tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post113389493865541574..comments2024-01-05T09:33:41.964-05:00Comments on Dare Generation Diary: Packed prisonsGarret Overstreethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09591273708913985060noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1134010262515452412005-12-07T21:51:00.000-05:002005-12-07T21:51:00.000-05:00Sorry, Scott, had too many windows open; posting a...Sorry, Scott, had too many windows open; posting at Pete's <I>DrugWarRant</I> simultaneously. My bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1134009959386686212005-12-07T21:45:00.000-05:002005-12-07T21:45:00.000-05:00Many thanks for the gracious attribution, Pete, bu...Many thanks for the gracious attribution, Pete, but the idea isn't mine. It's just plain, simple logic; if the non-violent prisoners can be let go, why catch 'em, period? It's the morally sick equivalent of trophy fishing.<BR/><BR/>Such a simple question...<I>whose answer calls the entire rationale of the DrugWar into question.</I> For if 'druggies' <I>should</I> be punished, and their punishment is cut short, is The State not being derelict in its' duties? If the punishment is cut short and the prisoners released, then logically they couldn't have been that much of a 'threat' to begin with. If <I>that</I> is the case, then, at the risk of seeming pedantic, I must ask the question again: <I><B>Why were they incarcerated to begin with?</B></I><BR/><BR/>Lots of juicy red meat in that question...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1133953500570466082005-12-07T06:05:00.000-05:002005-12-07T06:05:00.000-05:00Whoops, I think I got that stat wrong -- it's abou...Whoops, I think I got that stat wrong -- it's about 12,000 rented jail beds total, in Texas, with the Marshalls Service the biggest customer. See ya,Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1133952620338697312005-12-07T05:50:00.000-05:002005-12-07T05:50:00.000-05:00Excellent post, Tom. In Texas, the US Marshall's s...Excellent post, Tom. In Texas, the US Marshall's service rents about 12,000 county jail beds out of maybe 80,000 total to hold immigration detainees, while several counties are no longer arresting certain low-level offenders because of overcrowding, exacerbated by damaged jail and prison units from Hurricane Rita. I wrote <A HREF="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2005/12/research-needed-to-tell-if-fewer.html" REL="nofollow">this item</A> recently suggesting a research methodology to prove kaptinemo's thesis that fewer arrests don't harm public safety, if we could get some hotshot young grad student on the project. ;-) Best,Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1133904322838735822005-12-06T16:25:00.000-05:002005-12-06T16:25:00.000-05:00There is more to the prison industry than meets th...There is more to the prison industry than meets the eye. I suggest everyone read the book "Going Up the River:Travels in a Prison Nation" by Joesphy Hallinan. It's excellent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18542739.post-1133897753542152522005-12-06T14:35:00.000-05:002005-12-06T14:35:00.000-05:00There's an obvious question I would wager that ver...There's an obvious question I would wager that very few people are asking at all...yet it is at the core of the early releases of non-violent inmates: If they were safe enough to allow them to go early, <I><B> why were they incarcerated to begin with?</B></I> <BR/><BR/>How can it <I>possibly</I> be worth it to a State, <I>any</I> State, no matter how economically flush it may be (and there's damn few that are) to incarcerate someone deemed safe enough to release in this manner? Wasn't the money used to do so wasted from literally the very moment of their arrest? How can this policy rationally be justified, as the release of non-violent offenders <I>is, perforce, a tacit admission that it was unecessary to begin with?</I> <BR/><BR/>Here we see the pull of the prison/industrial complex at work...which is now at odds with the economic realities facing the States that listened to their 'siren song' in the 1980's and 1990's and began building prison complexes as opposed to schools and hospitals and roads. The bottom is dropping out of the DrugWar cash well, the States are reluctantly making difficult finacial choices, and the P/I complex sees the end of the train tracks for the gravy train approaching, and are getting shriller in their demands for 'their' share of the taxpayer's dollars, the pool of which is contracting along with the economy.<BR/><BR/>Needless to say, this points directly at the DrugWar, which is much like the proverbial elephant in the living room. Sooner or later, it will become obvious that when the house shrinks, the elephant appears larger, and all those pols who have thus far been 'talking around' the problem will have to publicly point at that elephant and say it has to go.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com