Excerpt from this article:
"On Oct. 22, 1983, inmates aligned with the Aryan Brotherhood prison
gang murdered two corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary
near Marion, Ill. The reverberations from those killings are still
being felt in the American prison system. The murders sent Marion into
lockdown for 23 years, ushered in the era of the modern Supermax prison,
and normalized the chilling idea that the only rational way to deal
with violent or notorious prisoners is to lock them up in small,
isolated cells and throw away the key."
Best selling author Ann Coulter has written:
"Of course prison works. It keeps people who commit crimes off the street because they are in prison. Let's run the numbers: the recidivism rate of armed robbers behind bars is, hmmmm, looks like zero percent!"
and:
"'[The death penalty is]...a primitive act of retribution' ... What is primitive about being arraigned, formally charged, tried, convicted by a jury, having that conviction upheld on appeal, and then being executed in a manner far gentler than their victims?...('Okay, it will only sting for a minute, Mr. Bundy!')"
There are human rights violations that go on in America's prisons, but many of them are committed by the inmates themselves. Supermax prisons don't just protect society from dangerous convicts. They also protect the prison staff and the inmates themselves from many of these same 'dangerous convicts.'
But what is really wrong with America's prison system is that it unfairly targets the poor. Yes, there are the Martha Stewarts who go to prison. But for the most part, people don't go to prison for their crime as much as for their economic standing in society. One of the "Super-Lawyers" O. J. Simpson hired to defend him was Robert Shapiro. Here is some of Mr. Shapiro's advice to Simpson early on in his case:
"You have to hire the best investigators, criminologists, forensic people right now, Shapiro said. You must bring them in immediately and get an independent review of the evidence. The longer you wait, the more the evidence will be disturbed. Shapiro added that he always treated experts well. First class travel, top hotels, the best restaurants. Some lawyers try to economize with tourist class and cheap hotels. That doesn't buy loyalty." Page 29 of American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense).
I agree that America locks up far too many people. Prisons should be reserved for the worst of the worst of the worst of society. The only people who should ever go to prison are the ones who shake their fists at society and shout: "I will not obey your laws!" Of course, if that were the standard for filling our prisons, we would need to elect some more politicians - starting with the Executive branch on down! Constitutional scholar Mark Levin said:
"You should view these politicians with the deepest contempt you can possibly imagine. What they are doing to this country, what they are doing to our finances - there is not a criminal in any federal prison, state prison, city or county jail with respect to financial crimes of any sort who collectively could have done the kind of damage that Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and yes, willing, timid, gutless Republicans have done to this country! To your future, to your children and your grandchildren. What they are doing is with malice and with forethought." (emphasis mine) (source)
The Bible says:
"And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment." - Ezra 7:26
And:
"For he shall have judgment without mercy who has shown no mercy." - James 2:13
Best selling author Ann Coulter has written:
"Of course prison works. It keeps people who commit crimes off the street because they are in prison. Let's run the numbers: the recidivism rate of armed robbers behind bars is, hmmmm, looks like zero percent!"
and:
"'[The death penalty is]...a primitive act of retribution' ... What is primitive about being arraigned, formally charged, tried, convicted by a jury, having that conviction upheld on appeal, and then being executed in a manner far gentler than their victims?...('Okay, it will only sting for a minute, Mr. Bundy!')"
There are human rights violations that go on in America's prisons, but many of them are committed by the inmates themselves. Supermax prisons don't just protect society from dangerous convicts. They also protect the prison staff and the inmates themselves from many of these same 'dangerous convicts.'
But what is really wrong with America's prison system is that it unfairly targets the poor. Yes, there are the Martha Stewarts who go to prison. But for the most part, people don't go to prison for their crime as much as for their economic standing in society. One of the "Super-Lawyers" O. J. Simpson hired to defend him was Robert Shapiro. Here is some of Mr. Shapiro's advice to Simpson early on in his case:
"You have to hire the best investigators, criminologists, forensic people right now, Shapiro said. You must bring them in immediately and get an independent review of the evidence. The longer you wait, the more the evidence will be disturbed. Shapiro added that he always treated experts well. First class travel, top hotels, the best restaurants. Some lawyers try to economize with tourist class and cheap hotels. That doesn't buy loyalty." Page 29 of American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense).
I agree that America locks up far too many people. Prisons should be reserved for the worst of the worst of the worst of society. The only people who should ever go to prison are the ones who shake their fists at society and shout: "I will not obey your laws!" Of course, if that were the standard for filling our prisons, we would need to elect some more politicians - starting with the Executive branch on down! Constitutional scholar Mark Levin said:
"You should view these politicians with the deepest contempt you can possibly imagine. What they are doing to this country, what they are doing to our finances - there is not a criminal in any federal prison, state prison, city or county jail with respect to financial crimes of any sort who collectively could have done the kind of damage that Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and yes, willing, timid, gutless Republicans have done to this country! To your future, to your children and your grandchildren. What they are doing is with malice and with forethought." (emphasis mine) (source)
The Bible says:
"And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment." - Ezra 7:26
And:
"For he shall have judgment without mercy who has shown no mercy." - James 2:13
