Matt Stoller: Who Wants Keep the War on Drugs Going AND Put You in Debtor’s Prison? Matt Stoller is a current fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. His Twitter feed is @matthewstoller. More than a third of all states allow debtors “who can’t or won’t pay their debts” to be jailed. Consider a different example that has nothing to do with debts. Welcome to the for-profit prison industry. Privatized prisons are marketed to international investors as “social infrastructure”, and they are part of a wave of privatization washing over the globe. Here’s the 2010 10k of the Corrections Corporation of America (PDF), the largest operator of private prisons in the country. CCA offers an assessment of risks to the company, which include ending the war on drugs or curbing the incarceration of undocumented immigrants. Many people wonder why the Obama administration is so harsh with undocumented immigrants – these words supply an explanation for why such harshness can be profitable. But there are more risks. Debtor’s prison are making a comeback because of the debt collection industry.
The Golden State’s Iron Bars “To borrow from Martin Luther King Jr.,” the head of the California prison guards union said a few years ago, “today I have a dream. I have a dream that the bricks and mortar that were planned to build new prisons will instead be used to build new schools…that an ounce of prevention will be embraced instead of a pound of cure.”... Against Law, For Order It’s taken decades and millions of lives, but elite opinion is starting to move against mass incarceration. The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books ran detailed exposés on the scale and violence of the penal state. Conservative leaders like Grover Norquist have said that mass incarceration violates the principles of “fiscal responsibility, accountability, and limited government,” while GOP darlings like Mitch Daniels have tried to take the lead in state reform. Soon the common wisdom will shift from “we need to get tough on crime” to “we jail too many people for too long for the wrong reasons.” The next question is what to do about it, and here the answers are harder. What all of these approaches take for granted is that government policy runs downhill. An alternative account holds that our policy of mass incarceration reconfigures both the idea of the state and the way it carries out its duties. Neoconservative Neoliberalism A New Form of Governance
U.S. Private Prison Population Grew 37 Percent Between 2002-2009 As Industry Lobbying Dollars Grew 165 Percent By Zaid Jilani on September 26, 2011 at 1:40 pm "U.S. Private Prison Population Grew 37 Percent Between 2002-2009 As Industry Lobbying Dollars Grew 165 Percent" Today, the Michigan Messenger reports about how the private prisons behemoth Corrections Corporations of America grew over the last decade, expanding both its prisoner population and its political clout. The Messenger cites data from the U.S. Then, citing figures from the Justice Policy Institute, the Messenger notes that lobbying dollars from the major private prison operators grew from $840,885 to $1,391,056 from 2002 to 2009: This means that as industry lobbying dollars increased 165 percent between 2002 and 2009, the U.S. private prison population grew 37 percent.
The Illusion of Free Markets - Bernard E. Harcourt It is widely believed today that the free market is the best mechanism ever invented to efficiently allocate resources in society. Just as fundamental as faith in the free market is the belief that government has a legitimate and competent role in policing and the punishment arena. This curious incendiary combination of free market efficiency and the Big Brother state has become seemingly obvious, but it hinges on the illusion of a supposedly natural order in the economic realm. The Illusion of Free Markets argues that our faith in “free markets” has severely distorted American politics and punishment practices. Bernard Harcourt traces the birth of the idea of natural order to eighteenth-century economic thought and reveals its gradual evolution through the Chicago School of economics and ultimately into today’s myth of the free market. This modern vision rests on a simple but devastating illusion.
Let's Listen To Lobbying Reformers Buddy Roemer and, Yes, Jack Abramoff Buddy Roemer Presidential candidate Buddy Roemer and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff argue that reform of influence-peddling must be radical to save the country. Roemer, for example, refuses to take contributions over $100. GOP leaders used his lack of big-dollar fund-raising as an excuse to keep him out of all 23 Presidential debates. Too often, Roemer and Abramoff are thus ignored or disparaged despite their obvious relevant experience — and their eloquent, entertaining and otherwise effective speaking-style that matches a national mood of “Throw the Rascals Out.” The specifics of their messages deserve a wide audience, as shown by their compelling arguments during a joint appearance last week in the nation’s capital. “The nation is in trouble,” said Roemer, now a grandfather and successful banker. “I don’t think the answer is the Republican Party,” said the former two-term governor of Louisiana, who became a Republican in 1991 and returned to politics last year after a 16-year absence.
Prison Rape and the Government by David Kaiser and Lovisa Stannow Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2007–2008 by Allen J. Beck and Paul Guerino National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the United States Department of Justice Initial Regulatory Impact Analysis for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Proposed National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008–09 by Allen J. Back in 1998, Jan Lastocy was serving time for attempted embezzlement in a Michigan prison. Jan wanted to tell someone, but the warden had made it clear that she would always believe an officer’s word over an inmate’s, and didn’t like “troublemakers.” These are a few of the reasons why prisoners fear reporting rape. How many people are really victimized every year? The department divides sexual abuse in detention into four categories. He missed that deadline.
Bank Lobbyist on Rep. Maxine Waters as Chair of Financial Services Committee: “Just the name sends shivers up the spine” Matt Stoller is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can follow him on twitter at Did you know that most international banks would leave America if Congresswoman Maxine Waters became the Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee in the House of Representatives? Apparently, that’s what the financial services industry is saying. There’s a reason for the hyperbole. Last month, Yves highlighted this article, which technically was on the coming fight between senior Democrat Maxine Waters and senior Democrat Carolyn Maloney over the top spot on the Financial Services Committee now that the bank-friendly Barney Frank is retiring. Still, how would Rep. She also tried to bring the foreclosure fraud to light. Most people know her for ethics quandary, or Fannie and Freddie support, or because she’s black and aggressive, an archetype that white American males in finance really do not like. And then there’s Rep. I don’t now if that’s true.
How to Fund an American Police State This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com. Click here to catch Timothy MacBain’s latest Tomcast audio interview in which Salisbury discusses post-9/11 police “mission creep” in this country, or download it to your iPod here. At the height of the Occupy Wall Street evictions, it seemed as though some diminutive version of “shock and awe” had stumbled from Baghdad, Iraq, to Oakland, California. About the Author Stephan Salisbury Stephan Salisbury is cultural writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Also by the Author Who is being killed by firearms, and in what numbers? Far from winning votes, “Muslim-bashing” alienates large swaths of the electorate—even as it hardens an already hard core on the right. There should have been no surprise. But why drone on? Farewell to Peaceful Private Life We’re not just talking money eagerly squandered. Can New York City ever be “secure”?