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Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Police Chief Who Ordered Cops to Abuse Forfeiture Laws Sentenced To Prison For Extortion, Bribery & Theft


By Warren Kulo

JACKSON, Mississippi - 50-year-old Bruce Barlow was sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit extortion, bribery and theft while he was Chief of Police for the City of Mendenhall.

U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced the sentence Tuesday afternoon. Barlow will also spend three years on post-release supervision and will pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a July 10 hearing.

According to investigators, from January 2010 through July 2010, Barlow instructed Mendenhall police officers to pull over motorists and find ways to gain access into and search their vehicles. He also instructed his officers to seize cash at every arrest, including arrests for misdemeanor charges.

When Barlow was interviewed by FBI agents on March 7, 2013, he admitted to stealing money and property and allowing others to take property seized by the Mendenhall Police Department from the victims after an arrest or detention.

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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Teenager Jailed for Sarcastic League of Legends Comment, Facing 8 Years in Prison


by RT

A teenager from Texas could spend the next eight years in prison if a court decides that the sarcastic comment he made during an online argument is enough to convict him of issuing a terroristic threat.

Justin Carter was only 18 years old when he and a friend got into an online spat over Facebook back in February with another person. They were arguing about the computer game ?League of Legends,? his dad told a local ABC affiliate, but one snarky remark made by the teen was apparently enough to raise suspicion in one woman who was watching the conversation unfold all the way up in Canada.

?Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,?? father Jack Carter told KKVUE News, ?to which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.??

According to the parent, the teenager from Texas followed up that remark with the phrases ?LOL? and ?JK?? Internet shorthand for ?Laugh out Loud? and ?Just Kidding.? The Canadian witness wasn?t amused, however, and reportedly conducted a cursory Google search to find out more about the sarcastic gamer. That information led her to learn that the Carter household is located close to a local elementary school, prompting her to alert the police.

Carter, who has since turned 19, was arrested in late March and has so far spent three months and one day behind bars. His trial is slated to begin in July, and if convicted of ?making a terroristic threat? he could spend most of his twenties in federal prison.

Under Texas law, a person could be charged with a misdemeanor if he or she ?threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property? with the intent to prompt a reaction, cause fear in another or interrupt the occupation of a public place. If the defendant is thought to have made a threat to cause impairment or interruption of a public service, it?s a felony in the Lone Star State.

?These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made," Jack Carter told KVUE.

It?s likely that the timing of the teenager?s quip ? only two months after the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting left 26 people dead in Connecticut ? didn?t discourage authorities from launching an investigation. His father said his son didn?t mean anything of it, though, and was just being behaving like an average teenager.

?Justin was the kind of kid who didn't read the newspaper. He didn't watch television. He wasn't aware of current events. These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space,? said Jack Carter.

?If I can just help one person to understand that social media is not a playground, that when you go out there into social media, when you use Facebook, when you use Twitter, when you go out there and make comments on news articles, and the things you are saying can and will be used against you," he said.

Carter?s trial is expected to begin July 1 in Texas. Earlier this month, a grand jury in Massachusetts declined to indict an 18-year-old aspiring rapper who was accused of making terrorist threats after posting prose on his Facebook page that referenced the Boston Marathon bombing. Cameron B. D?Ambrosio was detained for one month in jail and stood to serve as much as two decades if convicted.


