September 16, 2013
Prison-Industrial Complex Watch: Judge Says Corrections Corporation of America In Contempt Of Court
This is what happens when we allow prisons to become a for-profit enterprise.
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August 28, 2013
Prison-Industrial Complex: The Magic Thinking Of America’s ‘Tough On Crime’ Reactionary Types
I recently participated in a debate on Facebook about criminals and American incarceration. The debate sprang from an article about a repeat offender, committing yet another robbery only weeks after release from a nine-year sentence. My takeaway from this conversation is that America’s prison-industrial complex will not change as long as most Americans are passive on this issue. And that’s because there are a fair number of people in this country who have a philosophy that one should die for the crimes he or she commits, particularly if a repeat offender. In their minds, the only requirement that need be met for a death sentence is their sole judgement that this human being no longer deserves to live, and will never be a useful member of society.
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August 1, 2013
The Tasty Pick of American Exceptionalism: Minimum Wage Or Incarceration?
America is exceptional all right, its exceptionally jaded, exceptionally cynical, exceptionally resentful, and exceptionally callous. We are so judgmental of others, so righteous of our own strengths, so high on our own self-worth, we believe we need to be exceptionally tough when it comes to anyone who does not measure up. And nowhere is this more true than America’s “tough on crime” stance. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have laws. I’m not saying criminals shouldn’t go to jail. What I’m saying is we need to take it down a notch or two or a thousand. And we need to stop taking discretion away from judges and juries with “mandatory minimums” and other similar legislative “solutions” to crime.
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