Injustice in the Justice System

“Civil death” of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in the United States is unjust. America prides itself in the principle that all people have basic rights granted in the Bill of Rights, yet a portion of our population is excluded from many of the rights and privileges granted to citizens.
Civil death enables the government and corporations to abuse convicts. The system of contractual penal servitude in which American prisons would “[hire] out prisoners as forced labor for private contractors” was made possible by convicts’ lack of basic rights due to civil death. The prisoner became an object, a means of profit for the state and manufacturers. This is entirely contrary to the founding principles of America. It is unjust because people cannot be made into property and forced prison labor in no way furthers the rehabilitation of prisoners or serves to prevent crime.
In addition, ex-prisoners have already served their sentence. The point of our penal system is prevention of further crime, not to degrade or demonize those who have broken the law. Once released from prison, people should be reintegrated into society and given the chance to live a somewhat “normal” life. By disenfranchising people and barring them or making it extremely difficult from them to obtain employment, the system only drives ex-prisoners back to crime.
“Civil death” is unjust because it makes convicts legally culpable and “vulnerable to the punitive force of law” while depriving them of the right to serve as a witness, or bring suit. Garland uses Woody Ruffin to demonstrate that a convict without legal standing, who technically should not be able to have his or her case heard in court, is considered culpable and is taken to court. This system, which grants convicts only the rights which suit the state, is unjust.

The Immigration System

To Whom it May Concern,

The immigration system contains many problems and today people are still arguing over what should be done about the immigrants who enter the United States. What most people don’t realize is that America is not a nation. A nation is one where people are united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. For example, if an American goes to Chile he/she cannot become Chilean but if a Chilean comes to America he/she can become American. There is no definition of what it means to be American. So, how can we tell if we are true Americans? We can’t because America has many different cultures, languages, and religions. Most people who enter the United States wish to live the “American Dream” because they feel that they have a chance to improve their lives. America is full of opportunities and because of this large amounts of people come to America. Three changes that should be made to the immigration policy include:

•  No leniency towards illegals unless they work in a growing industry and show their assets. If someone illegally enters the country, he/she should show how his/her time is spent in America.
• If a person does not have a high school, he/she can open a business to get on an accelerated track to citizenship only if he/she has enough assets.
• A person who is undocumented and has children whom are citizens of the US should not be deported. Deporting an undocumented person with a child can ruin the family structure.

Immigration has and will continue to be an important issue. These changes that I would make to the immigration system are just a reflection of my opinions.

Sincerely,

– An opinionated Citizen

Immigration Policy

To Whom this May Concern:

The issue of immigration is a complex one that is riddled with problems. An important point to remember with regards to immigration is that the United States is a country of immigrants. Everyone has just the same right as everyone else to be a citizen of this country. There is no set definition of what it means to be American because America is a blend of so many cultures that it becomes difficult to dissect and pinpoint attributes of a “true American”. Another important detail to remember is that this country is often nicknamed as the “dream land” because of its chance at opportunity. With this in mind, there should be the following changes to the immigration policy:

1. If an undocumented person has been living in the US for five years and has no committed any crimes, then they should become citizens immediately. If they are not doing any harm to their communities, and they are having access to opportunities that can help them with basic living, they should be able to stay.

2. If an undocumented person has children that are citizens of the US, they should not be deported because that would destroy the family structure.

3. There seems to be a racial undertone and prejudice when it comes to immigration. There should be impartiality when it comes to immigration (although that may be hard because there may be some deep-rooted prejudices).

The immigration policy will continue to be a heated debate and these are just my opinions of how we should look at immigration.

Sincerely,

The “Citizen”

Imprison me for your benefit

For-profit prisons and debtors’ prisons go to show that money is the ultimate goal. Are private prisons actually doing its job of imprisoning criminals that are harmful to society? Or are they merely looking for people to exploit? The latter sounds more accurate. If money is a factor, private prisons would seek to incarcerate more people. Keeping this in mind, what would happen if you were wrongly accused of a crime? The private prisons would love to welcome you into their facilities. Similarly, debtors’ prisons seek money. If you cannot pay a debt, for whatever reason, you will be incarcerated. There is no purpose for this. Instead of helping an individual find ways to pay these debts, he/she is thrown into prison. How are they supposed to pay you back then? Both these “prisons” are immoral and unjust.

Incarceration in America continued

I accidentally completed this assignment for the last class, so now I will add to my previous post.

Debtor prisons do not serve the purpose of America’s justice system. Jails should exist to prevent further crimes and rehabilitate criminals. Instead, private prisons exist for profit. As Jack Long argues, “our court system is not a business, and our courts should not be used as a profit channel.” Harassment of those who are unable to pay debts is immoral and only leads to further crime. Harriet Cleveland drove without a license in order to pay her fines for driving without a license. Sarah Stillman says that many probationers commit crimes such as stealing or selling drugs in order to pay their fees. Probationers resort to drastic measures in order to prevent imprisonment, even if that means breaking the law.

