The word "rehabilitation" means "to restore with dignity."
This country, holding the largest prison population in the world, does not do that.
For the most part, we simply set up a cycle of recidivism, which only makes incarcerated offenders into harder criminals.
Unlike "Dirty Harry" movies, the "war on crime" takes prisoners, and we do not "lock them up and throw away the key." We have to put them somewhere, feed them, give them beds, medical care, pay for these prisons (out of the taxpayers' pocket) and, most importantly, "correct" their behavior, so that they can return to society as productive individuals. Most of our convicts are NOT doing life...they're doing "bullets."
We are failing both offenders and our citizens. Not even the communities that host the prisons benefit -- yes, their residents gain jobs and sell stuff to guards and the prison operation alike -- but when someone breaks out, the town's residents live in mortal terror until the escapee is re-captured.
Now the Bloated Yam wants to open "detention camps." I guess we're going to have a nation of Gulags.
I hope he gets there, but I can't see it...truthfully, I think he'll be re-elected, and that'll do it for democracy in America.
Americans, for all their rhetoric about the "Greatness of America," as I was told in school, don't LIKE democracy. They want beggars, drug dealers, and hookers swept out of "good" neighborhoods (read: "white"). They want tight redlining to raise property values and low property taxes. They want cops to be like Dirty Harry to deal with street crime but accepting $100 bills to settle speeding tickets. They want the whole permit and inspection process to be simplified to a few simple bribes. They want obnoxious college kids who protest everything to shut the heck up, and either root for their school's NCAA team or learn a few lessons by going in the Marines. They want abortion illegal except when their daughter gets in the "family way," in which case they ship the kid off for three months to "get the procedure" on the sly, and tell her to stop being such a drip when she comes home in a state of depression. They want undocumented immigrants shipped home, except for the Mexican who does their lawn. They want blacks only to be seen shining shoes, singing songs, making dinner, hitting home runs, or in handcuffs. They want Asians either doing laundry or working on computers. They want Jews to do their accounting and comedy routines. They want their wives to cook gourmet steaks in the kitchen, as maids in the living room, nannies in the nursery, and tarts in the bedroom. ("I've never done this before, but I'll show you exactly how.") They don't want to see Muslims at all. They don't want to hear about "climate change" or "nuclear winter" or other "egghead" ideas. And if a bunch of rich people make a bundle from ripping them off, so what? That's what America is all about.
In Florida,hundreds of 1000s of voters voted to get exfelons the ability to vote,and DeSatan all but annulled it.Worse,he harassed these people so even people that do have the right to vote, can't,because they are terrified they will be sent back to prison.
These people need to be able to vote, because otherwise they are unrepresented.Many laws have been passed and voted for,that directly affected these very people who are not allowed the means to stop these laws from becoming law.Laws that limit where they can live,or the help they can apply for,like public assistance and housing,or even where they can work.Mostly it is arranged to make them homeless and in poverty,and force them to end up back in prison.
It is indeed shameful to allow this practice,and to allow it to flourish.So many people who have made a mistake,could be rehabilitated to become productive citizens,but the industrial prison complex would lose money if less people came back.The attitude towards them is they don't deserve another chance.Everyone should have the chance to improve themselves,and move forward.
Yes there are people who can't be helped or released,but we shouldn't lump people together with murderers and rapists,that made a one time mistake that shouldn't define the rest of their lives.But yet,this routinely happens all too often.
It has long been a custom in slave states to lock up black men for little or no cause, first to provide fodder for the convict leasing system that provided free labor to work the plantations after emancipation, and from Reconstruction to the present to disenfranchise Black voters. During convict leasing, a Black man could be arrested for sitting on his own porch (vagrancy) and leased by a county sheriff to a plantation owner who could then work him to death with no repercussions. Disenfranchisement of Black and leftist voters was a stated reason for Nixon's drug war, making felons out of anybody caught smoking a joint. Thanks, Jay, for bringing this issue into focus.
Conservatives are *still* using this as a strategy. Why do you think they're trying to make felonies (with lengthy sentences) of everything from seeking female reproductive healthcare across state lines to using contraception to having any sort of miscarriage? They are trying to make the 19th amendment irrelevant and deny women the right to vote.
A lot of those "conservatives" are committing crimes that are undetected and unknown to the public. Newt Gingrich was cheating on his wife while trying to impeach Bill Clinton. ( Clinton's behavior with Monica Lewinsky was totally inappropriate.) My point is that Republicans are often committing crimes, and they want to harshly punish others.
I am a registered nurse who spent >6 years working in corrections at NC Prisons. Servitude, or slavery of Prisoners working in the Prison system is as endemic as Tuberculosis! Most of the inmates want to work, don’t want trouble, want to do their time and go home to be with family and friends. Many inmates have no support from family while in prison and their prison jobs usually pay far less than $2.00/hr. Taxes are withheld (I believe), and there are things they are responsible for purchasing at the commissary, if they want or need them. It’s sad to meet those prisoners who can’t afford to buy a little radio, batteries, a comb, or a small snack once in a while! And I am all for them not being treated as felons any longer if they have served their time- especially for non-violent offenses. I think the felons who are disenfranchised need reform for sentencing, learning good communication skills, good work or job training, and all the education they can get while incarcerated! And a second chance. Most are black, Hispanic,Native American, and come from very poor households, neighborhoods, and crime is rampant. You drive by neighborhoods and notice the drugs being sold and bought, guns sold and bought- people milling around the neighborhoods because they have no decent jobs to get them out of the hood! It’s shameful.
