Prison Industrial Complex

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The appalling story of a California prison guard #ScottJones who committed suicide: ‘The job made me do it’

By Christina Sterbenz

 

After years of alleged harassment and abuse at his job at a California prison, Scott Jones committed suicide in 2011. A note inside his truck, parked near his body, read: “The job made me do it.”

On Friday, a federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit that Jones’ widow, Janelle, brought against California’s department of prisons, as well as a warden and two other high-ranking officials.

That lawsuit alleges wrongful death and a violation of Jones’ First Amendment right to be free from harassment and retaliation.

In 2006, Jones’ employer High Desert State Prison sent him to work in the “Z-unit,” which houses the most dangerous inmates, according to the suit. There, he allegedly witnessed an array of horrific behaviours by officers — including
strip-searching inmates in the snow, provoking fighting among the inmates, preventing them from showering, and failing to stop contraband trading, according to his widow’s suit.

Jones’ widow alleges he was relentlessly harassed for reporting these behaviours as well as other violations of federal and state law and that he was pressured to violate the rules himself. At one point, a superior officer allegedly coerced him to file a false workers compensation claim after Jones hurt his knee while “horsing around on duty.”

To ensure his quietness about the incident, Jones speculated, the same officer allegedly pepper sprayed him at close range in 2007.

“Does that mean you’re going to rat me out now?” the officer said afterward, according to the suit.

 

Continue reading…

 

Source: www.businessinsider.com.au

 

US prisons are horrific. They unleash brutal abuse beyond any penalty written into law.

 

#ShutitDown

 

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Prison Industrial Complex

by aleamargret

 

listening to this NPR story.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134855801/private-prison-promises-leave-texas-towns-in-trouble

made me want to re-read this angela davis transcript.

http://www.time.com/time/community/transcripts/chattr092298.html

and really wonder why our prisons are built…empty…and then suddenly overflowing…

 

Continue Reading…

 

Source: sproutinghealth.wordpress.com

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The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?

 

Human rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic – are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.

 

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Source: www.globalresearch.ca

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STOP Police Terror, Mass Incarceration, Repression, and the Criminalization of Generations!

 

The Revolution Club Bay Area, the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and “Uncle Bobby” call on YOU to be part of a national month of resistance against police terror, mass incarceration, repression, and the criminalization of generations.

 

Learn more at

stopmassincarceration.net

 

Source: www.youtube.com

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Drug cops converge on Georgia man’s property after spotting … okra

A Cartersville, Georgia, man is unhappy that police conducted a “raid” after mistaking his okra plants for cannabis.

Source: www.cnn.com

 

Here is our U.S. tax dollars doing the War on Drugs.

 

The War on Drugs is a war on people.

 

 

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Feeding The Beast

 

When President Eisenhower left office late in the 1950s he said, “The biggest threat to our country is the military industrial complex.” This means feeding the beast!

 

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Source: thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

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A disarming approach to protests

 

“…it seems every time there’s a questionable officer-involved shooting… a code of silence is enforced and the general public gets the message: “Yes, this was a tragedy. But it wasn’t personal. It was protocol.”

No admission of responsibility. No acknowledgment of how the situation could have been handled differently. And, certainly, no apology.

It’s a dead-end conversation. And the result is predictable: More public outrage, more distrust, more lawsuits.

It’s no doubt one reason why many Sonoma County residents were frustrated last week at the news that Deputy Erick Gelhaus, the officer responsible for the shooting of 13-year-old Andy Lopez was put back out on patrol. Yes, 10 months later, the community appears to be moving toward some significant changes, including putting cameras on deputy uniforms, improving oversight of officer-involved shootings and, possibly, creating a public park at the corner of Moorland and W. Robles avenues where the shooting occurred. But putting the deputy back on patrol was a harsh reminder that we’re no closer to having assurances that what happened on Oct. 22, 2013 won’t happen again.


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Source: www.pressdemocrat.com

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Law Enforcement-Above The Law

 

This week has been exhausting. Thankfully, I subscribe to other blogs that give me a sigh of relief with gorgeous photos and quotes of wisdom. However, it’s not long before I return to thinking about seeing law enforcement on the streets of America with equipment that was manufactured and intended for use by military troops.

 

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Source: blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com