[quote="banjobird"]
Special thanks to HidingFromGoro, who compiled the original [url=http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3233450]Prison Nation[/url] thread. Thank you for your work gathering this information and for giving permission for this thread to be reposted. The comments and insights in this OP are his.

---

[b]The Machine[/b]

Required watching:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWxpQ87C4t4]Torture: America's Brutal Prisons[/url] :nws:
[url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/prison-nation-3457/Overview]Prison Nation[/url]

Recommended [spoiler]required[/spoiler] reading:
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Prisoner-Machine-America-Profits/dp/0813338700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259207504&sr=1-1]The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime[/url]
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Get-Richer-Poor-Prison/dp/0205461727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259207650&sr=1-1]The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice[/url]
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Lockdown-America-Police-Prisons-Crisis/dp/1859843034/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259207570&sr=1-2]Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis[/url]
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Prison-Nation-Warehousing-Americas-Poor/dp/0415935385]Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor[/url]

The United States has the highest incarceraiton rate in the world, with 738 people per 100,000 behind bars (2005).  There is speculation that China may have a slightly higher rate due to jailing of political dissidents, but so far just speculaiton.

A 2008 study found that [url=http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf]more than 1 in 100 American adults[/url] are in prison or jail.  [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03prison.html?_r=1]One in every 31 adults (7.3 million)[/url] is in prison, or on parole or probation.  One out every 45 whites is under some form of correctional control- and [b]one out of every 11 blacks[/b].  1 in 18 men and 1 in 89 women (races combined).  Spending on corrections has risen by 400% in the last 20 years, outpacing all but Medicaid in growth.

[timg]http://i45.tinypic.com/dddw.jpg[/timg]

The prison population has exploded in recent decades- a phenomenon known as "hyperincarceration," even though violent crime, "serious crime," and property crime has been declining:

[timg]http://i47.tinypic.com/b7nitd.jpg[/timg]
[timg]http://i49.tinypic.com/mrp74n.jpg[/timg]
[timg]http://i49.tinypic.com/swu51j.jpg[/timg]
[timg]http://i47.tinypic.com/dnfv6a.jpg[/timg]

The scope of this problem is difficult to overstate- especially because it necessarily includes things like prison gerrymandering, police militarization, mandatory minimum sentences, "tough on crime" politicians, for-profit incarceration, and all sorts of other things including guys with mansions talking about "2 Americas."  This is generally known as the Prison-Industrial Complex, or as I (and others) call it- [b]the Machine[/b].

HidingFromGoro posted:

    What don't you understand? Why don't you believe?

    What more do I have to show you to make you believe?

    Tanks crushing cars. Houses burned to the ground while children look on. Puppies thrown into fires while children look on. Newborn babies brain-damaged or snuffed out while their mother is shackled to a bed with a sheet up so she can't see her baby she just gave birth to.

    Black guys picking cotton at gunpoint in LA. Swarms of rats chewing off fingers & eyes in IL. Indefinite sensory deprivation. Bags of feces thrown on people in VA. Arms held out of feeding-slots to shatter elbows in VA. Pregnant women beaten so hard the braces get knocked off their teeth in TX. Men forced to fight to the death in gladiator matches in CA. Men shot for sport in CA. Men overcrowded at 300% capacity nationwide. Children given life sentences without the possibility of parole- nationwide. HIV+ inmates beaten and sent to sensory-deprivation isolation with biohazard stencils and no medical treatment. Men put in sensory-deprivation isolation for up to 36 years with no contact with the outside world (including lawyers). Secret medical experiments performed on thousands of inmates in PA. Cops running brutal abuse schemes and creating their own gangs in NY. Penises amputated in WA. Feces mixed into food in CO. These are just the things which I've provided links to on major news outlets in this subforum in the past few weeks.

    Stomping on an inmate's head until he involuntarily soils his pants. 41 shots on the street to kill an unarmed man. Executing a cuffed man in front of 100 witnesses and cameras. The countless videos of abuse inside prison walls and the countless more off-camera.

    The tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of rapes inside each and every year. The brutal, life-altering rape every four minutes.

    Love one another. For God's sake, or whatever you believe in- just love one another. No matter how angry or outraged or just joking about it- whatever you do whoever and wherever you are just do this one thing. We are dying. You are dying. We are being tortured, we are in indescribable pain and hopeless despair. We are you. You lose your humanity when we get gangraped. You are us. We're all in this together.

