#Prison Reform

[liberalsarecool]

Subway fare is $2.90.

Imagine thinking $556,000/year is a worthwhile use of taxpayer money.

Send children to school or camp or fund community resources.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

Actually that would be China, and possibly Russia, or one of the other dictatorships that don’t report or keep accurate numbers. The whole country of North Korea is a prison. Not too mention all the countries that just execute everyone at the drop of a hat instead of incarceration.

More appropriately the US has the largest prison population in the first world. A large amount of that is because Republicans farmed out prisons to private contractors owned by right-wing oligarchs.

We haven’t had meaningful prison reform since the 1800’s and it’s long overdue. It’s a broken system and a national embarrassment that a bitter public refuses to acknowledge.

Perhaps restricting assault weapons would reduce all the violent crimes. But the Republicans and the NRA domestic terrorists would rather live in a country where there are more guns than people. A country where a majority of the people are broke, depressed, and angry all the time. An anger and paranoia stoked by Republicans.

[gothra]

I’ll never forget when I was arguing with a person in favor of total prison abolition and I asked them “what about violent offenders?” And they said “Well, in a world where prisons have been abolished, we’ll have leveled the playing field and everyone will have their basic needs met, and crime won’t be as much of an issue.” And then I was like “okay. But…no. Because rich people also rape and murder, so it isn’t just a poor person thing. So what will we do about that?” And I don’t think they answered me after that. I’m ashamed to say I continued to think that the problem was that I simply didn’t understand prison abolitionists enough and that their point was right in front of me, and it would click once I finally let myself understand it. It took me a long time to realize that if something is going to make sense, it needs to make sense. If you want to turn theory into Praxis (I’m using that word right don’t correct me I’ll vomit) everyone needs to be on board, which mean it all needs to click and it needs to click fast and fucking clear. You need to turn a complex idea into something both digestible and flexible enough to be expanded upon. Every time I ask a prison abolitionist what they actually intend to do about violent crime, I get directed to a summer reading list and a BreadTuber. It’s like a sleight-of-hand trick. Where’s the answer to my question. There it is. No wait, there it is. It’s under this cup. No it isn’t. “There’s theory that can explain this better than I can.” As if most theory isn’t just a collection of essays meant to be absorbed and discussed by academics, not the average skeptic. “Read this book.” And the book won’t even answer the question. The book tells you to go ask someone else. “Oh, watch this so-and-so, she totally explains it better than me.” Why can’t you explain it at all? Why did you even bring it up if you were going to point me to someone else to give me the basics that you should probably already know? Maybe I’m just one of those crazy people who thinks that some people need to be kept away from the public for everyone’s good. Maybe that just makes me insane. Maybe not believing that pervasive systemic misogyny could be solved with a UBI and a prayer circle makes me a bad guy. But it’s not like women’s safety is a priority anyway. It’s not like there is an objective claim to be made that re-releasing violent offenders or simply not locking them up is deadly.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Joshua says when he first arrived at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in November 2023, he was skeptical about its therapeutic community model. “I questioned everything and I was finding myself trying to change them, trying to change the program … and I wasn’t getting anywhere,” he said. Yet Joshua recalls telling himself as he later walked out of the Hay River facility: “Wow, here I was so-and-so months ago, saying that I was going to change this place. And actually, the program changed me.” Joshua, not his real name, spent nearly eight months at the facility in Hay River, which he said had a profound impact on his life. Cabin Radio has agreed to protect his identity. After being released, Joshua said he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, reconnected with his family and is now completing an addiction recovery program in Ontario.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[onlytiktoks]

[plumberrypudding]

happy 4/20.

the last prisoner project is an organization working to free people incarcerated specifically for marijuana related crimes.

and these organizations all work to end mass incarceration generally:

critical resistance; “building an international movement to abolish the prison industrial complex” (https://criticalresistance.org/)

the equal justice initiative; “The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.” (http://eji.org/)

vera; “The United States is home to less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet nearly 16 percent of all incarcerated people—roughly two million people—are held in our jails and prisons. Our incarceration rate is among the highest in the world. Vera is working to end the system of mass incarceration.” (https://vera.org/)

and there are many more, very easy to find online. pick one to donate to, or volunteer with, or something. especially if you’re indulging today, especially if it’s legally.