The threat of a bad report to the Parole Board is a powerful cudgel to coerce inmates to work diligently. In my youth I was locked up in the Federal system (1980's). Work was mandatory, especially if you hoped to make parole. I started at $0.11 per hour in the kitchen, then the laundry, then as an ESL tutor, a clerk/typist, and made the top pay grade in a UNICOR Prison Industries furniture factory ($1.10/hr). At that time TAP and PELL grants were still available to inmates, so at least I came out with a GED, AA, and BA degrees. I can say it was the best place for me at the time.
I’m happy you said that. I’ve been thinking it would be meaningful to pay more so inmates could save- put it into an account that earns interest, for “retirement from Prison” to be used to help get yourself established on the outside with a place to stay and job hunt. It can only be used for that purpose. Parole is a terrible system. If you meet the parameters for parole it should be granted. It should not be subjective and should not be delayed until you are so old or sick you can’t enjoy life on the outside that you should have earned by rights long ago. I know many inmates who would violate Parole to go back inside because Parole rules were too stringent and they just wanted to serve the rest of their time to get out and be free of parole rules. Besides the rules they also had to pay so much money into it they could not afford it!
Shameful. What’s sad is how many Americans think the USA is a world leader, #1, etc. The opening of this great article would be good for all Americans to take in.
I agree, Kate - it's absolutely infuriating! And considering the way TFG is manufacturing delays in the various court cases, we can't even count on his being found guilty (let alone sentenced) before the election.
If he were convicted in any of the 8 states mentioned he could still run and win, but not be able to vote. Insane. Sometimes I really have little hope for our country.
The word "rehabilitation" means "to restore with dignity."
This country, holding the largest prison population in the world, does not do that.
For the most part, we simply set up a cycle of recidivism, which only makes incarcerated offenders into harder criminals.
Unlike "Dirty Harry" movies, the "war on crime" takes prisoners, and we do not "lock them up and throw away the key." We have to put them somewhere, feed them, give them beds, medical care, pay for these prisons (out of the taxpayers' pocket) and, most importantly, "correct" their behavior, so that they can return to society as productive individuals. Most of our convicts are NOT doing life...they're doing "bullets."
We are failing both offenders and our citizens. Not even the communities that host the prisons benefit -- yes, their residents gain jobs and sell stuff to guards and the prison operation alike -- but when someone breaks out, the town's residents live in mortal terror until the escapee is re-captured.
Now the Bloated Yam wants to open "detention camps." I guess we're going to have a nation of Gulags.
Let's make sure the evil bloated yam does not win re-election!
That's about it.
If anyone belongs in prison, it's the bloated yam.
I hope he gets there, but I can't see it...truthfully, I think he'll be re-elected, and that'll do it for democracy in America.
Americans, for all their rhetoric about the "Greatness of America," as I was told in school, don't LIKE democracy. They want beggars, drug dealers, and hookers swept out of "good" neighborhoods (read: "white"). They want tight redlining to raise property values and low property taxes. They want cops to be like Dirty Harry to deal with street crime but accepting $100 bills to settle speeding tickets. They want the whole permit and inspection process to be simplified to a few simple bribes. They want obnoxious college kids who protest everything to shut the heck up, and either root for their school's NCAA team or learn a few lessons by going in the Marines. They want abortion illegal except when their daughter gets in the "family way," in which case they ship the kid off for three months to "get the procedure" on the sly, and tell her to stop being such a drip when she comes home in a state of depression. They want undocumented immigrants shipped home, except for the Mexican who does their lawn. They want blacks only to be seen shining shoes, singing songs, making dinner, hitting home runs, or in handcuffs. They want Asians either doing laundry or working on computers. They want Jews to do their accounting and comedy routines. They want their wives to cook gourmet steaks in the kitchen, as maids in the living room, nannies in the nursery, and tarts in the bedroom. ("I've never done this before, but I'll show you exactly how.") They don't want to see Muslims at all. They don't want to hear about "climate change" or "nuclear winter" or other "egghead" ideas. And if a bunch of rich people make a bundle from ripping them off, so what? That's what America is all about.
And that's what they'll get this November.
In Florida,hundreds of 1000s of voters voted to get exfelons the ability to vote,and DeSatan all but annulled it.Worse,he harassed these people so even people that do have the right to vote, can't,because they are terrified they will be sent back to prison.
These people need to be able to vote, because otherwise they are unrepresented.Many laws have been passed and voted for,that directly affected these very people who are not allowed the means to stop these laws from becoming law.Laws that limit where they can live,or the help they can apply for,like public assistance and housing,or even where they can work.Mostly it is arranged to make them homeless and in poverty,and force them to end up back in prison.