    Cry with us, bleed with us, scream with us.

    It's us. All of us- you are us. We are us. We're all human, we're all Life.

    All of us.

Here are some links to activist/outreach organizations:

[url=http://www.prisonactivist.org/projects]Prison Activist Resource Center[/url]
[url=http://www.curenational.org/cms/index.php]CURE[/url]
[url=http://www.justicepolicy.org/]Justice Policy Institute[/url]
[url=http://www.penalreform.org/about-pri-5.html]Penal Reform International[/url]
[url=http://www.prisonerhealth.org/]The Center for Prisoner Health & Human Rights[/url](created by doctors who visited a prison and discovered that instead of treating inmates with HIV/AIDS [b]they just stenciled biohazard symbols on their jumpsuits & put them in seg[/b])
[url=http://www.sentencingproject.org/]The Sentencing Project[/url]
[url=http://www.prisoncommission.org/]Commission on Safety & Abuse in American Prisons[/url]
[url=http://www.criticalresistance.org/]Critical Resistance[/url]
[url=http://www.prisonpolicy.org/]Prison Policy Initiative[/url]
[url=http://www.deathpenalty.org/]Death Penalty Focus[/url]
[url=http://www.prisons.org/index.htm]California Prison Focus[/url]
[url=http://www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/]Middle Ground[/url](AZ prison reform)
[url=http://www.azabolitionist.org/]CAADP[/url](AZ death penalty abolition)
[/quote]

hidingfromgoro posted:

    Pound Me in the Ass Prison, LOL That's Hilarious Bro

    or

    Prison Rape: Real, Rampant, and Sure as Hell Not Funny


http://i49.tinypic.com/32zi0w1.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/fw205g.jpg




    http://www.spr.org/en/survivortesti...udio/Bryson.mp3
    _________/


    Alberto Gonzales' DOJ admits to over 60,000 rapes per year in prison. Human Rights Watch and other NGO's involved put the number at more than twice that. For reference, this is what 60,000 people looks like:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2s8n60h.jpg


    HidingFromGoro posted:

        Chris J. got gang-raped in prison today. He needs surgery to fix his rectum, and probably other medical attention for the rest of his injuries but he's probably not going to get it. He knows this and is thinking about the pain his rectal scarring is going to cause him for the rest of his life. He laid in his bed for a little while covered in semen and his own blood thinking about AIDS. Since shower time has come and gone, he cleaned himself up with the water in the toilet, he also sat on it for a long time trying as hard as he could to evacuate all the semen out of him. His phone card was stolen as punishment for fighting back and he doesn't have any money in his account to call anyone on the outside, so he's just trying to deal with it on his own. Many inmates and guards are already making fun of him and discussing prices for having a go at him within his earshot. After TV time he's going to have to try and sleep in his cell with 2 other guys who ain't trying to hear his sob story and may even have been involved in his attack.

        The pictures of his wife and kids were taken as punishment with promises to defecate or ejaculate on them while a different man was inside him as further punishment for fighting back. He's been clean for 9 months but that heroin would make all this pain go away for just a little while. Chris is more likely than not to go back to the heroin.

        Chris will never be able to fully express the pain and rage caused by his rape even to a professional; and he's definitely not getting insurance which covers the help he needs when he gets out. This psychological trauma will have a severe impact on his ability to have healthy relationships on the Outside- out in the World- and will likely lead to bad arguments with his wife resulting in domestic violence. The effects his mental state has on his kids will be profound and probably irreversible. They might grow up in the sort of state in which prison is a very real possibility. When they find out what happened to dad how will they react?

        His pain and anger will manifest itself in all sorts of ways and he might go off on some taxpayer in a convenience store or seriously injure someone who cuts him off in traffic. When that happens Chris will go back to prison and there will be similar ripple effects on his victims. Even if that doesn't happen remember Chris uses heroin to suppress his pain and will likely be re-arrested on a drug charge or a property crime he did to get heroin money.

        Since there are no secrets in prison when Chris returns it will already be known he is a bitch who likes it in the ass, and he will have to become someone's sex slave. Staff will encourage this. Or he can stab somebody to try get a new rep. If he wins the knife fight & isn't killed outright, the person he kills has loved ones & family members who will become enraged at this, and the violence will continue.