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Our government is a reflection of Jewish Bolshevik Communism where now our words are policed. The woman in Canada who started this needs to get a life I mean now we're going to convict people for thought crimes. I would never have my kids fight in the American military. Looking this story on at other forums, I noticed that there's significant number of people who basically approve authorities reaction in essence, although all seem to agree that 8 years us overkill. So I created a survey at http://tolu.na/11brmac - what should have been authorities reaction on the report about boy's remark. Please spend 2 minutes to participate. A government is fucked up B people today are retarded!
If you read the sentence it is sarcastically imply-d by the comment kus he was pist off like "ya right" but no one sees shit that way like the "RETARDS" you all are :D Why is it humans can do great things for all (non humans), but we stay as parasites?
Wait i can answer that for you! THE MONEY and false government! I think that Anonymous should look this woman up and do a 4c/b/ troll on her btw how did she get away wit it O.o she looked him up and info about him (finding his address) was not marked as one of the people he talked to so.....wtf?
and yes Anon 3 im wit you >:) Where is the expression of intent to make a real threat. N.B. If his comments were patently not made as a genuine threat, then patently his comments cannot genuinely be taken as a threat (except by those of a delusional mind-set)
Unfortunately, any society which is devoid of an education system for the benefit and enlightenment of the masses, is prone to produce a system of government geared to exploit and control the mentally under-developed - thus intellectually defenceless - masses; such a government will be run by the privileged and therefore unscrupulous few; who, with the protection of their intellectually-challenged weaponised goons, will not resist the temptation to exploit their intellectual advantage; who must then construct grounds for rolling-out grossly over-reaching, unconstitutional legislation which they permit themselves to apply gratuitously, in order that these exploiters may have a "legal framework" to protect themselves should any of the people they are unlawfully exploiting ever awaken to the fact. Such a society is in fact just a massive Guantanimo prison, where all its citizens are in-mates, existing soley at the discretion of their jailers - the government they "voted for". Perhaps this is why home education is so severely restricted in such societies - oppression cannot rise to power without first stripping the people of their intellectual capacity to perceive, much less fend off, the sly hand of the oppressor, until its too late and that hand has gained an iron-grip upon the throat of society. If this all sounds familiar - it should. It's exactly what the Nazis did in the last century. But there is a critical difference between the Nazis and such a government in today's world - the Nazis lacked the hi-tech weapons, surveillance, communication and propaganda technologies available to the governments of today.

Remember, the only way to "fight" the authority of a more powerful oppressive State, is to leave (or perhaps renounce that society and it's benefits). That's why the Russian's used to build walls to keep people in.

Nothing in the above expression of ideas is made with any intent of influence, and may not be interpreted or otherwise utilised for the purpose of influence of any kind. Any party/parties making such interpretation/utility, by so doing, accept sole liability for their actions and also indemnify against any liability, the author of the above expression of ideas; said author does not condone any such interpretation or utilisation.

Per previous comment: If I wish to know whether I live in a free society, I need simply ask my friendly government agents whether I live in a free society. If the answer is "NO" - then I may choose either to stay or to make good my escape from that society. However, if the answer is "YES", then I might also ask - A) if it's a free society, am I free to not pay taxes? Also, B) if its a free society, am I free to leave that society? Finally, C) if it's a free society, why do I need permission to exercise responsibly the rights and liberties necessary to a dignified, free and peaceful existence? (All dictators in history have, as their first act of office, outlawed the ownership of weapons, except among their own soldiers (aka private army).

Disclaimer as per above previous comment. In no way, shape or form does the author of this, or author's other comments, accept liability for, or condone, or express any influence or control over, the thoughts and/or mind-set of others or their actions.

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Milwaukee Cop Sentenced to Prison For Pulling Drivers Over & Searching Their "Anal & Scrotal Areas"


Chris | InformationLiberation

A Milwaukee police officer Michael Vagnini has been sentenced to a paltry 2 years and two months prison for pulling men over for minor traffic violations and allegedly "conduct[ing] searches of [their] anal and scrotal areas, often inserting his fingers into their rectums."

From The Journal Sentinel:

Vagnini regularly pulled over drivers on a pretense of not wearing a seatbelt or of having darkly tinted windows and searched them without a legal reason, according to prosecutors.

Vagnini conducted searches of men's anal and scrotal areas, often inserting his fingers into their rectums, according to the criminal complaint. Vagnini acknowledged performing one of the searches, and at least one suspect said Vagnini planted drugs on him.

State law and police procedures prohibit officers from conducting body cavity searches. Only medical personnel are allowed to perform them, and police must first obtain a search warrant.

The searches occurred on the street and in district stations over a period of two years.

[...]While prosecutors agreed to dismiss sexual assault counts as part of the plea deal, Assistant District Attorney Miriam Falk made clear Friday that she believes that offense occurred, repeatedly. She said while Vagnini may not have sought or obtained any sexual arousal or gratification from reaching into suspects' rectal areas, he knew the victims could not ignore that element.

"I know Michael Vagnini understood the sexual undertones of what was going on," Falk said. "It was intended to degrade and humiliate them, and that's what makes it a sexual assault."

Despite said "sexual assault," Vagnini only got two years and two months in prison thanks to a sweetheart plea deal, no doubt he was shown such leniency because he was acting as a "public servant" and only searched their butt-holes to keep America safe.
_
Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.