[beautifulscreaminglady]

If the thought of Luigi Mangione having to eat shitty prison food or being abused in prison or the thought of him being given the death penalty makes you angry and upset, I think that's good. We need more people to be angry and upset about prisons and the criminal justice system. We're fast approaching an age where the punishments outweigh the crimes, and in my opinion not enough people understand that the definition of crime is highly dependent on who's in power. If we're all one "delay, deny, depose" away from becoming labelled criminals, let's make it as painless an experience as possible and let's get rid of the death penalty while we're at it.

[zipper-neck]

I'm rewatching Death Note and it's making me think of death sentencing, the way even the show itself is like, "Don't worry, that guy was expendable because he was on death row anyway," as if the police weren't toying with the convict's lives just as much as Kira. The problem the police had with Kira was that Kira was acting as an unaccountable vigilante. However, Light Yagami was selecting targets from news reports and prisons, so they were essentially already pre-selected for him via the judicial system (with the exception of the biker gang at the beginning).

Kira was seen as a blight who went against the beliefs of his society, but he looks more like an inevitable product of that society, reflecting the underlying beliefs that they did not want to face. Kira showed the overwhelming power and surveillance used to wantonly ruin lives based on the limited judgements of humans. The structure of it was all already there, even the death penalty. Light and all others raised with this punitive system had been implicitly taught, "There are a subset of citizens who, because of their heinous actions, are now classified as permanently 'subhuman,' and therefore they can be treated however we wish." I don't know if the manga addresses it, but how many prisoners did Light Yagami kill who were wrongly convicted? Did Light take the time to look over each case file, weighing the strength of evidence himself? Or did he not even question the competence of the justice system to perfectly sift the "guilty" from the "innocent?"

Light was a naive, idealistic, and egotistic teenager. But if anything, he was just learning from the adults around him and emulating what he was implicitly taught, whether the adults intended to give that message or not. They taught about "good guys" and "bad guys," and they failed to teach about grey areas, nuance, complexity, the flaws in authorities, and compassion.

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

How many prisoners are involved in the firefighting?

Nearly 950 prison firefighters have now been deployed to contain the fires, according to the corrections department.

They are paid $10.24 each day, with more for 24-hour shifts, according to the department. This is lower than California’s minimum wage, which is $16.50 an hour.

Prison reform advocates have long decried the practice as controversial, as the inmates are paid little for dangerous and laborious work.

-fae

[nateconnolly]

WHAT DO ALL OF THESE BOOKS HAVE IN COMMON?

ANSWER UNDER THE CUT

All of them have been banned, or access to them has been restricted, in a prison in America within the last ten years.

In many states, prisons have broad and vague guidelines for book restrictions -- N.J. Admin. Code § 10A:18-4.9 grants prisons the right to ban a book if it "Lacks, as a whole, serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value". In Arizona, "inmates are not permitted to send, receive, or present... Publications that depict nudity," and explicitly states that classical art is not an exception (DO 914: 8.2.1 and 8.2.1.1).

I volunteer at a nonprofit that sends free books to prisoners. From personal experience, I know there are sweeping book restrictions such as "no dictionaries," "no coloring books," or "no manga". While these books are not always strictly banned, inmates are frequently underpaid, or forced to labor without pay. That means many inmates cannot afford to purchase books, and rely on nonprofits for access.

Book bans in public libraries and schools are unconscionable, but they are usually not effective at restricting access. A high school student can usually still see an image of Michelangelo's David even if they cannot learn about it in class. In prison, a book ban on nudity can permanently prevent inmates from accessing great works of art, the shared heritage of humankind.

