Who’s Counting on Blacks to Fill Prisons? Those Making a Profit

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Black men who shrug at incarceration as the cost of doing business in struggling communities might want to know that some folks are counting on them to cling to that warped notion.

I mean, literally counting on them.

Just the other day, I received this investment e-mail titled “Turning Prison Into Profit (Without Going to Jail).” In it, it comes breathtakingly close to extolling the prospect of unemployment hitting 10 percent and ratcheting up the crime rate.

And it advises investors to bet bucks on that dismal future.

“Readers might want to capitalize on this nascent trend by looking into shares of commercial jails,” it reads. “Florida-based Geo Group [a prison-management corporation] comes to mind as a prominent up-and-comer in this field of endeavor, with some 53,144 ‘beds under management…’”

Now, the definition of capitalism isn’t lost on me. Yet when I see unemployment and mass incarceration coldly reduced to a matter of dollars and cents; when I think of how someone may be putting his or her child through college with money made on speculating that someone else’s child will wind up in jail, I get angry.

I just wish more black people would get angry – because the people who’ll invariably make up a disproportionate number of the inmates who’ll fill those jails and prisons and fatten the pockets of private investors will look like them.

Who’s Counting on Blacks to Fill Prisons?....

Simpson Gets at Least 6 Years in Prison

O.J. Simpson was sentenced to at least 6 years in prison Friday for his role in a Las Vegas hotel armed robbery.

Detroit's Ex-Mayor Kilpatrick Jailed for Four Months

By: Corey Williams and Ed White

DETROIT - A judge sentenced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to four months in jail Tuesday for a sex-and-text scandal, calling him "arrogant and defiant" and questioning the sincerity of a guilty plea that ended his career at City Hall. Kilpatrick declined to speak in court, but his lawyers urged the judge to look at his entire career, not just the crimes that threw local government into disarray for months.

The punishment was part of a plea agreement worked out last month. Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner followed that deal but said Kilpatrick would not get time off for good behavior, potentially up to 20 days in this case.

"When someone gets 120 days in jail, they should get 120 days in jail," Groner said.

Kilpatrick was taken across the street to the county jail, where he will spend 23 hours a day in a private cell.

As he was being led away, he yelled out to supporters: "You all take it easy."

They responded: "Be strong, Mayor. We love you, Mayor. We got your back, Mayor."

Detroit's Ex-Mayor Kilpatrick Jailed for Four Months....

Commentary: For Dozens of Million-Dollar Companies Contracting Prison Workers, Crime Really Does Pay

By: Tonyaa Weathersbe

For some, it seems that crime really does pay.

Mother Jones, a progressive news magazine, recently reported on how prisoners are no longer just laboring at making license plates and other state-mandated busywork. Inmates in some states are now doing manufacturing chores and other tasks for corporations who have, undoubtedly, found a way to profit from America’s prison explosion.

Each month, prisoners in California process hundreds of thousands of pounds of beef, chicken products, milk and bread. In Texas, prisoners make furniture and mattresses, brooms and brushes, toilets and sinks. Boeing subcontractor Microjet once used prisoners to cut airplane components at $7 an hour; on the outside, that job would have paid $30 an hour.

Some inmates have even been subcontracted out to sew lingerie for Victoria’s Secret. According to Mother Jones, one contractor, Unicor, outsources call center work to inmates.

Predictably, advocates of paying prisoners minimum wage or pennies for their work on behalf of corporate America say that it’s important because it gives them training. And yes, this wouldn’t be so bad if these inmates, a disproportionate number of them black males, could take those jobs and parlay them into real work once they are released.

But chances are that won’t happen.

COMMENTARY....

US PRISON POPULATION CONTINUES TO SOAR

According to a report released last Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, for the first time in history more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison.

The report urges states to reduce soaring incarceration costs by devising alternative sentencing programs, especially for non-violent offenders.

The group bearing the greatest burden of the increased incarceration is young Black males between the ages of 20 and 34. The Pew report found that a startling 1 of every 9 African American males in that age group is in jail or prison.

For the nation as a whole, 1 of 30 young men in the 20 to 34 age group is living behind bars. As of January 1st, there were 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and another 723,131 in local jails.

The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. Even though communist-led China has at least 4 times as many citizens as the United States, it has fewer of its citizens in jail or prison. [For more details, visit online http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org.

RULING TO AFFECT BLACK PRISONERS

In a long awaited decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously last week to retroactively reduce prison sentences for people convicted of crimes related to the possession and sale of crack cocaine.

Preliminary estimates are that as many as 20,000 inmates - most of them poor African Americans - could be released from federal prison within the next few months.

For nearly 20 years, civil rights and other activist groups have been demanding a reduction in the federal sentencing guidelines as they relate to the possession and sale of crack cocaine because of the so-called 100-to-1 disparity.

Under the old guidelines, a person convicted of possessing just 50 grams of crack cocaine faced a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence while it took possession of 5,000 grams of powdered cocaine to receive the same sentence.

Activists argued that the sentencing disparity amounted to racial discrimination because crack cocaine was primarily used in low-income predominantly Black areas while powder cocaine was disproportionately used by middle to upper income suburban whites. The facts tended to support theie argument. For example, the most recent government figures show that roughly 85 percent of all federal inmates incarcerated for crack cocaine offences are Black. The Bush administration was opposed to the sentencing reduction but liberal Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy said he welcomed the 7-to-0 vote by the Sentencing Commission.

The new procedure for freedom will involve federal inmates having to file petitions requesting that their sentences be reviewed in light of the new ruling. It could be several months before inmates are actually freed.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 12.12.07

Obama and Clinton now tied in New Hampshire.

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has inched ahead in New Hampshire while the popularity of his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton has slightly dropped. That's according to a poll released today. The shift comes a month before the first presidential primary. Clinton fell 5 percentage points since a previous survey in November. Obama has gained 8 percentage points. Meanwhile, the poll shows that Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has yet to catch fire in New Hampshire despite a dramatic jump in some Iowa and national surveys.

President Bush's list of pardons doesn't include his vice-president's former top aide, Scooter Libby. Libby was convicted in the case of the leaked identity of a CIA operative. Yesterday, Bush issued pardons to 29 convicts, including carjackers and drug dealers, and reduced the prison sentence of one more. The move is an end-of-the-year presidential tradition. In July, Bush commuted Libby's 2 and a half-year sentence, sparing him from serving any prison time.

A new poll shows more Americans are worried about the economy rather than the war in Iraq. Fifty-seven percent believe the nation is in a recession. That's the first time in more than four years that a majority believes that. The economy is now the biggest issue in the presidential campaign. Following the economy, Poll respondents said health care and illegal immigration were of concern.

Rescuers are searching for survivors after two car bombs ripped through Algeria's capital yesterday. The attack leveled government and U.N. buildings. Officials say at least 26 are dead, but the actual toll is still unclear. At least 10 U.N. staffers were among those killed. Rescuers are working around the clock to try to pull people who are trapped. Al-Qaeda militant have claimed responsibility for the attack.