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Perhaps he got his butthole searched in prison. Let's hope so. I'm from Milwaukee,
and I ought to know
that Blatz beer tastes great,
wherever you go,
smoother, refreshing, less filling that's clear
Blatz is Milwaukee's favorite beer

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Man Faces Five Years in Prison for Releasing Balloons on Beach as a Romantic Gesture

by J. D. Heyes

We've seen it in the movies and perhaps even witnessed it in person, but most of us never realized it was an offense punishable with lots of prison time.

When Anthony Brasfield released a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the sky over Dania Beach, Fla., for his his sweetheart, all he wanted was to create the perfect atmosphere of romance. What he created instead was a court date.

According to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, Brasfield's act of love was witnessed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper. What he saw was not an act of love but a felony.

Massive jail time for - balloons?

The 40-year-old Brasfield was with his girlfriend, Shaquina Baxter, in the parking lot of a Motel 6 on Dania Beach Boulevard when he released the 12 shiny, red and silver mylar balloons into the sky and watched them float away in the Sunday morning breeze.

But the trooper saw nothing more than probable cause for a crime against the environment. Apparently, lawmakers in the Sunshine State think it's appropriate to treat what should have been, at most, simple littering (to which courts would have issued a fine, maybe?), into a major crime against Mother Nature. As if Florida jails weren't full enough.

The trooper arrested Brasfield and charged him with polluting to harm humans, animals, plants and everything else living under the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act.

"Endangered marine turtle species and birds, such as wood storks and brown pelicans, seek refuge in John U. Lloyd State Park, about 1.5 miles east of the motel," said the paper.

As you might imagine, the law is rarely used. According to the Sun-Sentinel, just 21 arrests were made under the environmental statute between 2008 and 2012.

What is amazing, however, is the severity of the crime - it is a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison. Just as one example, in other parts of the country, people who intentionally or actively work to harm the environment get about the same jail time. (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com)

Granted, it was a violation of the law, but...

It's too early to tell if a Florida court will actually sentence Brasfield to that much time but the fact that someone could be thrown in prison for five years for such a low-level environmental crime is difficult to fathom, especially given what seems to be an obvious fact: That Brasfield was not purposefully demonstrating malice or contempt for the law.

And while ignorance of the law is no excuse, we have a little provision of superseding law in American known as the Eight Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forbids "cruel and unusual punishment."

Environmental preservation is important, of course, but there are real criminals committing real crimes in America that have dramatically more far-reaching and harmful effects on society than do individuals releasing balloons as a gesture of romance. Shouldn't we save our harshest punishment for the really serious environmental polluters?

Sources:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com
http://www.ci.dania-beach.fl.us/
http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment8/amendment.html
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com


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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Government, the New Debtors' Prison

by Douglas French

An old banking buddy of mine has been out of work for a full year. I met up with him yesterday, and he told me the good news that he has finally found work. It's not enjoyable. But it pays better than sitting at home.

His time of unemployment had been doubly tough because his son was also out of work at the same time. The proud father seemed happier that his son had also found a job.

"And since he works for a nonprofit, they will pay his student loan," he said.

"What?" I said, not sure that I was hearing right.

"If you go to work for the government or a nonprofit, they will pay your student loan."

I told my friend that I'm thrilled for him and his son, but that I'm stunned that these sorts of incentives are in place to drive debt-laden college graduates to government and nonprofit jobs.

After all, this means taxpayers are footing the bill for these loans, on top of paying for government salaries that are, of course, a dead weight on private enterprise.

Well, it didn't take much digging to find the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) that was passed by Congress in 2007. According to Forbes, "The program promises to absolve remaining balances on the federal student loans of qualifying borrowers who make 120 monthly loan payments under eligible plans."

To be eligible, you must make these payments while working for the government or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The way to maximize the government forgiveness is to sign up for the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan or the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan.

So say a theoretical student graduates from law school (to use an example provided by Forbes) with $120,000 in debt and takes a job as a public defender making $45,000 a year with a 3% annual raise.

According to Isaac Bowers, senior program manager for educational debt relief and outreach at Equal Justice Works, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, that person would be eligible for roughly $151,000 in forgiveness if the young lawyer enrolled in the government's Income-Based Repayment Plan and repaid about $48,570 in 120 payments.

