From Troy Davis to Occupy Wall Street: How the Prison System Destroys ...

[nofurylike]

From Troy Davis to Occupy Wall Street: How the Prison System Destroys the American Dream
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
October 3, 2011

http://www.alternet.org/story/152607/fro...ican_dream

The world watched when the State of Georgia -- with too many peoples' acquiescence to list here -- murdered Troy Anthony Davis. His funeral was held on October 1 in Georgia.

-snip-

It should be no surprise that the person who attacked our country's labor movement and welfare system, the man who helped create the 1 percent as it is today is the same person who helped usher in tough-on-crime policies, the war on drugs and the exploding prison system: President Ronald Reagan. Over the last 30 years, as the rich got richer, the poor got poorer and found themselves increasingly tangled in the criminal justice system.

Most inmates were poor when they went in and poorer while they're inside. Incarcerated people are paid as little as 23 cents an hour for their work, according to AlterNet. Many are still poor when they get out, as it's legal for employers to discriminate against someone with a record. Those convicted of a sex offense have even more legalized discrimination to contend with, thanks to the patchwork of archaic and absurd rules aimed at where they can or can't live.

Our prison system, from arrest to conviction, is disproportionately populated by black men, resulting in the following shameful statistics: one in every eight black men in their 20s is in prison or jail and three-fourths of those incarcerated for a drug offense is a person of color. And because many states tie voting rights to criminal records, an estimated 13 percent of black men are banned from voting, according to the Sentencing Project.

-snip-

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two vitally important points left out of most articles on this:

- blacks do not commit more crimes per capita than whites (in fact, some stats show the opposite, especially youth stats), but are more severely charged, and sentenced for same/similar crimes.

- on top of disenfranchisement, prison populations - not able to actually vote - are counted in censuses used for districting. notice where prisons are located ...

[jaxx]

I've always thought people who have done their time should be allowed to vote again, it's part of citizenship. There are some very troubling stats in the article, stats that need looked at and the reasons examined to see what can be done to stop the madness.

[nofurylike]

(10-05-2011 07:10 AM)jaxx Wrote:  I've always thought people who have done their time should be allowed to vote again, it's part of citizenship. There are some very troubling stats in the article, stats that need looked at and the reasons examined to see what can be done to stop the madness.

i agree, completely, jaxx. on all counts.

i am trying to put together a post on the "Call for a national criminal justice commission," which seems to focus on those and many other questions.

thank you!