US Has More Prisoners than Apartheid South Africa...

[Chicago Democrat]

or Nazi Germany or even Stalins Russia. All because of the "Drug War".

US has 5% of the world population, but we have 25% of the world prisoner population. We have spent $2 Trillion dollars on it. Also because of prior felonies 10% of our people can't vote (for Democrats).

Why don't we spend money on schools and not prisons. Why don't Democrats favor decriminalization and more treatment?? WHY?!!!

[JanMichael]

1. You forgot China.

We're number One! Go USA USA USA USA!!!!

[Ysabel]

2. very sad...

my youngest son is in jail - most likely and very soon on his way to prison...

[burythehatchet]

3. I am so sorry

this must surely cause you great heartache. I pray that he overcomes this and is able to get back with you before too long.

[Ysabel]

7. thank you...

n/t...

[DrWeird]

4. White people do as much drugs as black people.

The same with the rich and the poor. Makes sense when you think about it. Drug abuse is a disease. It's biological, and it doesn't discriminate.

But police, judges, and jurors do. Anybody got a number on the number of black people in prison for drug offenses versus white people?


Anybody who isn't pissed is a god damned racist nazi.

[_Jumper_]

8. Democratic Party

If the Democratic Party had the spine to stop the "War on Drugs"--which was created specifically to target African-Americans--Al Gore would be president right now. The Republicans use the "War on Drugs" to disenfranchise blacks, who are the most Democratic demographic group.

[mp40]

10. A disease?

So, everyone who experiments with drugs has the disease? What disease? By your argument; all drug DEALERS then should be eradicated to keep the disease from spreading. I have yet to see someone hold a weapon to someones head and force them to do ANY type of drug. It is a choice THEY make, whether white/black/yellow/brown/rich/poor/gay/straight. Being black and poor or rich and white does not matter.

[cprise]

5. Because we switched back to an attitude

...that people are basically evil (instead of having the potential to be mostly good).

The more crime drops, then crime becomes more of an 'unknown' and our level of fear escalates. Hence we clutch ever more tightly to a police state, because if crime is going down then we aren't doing enough to find the bad things.

Of course, this is all aimed at non-white and/or lower-income people. Fear must work as a profit model too, so the police stick to persecuting the most vulnerable (people who are least expensive to monitor and trap).


The general instinct that "people are bad" causes our politicians to reach for "faith-based" solutions, because religion traditionally has a lot to say about handling inherently evil beings. Hence, we get the religious prisons now being built in Florida. Secular values in schools and treatment programs are unacceptable because a) Billy Graham doesn't like them, b) they undermine the fear-mongers and don't fit in a weapons/military establishment, c) they discriminate against religious fundamentalists, d) they consider people worthwhile by default. Also, religious social programs have the perception of being very inexpensive, because they spare very few resources as a result of the "people are bad" worldview (they may spend lots of money on other things, however).

So government investment in education and rehabilitation is bad because these things require values, putting a secular government in conflict with a Religious Right that demands religion have a monopoly on the inculcation of values.

[tom_paine]

6. Wait a minute...MORE than Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia?

Horsefeathers!

You'll have to show me a few credible, corroborable links before I even get close to buying THAT one.

Yes, I know we have more prisoners than any CURRENT nations, but I don't think there is ANY WAY we have more prisoners than Nazi Germany (certainly not per capita, even IF and that's a BIG IF the unadjusted numbers show it).

Do the math. I read somewhere that the US has about 2 million prisoners.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2925973.stm

NOW, in Nazi Germany, over 12 years, more than 12,000,000 people were murdered in concentration camps. Jews, Gypsies, homsexuals, liberasl, free-thinkers, Poles, etc. etc. etc.

Each one of those people was imprisoned prior to their deaths.

And how many survived when the US Army of the Old Republic busted into those camps and liberated them (yes, during the Days of the Old Republic, sometimes America actually DID what it said it was doing, unlike Imperial Amerika which NEVER does what it says nor says what it does)? Add that not inconsiderable number to the total number of people imprisoned by the Nazis.

The same basic format holds true for the Stalinist Gulags and purges...

What you say has more than a little truth, but you should have stopped and checked before you made an assertion like Imperial Amerika has more prisoners than Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia.

However, if you can show me some credible data supporting your claim, I would consider it.

[Muddleoftheroad]

9. I doubt it

I think your claims about Nazi Germany and the USSR are bogus in a big way. Please cite some viable evidence.