America - Land of the Free or Land of the Slaves?
1% of American Adults are in Prison!
3% of American Adults are in the Penal System!
Preface
No country or society in history has imprisoned more people than America. The USA has less than 5% of the world’s population yet it has 25% of the world’s prison population!
Pro-rata, America incarcerates more than twice as many prisoners as South Africa (2:1), more than three times as many prisoners as Iran (3:1) and more than six times as many prisoners as China (6:1).
There are six times as many African-Americans in prison compared to White Americans (6:1).
One-third (1/3) of all young black men will be incarcerated at one least once in their lifetime. There are more 17 year old black males in prison than there are in college. If we factor in deaths, people that never return to prison and permanemt incarceration the numbers only increase.
Hispanics are imprisoned at a rate of two times greater (2:1) when compared against White Americans.
1 in 30 men aged 20-34 are behind bars (for black males the number is 1 in 9).
The United Kingdom is ahead of China, Turkey and India.
For two nations that hold as much global influence as they do the statistics are damning and the numbers don't lie. The USA and UK market themselves to the world as being a model of democracy, freedom and liberty that is to be envied but are we being sold a snowjob?
You Probably Know of the Military Industrial Complex But How Much Do You Know About the Prison Industrial Complex?
Watch a Short 3 Minute Video Summary of this Shameful Truth!
In 2013 the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) stated that 2.2 million American adults (1%) were incarcerated in Federal and State prisons, and county jails. A further 4.7 million American adults (1 in 51) were on probation or parole.
In total, 6.9 million adults were under some form of correctional supervision via the penal system (probation, parole, jail, or prison) - that's almost 3% (1 in 35) of all American adults.
Truth Fears No Investigation - Let's Investigate!
The 1980's Incarceration Explosion
There were less than 200,000 American prisoners in 1970. By the 2013 over 2.2 million Americans were in prison. That's more than a 10-fold increase in a little over 40 years.
Rockefeller, Nixon and the War on Drugs
The groundwork for the explosion in prison populations was laid by President Nixon and the 'War on Drugs'. The first US state to pass mandatory sentencing laws for drug-related crimes were introduced in 1973 by the Governor of New York (and future Vice-President of the United States) - Nelson Rockefeller.
I could write a separate, and very long series on the War on Drugs (and Rockefellers) and while the origins of the War on Drugs pre-date Nixon I'll save those stories for another day.
I believe that the War on Drugs was a pre-planned plot to fill US prisons - as we begin to connect the dots in this article you may begin to see some of the reasons why but you will need to follow me if you wish to learn the whole truth. There are only so many coincidences, connections and cover-ups that one can believe in before it becomes a conspiracy.
Importantly, don't let me sway your opinion and please don't jump off now. I am merely going to present evidence and ultimately it will be left to you to arrive at your own conclusions.
The number of people in the American penal system remains the central theme of the article, so let's continue.
Reagan, Bush (Snr) and Clinton
Ronald Reagan introduced much tougher penalties in the 1980's for people caught with crack cocaine than powder cocaine.
This legislation enforced strong racial biases on prison sentences. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of prisoners with a drug-related offence jumped from less than 8% to almost 25% - it literally sent a tsunami of prisoners into prison overnight.
With the crack-coacaine legislation in place all that was now required was a perfect storm.
That perfect storm turned out to be the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980's and it exploded while George Bush Snr was President and Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkanas.
The crack-cocaine epidemic produced the conditions for far more punitive policies.
Drug related charges account for more than 50% of American prisoners. 31 million people have been arrested on drug related charges, approximately 1 in 10 (10%) Americans. Source - Wikipedia.
This is the article which had been scheduled to appear in the Washington Post. After having cleared the legal department for all possible questions of inaccurate statements, the article was scheduled for publication when just as the presses were set to roll, Washington Post Managing Editor Bob Kaiser (Like George Bush, a member of the infamous "Skull & Bones" Fraternity), killed the article without explanation. According to the sidebar which appeared with the Penthouse Magazine version of this story, Bob Kaiser refused to even meet with Sally Denton and Roger Morris, hiding in his office while his secretary made excuses.
