Free Republic

Did you catch any of this over there, Jimmeh? Based on new satellite imagery and personal interviews of former inmates and guards, Amnesty International describes conditions in the Nork's political prison camps as "horrific". And as the world's only heriditary communist dictatorship prepares for a transfer of power -and a potential period of instability- the Gulag-type camps appear to be growing in size... Amnesty International believes the camps have been in operation since the 1950s, yet only three people are ever known to have escaped Total Control Zones and managed to leave North Korea. About 30 are known to...

Prison guards can retire at the age of 55 and earn 85% of their final year's salary for the rest of their lives. They also continue to receive medical benefits. As a California prison guard, you can make six figures in overtime and bonuses alone. While Harvard-educated lawyers and consultants often have to work long hours with little recompense besides Chinese take-out, prison guards receive time-and-a-half whenever they work more than 40 hours a week. One sergeant with a base salary of $81,683 collected $114,334 in overtime and $8,648 in bonuses last year, and he's not even the highest paid.

Chrystia Freeland has called the US prison system an "American Gulag Archipelago." The Global Editor-at-Large of Reuters made her comment during today's Dylan Ratigan show on MSNBC. The context was a discussion of the recent WikiLeaks document dump about Gitmo, but Freeland was clearly speaking of the domestic US prison system, not our military prisons. Ratigan picked up on her theme, saying we could cut our prison costs in half if marijuana were legalized. View video after the jump [with apologies for mediocre quality]. Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein#ixzz1KZr0yJV6

San Quentin inmates helped rescue a man and woman early today whose boat had capsized near the state prison, but the man was pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said. The two left a dock on Corte Madera Creek in a 14-foot motorboat at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. Their boat soon developed engine trouble while on San Francisco Bay, authorities said. At least one of the two had been drinking, Marin County sheriff's deputies believe, and the man was not wearing a life vest. As he tried to restart the engine, he fell overboard, then tipped over the boat when...

"three federal judges in California do believe thugs released early from prison will make people safer—causing one to question if they are driven by ideology more than law."

California's bid to block a court order requiring the release or transfer of more than 40,000 inmates seemed in jeopardy Tuesday, with the U.S. Supreme Court sounding ready to force the state to significantly reduce its prison population. During heated oral arguments, a slim majority of the justices sided with advocates who said the state had not provided humane care for sick and mentally ill prisoners. Despite decades of lawsuits and promises from the governor, the justices said, the state has not reduced the severe crowding related to the problem. Some justices, however, said they feared a mass release would...

The good news is that Berkeley produces a skewed world view. The bad news is that it provides an all too accurate microcosm of academia. “Campus radicalism is back, big time,” Michael Cohen writes in the latest issue of Radical Teacher. “For the first time in a generation, massive rallies, marches, blogs, and, increasingly, student strikes, building occupations and confrontations with the police are drawing the public’s attention to the crisis in public higher education.” “On March 4 of this year, rallies in 28 states and 11 different countries testified to a growing movement to reverse the now thirty-year neoliberal...

There (are) lots of outrageous stories about people who collect public pensions after they commit crimes, but this one may take the cake: The man accused of being the notorious ” Grim Sleeper” serial killer has reportedly collected $300,000 in pension payments, and will continue to collect them until he dies. City documents obtained by L.A. Weekly show that Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57, has been collecting monthly disability pension checks from the L.A. pension system for 19 years after being injured while working as a garbage collector. The first checks, in 1991, were a little less than $900; they are...

hose familiar with the Washington Post know that the paper is a staunch defender of a very liberal vision of the separation of church and state. For example, the paper's editorial board was heavily critical of the Supreme Court's Mojave cross ruling. But when it comes to the supposed dearth of Muslim chaplains at Virginia prisons, Sunday's Metro section went into full hand-wringing mode. "Inadequate Funds for Chaplains," complained a subheader for the page B1 story by staffer Kevin Sieff. "In Va., most money goes to Protestant clergy," another subheadline for the story "Support limited for Muslims in prison"* lamented....

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says the Justice Department continues to stonewall investigation of the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case. This reflects systemic injustice at Justice. Several reports in the past week exposed a bizarre ideological campaign being pushed by the department's Civil Rights Division. First, the department apparently is adopting a policy of sending award money from successful civil rights suits not to actual victims, but to outside groups that claim to "represent" victims' interests. This clearly risks payoffs to liberal groups such as ACORN, the ACLU and the NAACP. Second, the department threatens to halt a...

