Bush Seeks More Violent Crime Funds

[flashl]

Source: Washington Post

Possible Early Release for Crack Cocaine Offenders Is Cited as Rationale

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it is seeking $200 million to help cities fight violent crime, citing as one of its reasons, the U.S. Sentencing Commission's decision to give convicted crack cocaine offenders a chance for an earlier release.

Speaking before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said that "a sudden influx of criminals from federal prison into your communities could lead to a surge in new victims as a tragic, but predictable, result."

"We need to do all we can in education, job training, drug treatment, housing and other reentry preparation for all of these offenders who could be released," Mukasey added. "We need time to develop all of that and to roll it out -- time that blanket retroactivity might not allow us."

Mukasey's remarks highlighted the rift between the administration and the commission, whose members scolded Justice Department officials last year for misrepresenting their decision in May to relax harsh sentencing guidelines for future crack offenders and a subsequent decision in December to make the new policy retroactive to current inmates.

Washington Post

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403381.html

---

Yes, let's ignore the recommendations made during Senator Webb's JEC hearing on incarceration rates and put money into cities to INCREASE recidivism.

[WillParkinson]

1. I like the headline

It's like he's asking for money to commit his violent crimes.

[flashl]

4. I like the magic 8 ball prediction. nt

[Demeter]

8. He Has More than Enough Money For Committing His Violent Crimes, IMO

I want to defund him!

[geardaddy]

13. That's how it struck me too.

:D

[TechBear_Seattle]

18. My first thought exactly n/t

[WritersBlock]

29. "Aren't we paying the fucker enough already?" was my first thought. n/t

[seafan]

2. So he wants even MORE money for his Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan adventures?

:sarcasm:

[flashl]

6. "Poverty is the worst form of violence." -- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Something for * and others to think about as we ponder our NOT techincally defined recession/depression.

[ixion]

11. I watched 'Gandhi' again the other night, and that quote leapt out at me...

as with so much of what Gandhi said, that is so very, very true.

[ixion]

3. I have a much cheaper solution: legalize drug use

presto the violence is gone.

By way of example, I can offer prohibition. Prohibition created violence. Ending prohibition took the money out of selling illegal liquor, which removed the violence.

Throwing more money at the problem (and increasing the police state factor) will only increase the violence, not decrease it.

[flashl]

5. You make TOO MUCH sense. nt

[ixion]

21. sorry... I'll try to get with the program and stop making sense

:rofl:

[alfredo]

15. prohibition (drug war) is a win win situation for politicians.

[ixion]

20. and a lose lose for We, the People

what is more important?

[alfredo]

22. Depends if the war on drugs makes you rich, and more powerful.

[ixion]

23. no, it doesn't. the so-called war on drugs has destroyed the social fabric

and in the long run, it only benefits a few fascist bastards in the prison industry.

[alfredo]

24. Do you think they care? They don't. It serves them well. The

two million in prison and the ex felons, in most cases cannot vote. Most of those disenfranchised are poor and black, and you know which party wants them disenfranchised.


Forgot to add:

When we asked our Republican governor to allow our ex felons to use the legal tools provided to regain the right to vote, he answered by changing the rules and made the process virtually impossible.

[ixion]

26. I agree that they don't care. But that doesn't make it right or appropriate

They're the worst form of humanity, and in most cases, far worse human beings than the people they sent to prison.

[alfredo]

28. Oh no, it is not right and is causing more suffering than the drugs

they purport to oppose.

It's stupid to imprison a person for self medicating. Humans have been self medicatinh even before they were humans. The whole concept of medicine came from our ancestors digging for a special root, or chewing a certain leaf to relieve symptoms.

[bemildred]

7. I thought he already had Iraq war funding. nt

[flashl]

9. Is it not perplexing how there is never funding for social programs

like healthcare, but, there is an endless supply of funds available to spend for enforcement?

[MasonJar]

10. What we need is money to fight the violent crimes of W himself.

[apnu]

12. Maybe if * spent less money and time on Iraq, he'd have this cash now

so he wouldn't have to do this. And look like a fool. but then he can't avoid looking like a fool.

[stillcool]

14. It's great for the economy!

"Violent" Crime...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703120170mar12,1,1921178.story?coll=chi&ctrack=1&cset=true

In Texas, a white teenager burns down her family's home and receives probation. A black one shoves a hall monitor and gets 7 years in prison. The state NAACP calls it 'a signal to black folks.'

There was the 19-year-old white man, convicted last July of criminally negligent homicide for killing a 54-year-old black woman and her 3-year-old grandson with his truck, who was sentenced in Paris to probation and required to send an annual Christmas card to the victims' family.