Turning A Blind Eye

People may turn a blind eye to the quote “money is power” but this quote is what runs our society today. The justice system is suppose to be about fairness and equality under the law, but if a person has money, it is a though they are above the law. Prisoners are seen as money signs instead of people, and big corporations use these people to make their profits. What is the point of sending someone to prison for the sole reason of debt. Yes I understand that it is because a contract has been broken, but I believe that there should be an investigation before sending someone to debtors’ prison. Like Harriet Cleveland, many people try to come up with the funds to pay off their debts but due to the crumbling economy, it is nearly impossible to make up the balance. The investigation will make sure that there are no false claims of poverty and the people, who need help paying off their debt, can get the assistance.

 

For-profit, or not profit? That is the question

For-profit prisons should not be legal. It’s simple. The purpose of prisons is to correct and rehabilitate people, not to make money off of people’s mistakes or wrongdoings. It’s unethical and wrong. If prisons become for-profit, then there’s a demand to keep inmates in jail and to get people into jail to make money. With this demand, the system will try to find anyone regardless if they are guilty or innocent and try to incarcerate them. According to the article,”Get out of Jail, Inc.” by Sarah Stillman, “For each bunk occupied at Avalon, the company reportedly receives more than thirty dollars a day; an inmate “shipped out” on account of discipline means a loss of that revenue”. In other words, the company needs to keep inmates in if they want to continue increasing their profits. In addition to that, one jail discussed in the article, has wide tolerance of drug use in order to keep inmates in.

The important thing to remember is that prisons should help offenders and provide them with the appropriate resources to aid them in assimilation back into society once they are released.

The Robber Barons are Back

I had never heard of a “for-profit” prison until entering high school. Even still, I am not sure I fully understand the concept of a for profit prison. It even sounds wrong. People are being jailed and someone out there is making a profit from it. Big businesses are making a profit out of it. If more people were informed about these prisons (because I don’t think I am the only one ignorant on the topic), they would cease to exist, let alone be legal. Maybe because we have a capitalist economic policy, it’s considered “okay” for these private prisons to be established, but I think that it tremendously violates our feeling of security in our community.

In the article, “Get Out of Jail, Inc.” by Sarah Stillman, Harriet Cleveland could not afford to pay her fines because of her financial situation, resulting in her arrest. It was a debtor’s prison rather than a for profit prison, but aren’t they similar? In both types of prisons, those that are impoverished fall victim to these prisons. I think that rules should be bent when it comes to those that need it because not everyone’s financial situation is the same and desperation can lead someone to commit a crime to meet their needs.

Debtors prisons also sounds to me like something very old fashioned. Why do they need to exist? To punish those that can’t pay a fine or any other debt. It seems like a way to manipulate those of low income because they are the ones not being able to pay their debts!

These prisons should not be legal because they are taking advantage of the prisoners that they hold. There is nothing better about a private prison than a public one, except that the people benefitting from it are big businesses that control other aspects of our lives too. Let’s decrease their power and make these prisons illegal.

The Prison Fix

No, not incarcerating a criminal for the purpose of rehabilitation and disciplining. R.W. Gilmore’s Golden Gulag identifies the “prison fix” as a method of recuperating a county/area’s economy. The economy could be at a low for a multitude of reasons, but the
fix is universal in its application. Specifically, Gilmore analyzes this fix in California throughout the passed century, more specifically in the town of Corcoran (Kings County). The prison fix came as a solution to a slow economy, heavily influenced by the cotton and agricultural industry. From the early 20th century, now-large “agribusiness” firms began their journey to a technically legal monopolization of the cotton industry. In one instance, California legislature was convinced to legalize only one specific kind of cotton, thus allowing the large firms who used this cotton to effectively stamp out smaller-scale family run agribusiness farms. This was nothing but playing dirty; it was definitely legal, but it was carried out with malicious intent.

This corrupt control that the larger agribusinesses gained undoubtedly led to the decline in the economy, at which point a proper solution was needed. Prisons were favorable because the more a town became a prison town, the more economic activity stays local. This would serve the purpose of of rebuilding that declining economy. Here we see why the city was so welcoming to the prisons. However, these would be new prisons; they would be empty, and thus needed to be filled. It is at this point where the general population gets a real taste of the shift in atmosphere. Stricter laws were enforced, in order to acquire new inmates. And, not far from fitting, a huge percentage of the population was Latino.

This long course, ending in the development of prison towns, highlights the negative repercussions of perpetuating prison culture. Firstly, how prisons would be constructed without any regard for a real demand in them, i.e, overpopulation of other prisons or rocketing conviction rates, or regard for a lack thereof. Second, it is almost flawless how this prison culture creates a new need, and then meets that own need, effectively developing itself. Following such a course will only further perpetuate prison culture that will stay not only in Corcoran, but expand elsewhere.

Lyrics From Lockdown–November 20th

http://ji.columbia.edu/event/lyrics-lockdown/