cannabisnews.com: American Gulag: Petty Criminals Doing Hard Time American Gulag: Petty Criminals Doing Hard Time Posted by FoM on February 24, 2002 at 09:52:00 PT By Sasha Abramsky Source: San Francisco Chronicle The United States has achieved the dubious honor of boasting the largest prison and jail population on Earth. It reached this zenith by surpassing cash-strapped Russia -- long its only rival as a society of mass imprisonment -- after Russia released thousands of inmates so as to save money. A few years earlier, as America rushed to lock up ever more of its population for ever-pettier offenses, the absolute size of its incarcerated population surpassed that of China -- despite China's population being more than four times that of America. According to research by the British Home Office, America now incarcerates over one fifth of the world's prisoners. There is something bitterly ironic in this. America really is a land of liberty, a place where lives, often scarred by injustice elsewhere, can be remade. How tragic that over the past 20 years, the country's political leaders have so often decided to deal with many of the most noxious side- effects of poverty -- from chronic drug use and the establishment of street drug markets, to hustling, gang membership and spraying graffiti on public buildings -- through a vast over-reliance on incarceration. How doubly tragic that this has occurred in tandem with a political assault on the Great Society anti-poverty programs put in place during the 1960s; that the investments in infrastructure, public education, public health care and job training which might curtail crime more effectively are, instead, being replaced by massive public expenditures on building new prisons. The numbers buttressing this sprawling prison system are extraordinary. Approximately two million Americans are now serving either prison or jail time, over one million of them for non-violent offenses (a preponderance of these either for drug use or low-level drug sales). Per hundred thousand residents, the United States has an incarceration rate over five times that of England, six times that of Canada and seven times that of Germany. Somewhere around 10 percent of African American men in their 20s live behind bars. In some states, where a single felony conviction is enough to bar the offender from ever being able to vote again, over one quarter of African American males are disenfranchised. Since 1980, a virtual "prison industrial complex" has arisen, with phenomenal rates of new-prison construction abetted by lucrative construction and prison-guard union lobbies. Several states, including California, spend more on prisons than they do on higher education. Despite dramatically falling crime rates over the last 10 years (which most criminologists attribute more to demography -- there have simply been fewer young men of late), prison populations have continued to soar. As the number of truly heinous crimes has fallen, increasingly it is small- time hoodlums, drug users, and mentally ill people who have been drawing long spells behind bars. America today has five times as many prisoners as it did in 1980. One of the most dismaying developments is the spread of so-called "three strikes" laws. California's version, passed by citizen referendum in 1993 and ratcheted into place by state legislators in 1994, provides for life imprisonment of a criminal with two previous serious convictions who is found guilty of a third felony. By the end of last year, there were about 7,000 people serving life sentences in California under this law. Many thousands of them are serving life for small-time "third strikes": minor drug crimes, car theft, petty fraud and burglary. One such man is 58-year-old heroin addict Billy Ochoa, who is serving 326 years in a supermax (super maximum security) prison for $2,100 of welfare fraud. Because he had been convicted of several burglaries over the previous decades, when Ochoa was caught making fraudulent applications for food stamps and emergency housing vouchers in Los Angeles, he was tried under the three strikes law and given sentences on 13 separate counts to be served in one of the toughest, most secure prisons in America. Ochoa's sentence, apart from its extravagant cruelty, may ultimately cost taxpayers as much as a million dollars. In many high security American prisons, inmates are routinely kept in virtual isolation, fed in their cells, allowed out for only half an hour of exercise a day, sometimes denied a TV, a radio, or even decorations for their concrete walls conditions which have been documented to drive many of them into states of serious psychosis. How can things have come to this America? Sasha Abramsky is the author of "Hard Time Blues: How Politics Built A Prison Nation," published by St. Martins Press. This article was written for Project Syndicate, based in Prague. Newshawk: DPFWI -- http://www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Sasha AbramskyPublished: Sunday, February 24, 2002 Copyright: 2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page D - 3 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles:Prison-Industrial Complex http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10730.shtmlJustice: Federal Drug Charges Rise http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10664.shtmlCrime Rate Dropped, but Sentencing Grew Tougherhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10604.