Barry Seal - gunrunner, drug trafficker, and covert C.I.A. operative extraordinaire - is hardly a familiar name in American politics. But nine years after he was murdered in a hail of bullets by Medellin cartel hit men outside a Salvation Army shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he has come back to haunt the reputations of three American presidents.
Seal's legacy includes more than 2,000 newly discovered documents that now verify and quantify much of what previously had been only suspicion, conjecture, and legend. The documents confirm that from 1981 to his brutal death in 1986, Barry Seal carried on one of the most lucrative, extensive, and brazen operations in the history of the international drug trade, and that he did it with the evident complicity, if not collusion, of elements of the United States government, apparently with the acquiescence of Ronald Reagan's administration, impunity from any subsequent exposure by George Bush's administration, and under the usually acute political nose of then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.
Mena, Arkansas from 1981 to 1985, was indeed one of the centers for international smuggling traffic. According to official l.R.S. and D.E.A. calculations, sworn court testimony, and other corroborative records, the traffic amounted to thousands of kilos of cocaine and heroin and literally hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits. According to a 1986 letter from the Louisiana attorney general to then U.S. attorney general Edwin Meese, Seal "smuggled between $3 billion and $5 billion of drugs into the U.S."
Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas while the cocaine was being flown into Arkansas. The cocaine was distributed to organized crime bosses and local Los Angeles gangs and the cocaine fuelled the crack-cocaine epidemic.
Further Reading (Highly Recommended) - Crimes of Mena - Suppressed Washington Post Article in Full
Los Angeles was the state that was primarily targeted to distribute the cocaine. It had the biggest population, the most gangs and is it just a coincidence that Ronald Reagan was a former Governor of Los Angeles and the man responsible for introducing much tougher penalties in the 1980's for people caught with crack cocaine?
Maybe, maybe not - let's continue!
Three Strikes and Your Out
Who would have thought that America would use a rule from the game of baseball to help form its criminal sentencing legislation?
A key component of the American judicial system as it pertains to the dramatic rise in the prison population is modelled on the game of baseball. America has a 3 strikes and your out policy which rewards you with life imprisonment for the most minor of crimes. If the first two crimes that you commit are of a serious enough nature you will receive life imprisonment (25 or more years) for the third crime, no matter how trivial it is - yes, a LIFE sentence!
More Californians are serving life sentences under the 3 strikes law for drug possesion than for 2nd degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and rape - COMBINED! - FACTS1.com
Kevin Webber received 26 years for stealing 4 chocolate chip cookies.
Leandro Andrade is serving 2 consecutive 25 year terms for shoplifting 9 video tapes valued at $153.
Timothy L. Tyler had two prior drug-related convictions and in both instances neither conviction was deemed worthy of a prison term. in 1992 Tyler was given a life sentence for possession and distribution of 13 sheets of LSD. After serving 22 years Tyler was granted clemency.
The first true 3 strikes law was passed in Washington in 1993 with Initiative 593. California followed suit and passed its own 3 strikes law in 1994 with Proposition 184.
28 US states have some form of 3 strikes legislation.
A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that whilst 3 strikes laws discourage people from smoking pot and shoplifting they increase the number of violent crimes. When people know that they are going to face a 25 year plus sentence for commtting a very minor crime they essentially have nothing to lose of they commit a far more serious crime.
The 3 strikes laws have been linked to a 33% increase in the risk of police officer deaths.
If you want more police officers killed don't change the law!
Detaining the Poor & Innocent
A Prison Policy Initiative report shows that 452,000 (70%) of the 646,000 people that are in local jails are awaiting trial - they are legally presumed innocent and have not been convicted of any crime, but they are in jail nonetheless.
Whatever happened to innocent until proved guilty?
Many of these innocent (presumibly/legally) people are in jail due to the bail system, which once again disproportionately impacts the poor. The report states that in 2015 the median income of a person before incarceration was $15,109.