It is indeed shameful to allow this practice,and to allow it to flourish.So many people who have made a mistake,could be rehabilitated to become productive citizens,but the industrial prison complex would lose money if less people came back.The attitude towards them is they don't deserve another chance.Everyone should have the chance to improve themselves,and move forward.
Yes there are people who can't be helped or released,but we shouldn't lump people together with murderers and rapists,that made a one time mistake that shouldn't define the rest of their lives.But yet,this routinely happens all too often.
It has long been a custom in slave states to lock up black men for little or no cause, first to provide fodder for the convict leasing system that provided free labor to work the plantations after emancipation, and from Reconstruction to the present to disenfranchise Black voters. During convict leasing, a Black man could be arrested for sitting on his own porch (vagrancy) and leased by a county sheriff to a plantation owner who could then work him to death with no repercussions. Disenfranchisement of Black and leftist voters was a stated reason for Nixon's drug war, making felons out of anybody caught smoking a joint. Thanks, Jay, for bringing this issue into focus.
Conservatives are *still* using this as a strategy. Why do you think they're trying to make felonies (with lengthy sentences) of everything from seeking female reproductive healthcare across state lines to using contraception to having any sort of miscarriage? They are trying to make the 19th amendment irrelevant and deny women the right to vote.
A lot of those "conservatives" are committing crimes that are undetected and unknown to the public. Newt Gingrich was cheating on his wife while trying to impeach Bill Clinton. ( Clinton's behavior with Monica Lewinsky was totally inappropriate.) My point is that Republicans are often committing crimes, and they want to harshly punish others.
I am a registered nurse who spent >6 years working in corrections at NC Prisons. Servitude, or slavery of Prisoners working in the Prison system is as endemic as Tuberculosis! Most of the inmates want to work, don’t want trouble, want to do their time and go home to be with family and friends. Many inmates have no support from family while in prison and their prison jobs usually pay far less than $2.00/hr. Taxes are withheld (I believe), and there are things they are responsible for purchasing at the commissary, if they want or need them. It’s sad to meet those prisoners who can’t afford to buy a little radio, batteries, a comb, or a small snack once in a while! And I am all for them not being treated as felons any longer if they have served their time- especially for non-violent offenses. I think the felons who are disenfranchised need reform for sentencing, learning good communication skills, good work or job training, and all the education they can get while incarcerated! And a second chance. Most are black, Hispanic,Native American, and come from very poor households, neighborhoods, and crime is rampant. You drive by neighborhoods and notice the drugs being sold and bought, guns sold and bought- people milling around the neighborhoods because they have no decent jobs to get them out of the hood! It’s shameful.
The threat of a bad report to the Parole Board is a powerful cudgel to coerce inmates to work diligently. In my youth I was locked up in the Federal system (1980's). Work was mandatory, especially if you hoped to make parole. I started at $0.11 per hour in the kitchen, then the laundry, then as an ESL tutor, a clerk/typist, and made the top pay grade in a UNICOR Prison Industries furniture factory ($1.10/hr). At that time TAP and PELL grants were still available to inmates, so at least I came out with a GED, AA, and BA degrees. I can say it was the best place for me at the time.
I’m happy you said that. I’ve been thinking it would be meaningful to pay more so inmates could save- put it into an account that earns interest, for “retirement from Prison” to be used to help get yourself established on the outside with a place to stay and job hunt. It can only be used for that purpose. Parole is a terrible system. If you meet the parameters for parole it should be granted. It should not be subjective and should not be delayed until you are so old or sick you can’t enjoy life on the outside that you should have earned by rights long ago. I know many inmates who would violate Parole to go back inside because Parole rules were too stringent and they just wanted to serve the rest of their time to get out and be free of parole rules. Besides the rules they also had to pay so much money into it they could not afford it!
Shameful. What’s sad is how many Americans think the USA is a world leader, #1, etc. The opening of this great article would be good for all Americans to take in.
And yet a possible/probable felony conviction will NOT ban Herr Pumpkinfuhrer from running for and being elected president. 🤦♀️😡
I agree, Kate - it's absolutely infuriating! And considering the way TFG is manufacturing delays in the various court cases, we can't even count on his being found guilty (let alone sentenced) before the election.
If he were convicted in any of the 8 states mentioned he could still run and win, but not be able to vote. Insane. Sometimes I really have little hope for our country.
Humanity's Last Best Hope . ..
For some reason The Exceptional Nation ..
was First in Chancy health, Gun death, and Incarceration . .
As if some major glitch . .in The Pursuit of Happiness . .
As if Purpose, Meaning, needing
some higher Elevation ..
Great at Tailoring The Vote . .. with "Election Concern" . ..
Thank you. I grew up in Virginia. The “genteel” state of the founders...
This of course was never discussed...
Thank you. The history is shameful,, but sadly not surprising.
Thank you Steven!
One example is Jim Jordan chastising Hunter Biden for not adhering to the subpoena- not showing up and/or walking out before questioning…
I hope they win.
Sharing the hell out of this on Facebook. 👊🏼
Thank you so much for clearly explaining what is going on, and the history of how it got that way.