Two unpleasant topics of conversation most of us avoid are the epidemic of HIV/AIDS among prison inmates and a variety of sometimes violent events resulting in transmission of the disease. Some states long ago implemented policies to protect the uninfected part of the prison population while providing exceptional medical treatment and counseling to the infected population. In South Carolina, it has worked so well since 1998 that there has only been a single transmission of HIV/AIDS to a noninfected prisoner. All that may change, however, thanks to a threat from Eric Holder's Justice Department. South Carolina received a letter from...

A Virginia inmate who warned prosecutors he would kill again if not given the death penalty for strangling his cellmate was involved in the death of another inmate, authorities said. Wise County Commonwealth's Attorney Ron Elkins confirmed late Saturday that Robert Gleason Jr. was "involved" in the death of 26-year-old Aaron Alexander Cooper, though Elkins refused to elaborate. Gleason, who was already serving a life term for murder before killing his cellmate last year, has not been charged in the death. Cooper died Wednesday in the recreation yard for inmates housed in segregation at the maximum security Red Onion State...

A former Watergate felon has the key to fighting terrorist recruitment in America's prisons: Bring in more Christians... Islamic radical groups such as al Qaeda are particularly active in prison recruitment and networking because they "see it as their duty to propagate their faith and political ideology (dawa)." To them, a prison "constitutes a potentially fruitful place for conversion and radicalization," and they "consequently exploit whatever opportunities they are offered to approach other offenders and turn them into followers of the group." ... Critics might charge that using programs like Prison Fellowship as an active part of a counterterrorism strategy...

The use of two secret, experimental prison units used to isolate Muslim inmates is unconstitutional, the Center for Constitutional Rights claims in federal court. Five inmates say they were classified as low or medium security and had relatively clean disciplinary histories. Still, because they are Muslim, they say they were put in the isolated units at either the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Ind., or at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Ill. "As a result, plaintiffs' familial relationships and rights of association with loved ones have been substantially impaired,"

SNIPPET: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Washington State is seeking religious Muslim volunteers to work with state prison inmates. That has veteran corrections official Patrick Dunleavy concerned that the program could result in the radicalization of prisoners and create security problems. It's not the presence of Muslim volunteers, but the track record of the people and organization involved." Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1816/cair-targets-washington-state-prisons

WASHINGTON – States are getting new leeway in tallying their prisoners in the 2010 census — a move that could reshape the political map, increasing urban population numbers while reducing the figures for rural voting districts where inmates are incarcerated. The Census Bureau said this week it would release data on prison populations to states when they redraw legislative boundaries next year. Previously, the agency provided the breakdowns on group quarters, like prisons, after states finished their high-stakes redistricting. That resulted in districts with prisons getting extra representation in their legislatures, despite laws in some states that say a prison...

Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons? By: Byron York Chief Political CorrespondentFebruary 5, 2010 "The Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 individuals on terrorism-related charges," writes Attorney General Eric Holder in a new letter to Republican critics in Congress. The letter is part of the Obama administration's aggressive defense of its decision to grant full American constitutional rights to al Qaeda soldier Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused Christmas Day bomber. That defense boils down to one sentence: Bush did it, too.Republicans on Capitol Hill object. They argue that one of the...

In a four-page review, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said today that lawmakers should reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed ballot measure to dedicate more money to public universities than prisons. "It is an unnecessary, ill-conceived measure that would do serious harm to the budget process," the LAO report concludes. Schwarzenegger's constitutional amendment would require the state to spend no more than 7 percent of general fund money on corrections and no less than 10 percent on the University of California and California State University systems. In 2009-10, the state is spending 5.7 percent of general fund money on UC and...

SNIPPET: "U.S. intelligence officials believe there are dozens -- perhaps hundreds - of Americans who have been in e-mail contact with the radical Yemeni cleric who is believed to have inspired and directed both the Fort Hood shooter and the failed Christmas Day airline bomber, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. Efforts to learn the details of that communication, or even to target Anwar Al-Awlaki militarily, may be hindered by his status as an American citizen."

Caller: Thank you for taking my call. I'm pondering the unemployment numbers and this healthcare bill with the mandate. I'm wondering if this will exacerbate the prison overpopulation problem? Tom Ashbrook: What do you mean? Caller: If there's over 10 percent unemployment, I don't think American prisons handle that many people can they? Host: Will people have to steal to pay their healthcare? What are you saying? Caller: If they fail to meet the mandate they get thrown in prison. Host: He's only half facetious, I think. This will be a real requirement. What happens if people can't or don't...