DONATE TO THE INSIDE BOOKS PROGRAM IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY. THEY SEND FREE BOOKS TO PEOPLE IN PRISONS.

Sources:

Found on Marshall Project

1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (banned in California according to Marshall Project

Basic Fundamentals of Modern Tattoo (Illinois)

No role playing games. A Practical Guide to Dragons. Abolish Prison Slavery. “A Multi Denominational Wicca Bible. (Montana)

101 Things to Do With Mac and Cheese (New Jersey)

“But, Didn’t You Kill Malcolm?” and “A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming” (North Carolina)

“100 Years of Chevrolet” “1000 Dot to Dot Animals” (Oregon)

“San Francisco Bay Newspaper” “Making Everyday Electronics Work” (Rhode Island)

“Marvel Encyclopedia” (South Carolina)

“A Brief History of Manga” (Texas)

“1001 Photographs You Must See in Your Lifetime” (Virginia)

“A Question of Freedom” Reginald Dwayne Betts (Wisconsin)

The Tennessean

A prison in Tennessee restricts access to The Quran, The Torah, The Bhagavad Gita, and books about Norse mythology. (The ban did not apply to the Bible.)

Personal Experience

I am not willing to dox myself, so I cannot name the nonprofit where I volunteer. However, I swear that I have seen book bans on manga, how-to-draw guides, coloring books, electronics books, dictionaries, and composition notebooks.

[bossymarmalade]

[ofdinosanddais1]

Important petition to sign!!!

Robert Roberson is an autistic father whose daughter passed away from chronic health conditions. The courts charged him with murdering his daughter despite there being proof that his daughter died of natural causes! They are planning on executing him on October 17th and we need people to sign this petition to save his life!

Hospital staff discriminated against him by taking his autistic traits and claiming he was emotionless towards his daughter's death. Multiple doctors and scientists agree that his daughter died of natural causes and that he was innocent and even the lead detective of the case acknowledges that he agrees Roberson is innocent even after he first claimed that he was guilty and somehow that's not enough.

Please save him from death row and help Texas free him so he can finally grieve his daughter in peace! He's been in prison for 20 years and he doesn't deserve to die.

[cowpokezuko]

Crazy that one of the most poignant films about immigration and prison reform is Paddington 2.

[iteh3xael]

Y’know, I hate The Church with my whole gay heart but they have something right when it comes to officials not being allowed to marry to avoid conflict of interest. Like, sure, repression of human sexuality is generally not a great idea but when you are in a place to WORSHIP GOD, maybe you should check your status and influence on people by not wielding sex as a leverage tool.

Anyway, Mangione’s judge is married to a healthcare exec and gets to play American God with a trial potentially entertaining the death penalty so uh… maybe we should apply this to judges too ;)

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I think more people need to realize that the point of the justice system shouldn't be revenge but instead rehabilitation. The point is to use provably effective ways to stop people from committing the crime a second time.

And the thing is most ways to do it are humane and based on fixing system issues and providing basic necessities. And look even if the person won't stop to humanly contain them because is NOT about revenge it is about damage control and making sure people are as well as possible.

And yes this includes both treating criminals as people deserving of rights and compassion even if you personally despises them and their acts AND offering support - in whatever form is needed - for the victims.

By basing itself on emotional reactions of the need for violence and revenge most justice systems around the world completely fail to do both. In fact - at least here in Brazil and for what I hear in the US and UK - is more common that criminals not only reoffend after leaving prison but that they commit worse and more violent crimes.

So yeah. I'm not happy when I see a wife beater getting therapy and a nice prison cell for example but it is the most effective way to stop him from beating other woman and became a better person and usefull member of society and that is more relevant than my feelings on the matter. So you bottle that indignat rage and use it to offer proper support to victims instead.