There is a complete alphabet soup of debt forgiveness programs for those working on the government payroll. Various states have their own programs, as do cities, universities, and so on. Of course, these programs are all subject to funding, so hooking up with a federal government job offering a debt forgiveness program is the safest way to go.

Mark Kantrowitz tells Forbes that loan forgiveness options at the federal level are the most reliable. "Even if they get canceled, existing borrowers are likely to get grandfathered in," he said. "And they're not in danger of being canceled. There would be too much of an uproar if they were."

Meanwhile, MBA graduates gainfully employed in the private sector whipping up lattes and the like are struggling to make payments. This past quarter, 11% of student loans were 90-plus days delinquent, which "for the first time exceeds the 'serious delinquency' rate for credit card debt," William Bennett writes for CNN.com.

Students are graduating with mountains of debt and moving back in with their parents when they can't find a job, or at least one that provides enough to pay rent and student loan payments. This isn't some isolated circumstance. One in five families is shouldering student loans debt, according to Pew Research Center. But for households headed by someone younger than 35, the percentage is a whopping 40%. Back in 1989, that number was less than 20%.

Over a quarter of households headed by someone aged 35-44 has student debt, more than double the 11% for this age group in 1989. The average amount of student debt per household has nearly tripled (in adjusted dollars) in the same time frame, rising from $9,634 in 1989 to $26,682 in 2010. The result?

Mr. Bennett makes the very salient point that student loans are risky, and the government, which makes 93% of student loans, is an irrational lender. Someone pursuing a degree in anthropology can borrow just as much and at the same rate as a student earning a marketable degree like say, nursing.

But the government keeps on shoveling out the money. After all, Obama once told Congress,

"Tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma."
To that end, the Department of Education handed out $133 billion in 2010 and another $157 billion in 2011. And still students are borrowing like never before. But for what? The Associated Press reported earlier this year,
"About 1.5 million, or 53.6%, of bachelor?s degree holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41%, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields."
My friend went on to tell me that his daughter is nearly done with graduate school. I asked if he had been shouldering the burden of her education costs.

"No. Student loans."

I asked if she had racked up a six-figure loan balance.

"Yeah, probably."

I let out a groan. He quickly added, "but she'll probably work for the government."

The mortgage debt crisis has been replaced in the public view by the student loan debt crisis. Total student debt outstanding is approaching $1 trillion. And while students are graduating with fancy degrees, jobs that pay enough to service the debt are few and far between.

The taxpayer just can't escape funding the higher education racket. Your state taxes provide direct support. Your federal taxes are funding direct aid and student loans. And now graduates have a compelling reason to find a place on the government payroll with you footing the bill. After all, student loan balances can't be discharged through bankruptcy, but they can be through government employment.
_
Douglas E. French is senior editor of the Laissez Faire Club. He received his master's degree under the direction of Murray N. Rothbard at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking. He is the author of two books, Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money, the first major empirical study of the relationship between early bubbles and the money supply, and Walk Away, a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of strategic default. He is founder and editor of LibertyWatch magazine. Write him.


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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Who Goes to Prison Due to Gun Control?


Follow @infolibnews!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); By Anthony Gregory

Somehow, left-liberals have associated the cause of gun rights with white racism, when if anything it is gun control that has a racist legacy. In the United States, early gun laws targeted recently freed blacks, and open carry first became banned in California under Governor Ronald Reagan to disarm groups like the Black Panthers. Today, blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately subjected to humiliating stop-and-frisk searches in the name of gun control.

Perhaps the most telling data concerns the racial makeup of who goes to prison for gun violations. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, for Fiscal Year 2011,?49.6% of those sentenced to federal incarceration with a primary offense of firearms violations were black,?20.6% were Hispanic, and only 27.5% were white.

This is how gun laws actually work--those caught violating them go to prison. For the mere act of owning an illegal weapon--not necessarily for using it, not for threatening anyone with it, not for being irresponsible with it--people who have harmed no one are locked up in prison for years at a time. As with the rest of the criminal justice system, particularly the war on drugs, these laws disproportionately harm the poor and minorities. That is the inescapable reality of gun control.