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by 311grassroots on February 26, 2002 at 14:37:31 PT: here's another song with that kind of message It's a 311 song off their Grassroots album. It's called Offbeat Bare Ass...I know I must be laying a pipe you got a gripe with the way I get high Graffix bong sing along with a cry of a mandatory sentence for a crime with no victim when everyone knows jail terms should be picked in order of the pain that they cause (you know) do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law until you violate the rights of another respect the space of your sister and your brother the war on drugs may be well intentioned but it falls f---ing flat when you stop and mention the over crowded prisons where a rapists gets paroled to make room for a dude who has sold a pound of weed to me that's a crime here's to good people doin time y'all [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by shrox on February 25, 2002 at 15:55:23 PT Prison song, what was the point in posting that? Smack my bitch? I really don't have much pity for slackers that drag down societial standards even further, especially ones that get abusive at anytime, whether they are polluted or not..."songs" like that don't help. http://www.shrox.com/spiceflow.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by monvor on February 25, 2002 at 14:16:50 PT Prison Song My teenage daughter popped in a music CD and this song played. It is nice to see that the kids these days are getting the right message from the WOD.System Of A Down Prison Song They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison,Following the rights movements You clamped on with your iron fists, Drugs became conveniently Available for all the kids, Following the rights movements You clamped on with your iron fists, Drugs became conveniently Available for all the kids,I buy my crack, I smack my bitch, Right here in Hollywood,Nearly 2 million Americans are incarcerated In the prison system, prison system, Prison system of the U.S.They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in) Another prison system, Another prison system, Another prison system. (for you and me to live in)Minor drug offenders fill your prisons You don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars Against the new non-rich, Minor drug offenders fill your prisons You don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars Against the new non-rich,I buy my crack, I smack my bitch, Right here in Hollywood,The percentage of Americans in the prison system Prison system, has doubled since 1985,They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in) Another prison system, Another prison system, Another prison system. (for you and me to live in) For you and I, for you and I , for you and I.They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, For you and me, Oh baby, you and me.All research and successful drug policy show That treatment should be increased, And law enforcement decreased, While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences, All research and successful drug policy show That treatment should be increased, And law enforcement decreased, While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences.Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world, Drugs are now your global policy, Now you police the globe,I buy my crack, I smack my bitch, Right here in Hollywood,Drug money is used to rig elections, And train brutal corporate sponsored Dictators around the world.They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in) Another prison system, Another prison system, Another prison system. (for you and me to live in) For you and I, for you and I , for you and I. They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, They're trying to build a prison, For you and me, Oh baby, you and me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Dan B on February 25, 2002 at 06:42:11 PT: Thanks, Sandino There is no greater right than the right to govern one's own body as one sees fit, yet the governmenthas repeatedly stepped in to force Americans to submit their bodies for government inspection. Of course, we are most familiar with the intrusion imposed by drug testing--something not yet required to be an American citizen, but generously financed with our federal dollars by way of payoffs to companies that drug test their employees. And, of course, drug testing is mandatory for all government employees as well.It comes as little surprise to me, then, that the U.S. guv would stoop so low as to enforce mandatory medical exams and vaccinations upon penalty of homelessness and destitution. Such a program is nothing short of a eugenics pogrom designed to destroy those who do not meet some arbitrary government standard of health. Of course, it will largely be directed at illegal drug users; mandatory drug testing will likely be the first "medical exam" performed on all U.S. citizens.Of course, I don't need to tell anyone here the significance of such laws as those described by Sandino (and the description is supported by the link given in Sandino's comment). Those who use cannabis, either medicinally or recreationally, have been living under this kind of scrutiny for decades now. I wonder if it is already too late for the rest of the population to understand what we've been telling them for the past X years (go back to whatever landmark in protest history you choose). If they don't understand yet, they will soon.