prIsOns!

This topic of "prisons" and "prisoners" always has been a very sensitive one to me. But today's rambling is gonna be extra sporadic. Please excuse me. I received some extremely troubling news yesterday about the only MAN I've ever considered my "best friend." I've been trying to call him for the last few months to no avail. And now I know why. He apparently was arrested and charged in relation to OPERATION BROKEN TOY and is facing double-digit years behind bars. My heart goes out to him...

But this post is not about him in particular. It's about a very broken system that is being used to "keep people in their place." And I'm not solely referring to the poor staying poor, BUT also the rich staying rich. There's a required balance. And before I get any further into this, I want you to check out this SLIDESHOW I did for an Ethics class back in 2003 on the subject. Just so you know where I'm coming from.

To be clear, I am not anti-prison. I agree that there are people who deserve to be locked up. BUT I don't believe NON-VIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS are amongst these folks. Because as we ALL know, once you've been to prison, the "odds" are definitely against you. Instead of being formally rehabilitated and able to blend back into society, you get a big X on your back. To me, that says 2 things. 1) The prisons are not serious about rehabilitating people. After all, isn't the backbone of ALL SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES repeat business? And 2) as a result of number 1, it makes it a lot more likely the person will go back to his or her "old ways." PEOPLE CAN CHANGE!



If you're unaware of what the ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS are, please educate yourself. THESE LAWS and similar ones outside of New York state are tearing apart entire inner city families (black and hispanics mostly.) In a nutshell, these laws require RIDICULOUSLY harsh mandatory jail sentences, regardless of the actual circumstances of each individual case. For example, 8-20 years (mandatory) for selling 2 ounces of weed! It doesn't matter if you picked up the wrong briefcase at the bus stop, or you just left your dealer's house; 8-20! This is an extreme example, BUT the key is these are mandatory sentences. I could spend all day on these laws, but I wanna touch on a few other things. FYI: The RDL's are in the reform process, and some minor reforms have recently (2004-5) been accomplished. Cross your fingers...

Continuing with the affect to the inner city family structure...most of the State prisons are NOT in the communities where the prisoners are from. As a result, the families are (more times than not) COMPLETELY cut off from their family members, usually fathers. And I take NOTHING from the single mothers out there; I LOVE YA'LL! BUT, basic reason will tell you that FATHER + MOTHER > MOTHER. And another point for consideration is the JOBS produced by these prisons. Wouldn't it make sense to give these (good-paying) jobs to the family members of the prisoners? I'm not saying security guards or anything like that...but cooks, janitorial, clerical, admin, etc. The MAIN point here is this: these prisons are BIG business! And now that they're PRIVATIZED, they're being positioned by Congressmen (mostly Republicans) in districts where the demographics of the prison and the residents are opposites. The prisoners CANNOT VOTE; but are counted as residents in the census...BIGGER POPULATION, BIGGER DISTRICT, BIGGER APPROPRIATION...

I know I've been a little hard on the NY... So tomorrow I wanna go to GEORGIA...

P. L. U. R.,
zAy