The Prison System Is Becoming Big Business in America - The American Gulags

reply to post by randyvs

The point I'm driving at is when man sits in judgement of another man. He doesn't realise it. But he is judging himself. "Judge not lest ye be judged." The truth of everything in the Bible to me runs so much deeper than people are willing to look at or even try to understand. I try to think in those terms very much about it. And it brings me to some great understandings of what we have to endure in this world. So what do we have today ? A system based on that old cowardly blame game that allows us to sit in judgement of ourselves. What gives any man or any system the right to do that ? I see what God is getting at and it does apply. This is the lesson that mankind needs to learn. This is why Christ came demonstrating that love is greater than judgement. I believe our Heavenly Father sent his son to show us how to live and also how to die with out being a coward. I'm sorry. this is turning into a rant but I don't believe it is just that we are all connected. I believe we are all connected to and by everything that has ever happened on this planet. So we need to stop the blame game

Randy, what you said right there is very key.

What we do to others, we do to ourselves. Yes, we are all connected. Unfortunately, too many people think punishment is more important than helping people change their behavior for the better.

reply to post by NightGypsy

What we do to others, we do to ourselves. Yes, we are all connected. Unfortunately, too many people think punishment is more important than helping people change their behavior for the better.

I think you summed that up nicely. People think punishment is more important. Because this world system is geared to run in that direction. I believe a conscious effort on the part of humanity to change that. In other words to change our hearts. Is one thing that would bring us closer to God and the paradise lost.

Thanks for your kind words. They are appreciated.

reply to post by TKDRL


have a boy n a girl myself and before my son was born was dealing pills and taking them as well. i quit for my son and could barely hold him for more than a few minutes because of the pain from withdrawl but i did quit and they may have saved my life too. god bless em' now if i could only get their mom to stop sucking the life out of me!haha

We need to stop putting people in prison for vices.

This one thing would reduce prison populations by more than half.

If we took vice out of the equation there might be enough resources to actually rehabilitate prisoners so they have a chance to lead a productive life once they get out. Prisons are so crowded now to call them farms is an understatement.

I was the victim of a con man who bought a proprty from me on a contract for deed, then ran up huge renovation bills before blowing town leaving me with liens. Cost me $140,000 to keep the property off the auction block.

So did the justice system make him work 40 hours a week to pay back the debt? Of course not, he went to cushy prison for 6 years where he learned to play tennis and became a paralegal.

Now when he gets released from the halfway house next month he has learned even more in con college about how to manipulate the law in his favor and within 6 weeks he will be taking money from people.

Yep, we've got that whole rehabilitation thing down pat don't we.

reply to post by ofhumandescent


Did I ever mention the real reason that so many drugs are illegal in the United States? On the surface everyone knows there is oodles of cash to be made with just the legalization and taxes that would flow from such an effort. The problem is most people don't understand certain psycho-effective events that may happen with some drugs and not with others.

The real reason that certain drugs are forbidden, despite the obvious money that could be made by doing this legal, is the greatest fear of any government. It not insurrection or war, its uncertainty. Many drugs distort the reality of the user. Governments have a major league cow and an interest in preventing this as a result. Most of the time, its rarely a big deal.

And most of the time the greatest threat is to the drug user. The one of several exceptions is alcohol. Unfortunately there are a lot of people driving "legally drugged" which is using prescription medication from their doctor that is just as dangerous.

reply to post by jacobe001


I'm all for campaign reform, to remove big business which includes the unions too IMO.
I have seen far to many unions break laws to serve their own good, all personal anecdotes though with no proof other than my word.

Campaigns should not be able to take donations.
Even the playing ground, everyone running gets 1 30 spot per channel during prime time.
Two months before it goes up to 2 30 spots and 30 days before 3.
End super PACs making ads to put online too.
If you want to make support videos fine but have it be private citizens not big conglomerate PACs.
Have the 30 spots be put on TV for free as part of receiving the license from the FCC.
As for making the videos a small very small budget taken via a one dollar tax on everyone and distributed evenly.
If you can't get your ads made for that than you were just trying to buy votes.

Increase the debates and town halls too, get exposure by actually talking to the people out there.

All of that is political reform though, and this tread is about the prisons.
Are they related yes, but they can also be approached separately.
So stop distracting from the issue and talk about actual prison reform and stop whining about the political sphere.

i think that when the jails are more concerned with making money than actually rehablitating the people they get it from (and trust me, they are) that poses a major concern for the direction that the jail and prison system is going. For them, less rehablitation means more repeat offenders and money, plain and simple for anyone knows what a money making business is all about.

Originally posted by AGWskeptic
We need to stop putting people in prison for vices.

