Time: Sat Mar 22 07:09:26 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id GAA23324; Sat, 22 Mar 1997 06:32:18 -0700 (MST) by usr10.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id GAA17305; Sat, 22 Mar 1997 06:32:13 -0700 (MST) Date: Sat, 22 Mar 1997 07:06:56 -0800 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: [jus-dare] American Gulag >*Jus Dare* >Dicken's Gulag > >From: Harold Thomas <harold@halcyon.com> >Subject: "Gulag" is a Soviet Concept, Right? > > >Given the fact that a HUGE percentage of Americans in prison are >"guilty" of victimless "crimes" committed against the social >engineering agenda and public policy of government which is itself the >very MODEL OF HYPOCRISY, CORRUPTION AND EVIL, this article should >provide yet another reason to feel a sense of STAGGERING REVULSION >every time you voluntarily hand so much as a penny to the "United >States Government" or to your corporate "State of" Government! A >Christian nation, indeed! > >Harold Thomas > > >Copied from; TECH NOTES >Editor: Steve Doll >333 Tropical Lane, >Ormond Beach Fl 32174 >Ph/Fax 904-667-1594 > >"ARE THERE NO PRISONS...' > >...Are there no workhouses?" In such fashion did the ghost of >Christmas Present mock Ebeneezer Scrooge's rather insensitive >response to the question of what would become of the poor and >disenfranchised in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. > Now according to a special report in the D.C.-based >Counterpunch newsletter (Jan 1-15, 1997), the prisons and workhouses >are booming, not in Dickensian England, but right here and now in >the good old U.S.A. and while the numbers in stir (1.6 million >Americans were in prison at the end of 1995) might appoll some, the >clanging of the cell doors means sweet music to the growing >privately-owned prison industry. > Thanks to tight government budgets, stricter repeat-offender >sentences, the potential of a cheap labor market, and a more vigorous >prosecution of the "drug war", the kingpin of jailing for dollars, >the Corrections Corporations of America, has seen its stock value >soar from $8 per share in 1992 to $30 in 1996, with an 81% increase >in revenue in 1995 alone. Other-prison-for-profit outfits have seen >similar increases, including Wackenhut, which is now listed among >Forbes' top 200 small businesses. All told, private prisons have seen >their "market share" (some market) grow from five prisons in 1987 to >over 100 as of this issue. > Numbers may mean strength, but in the prison racket, numbers mean >survival, and profits. Private prisons have resorted to imposing >tougher disciplinary standards (like making it harder to get time off >for good behavior') and mishandling or losing parole papers and >forcing inmates to stay beyond their release dates in order to >maintain the requisite 90-95% occupancy rate to avoid, as Prudential >Securities has said, "low occupancy... a drag on profits." > Prisons have proven such a good source of cheap labor, >corporations are flocking to the jailhouse to maximize profits. Where >prisoners used to hammer out license tags for the state, now they >saw, sew, and solder such items as car parts, clothing, furniture and >computer circuit boards for major U.S. companies. The tactic has >proven so lucrative that the a U.S. company operating in Mexico >closed down its operations and moved them to San Quentin, while >another firm dumped 150 workers in Texas and set up shop in a private >prison in Lockhart, where prisoners now assemble circuit boards for >such outfits as IBM and Compaq. State legislator Kevin Mannix of >Oregon has issued an invitation to Nike to shift its operations from >Indonesia to his state. "We could offer competitive prison labor", >says Mannix. > How competitive? Pay scales, which may run as high as $400 per >month "take home" in government prisons, are as low as 17 cents per >hour in private prisons. Pay rates at the CCA prisons max out at 50 >cents per hour for "highly-skilled labor." > Such financial rewards don't go far in the private canteens, >where the buy-low, sell high axiom of the fee market abounds. Inmates >in a CCA-run facility in Florida complain of $2.50 charges for phone >calls, and exorbitant prices for necessities such as soap, >toothpaste, toothbrushes, and clothing, which are provided to inmates >at government-run prisons. > Of course, the operators of for profit prisons aren't the only >ones on the chow wagon. Large-scale investors too, capitalizing on >hard times, are buying in big. Among ther celebrated names backing >the prison business are American Express, General Electric, Goldman >Sachs & Co., and Merrill Lynch, Smith & Barney. High-tech firms are >scrambling to move items like monitoring systems which bar code >prisoners, while AT&T hustles to get a lock on the prison >communication business. > The social cost? Former correction officer Jerome Miller >estimates that the "American gulag" system will house between three >and five million inmates in the next 15 years, composed mostly of >African-American men.COMMENT: The price system is resilient. While we >acknowledge that technological change is at the heart of our economic >woes, corporate America losses no opportunity to exploit the trend. >Grind a portion of the population down to the point at which crime is >their only out. Then imprison these people (at taxpayers' expense) >and use them to turn out products at wages amounting to a fraction of >those on the outside, displacing higher-paid workers, many of whom >will also be forced into illegal or violent acts to survive or as a >reaction to the stress of economic insecurity (especially as >government support programs are cut to the bone)-thus creating a >constant supply of low-wage inmate workers. > What kind of motivation is there to reduce crime when investors' >profits depend on full prisons? Not only do the chief beneficiaries >of the Price System enrich themselves by promoting the existence of >crime, they will no doubt be congratulated by a population seeking >protection from the victims of the very system that is responsible >for most of the crime -and gleefully pour into stores and snatch up >those cheap goods that once again proudly say "Made in U.S.A." > >Distrubute freely > > > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > *JUS DARE* > c/o Dave Delany's Freedom House > PO Box 212 Conklin NY 13748 > ======== > Sponsored by Mike Goldman and By.Net (http://Names.By.Net) > ======== > Perversion of the U.S. Supreme Court > *Jus Dare* means "to give or to make the law." > > To subscribe or unsubscribe to *Jus Dare*, send a message to > jus-dare-request@freedom.by.net > In the BODY, put the text "ADD" or "DELETE" respectively. > >
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