incarceration out of control, why so lopsided?

[StickyStank]

The house I live in -documentary

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/31/the_house_i_live_in_new

This weekend the top documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival went to "The House I Live In," which questions why the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on drug arrests in the past 40 years, and yet drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. The film examines the economic, as well as the moral and practical, failures of the so-called "war on drugs" and calls on the United States to approach drug abuse not as a "war," but as a matter of public health. We need "a very changed dialogue in this country that understands drugs as a public health concern and not a criminal justice concern," says the film’s director, Eugene Jarecki. "That means the system has to say, 'We were wrong.'" We also speak with Nannie Jeter, who helped raise Jarecki as her own son succumbed to drug addiction and is highlighted in the film. We air clips from the film, featuring Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow"; Canadian physician and bestselling author, Gabor Maté; and David Simon, creator of "The Wire." [

 

[wilbur]

looks like the ideas in this doc are world wide at present ... well, perhaps not WORLD wide ... but a recent conference in Oz found pretty much the same things. prohibition is not working and it costs LOTS of money.

a high profile popular business man in the UK has suggested to a government inquiry there that weed and horse be deciminalised and taxed like tobacco is.

cheers!

 

[pearlemae]

America has figured out how to make incarceration pay. It's called private prisons, the private prison industry is doing billions of dollars a year. Florid is going to privatize 18 counties in the next few months. The private prison industry is directly responsible for lobbying for longer harsher sentences. Thats so they know there will be a steady supply for the slave labor part of the private prisons. They not only rip off the tax payers by having the taxpayer foot the bills but the also provide a cheap source of labor to the companies that use prison labor, ever think the guy your giving your credit card number and address when your buying from LL bean, betcha didn't know they're cons. CAll centers to raytheon are using prison labor.I
t's cheap they pay no benefits, vaca, or anything else, while the prison guys charge the prisoner for food and meds.
It an unreal deal.

 

[GP73LPC]

this country is going str8 to HELL !!!!

privatization of prisons is a total conflict of interest...

money is being made, same with keeping drugs illegal... it's a bunch a rich capitalists fucks taking it out on minorities and drug users...

i can't wait til this country crumbles economically and govt doesn't have any more funds.

the US has more people incarcerated than the rest of the world combined

Freedom is gone. Corporations and money rule....

 

[monkey5]

GP73LPC, Trust me..you can wait! This collapse will not be a good thing for anyone! It Is All About Control..of the People that live here, in the USA! monkey5

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

privatization of prisons is wrong. Business in America is all Based off growth; if your not growing your going out of business. The only way for a prison to grow is to get more "customers" aka prisoners. They would shit bricks if the drug war ended.

 

[GP73LPC]

GP73LPC, Trust me..you can wait! This collapse will not be a good thing for anyone! It Is All About Control..of the People that live here, in the USA! monkey5

i realize a lot of people will suffer... i just don't see any other way out of the corporatilized govt we have.

voting won't do it...

i don't support a violent revolution...

so what else would work

it's unfortunate that it could come to that, but that is exactly where i see us heading. we will default on all our loans first and then the world economy will start to crumble...

i'm preparing for it

 

[resinryder]

Was reading today that 1 out of every 200 American's is doing time. A damn black mark on us.

 

[BabyHuey]

You will get no arguments from me on the sad state of
the US's incarceration rate or the ludicrous
private prison scam.

The sheer numbers of disenfranchised
citizens,due to felony records, is mind boggling.
Its hard to get definitive numbers but Michigan alone
has around 1 million(easier to track there due to special
id#'s issued to felons).

 

[Red Fang]

what does that mean anyway, BabyHuey? I worked in a factory for the summer once, they called me Einstein as I was going to college, but there was this blonde big babyish guy they all called Baby Huey. I hope you can fill me in here!

 

[trichrider]

'c'mon and get a rythym, when you get the blues'...
Johnny Cash

 

[wilbur]

from a distance I have trouble believing how conservative the US is.

the belief a rosy financial future is possible for all citizens, as projected for example by Romney, is laughable. but many many seem to swallow his words whole.

there seems to be a lot of serious head-in-the-sand stuff going on over there.

not that it doesn't exist here too, I guess. but hey, we don't claim to be world leaders. except perhaps in drinking beer.

 

[kmk420kali]

what does that mean anyway, BabyHuey? I worked in a factory for the summer once, they called me Einstein as I was going to college, but there was this blonde big babyish guy they all called Baby Huey. I hope you can fill me in here!

Baby Huey was a cartoon character...very big and strong, but a li'l dim witted--

 

[Red Fang]

thanks
HAHAHA He looked just like that in human form! classic!

 

[guest86120975]

this country is going str8 to HELL !!!!

privatization of prisons is a total conflict of interest...

money is being made, same with keeping drugs illegal... it's a bunch a rich capitalists fucks taking it out on minorities and drug users...

i can't wait til this country crumbles economically and govt doesn't have any more funds.

the US has more people incarcerated than the rest of the world combined

Freedom is gone. Corporations and money rule....

I am very much in agreement with this post. America needs a big big time wake up call, and a total economic collapse is what it's going to take.

 

[GrinStick]

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/01/20121318318540671.html

 

[resinryder]

from a distance I have trouble believing how conservative the US is.

the belief a rosy financial future is possible for all citizens, as projected for example by Romney, is laughable. but many many seem to swallow his words whole.

there seems to be a lot of serious head-in-the-sand stuff going on over there.

not that it doesn't exist here too, I guess. but hey, we don't claim to be world leaders. except perhaps in drinking beer.

Here's the deal in the US-
Republicanss want to stop/lower tax increases and grow government, maintain military dominance, keep the rich rich, pander to religious groups, and have the ability to make those who identify themselves as conservatives swallow their bullshit to see things from their point of view while slowly taking away our rights while policing the world.

Democrats want to raise taxes to expand government even bigger, cut back military dominance, keep the rich rich but tax them more, tend to pander to minority groups more with promises to make things better for them but never do, and have the ability to make those who identify as liberals swallow their bullshit to see things from their point of view while slowly taking away our rights while policing the world .

Libertarians want less government intrusion into their lives, less government spending, less taxes and proper use of the taxes that Washington recieves, and want to maintain our rights and freedoms to do what we want to do and to put into our bodies what we want while letting the rest of the world police their own fucking selves .

Most Americans want the same things but have been brainwashed into believing that the 2 major parties listed above have the answers. It's a damn shame because the top 2 have fucked us over again and again and people still line up to drink the red or blue koolaid .

Simple really. But a 3rd party will never really take off in America until something REALLY BIG happens to remove the political wool from their eyes. Damn shame because the US is a nice place to live but the powers that be are fucking it up and turning us slowly into a police state

 

[GP73LPC]

i predict it will take a economic collapse ^^^

we are desperately in need of more parties in out political system...

 

[pinecone]

At any point in time more than 10% of black males under the age of 24 is incarcerated and estimates suggest that nearly 22% of black men have been incarcerated at some point in time.

Pine

 

[guest86120975]

One problem is that no party, even the Libertarians, are pragmatic. They all go off the deep end with their beliefs, people are getting more and more extreme. A lot of Ron Paul's ideas are batshit crazy. So much so that the good stuff wouldn't be worth it. Some of my beliefs would be considered conservative, some would be considered liberal, and yet others would be considered libertarian. What we need is a sensible pragmatist to run, someone who takes reasonable reasonable ideas from all beliefs and drops all the extreme BS. Someone who insists on policies based on a fair and rational, scientific analysis of things. Politicians are so damned afraid of taking stands that are potentially unpopular, but if they did the right thing and stuck to it, the respect they gain would make up for it. When the big collapse happens, I just hope our Legislature isn't dominated by crazies, because when it happens, the big changes that take place are going to reflect whoever is running the show at the time.