About the only three things I ever hear about Americans being sent to jail for, are drugs, prostitution/solicitation, or murder. As someone from another country, I've honestly wondered whether America actually has fraud legislation on the books; I've literally never heard of any business or individual being convicted for it, in an American court. Apparently the government thinks that smoking pot is more serious than what in other countries gets labelled and prosecuted as white collar crime.

reply to post by TheBlackManIsGod7


do the crime you do the time, i've explained to black friends or accuantainces that complain about racism from police and tell them that police are trained to be dick heads and are and have been the same way towards me. also, white people literally are targeted in certain parts of the city because of the neiborhood they are in (drug hoods), though NOBODY should be going to certain areas to buy drugs, that is a form of racism in my book. maybe they should be pulling over every 'minority' to see if they are selling drugs instead???? (not really but a little food for thought)

This is old news where I am from (inner city) and will probably continue as our elected representatives can be bought and sold like groceries. Prisons are basically the modern day equivalent of slavery and the war on drugs was just another means to an end to fill the prisons and it's associated industries such as law enforcement, prison construction and security as well as the process foods industry. Also don't forget the big telecom companies like Sprint and Verizon who charge enormous rates for collect calls home.

reply to post by ofhumandescent




I read something similar a couple of months ago, I believe. It truly makes you wonder what TPTB are planning for us, and when it's going to go down...

reply to post by buni11687




We NEED more lawmakers like this Texas Senator. Unfortunately they are so far and few between. Not to mention they all lie during voting time, so it's hard to sort out the good from the bad. We need to make it similar to the old days when lawmakers weren't paid very well, if at all, and continued to make money using their businesses. Nowadays some of these lawmakers are paid so handsomely, why bother quitting. Some make a TON of money doing insider stock trading by buying stock, or dumping it before a crucial vote regarding the stock. That cr*p needs to stop as well.

reply to post by happyhomemaker29


I'm wondering the same thing myself and scared of what I'm coming up with.

reply to post by petrus4

I've honestly wondered whether America actually has fraud legislation on the books; I've literally never heard of any business or individual being convicted for it

Does Bernie Madoff ring any bells for you?
en.wikipedia.org...

Maybe you heard about Martha Stewart getting sentenced for insider trading?
www.sec.gov...

You never heard of Enron?
en.wikipedia.org...

Sure, not a lot of white collar criminals are facing the court system, but hopefully that will change soon. I'd love to see some bankers and corporate whores getting sent to the slammer.

Prisons should not be a hotel like they are now. Prisons need to be a 6 x 6 room with a concrete bed with a mat to sleep on and a sink and toilet. 12 hours a day-7 days a week needs to be hard labor--breaking rocks and other forms of physical labor. Prisoners should not be able to buy anything or have anything in their posession. Corporations creating shopping magazines for prisoners should NOT be allowed in any state. Prison is supposed to be a hard, bad place. Not a cozy place where scum sets around playing video games all day and sleeping and ordering all kinds of items to make themselves comfortable. Also, no one should be put into prison for weed. Weed should've never been illegal in the first place but look who controls the U.S. government---They don't want people 'thinking'. Just my 2 cents

Public Defender= There to defend the public, not the defendant
Controlled Substance=Who do you think controls it?
Private Prisons=Money for the corporations at higher profits with cheap labor.
Rehabilitation=Warehousing humans for profit. How is that rehabilitation?

The prison system is broke and no one cares. I was a corrections officer recently and we were treated worse than the inmates.

Originally posted by jrodI used to think an intellectual revolution would be sufficient and we could vote out the scumbags and take back our country peacefully.

Since the votes are rigged from the start the best way to take our country back is to deprive them of their power and that power is the federal reserve note.
If the producers would only use FRN to pay taxes and refuse to accept them (In lieu of ??? Before I would have said liberty dollars but those have gone bye bye) some sort of unit of trade that doesn't 'need' a bank something that will hold value and cannot be twisted in a fractional reserve scheme.
This would remove the power from the top 10% families who have accumulated 90% of the worlds wealth and would also starve the gov spending beast.

Like a Ghandi revolution.

This is the CEO
Damon T. Hininger
ceo
Corrections Corporation of America is the nation's largest owner and operator of privatized correctional and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. CCA currently owns and operates more than 60 facilities including 44 company-owned facilities, with a design capacity of more than 85,000 beds in 19 states ...

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this is a BUISNESS like any other its success depends on profit. How does the company make its profits?
More prisoners=more profit
Im speechless.

There does need to be some kind of rehabilitation program for drug junkies and the criminally insane(repeat offenders) but it would have to be based on common sense---treatments that work. The pedophiles need to be castrated and a tattoo on their forheads. Killers, withing 24 hours of conviction, should be terminated. The evidence has to be 100% no doubt cases. I could go on and on with solutions to problems.