Slave Labor in 2016 = UNICOR/FPI
Federal Prison Industries (FPI), also known as UNICOR is a wholly owned United States government 'corporation' created in 1934 as a correctional work program for inmates within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and a component of the Department of Justice. UNICOR produces more than 100 products and services for sale primarily to the Federal Government and its 'private-sector' contractors.
According to UNICOR's website it positions itself as a correctional program. They state that the entire impetus behind UNICOR is not about business, but about inmate release preparation.
When people enter America (citizens and non-citizens alike) they are not allowed to bring in goods that were made by forced labor or prisoners.
However, American prisoners produce:
- 100% of all military helmets, munitions belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags and other items of uniform.
- 93% of domestically produced paints
- 36% of home appliances
- 21% of office furniture
This allows the US to compete with factories in 3rd world countries because the prisoners cannot refuse to work. If they refuse to work they find themselves in solitary confinement.
Prison Labor in Federal Prisons
- Percentage of able-bodied prisoners required to work = 100%
- Number of prisoner workers in UNICOR = 22,560
- Minimum UNICOR wage, in dollars per hour = $0.23
- Maximum UNICOR wage, in dollars per hour = $1.15
Haiti Minimum Wage = $0.30
UNICOR (US Prisoner) Minimum Wage = $0.23
Private Prisons
Privatization of prisons publicly emerged in 1984 when the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) was awarded a contract to take over a facility in Hamilton County, Tennessee. This marked the first time that any government in the USA had contracted out the complete operation of a jail to a private enterprise.
Private prisons house approximately 10% of all US prisoners and the number is growing though not as quickly as some might be lead to believe.
Australia was one of the first countries to follow suit in NSW June in 1993. Australia is regulary used a testing ground for future globalist policies. Follow me as I intend to expose this truth (and connect the dots) in the not to distant future.
In the UK prisons are a 100% for profit exercise - all UK prisons are legally required to be profitable.
I strongly encourage you to visit Prison Policy.org for a more in-depth analysis of the US Prison System.
Closing Thoughts
- Do you know anyone that has been to prison?
- Have you ever visited someone in prison?
- Have you spent time in prison?
America re-invented the slave trade and far too many people are in the penal system - almost 700,000 of them have not had a trial. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
I have only touched on a few of the many problems that confront our world today. I have merely skimmed the surface in this article. My intention was to stick with the core theme whilst highlighting, and touching on contributing factors - many of which I have saved for future articles as they are too far too deep and wide for this post.
Bottom line, prohibition and incarceration have always being failed models and it is high time that we put and end to them (as we know them). Modern prisons have very little to do with rehabilitation and assimilation and far more to do with modern day slavery!
Man is enslaved on many fronts, this is only of them!
Free your mind and you can begin to free your soul!
This Christmas consider sparing a thought for some of the 6.3 million people that will spend this Christmas in the US penal system.
I encourage you to leave your feedback and insights in the comments section below.
Thank you for giving me some of your time today - I truly appreciate it!
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Sincerely
@steemtruth
Sources
Wikipedia - Incarceration in the United States
Wikipedia - Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR)
Great post. IMO there are 2 agendas served: Depopulation - prisoners are less likely to have a functioning family and raise children
and transfer of wealth from the middle class. One single prisoner costs a fortune of taxpayers money for every day of incarceration. Just horrible. And all is happening under the veil of "Law and Order."
agreed and it's also cheap labor
A very, very important issue. Thank you.
nice post. I worked in Unicor at fmc lexington in the data entry department. You start at 23 cents an hour top pay 1.15 i'm going to make a video on this later on or something. So I made about 30 dollars a month starting then 2nd grade i think is 32 or something like that. But you really feel like your in prison longer than you are I was in there maybe 3 or 4 months you can't quit your job in prison and I can type 60 words a minute back then so they weren't about to reassign me. So the only way out was to go to the hole refuse work. Most people love that job cause most people are broke and its the highest paying job in there other jobs you make about 15 dollars a month which doesn't go far.
It is very interesting to hear your firsthand experience and learn a little more about the inner workings of the system. If you blog about this topic let me know as I'd like to read it. All the very best and thanks for popping by.