A comment Monday on
Budget Hearing wrapup: no questions were entertained from citizens -jsq:
Soon the people of South Georgia Will see that the old 1860 Valdosta
City Chater Mentality is still in force but has been extended to all
citiens. That is to keep all citizens deaf; dumb; and blind to what
is really going on in South Georgia. But in the end truth, right and
equal justice will most certainly win in the end as history always
records!
http://kvci.blogspot.com-George Boston Rhynes
Another Sunday, another religious group against the incarceration machine.
Jane Osborn sent this, dated 27 June 2011:
Editorial Statement to Atlanta Journal Constitution
Here is the statement Rev. Anthony David and Rev. Marti Keller sent to
the Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial page editor today following
the federal court ruling placing an injunction on parts of HB 87. We of
course do not know if it will be published, but wanted to respond in a
timely way.As Unitarian Universalist ministers, we affirm justice, equity and
compassion in human relations. We applaud the federal judge who halted
several parts of Georgia’s anti-immigration law, but we believe the
entire law needs to be overturned. It cannot substitute for
comprehensive immigration reform at a national level. The law in its
entirety is unjust, fear-based, and inhumane.Rev. Anthony David
Rev. Marti Keller
HB 87 feeds private prison profit at taxpayer and farmer expense.
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia:
spend that tax money on rehabilitation and education instead.
-jsq
In at least one southern county, church groups are working together with
other groups to prevent private prisons.
Why not here, too?
The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is organizing
a broad coalition against private prisons in Shelby County, Tennessee:
No Private Prisons
The Shelby County Commission is in the process of trying to privatize
our criminal justice system. Private prisons have a well-documented
history of inefficient security, poorly trained and underpaid workers,
high turnover rates, scant benefits and unprofessional and unsupervised
treatment of inmates.The Coalition Against Private Prisons has been created to fight this
privatization plan. So far this coalition involves Grassroots Leadership,
the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the AFSCME local 1733, Shelby
County Corrections Officers, Women’s Action Coalition, Mid-South
Interfaith Network, educators, faith leaders, artists, and activists.To address this we are working with our coalition partners and other
community organizations to educate Memphians about the dangers of
privatization, and to mobilize Memphians around the issue.
They’ve got a report,
Progress or Profit? Positive Alternatives To Privatization and Incarceration in Shelby County, Tennessee.
This comment by Seth Gunning came in on
the backfire effect and how to leapfrog it. -jsq
Great article John. Thanks for turning me onto the research presented
here, I’ll be looking into and using it. I’d also suggest a book called
“Breakthrough: from the death of environmentalism to the politics of
possibility”. I think you will love it.Beyond changing the messaging on signs, which I think is a great idea,
I think what the research reflects is a fundamental change in the approach
to the work.A key to community organizing work, as opposed to activism,
They don’t save money and they do increase escapes.
Justice shouldn’t be for private profit at public expense.
W.W. wrote in The Economist 24 August 2010 about
The perverse incentives of private prisons:
LAST week authorities
captured two fugitives who had been on the lam
for three weeks after escaping from an Arizona prison. The convicts and
an accomplice are accused of murdering a holiday-making married couple
and stealing their camping trailer during their run from justice. This
gruesome incident has raised questions about the wisdom and efficacy of
private prisons, such as the one from which the Arizona convicts escaped.
Arizona, the place
Georgia just copied
It’s Sunday, so let’s ask some churches what they think of private prisons.
“The shipping of fathers and mothers to private prisons in far-flung
states is guaranteeing a new generation of frightened, angry,
disenfranchised children, who are future inmates,” she said, adding that
“families who try to visit loved ones are treated as suspects in many
prisons. The children cannot understand the lack of warmth and hospitality
in the visiting rooms.”The Episcopal Church’s General Convention is on record in opposition to
private prisons.
Connie Littlefield remarks that
Legalizing marijuana makes pot smoking uncool:
I was in Amsterdam because my documentary, Damage Done: The Drug War
Odyssey, was being screened as part of a Cannabis Tribunal. Former NYPD
detective Frank Serpico, who is in my film, travelled with me.We were invited to speak because Damage Done is about a group of cops,
including Frank, and Canadian Senator Larry Campbell, who believe that
the War on Drugs does more harm than the drugs themselves.We presented a copy of our film to the chief of the Amsterdam-Amstelland
Police, who told me that he became a cop because of Frank.
Her film is
DAMAGE DONE: The Drug War Odyssey,
here describe on the LEAP site:
In the appended post about yesterday’s events in Quitman,
George Rhynes cites the
WCTV
and
WALB
stories.
Curiously, the nearest local daily newspaper,
the Valdosta Daily Times, seems to have nothing online about this.
-jsq
At 8:30 AM, I began receiving phone calls from Quitman, Georgia
in the County of Brooks where the County
Sheriffs Office was arresting citizens at random concerning the recent
Absentee Ballot Problems.These arrests reminded me of the alleged problems Black Voters/Citizens have
had with the GBI harassing them during their investigation before and during
the last run off election.
This included alleged actions by the GBI
Investigators that local citizens complained about intimidation before,
during and after the election. However little or no Public Media
Attention was given to alleged Black Voter intimidation by local media.
Moreover, little to nothing was published in the
FREE PRESS surrounding citizen’s fear from GBI Investigators. This was a
major point of discussion when I along with a local Pastor from Valdosta,
Georgia walked the streets to get a better understanding of what
Brooks County Voters had to go through during the last election.Today’s arrest will surely end up in the courts.
