Mass Incarceration

Thirteen Facts About American Prisons That Will Blow Your Mind

May 12, 2021 Lee Camp, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Capitalism, Mass Incarceration, Prisons, Racism

In a few minutes time you’ll want to abolish prisons. If you’re not ready for that intellectual and emotional transformation, then please stop reading now. Or put on your thunder shirt. If you grew up in the United States, like I did, then you probably think prisons are a fact of life. We just go through our day-to-day assuming that a huge chunk our population must be hardened criminals (which is very different from hard criminals: scalawags involved in burgling while aroused) and that without prisons these delinquents would be running everywhere, breaking things, kicking squirrels in the face, and urinating in your car window while you’re at a stoplight. We just assume prisons have been around forever — as if back in caveman times they had one of the caves walled off with sticks and vines where they kept Blartho because he was a real a-hole.

New Mexico Passes Cannabis Legalization And Expungement Package

April 2, 2021 Drug Policy Alliance. Create! Marijuana Legalization, Mass Incarceration, New Mexico

Santa Fe, NM – With the New Mexico Legislature approving social justice-centered cannabis legalization during the special session today, Emily Kaltenbach, Senior Director for Resident States and New Mexico for the Drug Policy Alliance, released the following statement: “New Mexicans are finally able to exhale. After many years of hard work, another whirlwind legislative session, and input from stakeholders throughout the state, social justice-centered cannabis legalization is on its way to the Governor’s desk, where she has already agreed to sign. We thank the Governor and our legislative allies for not taking ‘no’ for an answer and stopping at nothing until we were able to get justice for New Mexico communities—particularly Hispanic/Latinx, Black, Native and Indigenous—that have been immensely harmed by cannabis prohibition.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

March 30, 2021 Alexi Jones and Wendy Sawyer, Prison Policy Initiative. Educate! COVID-19, health, Mass Incarceration, Prisons

This month, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released two reports with updates on city and county jail populations nationwide: Jail Inmates in 2019 and Impact of COVID-19 on the Local Jail Population, January-June 2020. After a year of upheaval due to the pandemic, the first report is already out-of-date and mainly useful as a historical document. The second report, however, answers some important questions about the decisions local officials made when the high stakes of jail incarceration – for individual and public health – were put into stark relief by the pandemic. Their decisions, and the resulting jail population changes in the first half of 2020, hold important lessons for ongoing and future decarceration efforts; here we outline some of those lessons – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Texas County Got Rid Of Cash Bail For Minor Crimes

March 13, 2021 Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune. Create! Bail, Mass Incarceration, Police, Texas

Eager to resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit, Texas' most populous county over the past two years has stopped requiring most people accused of low-level crimes from putting up cash to get out of jail on bond. Tens of thousands of people accused of misdemeanors not involving some specific circumstances, like domestic abuse or previous bond violations, have been freed without cost while awaiting trial. Letting them out does not appear to increase the chances they will be arrested for new crimes, according to researchers who have been tracking changes made to the Harris County misdemeanor bail system. In fact, the percentage of defendants arrested for new crimes within a year of their original arrest went down after the county changed its bail practices.

Black Mass Incarceration In The So-Called Free State

March 3, 2021 Eddie Conway, The Real News. Resistance Report Legal System, Maryland, Mass Incarceration, Prisoner rights

Until recently, the horrifyingly unjust reality of America’s mass incarceration system has not been a central concern in popular political discourse. In the past few years, however, more people have learned about the brutality and inhumanity of mass incarceration as artists, activists, documentarians, and elected officials have called attention to the broken U.S. criminal justice system—and its disproportionate harm to Black and Brown people. But is this increased awareness of the problem translating to increased efforts to address it? While officials like Maryland’s Gov. Larry Hogan say they’re reducing incarceration rates and improving prison conditions, the data tells a different story. For instance, the Justice Policy Institute’s report “Rethinking Approaches to Over Incarceration of Black Young Adults in Maryland” shows that Maryland incarcerates Black people at more than twice the national rate and leads the country in incarcerating young Black men.

ACLU Pressing Biden To Stick To His Promise Of Decarceration

January 30, 2021 Marty Johnson, The Hill. Resist! ACLU, Decarceration, Joe Biden, Mass Incarceration

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is launching a six-figure ad buy featuring both digital and print spots calling for President Biden to adhere to his campaign promise of decreasing the number of incarcerated persons in the country. Specifically, the ACLU wants Biden to grant clemency to thousands of people who meet certain criteria, something that he could do through executive powers. “We use criteria that reflect an evolution in our thinking around criminal justice,” Cynthia Roseberry, deputy director of the ACLU’s justice division, told The Hill. “For example, calling for those who are now incarcerated, but who if they were sentenced today, would not receive the same sentence [to be released].

Biden’s Order Terminates Federal Private Prison Contracts

January 30, 2021 Char Adams, NBC News. Educate! Joe Biden, Mass Incarceration, Private Prisons

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will phase out the Department of Justice’s use of private prisons. The action is part of the administration’s effort to address racial inequity in the country and make good on Biden’s campaign promises to Black Americans — who were integral to securing his presidential win. The order directs the Justice Department to decline to renew contracts with privately-operated, for-profit prisons. This effort began under the Obama administration and was championed by then-DeputyAttorney General Sally Yates. The policy was quickly axed by the Trump administration in 2017.

