Which beliefs belong behind bars?

[truthpusher]

http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2772614,00.html

Which beliefs belong behind bars?
Court to hear arguments on religion in jails
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By Brad A. Greenberg
Staff Writer
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Saturday, March 19, 2005 -

(snip)

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday challenging governments' ability to limit religious freedom in prisons and other institutions.

In one corner: the state of Ohio, which claims prisoners use religious services to organize violent gangs. The state will argue that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 gives preferential treatment to religious prisoners, violating the First Amendment.

In the other corner: a group of inmates supported by unexpected allies: civil libertarians and social conservatives, Jews and neo-Nazis, President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton.

"The most important religious liberty case before the Supreme Court this term is Cutter v. Wilkinson," said Jared Leland, media and legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of 50 civil liberty and religious organizations that include Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Native Americans.

complete story: http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2772614,00.html

[gumby]

1. All Fundie created news, all the time.

Gads......

Like when do we hear about "prison" news any other time? Eh??

[ixion]

2. the 'news' about prisons is the rampant privitization

which has lead to a multi-billion dollar industry.

which in turn creates a political feedback loop,
which manifests in things like the so-called War on Drugs.


But, we're 'free', right? :eyes:

[UpInArms]

4. Wackenhut's Free Market in Human Misery

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=868

New Mexico's privately operated prisons are filled with America's impoverished, violent outcasts -- and those are the guards. That's the warning I took away from confidential documents and from guards themselves who nervously spoke on condition that their names never see the light of day.

The prisons' owner operator, Wackenhut Corporation, has not had a very sunny summer. Three weeks ago, Texas terminated their contract to run a prison pending the expected criminal indictment of several staff for sexually abusing inmates. The company has been yanked from operating a prison in their home state of Florida. Mass escapes in June, July and August threaten their Australian contracts.

And in New Mexico, Wackenhut's two prisons, barely open a year, have experienced riots, 9 stabbings and 5 murders, including, two weeks ago, the killing of a guard. Wackenhut's share price plummeted.

<snip>

We have obtained copies of internal corporate memos, heartbreaking under the circumstances, from line officers pleading life-saving equipment such as radios with panic buttons and especially for more personnel -- written just weeks before Garcia's death. Politicos and inspectors are paraded through what looks like a fully staffed prison because, claim guards, they are ordered to pull 16- and 20-hour shifts for the official displays.

With low pay for dangerous work, one court official told me, Wackenhut fills the hiring gap with ex-cons who get through lax background checks and teenage guards, some too young to qualify for a driver's license. Some kiddy guards and insecure newcomers make up for inexperience by getting macho with the prisoners, slamming them into walls. "Just sickening," said a witness. Right after the prison opened, a pack of guards repeatedly kicked a shackled inmate in the head. You might conclude these guards needed closer supervision, but that they had. The Deputy Warden stood by, arms folded. The company fired those guards and removed the warden -- to another Wackenhut prison.

...more...

[Rose Siding]

3. Jeb practically insists on religion in prison

...if you ever want to get out, that is.

(Excerpted from “‘Accept Jesus,’ Gov. Bush Tells Florida Inmates,” in The Humanist Monthly publication of the Capital (New York) District Humanist Society, July 2003)
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush went to a maximum-security prison for women on Easter and told them to embrace Christianity as a way to gain freedom from prison.
“I believe in my heart that if you accept Jesus and stay the course great things will happen to you,” Bush told the prisoners, as reported by the Associated Press. “You know what will happen? Four times a year as governor of this state, I sit as a member of the clemency board, and I know I’m going to see you there. And the way you get there is to live your life the right way.”
Joining Bush at the event, which also included religious songs, was Charles Colson.

http://www.shsny.org/pique/2003-10.html

And then there's Lawtey...

Florida Gets Nation's First Faith-Based Prison

LAWTEY, Fla., Dec. 25 (AP) - Nearly 800 inmates from 26 faiths attended the dedication ceremony of what Gov. Jeb Bush called the nation's first faith-based prison - a facility focused on encouraging the spirituality of inmates of all faiths.

Along with regular prayer sessions, the Lawtey Correctional Institution will offer religious studies, choir practice, religious counseling and other spiritual activities seven days a week. Participation is voluntary and inmates are free to transfer out.

"This is not just fluffy policy, this is serious policy," Bush told the crowd on Wednesday. "For the people who are skeptical about this initiative, I am proud that Florida is the home to the first faith-based prison in the United States."

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/137/story_13779_1.html