companies. In an attempt to raise public awareness on the issue, one group keeps an answering machine where people can leave their stories and then the stories are posted online. There's one particularly moving story left by a mother who says her son has stayed in touch with only five people because they were the only family members who could afford to accept the calls, and now that she's preparing materials for his parole hearings she's worried that he won't be able to prove that he has enough family support to get out. Here's a link to the Thousand Kites project where you can hear those stories.

According to the Center for Media Justice, eight states have passed laws banning jail phone contracts that generate revenue for government bodies.

Securus, the company in Cook County Jail, has contracts all over the state of Illinois, including profit-sharing contracts with the jails in nearby Lake and DuPage counties. The number one selling point that Securus pushes on their website, isn't about phone service, it's that Securus can generate revenue for governments.

"We're providing a service that allows inmates and friends and family to maintain relationships and for that service, which costs us a lot of money to put in place, we make an average profit for a telecommunications business," says Securus COO Bob Pickens.

I asked him what an average profit was for a telecommunications business, and he was unwilling to give even a range of profit the company makes.

Here's what we do know. Securus was purchased at the end of last year by Castle Harlan, a private equity firm. The press release from that purchase says Castle Harlan manages investment funds worth about $3.5 billion. Castle Harlan is unwilling to say how much they paid for Securus or how much profit it makes.

We do, however, know how much the county is making from the deal with Securus: $12 million over the last three years. Securus charges inflated rates and then makes monthly payments back to the county. Pickens says the calls are expensive but it would be easy to lower the prices.

"The largest portion of the charge is the commission back to the county government," says Pickens.

The county gets 57.5 percent of all the phone revenue billed. We asked Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to talk with us about it, but she declined. Owen Kilmer, a spokesman for Preckwinkle, said the Cook County sheriff pushed this contract, and Kilmer says, "This is an operational issue in the jail and falls under the purview of the Sheriff's office."

Frank Bilecki is a spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart. "We are not receiving any revenue whatsoever from this," says Bilecki. He says the sheriff's office was at the table to talk about the phone technology, but had nothing to do with setting phone rates. Bilecki says it was the Bureau of Technology under Preckwinkle that selected the rates inmates would pay. Those rates can be set higher or lower and that impacts how much money the county gets.

"The president's signature is on the contract. The revenue that is brought in from this contract does not go into the sheriff's department or the sheriff's office for spending. It goes into the general revenue fund for the county, which can be used for anything and everything," says Bilecki, adding that all that money is controlled by Preckwinkle.

http://www.wbez.org/story/cook-county-phone-contract-costs-inmates-and-families-97263

TLDR: Contact with family and having a social network outside of jail are important for inmates to get parole, and to reduce recidivism. But the county makes mucho money off of every call. In this particular case, a single call might be $15.00 charged to the person who takes the call. And in Cook County, the Board President Preckwinkle claims it is the sheriff's purview, but the sheriff's department says they don't even see a dime of the money. A commenter on the article reveals that the owner of this company is a long time contributor to Preckwinkle.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 21:46

Mark Kidd: Feb 15, 2006

My organization is part of a campaign addressing this price gouging on phone rates. The campaign has a site at http://prisonphonejustice.org/ where you can see how your state compares to others on the amount of 'kickbacks' built in to prison phone rates and learn where the money goes.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 22:01

Sir John Falstaff: Apr 13, 2010

Well, Fareed Zakaria gets it:

Fareed Zakaria posted:

INCARCERATION NATION

The war on drugs has succeeded only in putting millions of Americans in jail

By Fareed Zakaria

Televangelist Pat Robertson �recently made a gaffe. A gaffe, as journalist Michael Kinsley defined it, occurs when a political figure accidentally tells the truth. Robertson�s truth is that America�s drug war has failed and that the country should legalize marijuana. This view goes against the deepest political, moral and religious positions Robertson has held for decades, so imagine the blinding evidence that he has had to confront�and that has been mounting for years�on this topic.

Robertson drew attention to one of the great scandals of American life. �Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today,� writes the New Yorker�s Adam Gopnik. �Over all, there are now more people under �correctional supervision� in America�more than 6 million�than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.�

Is this hyperbole? Here are the facts. The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. That�s not just many more than in most other developed countries but seven to 10 times as many. Japan has 63 per 100,000, Germany has 90, France has 96, South Korea has 97, and �Britain�with a rate among the �highest�has 153. Even developing countries that are well known for their crime problems have a third of U.S. numbers. Mexico has 208 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, and Brazil has 242. As Robertson pointed out on his TV show, The 700 Club, �We here in America make up 5% of the world�s population but we make up 25% of the [world�s] jailed prisoners.�

There is a temptation to look at this staggering difference in numbers and chalk it up to one more aspect of American exceptionalism. America is different, so the view goes, and it has always had a Wild West culture and a tough legal system. But the facts don�t support the conventional wisdom. This wide gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is relatively recent. In 1980 the U.S.�s prison population was about 150 per 100,000 adults. It has more than quadrupled since then. So something has happened in the past 30 years to push millions of Americans into prison.
That something, of course, is the war on drugs. Drug convictions went from 15 inmates per 100,000 adults in 1980 to 148 in 1996, an almost tenfold increase. More than half of America�s federal inmates today are in prison on drug convictions. In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges, more than were arrested on assault or larceny charges. And 4 of 5 of those arrests were simply for possession.

Over the past four decades, the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion fighting the war on drugs. The results? In 2011 a global commission on drug policy issued a report signed by George Shultz, Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan; the �archconservative Peruvian writer-politician Mario Vargas Llosa; former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker; and former Presidents of Brazil and Mexico Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Ernesto Zedillo. It begins, �The global war on drugs has failed ... Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption.� Its main recommendation is to �encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.�

Bipartisan forces have created the trend that we see. Conservatives and liberals love to sound tough on crime, and both sides agreed in the 1990s to a wide range of new federal infractions, many of them carrying mandatory sentences for time in state or federal prison. And as always in American politics, there is the money trail. Many state prisons are now run by private companies that have powerful lobbyists in state capitals. These firms can create jobs in places where steady work is rare; in many states, they have also helped create a conveyor belt of cash for prisons from treasuries to outlying counties.
Partly as a result, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education in the past 20 years. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons vs. $5.7 billion on the UC system and state colleges. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21 prisons. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year.

The results are gruesome at every �level. We are creating a vast prisoner under�class in this country at huge expense, increasingly unable to function in normal society, all in the name of a war we have already lost. If Pat Robertson can admit he was wrong, surely it is not too much to ask the same of America�s political leaders.

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/home/Articles/Entries/2012/3/25_Incarceration_Nation.html

# ? Mar 28, 2012 04:26

Soulcleaver: Sep 25, 2007; Murderer

Pat Robertson might be a lying rear end in a top hat who owns diamond mines in Africa but he's right that the war on drugs has been a colossal failure that has done nothing but increase the value of drugs and bloat America's prisons.

# ? Mar 28, 2012 14:05

Calenth: Jul 11, 2001

This may be of interest to some -- what may turn out to be an important prisoners'-rights trial just finished up in South Carolina.

Plaintiff's website here: http://www.mentalhealth4inmates.org/ Waiting on ruling, which will be appealed regardless of who wins, I'm sure.

# ? Mar 28, 2012 14:19

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# ? May 29, 2024 17:57

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

Soulcleaver posted:

Pat Robertson might be a lying rear end in a top hat who owns diamond mines in Africa but he's right that the war on drugs has been a colossal failure that has done nothing but increase the value of drugs and bloat America's prisons.

Diamond mines worked by slave labor, mind.

# ? Mar 28, 2012 14:59

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