        What happened to Chris happened to 200 people today if you go by Alberto Gonzales' DOJ. If you go by HRW it happened to more than 400 people. This does not include juveniles in programs like Nihilanthic posts.

        This is every day, every state. There are no exceptions. Going by HRW's numbers it's one Chris every four minutes.

        You could be the next Chris, no matter how white you are- no matter how rich your family is. The Machine cares not. It must feed and It will feed.

        And the Machine will never be satisfied.


    Here's some more prison rape articles

    http://www.counterpunch.org/mariner08012003.html
    http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/prison/
    http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2...son/voices.html
    http://toysoldier.wordpress.com/200...-the-abuse-too/

    What I would give if only prison rape was treated as seriously as non-prison rape. I've held so many survivors in my arms and... well, I can't explain it. That sharing of insecurities, fears, pain, loss, and rage simply cannot be described, and I'll not try to do so except in the case of Chris who explicitily wanted it out there. The courage it takes to collapse in man's arms after another man (or men) have violated and destroyed so much of your psyche... I don't think I'll ever be as strong as Chris. My best wishes and blessings go out to all who talk to survivors, be they inmates or not.

    There is a world where people look down on prison rape jokes, and ostracize those who tell them- a world where that act is seen as vile and disgusting no matter what crime may have been alleged or convicted. That world is just around the corner, and we are so close, we are so close to making that a reality.

http://img.waffleimages.com/ed64672027c42bd38b503ea3b3cad650a126f9c6/table10.jpg

http://img.waffleimages.com/6e6b4290fe328f1d4318abbe67d32eb14990da0d/table11.jpg

http://img.waffleimages.com/e451e7e52d92861f7b815f61afeb536da3cd1461/table12.jpg





[quote="banjobird"]
[b]Do we even put the right people in prison[/b]?

Not necessarily:

[timg]http://img.waffleimages.com/ff89034cca2c2ab8f0fe777eb69af19d08f5a5c1/police_miscon_chart.gif[/timg]
[timg]http://img.waffleimages.com/80eb434a561fcbf4b519514a04348f3ce2bce46c/pros_miscon_chart.gif[/timg]
[timg]http://img.waffleimages.com/5c3221eed1e80feac016c153068b7443b79109f8/race_defen_chart.gif[/timg]
[timg]http://img.waffleimages.com/1d90643435da7e84a58754e257ecd8386ea2fcf2/defect_sci_chart_2.gif[/timg]
[timg]http://img.waffleimages.com/43781c756ab46c52da8db4529e57777834195ca6/id_procedure.gif[/timg]

The Innocence Project posted:

    There have been 238 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history. These stories are becoming more familiar as more innocent people gain their freedom through postconviction testing. They are not proof, however, that our system is righting itself.

    The common themes that run through these cases � from global problems like poverty and racial issues to criminal justice issues like eyewitness misidentification, invalid or improper forensic science, overzealous police and prosecutors and inept defense counsel � cannot be ignored and continue to plague our criminal justice system.

    * Seventeen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.
    * In almost 40 percent of the cases profiled here, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing.
    * The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 12 years- that's 2,856 man-years of prison time served by innocent people.
    * Exonerations have been won in 33 states and Washington, D.C.
    * About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups.


[b]RELATED THREADS[/b]:

American Dream - [url]http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3256833[/url] (The poor are kept poor, creating incentive for crime. Minorities are a large part of the lowest income bracket, the most exposed to crime, and the least likely to be able to afford a lawyer or bail meaning that they are incarcerated more often.)

AA - [url]http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3238516[/url] (Black people especially have been harshly effected by lack of aid and measures "to help the poor" targeting and being offered only to whites.)

The Creation of Race - [url]http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3249800[/url] (White people are a recent invention, within the last 200 years. Yet this division of race spurs on the gang warfare within prisons - gangs that were facilitated and encouraged to divide the prison population in order to protect from another Attica.)

Mass Media - [url]http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3249313[/url] (The media tells you that it's all just fine, spreads panic and sensationalism surrounding certain crimes and pushes for harsher and more dehumanizing treatment of criminals.)
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