And then there is the case that most troubles Cherry and leaders of the Texas NAACP, involving a 14-year-old black freshman, Shaquanda Cotton, who shoved a hall monitor at Paris High School in a dispute over entering the building before the school day had officially begun.

The youth had no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor--a 58-year-old teacher's aide--was not seriously injured. But Shaquanda was tried in March 2006 in the town's juvenile court, convicted of "assault on a public servant" and sentenced by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville to prison for up to 7 years, until she turns 21.

Just three months earlier, Superville sentenced a 14-year-old white girl, convicted of arson for burning down her family's house, to probation.

In 1985 one out of every 320 Americans were in jail.
In 1995 one out of every 167 Americans were in jail.
Between1980 and 1994, the number of people in federal and state prisons increased 221%.

Today, 2 million Americans are in prison.

1.2 million are African-American men.
While there is debate over their underlying causes, these staggering statistics are generally thought to result from rigid drug laws, mandatory minimum sentences and increasingly tough
legislation— such as California’s "three strikes" law. One fact remains undisputed: prisons have become big business.
-------------------
Big name corporations compete with each other to underwrite prison construction with private, tax-exempt bonds and without voter approval. More and more states across the country are implementing mandatory labor for inmates, necessitating partnerships with outside industry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prison Partners
In the tiny town of Lockhart, Texas a private prison run by Wakenhut (a for-profit private corporation) does business with a company called LTI. In this partnership the prisoners assemble circuit boards bound for hi-tech corporations. For LTI, moving manufacturing to the Lockhart prison was a no-brainer. There they found a captive workforce that did not require benefits or vacation pay, major tax incentives and a brand new assembly plant rented for only a symbolic fee. As a result, LTI’s plant in Austin, Texas was shut down and 150 people lost their jobs. In Michigan, through a similar arrangement, the majority of Brill Manufacturing Company’s workforce lost their jobs to state prison inmates.
http://www.itvs.org/shift/prison.html

--According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in adult jails has increased 208%. On any given day, more than 7,000 young people are held in adult jails.

-- Increasing numbers of young people have been
placed in adult jails where they are at risk of assault, abuse, and death.
Currently, 40 states permit or require that youth charged as adults be placed pre-trial in an adult jail, and in some states they may be required to serve their entire sentence in an adult jail. According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in adult jails has increased 208%.
http://www.campaign4youthjustice.org/Downloads/NEWS/JPI014Consequences_Summary.pdf

America's Prisoner's As Corporate Workforce
If you book a flight on TWA, you'll likely be talking to a prisoner at a California correctional facility that the airline uses for its reservations service. Microsoft has used Washington State prisoners to pack and ship Windows software. AT&T has used prisoners for telemarketing; Honda, for manufacturing parts; and even Toys "R" Us, for cleaning and stocking shelves for the next day's customers.
-------------------------------------
Companies that use prison labor create islands of time in which, in terms of labor relations at least, it's still the late nineteenth century. Prison employers pay no health insurance, no unemployment insurance, no payroll or Social Security taxes, no workers' compensation, no vacation time, sick leave, or overtime. In fact, to the extent that prisoners have "benefits" like health insurance, the state picks up the tab.
http://www.postcarbon.org/node/2244

A Report on the Injustice System in the USA

Written by: Pauline (a contributing writer to IPFG’s Publication; Payaam Fadaee)

Published in Payame Fadaee, Spring edition 2002
http://www.siahkal.com/english/on%20prison.htm
The US ruling class has established the largest forced labour sweatshop system in the world. There
are now approximately 2 million inmates in US prisons compared to 1 million in 1994. These
prisoners have become a source of billions of dollars in profits. In fact, the US has
imprisoned a half million more people than in China which has 5 times the population.
California alone has the biggest prison system in the Western industrialized world. It has more
prisoners than France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Holland combined while these countries
have 11 times the population of California. According to official figures, Iran
incarcerates 220 citizens per 100,000, compared to US figures of 727. Overall, the total
"criminal justice" system in the US, including those in prison, on parole and on probation, is
approaching 6,000,000. In the last 20 years, 1000 new prisons have been built; yet they
hold double their capacity.
Prisoners, 75% of who are either Black or Hispanic, are forced to work for 20 cents an hour, some even as low as 75 cents a day. They produce everything from eyewear and furniture to
vehicle parts and computer software. This has lead to thousands of layoffs and the lowering of
the overall wage scale of the entire working class. At Soledad Prison in California, prisoners
produce work-shirts exported to Asia as well as El Salvadoran license plates more
cheaply than in El Salvador, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. A May/99
report in the Wall Street Journal summarized that while “more expensive private-sector workers may
lose their jobs to prison labour, assigning work to the most cost-efficient producer is good for the economy.” The February/00 Wall Street Journal reported “Prisoners are excluded from employment calculation. And since most inmates are economically disadvantaged and unskilled, jailing so many people has effectively taken a big block of the nation's least-employable citizens out of the equation.”

