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August 20, 2006
California (and prisons)
Recently one KIW staffer had to good fortune to wander up and down the coast of California for a few days.
Moonrise @ Big Sur
Apparently there's an awful lot of people in California who aren't free to go wandering.
According to writer Joan Didion there is a powerful prison guard lobby in the state of California. The "California Correctional Peace Officers Association" is arguably the most influential and effective lobby in the state. It advocates more and bigger prisons - and laws to make sure that those prisons are full.
"The prison guards were in California the political muscle behind the victims' rights movement. The prison guards were in California the political muscle behind the 1994 'three strikes' legislation and initiative, the act that mandated a sentence of twenty-five years to life for any third felony conviction, even for crimes as minor as growing a marijuana plant on the windowsill or shoplifting a bottle of Ripple. The prison guards were the political muscle that had by the year 2000 made the California corrections system, with thirty-three penitentiaries and 162,000 inmates, the largest in the western hemisphere."Where I Was From, pages 184-185
Didion goes on to point out that in 1995 California - for the first time - spent more on prisons than on its 34 universities.
Santa Cruz Sentinel; 8 August, 2006; p A-4; 'Prison guards ready to weigh in on election'
Where I Was From; Joan Didion; 2003; pages 182-188
Posted by williamfrick at August 20, 2006 10:03 PM
Comments
the penal systems in america are the pivitol source of our capitlistic format. our strength is held binding by all things to do with law enforcement and it's abligtory structures courts police lawyers (HARVARD THE SINGLE MOST RICHES INTITY IN the world, beside the catholic church)to the people or companies who manufacture stuff for law enforcement. i.e. police cars planes coptors buses guns hand cuffs. electronics on and on not to mention the postal sevice and other enemities that hold to profit. the penal system has proven profitable and is the infrastructure which hold our economy together. the justice system in america is the first and final word on all things american. i just hope for one percent compassion in the powers that are.
Posted by: john e mendez at September 11, 2006 8:53 PM