California's torture problem (crime rate, college, living)

[WesternPilgrim]

The California criminal justice system seems to have opted for torture in the absence of a viable death penalty.

Fighting a Drawn-Out Battle Against Solitary Confinement

"Most states identify inmates who are members of prison gangs, and gang members account for a large percentage of the prisoners held in solitary confinement around the country. But California’s policy has been among the most severe, sending not only full gang members but also inmates found to associate regularly with gangs to one of the state’s three super-maximum-security facilities. More than 3,000 prisoners judged to have gang ties are held in such conditions. Of the inmates sent to the unit at Pelican Bay for gang affiliation, 248 have been there for 5 to 10 years; 218 for 10 to 20 years; and 90 for 20 years or more."

20 years or more????

You read that right. 20 years or more alone "in a windowless 7.6-by-11.6-foot cell" for 23 hours per day. That this treatment constitutes torture really should be beyond dispute.


Solitary confinement abuse in U.S. prisons - YouTube

[jaijai]

viable death penalty = oxymoron.
what's to be done?
i dunno.
what a world.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by jaijai

what's to be done?

1. Stop the abuse.
2. Bring back prison labor.
3. Expand prison ministries.
4. Swiftly impose capital punishment for murder, rape, and drug dealing.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by WesternPilgrim

1. Stop the abuse.
2. Bring back prison labor.
3. Expand prison ministries.
4. Swiftly impose capital punishment for murder, rape, and drug dealing.

I don't know what prison labor involves.
And killing is not the solution. I'm surprised you don't realize that.

Liberation Prison Project

[Fontucky]

He's pro-life.

[jaijai]

a strange and troubling contradiction.

[Gentoo]

California belongs to a nation that has the highest incarceration rate in the world and we're surprised the system is broken? These problems are likely compounded in the state with the largest population. The state spends 6 times more on prisons than education.

California Spends Six Times More On Prison Inmates Than On College Students | ThinkProgress

In the last 30 years, Zakaria noted, California has built 20 new prisons and just one new college campus.

We have a looooong way to go.

[jaijai]

wow!
6 more times more on prisons than on education.
i had no idea.
that's appalling.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by jaijai

And killing is not the solution. I'm surprised you don't realize that.

Unfortunately capital punishment is an integral part of the solution. Violent prisoners are a mortal threat to their fellow prisoners, to prison staff, and to the public when they escape or are released. The culture of violence in prisons is so bad that it has become chiche among vulgarians everywhere.

Solitary confinement may remove some dangerous prisoners from the company of potential victims, but it is inhuman and degrading, it is torture, and it is absurdly expensive. By contrast, the death penalty for certain offenses is inherently just, respects human dignity, and protects others. And it's the only thing capable of breaking the back of the drug culture that fuels so much violence and fills our prisons.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by WesternPilgrim

Unfortunately capital punishment is an integral part of the solution. Violent prisoners are a mortal threat to their fellow prisoners, to prison staff, and to the public when they escape or are released. The culture of violence in prisons is so bad that it has become chiche among vulgarians everywhere.

Solitary confinement may remove some dangerous prisoners from the company of potential victims, but it is inhuman and degrading, it is torture, and it is absurdly expensive. By contrast, the death penalty for certain offenses is inherently just, respects human dignity, and protects others. And it's the only thing capable of breaking the back of the drug culture that fuels so much violence and fills our prisons.

The death penalty has never been a deterrent to violent crime. If it were, the violent crime rate would have plummeted to non existent eons ago. All it does is make those who are still living feel better. Also with a broken system, who's to say an innocent person wouldn't get executed?