This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Schlosser called America's prison-industrial complex:
"not only a set of interest groups and institutions. It is also a state of mind. The lure of big money is corrupting the nation's criminal-justice system, replacing notions of public service with a drive for higher profits."
It borders on the extreme, defiles the rule of law and core democratic notions, exploits people as commodities, uses incarcerations for profit, a way to create jobs, punish not rehabilitate, crush the human spirit, lets politicians look tough and get elected, and according to former New York State legislator, Daniel Feldman: "When legislators cry 'Lock 'em up!,' they mean (do it) in my district."
America has more prisoners than farmers. In 2001, writer Vince Beiser in Mother Jones asked, "How did the Land of the Free become the world's leading jailer?" Zen Buddhist priest Kobutsu Shindo Kevin C. Malone calls America's prison industrial complex an "Investment in Slavery," permitted under the 13th Amendment, Section 1 stating:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The result is a burgeoning prison population and building boom to accommodate it, rural communities begging for them, because of declines in farming, mining, manufacturing, corporate downsizing, a shift to low-paying service jobs, and a troubled economy. Besides Wall Street bailouts, foreign wars, and a growing national security apparatus, what better economic stimulus than to lock up poor blacks and Latinos, Muslims called terrorists, then target political dissidents; human, civil and anti-war activists; and courageous opponents of Washington and corporate malfeasance.
As well-known Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff used to say about America, "What a country!" He also said in Soviet Russia, the "government control(led) corporations. In America, corporations control the government," and profiteering prison-industrial complex ones have plenty of say. Only in America.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