It makes sense that blacks and others living in the inner city would rely more on private, illegal guns for self-defense. The police are unreliable at best in many of these communities. It also makes sense that minorities would be disproportionately hurt by these laws, because so many of the dynamics in play are the same as with the drug war--people are being punished for what they own, rather than what they have done to others; it is easier for police to go after those in poor neighborhoods than to search middle-class folks in nice neighborhoods; jurors approved by prosecutors tend to believe police testimony over the word of minority defendants; prosecutors tend to use discretion in possession crime cases that fall more painfully on the disenfranchised; public defenders offer inadequate services for those loads of court-appointed clients, and so forth.

Left-liberals will respond that the racist implementation of gun laws is a problem independent of firearms policy, that we need stricter laws against guns and we?ll deal with inequity in prosecution and sentencing separately. But rarely do they make the same point with drug policy. Progressives know that in origin and in practice, drug policy is unmistakably racist. There is no way to easily purge the system of its racist elements--the problems are too entrenched. Yet these people somehow don?t fully grasp that this is just as unavoidably true as it concerns gun control policy.

When it comes to restricting firearms, liberals have an amazing ability to ignore the hard truth of what they are advocating--putting more people in cages. That is what gun control is. Sometimes it almost seems like progressives are completely blind to this obvious reality--that they understand the problems with drug laws, that they see laws like Three Strikes unfairly punish people for minor property crimes, that they detect a problem with the death penalty even for convicted murderers, that they know that for the whole range of criminal offenses, the state tends to go overboard in dealing with the accused. Except for gun control! On this, we can expect equity, fairness, and efficiency! In truth, putting people in cages won?t make a dent in criminal gun ownership, just as having a half million people behind bars for drug offenses has hardly stemmed the availability of illicit drugs. But that?s a whole other set of questions.

There are a hundred reasons why I oppose gun control. But here is one that lefties, if they are to be consistent at all, need to take to heart: More gun laws mean more peaceful people, disproportionately young black and brown men, who have committed no violence against anyone, being locked up in cells. That might make you feel safer. But it makes me feel like I live in a mockery of a free, humane society.


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Monday, January 14, 2013

US Has 330,000 Drug Offenders in Prison


Follow @infolibnews!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); by Phillip Smith

The number of people in prison in America declined last year for the second year in a row, according to a new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of prisoners at the end of 2011 dropped to just under 1.6 million, a 0.9% decrease over the previous year.

More than 300,000 were doing prison time for drugs in the US at the end of 2011. (supremecourt.gov)Of those 1.6 million prisoners, some 330,000 were doing time for drug offenses, including nearly 95,000 doing federal time.

There were 15,023 fewer inmates at the end of 2011 than a year earlier, but that number is more than accounted for by a single state, California, which reported a decline of 15,493 prisoners due primarily to an incarceration realignment program that has sent what would have been state prisoners to county jails instead. Counting just state prison populations, 2011 saw a decline of 21,164 prisoners, or 1.5%, again with California accounting for 72% of the decrease.

Overall, 26 states reported declines in prison populations, while 24 reported increases. While overall state prison population numbers are declining slightly, the federal prison population continues to increase, largely offsetting the decline in the states. The federal prison population increased by 6,591 prisoners, or 3.1%.

The growth in the federal prison population is largely driven by drug war prisoners. Drug offenders constitute 48% of all federal inmates, or some 94,600 inmates. By contrast, only 7.6% of federal inmates are doing time for violent crimes.

Among state prisoners, drug offenders accounted for 17%, or slightly fewer than one out of five. That means some 235,000 were doing state prison time on drug charges at the end of 2011, bringing the combined state and federal total to 330,000. That's a slight decline over a decade ago, but still represents incalculable human costs, as well as easily calculable financial ones.


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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Drug Sentences Driving Federal Prison Population Growth, Government Report Finds


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by Phillip Smith

In a report released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that growth in the federal prison population is outstripping the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) rated capacity to house prisoners and that the bulge in federal prisoners is largely attributable to drug prisoners and longer sentences for them. That growing inmate overcrowding negatively affects inmates, staff, and BOP infrastructure, the GAO said.

The federal prison population increased 9.5% from Fiscal Year 2006 through FY 2011, exceeding a 7% increase in rated capacity. Although BOP increased the number of available beds by 8,300 during that period by opening five new facilities (and closing four minimum security camps), the number of prisons where overcrowding is occurring increased from 36% to 39%, with BOP forecasting overcrowding increasing to encompass 45% of prisons through 2018.