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on February 24, 2002 at 23:12:57 PT There's nothing new about it Back in the USBack in the USBack in the USSR [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Sandino on February 24, 2002 at 15:50:38 PT: FW: Health Care This is very scary: You could be come a criminal much easier than you think.Take ActionGo to: http://www.aapsonline.org/testimony/emerpind.htm Click on Sign Petition Model Legislation. If Model Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA) legislation passes:1-You must have mandatory vaccinations or you will be charged with a crime.2-You must have a mandatory medical exam, or you will be charged with a crime.3-If you refuse an appointed Doctor to give the exam you will be charged with a crime.4-Your property can be seized if there is "REASONABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE" that your health may pose a public health hazard... Your property could be burned, destroyed or sold and you will NOT have recourse or compensation.Additional Resource: http://www.publichealthlaw.net/SummaryThis Act would:Broaden government access to private medical records; greatly weaken protections against the taking of private property without compensation; criminalize refusal to be conscripted for public service or to take medical treatment; potentially increase the risk of infection to many individuals on the pretext of protecting the common good; subjugate scientific analysis and deliberation to the raw assertion of power; greatly expand the power of government to interfere with commerce; and immunize state officials from sanctions against gross abuses of power. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Tigress58 on February 24, 2002 at 14:30:15 PT And Weed was Legal I forgot to put this in post # 4 to complete it. In this story, MJ was legal. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Tigress58 on February 24, 2002 at 14:26:11 PT Poor Imprisoned to serve The Rich I read a book by F.M. Busby, called, 'Young Rissa.' He is a former member of the service. If the book is carefully read, especially at the beginning, the point he makes is that in the future, anyone who the government even thinks is not in agreement with them is thrown into prison on trumpted up charges. If you are not rich, you haven't a chance in hell of defending yourself or even getting out. Rissa's parents were killed , being reporters they told the news straight which wasn't caught in time by government censorship. Their house was stormed, and the parents killed in front of the children. The children were put into a detention facility, and served the rich as slaves for the crimes of their parents. There was a national lottery. The prison wardens would play the numbers of those detained. Rissa's number hit. Only then was she allowed to BUY her way out of detention. After she bought her way out, the government immediately tried to kill her. However, an outside group interceeded, changed her identity, trained her (survival & skill), and got her to safety.This book is a GOOD READ. How it relates here, do you see some resemblance to what is taking place in this country now? We need to stop what appears to be a prediction by a former service member now. Maybe he knows something we don't. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by The GCW on February 24, 2002 at 13:45:05 PT schools / more important that caging cannabis user The one who spends the most on education is the one who incarcerates the least humans, and visa-versa. a.. Minnesota's ranking among U.S. incarceration rates: Fifty-first ( includes District of Columbia ). b.. Minnesota's ranking among U.S. education-spending per capita: First. c.. District of Columbia's ranking among U.S. incarceration rates: First. d.. District of Columbia's ranking among U.S. education-spending per capita: Fifty-first. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by shrox on February 24, 2002 at 10:55:36 PT: The New World Order is an ancient evil We do not live in a true democracy, rather we enjoy a constitutional republic. It is based upon the values and ideas lived by Christ, written about by Plato, and enacted by early Quakers, (not in that order, Plato, then Christ, then Quakers - actually The Society of Friends). Like it or not, we would not be here if it were not for people who thought that an unknown land that appeared to hold little more than wild game and trees was better than the civilization of the day. They sailed here on third-hand wooden ships, set up lives, made some incredible accomplishments, committed grievous errors, and set forth a course that extends to the farthest reaches of our solar system. Every single one of us reading this message lives a live that they might call magic, certainly something worth crossing a dangerous ocean for. Look at all you have. Isn't it worth a phone call or a letter to your representatives and senators? Whether it be to praise their efforts to stem the tide of tyranny or to demand redress of sharp scalpels against our freedoms, think about a wilderness that was far better than the pinnacle of state rule.In other words, get involved. Don't just post about how silver tongued puppets from Texas don't do what you need done. http://www.shrox.com/spiceflow.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by MikeEEEEE on February 24, 2002 at 10:22:11 PT Social Implications A society with a vastly large prison population obviously says something about how the system does not work. If the US keeps solving social problems with the prison system the result may be a police state. Welcome to the land that saves the children (the unverified threat) at the expense of freedoms -- the new world order. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment