US Prisons

1 in 142 US residents are now in prison.

The US prison system functions as a system of modern-day slavery. People of color make up 70 percent of the prison population, and private corporations such as Eddie Bauer and Microsoft profit off of their labor. The number of prisoners topped 2 million in 2002 and keeps growing. Every year, new prisons are built -- and are filled. Private prisons (not state owned) are now being built and operated for profit.

This growth persists despite the fact that crime rates has been declining over the past 20 years. Nearly 80 percent of prisoners are there for non-violent offenses (the vast majority of these drug-related). Women are the highest rising population in prison, and most of them are there for "crimes of survival," committed to feed themselves and their families. Most of the people in prisons are poor, brown, urban, functionally illiterate, unemployed or under-employed before they were locked down, and are there for non-violent crimes, mostly selling or using drugs.

River of Sorrow by Antony and the Johnsons.

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[KTSEROV2351]

now heres yet another thing that's gonna come and may even be legit: race wars in prison, ya could sue the state for creating a hostile environment, and not segregating prisons based on race

[xenophobia2006]

I don't believe prisons should be racially segregated but i do believe society is responsible for the environment prisoners are placed in. It should be one that aids in rehabilitation not to sink people further into crime and trauma.

[KTSEROV2351]

by elimination wht do i mean? what do you think? execute em! we gotta go back to that kind of mentality to stop violence in this country bc nothing else works!

[xenophobia2006]

It has been shown that capital punishment does not in fact prevent crime.

[1120BabyCakes]

@ezekieloak That's why you should do your own research. Respectufully listen to other's opinions because everyone is entitled to one. Just don't take what they say for face value. Look it up and determine your own views according to the info.

[1120BabyCakes]

@lewisron41atyahoo Are you serious? Why is she not in prison? If she were black they would have locked her down from day one. There are so many black men who have gone to prison for 20+ years for a rock or a bag of tree because of the three strikes law. She has to be on like strike 5 violating parole and everything. WTF... How is this justice or fair? That further proves my point that Prison is modern day slavery. They only want to lock up the young strong, black men. Wake up people!

[1120BabyCakes]

@xenophobia2006 Exactly! The Gov keeps building more and more prisons because of overcrowding. If it were a FACT that capital punishmant prevented crime wouldn't there be less people in jail/prison therefore eliminating the need to build more? RESEARCH! The prison system is a BUSINESS. Without people in them they wouldn't make any money. Their goal is to keep people there as long as they can with out rehabilitaiton/ skills to use when they get out. Some laws are made to keep people in the system

[aviomaster]

VERY soon very soon the time is coming FOR USA fascist regime will go down ...

Creating WARS in Russian and Chinese neghborhood will escalate into WW-III

and than Americans take guns and destroy the imbeciles in Washington DC Who are drinking your blood.

[aviomaster]

Freenetnow - MEXICO crime rate is connecte to the war on drugs , and how expensive they are.

1 gram of Cocaine in the street in USA costs like 2 Grams of GOLD.

This is caused by war on drugs , BY USA goverment , Plus CIA is the largest drug dealer on EARTH. Very interesting fact. USA on 100.000 people has the highest number of prisoners than any other nation.

780 and this number is not falling it is going up. Police are one of the major factors for such high crime

[Freenetnow]

BTW - I LOVE Canada and Mexico. I visit them often. I love Vancouver. But I won't be traveling to mexico for a long time. You should here the stories my border guard friends tell me. I just pray it will end because their citizens are being terrorized in many, but not all, areas.

[Freenetnow]

@aviomaster The US has an adult population of about 200 million. And we have approx. 2 million in prison, which includes pretrial detainees. That's ONE percent of our adult population. And our violent crime rate has been falling for over a decade.

Meanwhile Canada's violent crime rate has almost doubled, and mexico is a basket case. Mayors are being killed or resigning, and scores are killed almost daily.

I feel quite safe here.

[lewisron41atyahoo]

Paris Hilton caught with coke again

[chargerfan80]

Americans need to understand that there are some real awesome people in prison, I was there with several awesome people and am happy that I had the opportunity to meet them. Unfortunately, we are not viewed for our personalities, we are only referred to by our crime!!

" I have a DREAM, that one day I will be judged by the content of my CHARACTER, Not the Content of my P.S.I." I have a DREAM!!

(P.S.I.= Pre-sentencing Investigation Report)

Judge me for me not one minor mistake I made!!!

[aviomaster]

USA is dump shit , stealing worlds OIL resources for their own benefit ,, benefit of the few , and rest go to Prison ....

IT is amazing that UNITED STATES of AMERICA has highest prison population on EARTH ,

780 prisoners on 100.000 people. Russia 640 prisoners on 100.000 people.

IRAN 222 on 100.000

USA has 1/4 of all prisoners on EARTH .