The drug war and harsh federal drug sentencing are the main drivers of the swelling federal prison population. The GAO reported that 48% of federal prisoners were drug offenders last year, and that the average sentence length for federal drug prisoners is now 2 ? times longer than before federal anti-drug legislation passed in the mid-1980s.There are also now more than 100,000 federal drug prisoners, more than the total number of federal prisoners as recently as 20 years ago.

The negative effects of federal prison overcrowding include "increased use of double and triple bunking, waiting lists for education and drug treatment programs, limited meaningful work opportunities, and increased inmate-to-staff ratios," the report found. All of those "contribute to increased inmate misconduct, which negatively affects the safety and security of inmates and staff." The report also noted that "BOP officials and union representatives voiced concerns about a serious incident [read: riot] occurring."

For this report, the GAO also examined prison populations in five states and actions those states have taken to reduce populations. It found that the states "have modified criminal statutes and sentencing, relocated inmates to local facilities, and provided inmates with additional opportunities for early release," the report found.

Noting that the BOP does not have the authority to modify sentences or sentencing, it nevertheless identified possible means for Congress to address federal prison overcrowding. It could reduce inmate populations by reforming sentencing laws or it could increase capacity by building more prisons, or some combination of the two.

Or it could remove drug control from the ambit of criminal justice altogether and treat the use and distribution of currently illegal drugs as a public health problem.


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Saturday, March 24, 2012

This Investor Presentation For A Private Prison Is One Of The Creepiest Presentations We've Ever Seen

Joe Weisenthal


This morning we came across a rather interesting piece of research.

It was from Barclays' analyst Manav Patnaik, and it was on the private prisons business.

Specifically, it was a "virtual tour" of the Metro Davidson County Detention Facility, which is managed by Corrections Corp of America (CXW) one of two companies that that has a "duopoly" on the private prisons business.

Read More


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Friday, March 23, 2012

Prison Nation Going Broke

by Douglas French

The New York Times reports of more financial woes for municipalities. Suffolk County will run $530 million into the red over the next three years and has declared a financial emergency. The New York state oversight board already seized financial control of Suffolk?s Long Island neighbor, Nassau County.

Danny Hakim writes,

Even as there are glimmers of a national economic recovery, cities and counties increasingly find themselves in the middle of a financial crisis. The problems are spreading as municipalities face a toxic mix of stresses that has been brewing for years, including soaring pension, Medicaid and retiree health care costs. And many have exhausted creative accounting maneuvers and one-time spending cuts or revenue-raisers to bail themselves out.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg told a radio audience, ?Towns and counties across the state are starting to have to make the real choices ? fewer cops, fewer firefighters, slower ambulance response, less teachers in front of the classroom.?

But this is not just a New York problem. State government has taken over finances for a number of cities in Michigan. Jefferson County, Alabama filed Chapter 9 and Stockton California is close to filing BK.

Municipalities shoulder much of the judicial system that polices, administers, and adjudicates the war on drugs and prison nation. The prison population in America equals that of the cities of Los Angeles and Miami combined. Putting this many people behind bars to be forgotten about by society is expensive, costing $6 billion a year.

The fact is most people shouldn?t be there in the first place. Loyola professor and prison economics expert Daniel J. D?Amico explains that the huge ramp-up in prison population began in the 1970s. Before then, the rate of incarceration remained stable at around 110 people in prison per 100,000. President Richard Nixon first used the term ?war on drugs? on June 17, 1971 and then came the ?tough on crime? movement lter that decade.

In 1980, fewer than half a million Americans were incarcerated. By 2008, the number was approaching 2.5 million. Another 4 million people are on probation. It is not violent criminals who are filling the nation?s jails and prisons. About half the prisoners in state penitentiaries are considered violent; less than 8 percent in federal prisons are violent, and fewer than 22 percent in the nation?s jails are there for a violent offense.

How can cash-strapped governments keep the monolithic judicial system operating?

Clarence Darrow starts Resist Not Evil by calling the state what it is: a violent aggressor. And a violent institution must have armies, functionaries, and civil governments to punish those who offend. But doesn?t everyone in America have a Sixth Amendment right to a trial?

Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander says the only way the system works now is by the accused giving up their constitutional rights. Ms. Alexander explains,

But in this era of mass incarceration ? when our nation?s prison population has quintupled in a few decades partly as a result of the war on drugs and the ?get tough? movement ? these rights are, for the overwhelming majority of people hauled into courtrooms across America, theoretical. More than 90 percent of criminal cases are never tried before a jury. Most people charged with crimes forfeit their constitutional rights and plead guilty.

Alexander writes that the system is rigged, quoting Cato?s Timothy Lynch. ?The truth is that government officials have deliberately engineered the system to assure that the jury trial system established by the Constitution is seldom used.?

The court ruled in Harmelin v. Michigan there was nothing cruel and unusual about life in prison for a first time drug offense. So people waive their rights and make the best deal they can, even it means years behind bars for a non-violent offense.

?The system of mass incarceration depends almost entirely on the cooperation of those it seeks to control,? Alexander writes. ?If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation.?

Criminal justice is yet another area where the government is going broke providing substandard service.


View the original article here

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Pirate Bay Statement on Prison Sentences: "2012 is the Year of the Storm"


Year of the storm

2012 is the year of the storm.

The Pirate Bay will reach an age of 9 years. Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we're still here. We've been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever.

The people running the site has changed during the years. No sane human being would put up with this kind of pressure for 8 years in a row. An insane hobby that takes time from our families, our work (sorry boss) and our studies.

What binds us all together is a strong belief that what we do is good. That it is something we one day can tell our grandchildren about with pride. People from all over the world confirm this. We read testimonials from people in Syria longing for freedom, thanking us for what we provide. We receive more than 100 visits daily from North Korea and we sure know that they need it. If there's something that will bring peace to this world it is the understanding and appreciation of your fellow man. What better way to do that than with this vast library of culture?

With this said, we hear news from our old admins that they have received a verdict in Sweden. Our 3 friends and blood brothers have been sentenced to prison. This might sound worse than it is. Since no one of them no longer lives in Sweden, they won't go to jail. They are as free today as they were yesterday.

But what enrages us to our inner core is that the system, the empire, the governments, are still allowed to try to boss you and us around with one law crazier than the other. Do you think they will stop with SOPA/ACTA/PIPA? They will not. Because you won't stop sharing those files. Because we will not stay down. Because no one can turn back time. Together, we are the iron that hardens with each strike.

In this year of the storm, the winners will build windmills and the losers will raise shelters. So flex your muscles, fellow pirates, and give power to us all! Build more sites! More nets! More protocols! Scream louder than ever and take it to the next level!


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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Babs Tucker Releases Statement From Inside Holloway Prison

Brian Haw

Parliament Square Peace Campaign Day 3736: AUGUST 25TH 2011

On Thursday 11th August, I was remanded to prison because they refused me access to a duty solicitor, the necessary disclosures and my own paperwork.

On Friday 12th August, I was ‘sentenced’ after they continued to deny me access to a duty solicitor, the necessary disclosures and my paperwork. Hence the reason for ‘Judge’ Evans descending to the court cells with his scribes.

A barrister from Birnberg Peirce Solicitors turned up for reasons unknown on the Friday, to confirm they were not acting for me!  They have also failed to hand over the necessary disclosures.

Such is an institutionally corrupt system.

The guy from Birnberg Peirce muttered something about their ‘good reputation’.  Clearly they are entirely ok with being responsible for their ‘clients’ being called ‘criminals’, however the ‘problem’ is clearly the consistent nature of our campaigning for an effective system of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. that actually protected the people….. EVERYWHERE.

If a ‘lawyer’ came on board doing justice, that would actually help to bring about the necessary change.

And all the ‘lawyers’ we have come across are just doing ‘cab off the rank’ misrepresentation, serving HM Government, end of.  They just want to keep their heads down and hang out with their clique. It becomes self evident that it is not a system of justice when your own ‘lawyers’ don’t want you to tell the truth.

This latest car crash style of justice only reinforces to me how important it is what we do. And it is only the ‘do-ing’  which can bring about change.  Look at how many people who write about what is going on.  But unless something is then done, to me what was written is meaningless.

I am using my time ‘inside’ productively and constructively.  I am in a cell on the top floor with four other women.  I am by a window looking out over a courtyard garden. There are quite a few women in Holloway who have been imprisoned because of the riots.

These are historical times we live in.

It is eye opening to think that if you are a ‘protester’ in Libya, the UN and UK have no problem with / will give you a machine gun, rocket launcher, arrange arial bombing so that people can, in their own words, “take matters into their own hands”.

I still think Brian showed everyone the best way of doing things.  I miss him heaps and remember his final words “Babs, our work is not yet finished”.

