US Gulag Economy Nightmare For Poor and Minorities
by T. M. Elkins
http://www.opednews.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/genera_t__m__el_071119_us_prison_industry_t.htm
In a new report by the JFA Institute, a Washington research group, investigating
corrupt and criminal US judicial system, researchers recently called the US prisons a
"costly, harmful failure", and recommended decriminalizing recreational drugs as
steps to elimination of the incarceration industry, save hundreds of billions a year
and ease social inequality without endangering the public.
Just how bad is the US prison system? For one thing, it's entirely bloated with
inmates. The United States is now in the unenviable position of having the world's
highest incarceration rate, followed by Russia, according to 2006 figures compiled by
Kings College in London.
Duncan Campbell, in the Los Angeles Times, states, "Anger grows as America jails its
two millionth inmate. The land of the free is now home to 25% of the entire world's
prison population."
America now has a gulag-type system, overfull with nonviolent offenders and petty
criminals who make up the bulk of its population. The JFA report cites, among other
things, the example of a woman in Florida now serving a "two-year sentence for
throwing a cup of coffee".
Despite repeated criticism from experts from a variety of fields, including law
enforcement, politicians continue to emphasize "get tough on crime", and states
continue to build enormous prisons, at huge cost to taxpayers and society. Indeed,
the prison "industry" has become America's second largest industry, with many states
allowing "privatised" prisons to take over the duty of housing, clothing a feeding
prisoners. By 1996, one out of four adults in America owed their employment to
America's prison industry.
Meanwhile, these "privatized prisons" are raking in millions of dollars for their
owners. Who foots the bill? American taxpayers, many of them relatives of those who
are being imprisoned for parking fines, speeding or passing bad checks.
The new JFA Institute report said the prison population is projected to grow by
another 192,000 in five years, which is expected to cost taxpayers $27.5 billion to
build and operate additional prisons- this at a time in which less money is available
for education, healthcare or infrastructure. While millions of law-abiding Americans
lack basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing, the prison industry is
still going strong.
Reuters reported, "Although the U.S. crime rate began declining in the 1990s it is
still about the same as in 1973, the JFA report said. But the prison population has
soared because sentences have gotten longer and people who violate parole or
probation, even with minor lapses, are more likely to be imprisoned."
" 'The system is almost feeding on itself now. It takes years and years and years to
get out of this system and we do not see any positive impact on the crime rates,' JFA
President James Austin, a co-author of the report, told a news conference."
There have been "decades of broad U.S. public and political support for getting tough
on criminals through longer, harsher prison terms", resulting in a phenomenal
increase in the number of prisoners. Since the 1970's, the number of prisoners has
been rising steadily. In 1980, the US jail population was 500,000. By 1987 or so, it
doubled to 1,000,000. By 2000 it has surpassed 2,000,000. At this rate, given a rough
estimate of 300 million people living in the USA, everyone will be incarcerated by
the year 2057....if the US still exists by then, of course.
The "get tough" rhetoric employed by lawmakers and politicians carries with it an
insidious side- the spectre of racism. Politicians began using "crime hysteria" in
the 1970's and 80's as a campaign tactic, often alluding to race by using "code
words" to refer to black criminals. With the increasing decline in well-paid jobs and
a general malaise in the economy causing the gap between poor and rich to rise, it
was necessary to find an outlet for white middle-class rage. Politicians found it
easy to aviod addressing domestic anxieties by using poor, disenfranchised minorities
as "scapegoats", just as now immigrants and muslims are being targeted.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, "Today, "thousands of young black men are
serving long prison sentences for selling cocaine -- a drug that was virtually
unobtainable in black neighborhoods before members of the CIA's army brought it into
South-Central in the 1980s at bargain- basement prices."
While the US government under Ronald Reagan imported tons of cocaine to the US
through the CIA in the 1980's, new laws, such as NY's Rockefeller drug laws, were
used as a pretext to lock up huge numbers of drug dealers- all of them working for
the CIA.
Because of these punitive drug-sentencing laws, minorities have borne the brunt of
nefarious mandatory minimum sentencing policies. According to researchers, "At
current rates, one-third of all black males, one-sixth of Latino males, and one in 17
white males will go to prison during their lives."
The cost to society, in terms of social breakdown, poverty, mental and physical
health, is incalculable. Many of those who are released find it nearly impossible to
return to society and find work. They then become a burden to society. Worse yet, the
report notes that, "Women represent the fastest-growing segment of the prison
population. The result is increased social and racial inequality." Sometimes these
women give birth in prison, and, unable to care for their children, they are forced
to send their children into foster care.
"The massive incarceration of young males from mostly poor- and working-class
neighborhoods, and the taking of women from their families and jobs, has crippled
their potential for forming healthy families and achieving economic gains," it said.
The article stated that there are some "signs of shifting attitudes on sentencing
policies". According to Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Sentencing Project,
"Some financially strapped states are shortening sentences and Congress is moving
toward bipartisan passage of increased help for released prisoners. Compared to where
we were in the mid-(19)90s, it's been a very significant change."
However, these local changes don't go far enough. The JFA report recommends cutting
the prison population in half in order to save $20 billion a year- money that could
be better used on social and domestic problems.
"President (George W.) Bush was right," in commuting Libby's perjury sentence this
year as excessive, the report says. "But while he was at it, President Bush should
have commuted the sentences of hundreds of thousands of Americans who each year have
also received prison sentences for crimes that pose little if any danger or harm to
our society."
Will there be a change in the US policy anytime soon? It doesn't look like it. As a
matter of fact, now that the Bush administration is going ahead with its plan to
build concentration camps (in a special contract issued to ***** Cheney's
Halliburton), it looks as if the US is a leading gualg economy with an impressive
array of work camps for immigrants, muslims, "thought crime" prisoners, dissidents or
who knows what else
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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