Federal Prison Industries (FPI) whose trade name is UNICOR exports prisoner-made products as well as selling them to all federal agencies as required by federal law. FPI manufactures over 150 different products in 99 factories in 64 prisons (with 19 new ones on the way) in 30 states. It is the federal government's 35th largest contractor, just behind IBM and is exempt from any federal workplace regulations.
FPI's prison workforce produces 98% of the entire US market for equipment assembly services, 93% of paint and artist brushes, 92% of all kitchen assembly services, 46% of all personal armour, 36% of all household furnishings and 30% of all headset/microphone/speakers, etc. RW. Feb/00 FPI consistently advertises for companies "interested in leasing a ready-to-run prison industry" especially following congressional testimony in 1996 that reported a "pent-up demand for prison labour." Meanwhile, shareholders profiting from prison labour consistently lobby for the legislation of longer prison sentences in order to expand their workforce. At least 37 states have legalized the contracting out of prison labour to private corporations that have already set up operations inside state prisons. Prisons' business clients include: IBM, Boeing, Motorola Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, Texas Instruments, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom, Revlon, Macys, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores
California, with the third largest penal system in the world after China and the US as a whole, spends more on prisons than on the entire educational system. In recent years, California's university and college system cut back 8,000 employees while its Department of Corrections added 26,000. CA has built 19 prisons vs. 1 university in the past 10 years. The state spends up to $60,000 per year to incarcerate a young person, while only spending $8,000 per year to educate the same youth.

The Prison Industrial Complex in America: Investment in Slavery
by Venerable Kobutsu Malone, Osho
The United States Constitution Permits Prison Slavery and Involuntary Servitude
The secure housing, minimal support, minimal medical care and feeding of 2.2 million people is a costly endeavor consuming billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer's money every year in America. Corporations are lined up to receive a portion of the public funds used to support the self-perpetuating incarceration industry. States such as California spend more public funds, tax dollars, your money, my money, on prisons than for education and schools.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The largest network of prison labor is run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons' manufacturing consortium, UNICOR. While paying inmate laborers entry-level wages of 23 cents an hour, UNICOR boasts of gross annual sales (primarily to the Department of Defense) of $250 million.
The correctional-industrial complex therefore relies on a sobering "joint venture" directly relating profits to increased incarceration rates for four kinds of "partners," only the first of whom are those seeking opportunities in prison construction. A second kind of partner stocks these prisons with stun guns, pepper spray, surveillance equipment, and other "disciplinary technology," corporations such as Adtech, American Detention Services, the Correctional Corporation of America and Space Master Enterprises. A third partner finds a state-guaranteed mass of consumers for food and other services in the prisoners themselves, such as Campbell's Soup and Szabo Correctional Services. The fourth partner can be any private industry or state-sponsored program that stands to gain from paying wages that only nominally distinguish captive forced labor from slavery. In this last category, an example of the former is Prison Blues and of the latter is UNICOR which uses prisoners to produce advanced military weaponary

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telecommunications contracts in the prison industry are highly prized and lucrative "deals" that invariably entail legal kickbacks to the prisons euphemistically labeled "attractive commission and incentive programs." An initial telecommunications contract with a state department of corrections can involve a million dollars or more in "incentive" up front.

Slavery in your portfolio?
Take a good look at the list below...own any stock in any of the companies listed? Patronize any of the telecommunications companies? Verizon? MCI? Think about it, these companies are all making profit from the incarceration of human beings under conditions which cause suffering to the prisoners, their families and loved ones, the guards and administrators who hold them captive, and the social fabric of our communities.
http://www.engaged-zen.org/articles/Kobutsu-Investing_in_Slavery.html

[flashl]

16. Add: Prisoners of Census. n/t

[High Plains]

17. Mukasey is a shit-spewing demagogue.

Crack offenders who manage to get sentence cuts will be trickling out of prison.

But there are about 600,000 people getting out of prison every year, and we don't have much to offer them...And all Mukasey wants is more cops.

[Peace Patriot]

19. "More Violent Crime Funds"? Oh, oops, I thought it meant the Defense Dept. budget.

My mistake. He means small time violent crimes.

[Nevernose]

25. Federal Law Enforcement Grants have been falling since 2001

I lost my job to a Republican government that was soft on crime in 2004. I was working with the Dept. of Probation and the DA's office (Juvenile) when the grant finally dried up. Every year, there were more and more people in need of services, and every year there was one fewer person to provide them, until I was the only one left.

[hatrack]

27. So, is this about fighting violent crime? Or reminding us it exists, so we'll be all SKEERED?

:puke: