That's not even the barest tip of the iceberg, Crone....I've tried to stay away from this thread, because of the overwhelming extent of the stupidity of some of the posts in here
(LOL...bet ya can't guess the posts I'm referring to, huh??)...It's really difficult to have open discussions with those whose minds are nailed shut...like a coffin.
During the 1990's a prison was built in this country every fifteen days. ...The communities who've lost their industries and economic bases following NAFTA, etc., have been hard-pressed to disregard the benefits of having a prison in their home towns.
(http://www.sacbee.com/288/story/288124.html)
..BUT
TTTT....there have been horrible unintended consequences....for example, yesterday I was reading a firsthand account of incarceration in a Florida camp by an ex-inmate...READ THIS:
http://60733066.blogspot.com/2007/07...l-inmates.html
The point I'm making is that usually the COs and staff are community members where the prison is located....it's only a question of time before the cos and staff become inmates themselves.....
The inmate population is exploding and growing exponentially, with severe overcrowding crisis' existing in every US state.
This is only the beginning. Illegal search and seizures are now legal. Habeas Corpus is gone. Our basic constitutional rights are being stripped away at an alarming rate. The income gap is growing. Meanwhile, our politicians and political system are mired in a war that ironically is supposed to "spread/bring DEMOCRACY" to the Middle East. (what an effin' joke)
The War on Drugs and institutional release of mentally ill individuals has filled our jails and prisons with individuals who're taking up bed space formerly reserved for seriously violent felons. The public has been misled into thinking that tougher sentencing guidelines and building more prisons will end violent crime and usher in a state of American Utopia. However what's happening instead is that the very fabric of American communities is being torn apart, the family unit is being torn asunder and destroyed...
Look, I'm a journalist. I began researching American prisons and the state of the judicial system nearly five years ago when I was working on a major story. What I discovered in the course of doing research was so shocking and horrific that I quit my job as a writer, took a lower-paying mindless job as a janitor, and have been devoting my time and writing to attacking this problem that threatens ALL of us, regardless of whether people belive it or not.
The United States is on the brink of a civil war, although not many people would believe this....it's a historical fact that sooner or later oppressed people will rise up against their (slave masters) oppressors and take back their freedom. Voting is ineffectual, and will not change things because of lobbiests and campaign contributions. CCA, CBS, MCI, etc., all have powerful lobbies and contribute millions of dollars in campaign contributions in order to get likeminded politicians into office. Politicians are not poor working or working class folks. They have education, money, and power. They're only winning right now because WE haven't mobilized, organized, and stabilized our nation. WE are currently divided against our selves, due to the class and race war that our government has perpetrated upon us. Prisons are seething with rage. It's only a question of time before it spills over the walls and blood flows in the streets.
WE, the people, need to put aside our differences and come together. WE can win the war with our numbers, because WE outnumber THEM hands down. ....Don't start telling me that WE can vote our oppressors out of office....(DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER DANGLING CHADS and "GORE in 2004???) Doesn't THAT tell you something???????????????
This post might sound like it's off-topic, but really, the slave-labor issues within prisons is most definitely a condition that contributes to our disempowerment. Economic disenfranchisement is the big gun pointed at our heads. Families are bearing the burden of the free labor supplied by inmates. Meanwhile, the profit-margin of Nike, etc., is growing by leaps and bounds now that they don't have hefty payrolls...
I know it's early and I need more coffee...sorry to spew hell and damnation so early in the day, but "HEY"...the problems aren't going away any time soon....AND it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. Until people wake the fu** up.....
"Je suis un chien qui ronge l'os.
En le rongeant je prends mon repos.
Un temps viendra, qui n'est pas venu, que je mordray qui m'aura mordu".
Be GOOD, Northstar