America Still Number One

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This report is from the BBC and doesn't touch on what I can in all honesty say is the most disgusting thing I have read in years, the California prison guards union contributing two million dollars towards advertising to oppose Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act. A proposition that would try and address the savage and inhuman policies of Californian "justice."

To put it bluntly, the prison guards' union is built on the backs of human beings in cages. more huffpo

What shitty people, what a shitty society.

A new study of US prisons has found that numbers of people in jail are at an all-time high, with more than 1% of the adult population behind bars.

The Pew Center report calls the US the global leader in the rate at which it imprisons its citizens.

Over 2.3 million people were being held this year, it said - far ahead of other countries with large prison populations like China, Russia and Iran.

The report called for fewer low-risk offenders to be sent to jail.

Soaring costs

It claims that the growing prison population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford, and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime".

With 750 inmates per 100,000 people, imprisonment cost the 50 states more than $49bn last year, up from less than $11bn 20 years earlier.

The rate of increase for prison costs was found to be six times greater than for higher education spending. more BBC

Prop. 5 Falls to Prison Guards’ Millions Prison System Now Faces Federal Court Takeover

November 5 - Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, failed to capture a majority of votes on Election Day, bringing to an end the most ambitious prison and sentencing reform in US history. Prop. 5 proponents blamed California's prison guards for funding deceptive advertising and said the No on 5 campaign misled voters about the measure.

Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy campaign manager for Yes on 5, said, "Today we saw special interests overpower the public interest. California's prison guards poured millions of dollars into stopping Prop. 5 and securing this victory for the poison politics of crime."

The prison guards union, formally the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), contributed nearly $2 million to oppose Prop. 5 - nearly 75% of the advertising budget aimed at defeating the measure.

Dooley-Sammuli continued, "The prosecutors and prison guards who led the campaign against Prop. 5 got their way tonight - but they've really lost. The next step for our prisons will probably be a federal takeover. Prop. 5 was Californians' last, best chance to avoid a takeover and make our own choices about how to address prison overcrowding. Now federal judges are likely to impose solutions that no one will be happy about." more Common Dreams.

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