The MORE Act Is A Step Toward Unraveling The War On Drugs

December 10, 2020 Breanna Robinson, Conversations Indy 100. Create! Congress, Marijuana Legalization, Mass Incarceration, MORE Act

For decades, many people have been subjected to criminal prosecution for the possession of marijuana. Some people that are impacted by this end up going to prison with people that have serious criminal backgrounds, which I find quite frightening and unjust, wondering if there will ever be a law that can tackle these unfortunate circumstances. Then along came the MORE Act. On Friday, The House of Representatives voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Engagement (MORE) Act, an H.R. 3884 bipartisan legislation set to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.

Report: Incarceration Destabilizes Neighborhood Economies

November 24, 2020 Hannah Gaskill, Maryland Matters. Educate! Community Safety, Local Economy, Maryland, Mass Incarceration

A report released by the Maryland Center for Economic Policy suggests decreasing the state’s prison budget will lead to a healthier economy and increased public safety. The report, released Wednesday, found that Black Marylanders are 4 1/2 times more likely to serve prison sentences than any other racial or ethnic group. Indigenous Maryland residents are twice as likely to be incarcerated than any other racial or ethnic group. “None of what we’re doing is making any of us safer and it’s most certainly not making those Black communities that are being robbed of human capital ― it’s not making them any safer...

The Ongoing Incarceration Of California’s Indigenous Peoples

November 15, 2020 Morning Star Gali, Black Agenda Report. Educate! California, Indigenous Peoples, Mass Incarceration, Settler colonialism

For 25 years, Indigenous rights activists fought for an official UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — for a document that doesn’t just affirm our individual human rights, but asserts our inherent and inalienable collective rights as Indigenous peoples. In 2007, that document was finally adopted by the General Assembly. Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.

What 2,392 Incarcerated People Think About #DefundThePolice

October 28, 2020 Nicole Lewis, Anna Flagg and Aviva Shen, The Marshall Project. Educate! Criminal Justice System, Defund the police, Mass Incarceration, Prisoners

How do we fix policing in America? Can it be fixed? Donald Trump has made “law and order” a central message of his campaign, portraying anti–police brutality protesters as dangerous. Joe Biden has emphatically rejected protesters’ calls to defund the police and insists that less drastic reform can make a difference. Whoever wins the election will help shape the future of criminal justice. But while the effects of the pandemic and police violence are magnified for people behind bars, the vast majority of them will not be able to press for solutions by voting.

Our Unjust System Of Mass Supervision

September 14, 2020 Mark Rice, Urban Milwaukee. Educate! Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Prisons, Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s disastrous system of mass supervision is at odds with our widely shared values of justice, human dignity and compassion. Detaining people struggling with poverty, housing insecurity, mental health issues and addiction issues for alleged rule violations is at odds with common sense approaches to justice. Yet, public officials in Wisconsin have been keeping its prisons and jails overcrowded for many years by doubling down on this unjust practice. A new report by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU demonstrates the deep racial injustice and extent of the harm caused by mass supervision in Wisconsin.

For Some, Homes And Neighborhoods Are Now Digital Prisons

September 7, 2020 Eddie Conway, The Real News. Resistance Report home detention, Mass Incarceration, Prison reform, Prisoner rights

Eddie Conway: Welcome to this episode of Rattling The Bars. I’m Eddie Conway, your host, coming to you from Baltimore. Recently, there has been a new book out by two authors that has done extensive work in the prison system. The book is, Prisons By Any Other Name, and it was written by Maya Schenwar and Vicky Law. They’re going to join me today to kind of explain what’s in the book. Basically they’re challenging the idea that alternative to incarceration is better and represents some kind of reform.

Pressure Mounts To Free Black Girl Imprisoned For Not Doing Homework

July 19, 2020 Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Radio. Resist! Black Youth, Legal System, Mass Incarceration, Probation

Public pressure is mounting to free a 15-year-old Black girl sent to Oakland County juvenile detention for not doing her homework. The girl is known only by her middle name, Grace. She was on probation for some minor offenses, such as fighting with her mother and taking another child's iPad. In May, Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan incarcerated Grace for violating probation. Her crime: failing to do her online schoolwork for Birmingham Groves High School. Grace's attorney, Jonathan Biernat, filed a motion on Thursday asking Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan to reconsider Grace's detention.

Why And How To Defund The Police

June 20, 2020 Jason Kirkpatrick, Counterpunch. Create! Defund the police, Drug War, Mass Incarceration, Police violence

The vague and easily misinterpreted call to Defund the Police has been spreading quickly across the USA. Some may have a knee-jerk reaction to “just say no” to this call, but polls show a vast majority of Americans are concerned about improving the lives of people of color across the country. Reforms such as teaching police to de-escalate conflicts and enforcement of body camera use have support of about 90% of Americans. So, what could solutions to the current situation look like, how could they be paid for, and should relative costs realistically be coming out of police budgets? My experience sharing oversight of a police budget as a City Councillor and Vice Mayor for four years gave me valuable insights to be able to propose concrete solutions.

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