MetaFilter posts tagged with prison and prisons

A Crack in the War on Drugs

Avenger — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:31:43 -0800

The US Sentencing Commission has recommended that Federal sentencing guidelines be reduced for crimes involving crack cocaine -- and is now deliberating making the new guidelines retroactive for prisoners already incarcerated. [WaPo] If taken into effect, about 3,800 inmates could be released by this time next year. The disparity in sentencing between crack and powdered cocaine has been well documented. There are now several bills in Congress that would equalize the sentences given for distribution and possession of both substances. Is this an isolated event, or could this be the harbinger of an overall thaw in the War on Drugs? [WaPo - article largely on poppy cultivation, but also dovetails with crack and cocaine]

Lots of lockups

Gyan — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 10:54:09 -0800

The Prison Policy Initiative conducts research and advocacy on incarceration policy. Some interesting data include the proliferation of prisons in the US over the last century, disenfranchisement of potential black voters, global incarceration rates and percentage of US population under control of the criminal justice system.

School budget

semmi — Fri, 24 Jan 2003 10:09:32 -0800

An imaginative solution to California's school budget crisis.

purplecow — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:15:11 -0800

man protests prison construction by burying buses This is one of the more original methods of protest I've seen. The "artist", an excavator by trade who is trying to protest what he sees as an unlawful zoning change that will lower the value of his property, says his inspiration came from Cadillac Ranch. Will his protest be successful? Do you think this was an appropriate way to catch the attention of the local authorities? I, for one, think this was clever.

djacobs — Sat, 01 Dec 2001 15:35:46 -0800

AIDS cases in US Prisons are being diagnosed at 5 times the rate of the rest of the population. Prisoners with AIDS face discrimination, abuse and are denied access to health care and medication, on top of all the other abuses prisoners in the US face every day.

From HIV+ Magazine:
"African-American women, incarcerated faster than any other group, also have the highest HIV infection rate among women, both in and out of prison. Women make up a greater percentage of the HIV-positive prison population than men do, an overlooked issue. Yet prisons continue to be built at an alarming rate, although not fast enough to alleviate the miserable conditions of prison overcrowding. In California all federal prisons operate at more than 200 percent capacity."

Thanks California Prison Focus and Act UP NY's for links and info.