Much love, Babs xxxx

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The Offical Brian Haw and
Parliament Square Peace Campaign
Facebook Group


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Human Rights Abused, As 62% Arrested Over The British Riots Are Now In Prison

Press TV

Around 62% of those arrested over involvement in Britain’s recent unrest have been imprisoned while only 10% of them allegedly have committed serious offences.

The rest of the arrested people who have not committed any serious offences are to be kept behind bars for an unknown period of time. Human rights organizations have announced that the British government has decided to keep all arrested people in custody until trial.

The British Police have ordered Britain’s courts to refuse to bail the arrested even after they have been charged. The arrested people are to stay behind bars for a longer time as the British government has taken such an “iron fist” approach.

However, as the arrested people’s solicitors have asserted, 62% of the arrested have been imprisoned while they have not been arraigned. What has caused great concern among human rights activists is that only 10% of these people have been charged with serious offences and the rest can be released either on bail or without having to pay bail.

Nonetheless, the British government has refused to free them. Moreover, the British Police have supported the government’s “iron fist” policy describing it as an initiative that would prevent the spread of unrest across Britain in the future.

Meanwhile, the coalition government’s officials have clashed over taking such strict approaches toward the protesters. Former Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, rejected the British Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks that what he called “twisting and misrepresenting of human rights” have led to the unprecedented unrest across Britain.

Campbell warned Cameron against any measures that would question Britain’s commitment to human rights issues. He asserted that tackling Britain’s unrest should not pave the way for Cameron’s interference in the principles of the Human Rights Act, which preserves the European Convention of Human Rights in British law.

These conflicts and concerns come as human rights organizations have stated that keeping those arrested over the recent unrest behind bars for an unknown period of time without arraigning them constitutes an example of human rights violation as they have called on the government to inform the arrested of their charges and rights.


View the original article here

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Former cop says his lies sent people to prison


A former undercover police officer has confessed his lies in court more than 30 years ago may have sent 150 people wrongfully to prison.

Police said they had started a criminal investigation into the activities of Patrick O'Brien after he wrote to Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias and former Police Commissioner Howard Broad, saying he was racked with guilt after carrying a "dreadful secret" for more than 30 years.

Mr O'Brien, an undercover officer during drugs operations in the 1970s, was the star witness in court trials but he later confessed he lied on oath every time he testified, the New Zealand Herald reported today. [...]

In his confession, he said he could not guess the number of people who were sent to prison because of his lies because he stopped counting arrests at 150, half-way through his three-year undercover stint.

He lied to the courts and juries to get convictions in every case, he said. As well, he was often high on drugs, including cannabis, cocaine, heroin and LSD - but never during trials.

Read More


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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

British Prime Minister admits Israel uses Palestine as 'a prison camp'

*** Gaza: Israel's concentration-camp ***

David Cameron: Gaza 'must not remain a prison camp'

Gaza is a 'prison camp', according to David Cameron, who made the comment as he pledged to support Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

He appealed to Israel to allow the free flow of humanitarian goods and people in and out of the Palestinian territory.

The prime minister spoke during a visit to Turkey, where relations with Israel have been strained since May when troops stormed a flotilla of ships carrying supplies to Gaza. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed.

Speaking in Ankara, Mr Cameron denounced it as ?completely unacceptable? and restated his call for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a ?swift, transparent and rigorous? inquiry.

Israel?s blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has severely limited the movement of people and goods since 2007, has sparked outrage in Islamic Turkey.

?The situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions,? Mr Cameron said. ?Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.?

Mr Cameron also said Turkey?s support for action in Afghanistan would help earn it a place in the EU.

?When I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a Nato ally, and what Turkey is doing today in Afghanistan, it makes me angry that your progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been,? he added.

Pointing to economic growth of 11 per cent this year and a population of 72 million, he said allowing Turkey into the EU would be great for British trade.

But several countries remain strongly opposed to Turkey?s membership.

Turkey?s treatment of its Kurdish minority, its involvement in the Cyprus dispute and its refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot goods have delayed negotiations on membership.

SOURCE

The Insider, "David Cameron: Gaza 'must not remain a prison camp'", .28 July 2010.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/836342-david-cameron-gaza-must-not-remain-a-prison-camp

"The Insider" mailing list article, 28 July 2010.


View the original article here