"Rather than reducing incarceration rates, March told his audience that drug reform could have the “opposite effect” by increasing prison terms. Most drug-related sentences, he asserted, are the result of plea deals stemming from violent crimes, so if there isn’t an alternative plea arrangement, the only outcome defendants face is for the violent crime, which carries longer sentences."

I fear he is right with this statement. We all know how prosecutors like to throw the book and charge every crime possible.

Does anyone else find "factoring in elderly care, immigrant detention, and expansion plans overseas, the company is sure to grow. " ominous? Where exactly does the prison business plan say we will detain all the millions of dreamers and "illegals" we Plan to deport under a new "friendly" administration? And mandatory sentencing (without minimums) will lead to out-sourcing elder-care plans to private prison industry where medical care has even less over-sight than in regular prisons? Check out Idaho's recent Investigations into their private prisons? Ghost Staff guarded the prisons and kickbacks were rampant while prisoner on prisoner abuse was rampant as was sexual abuse by guards. No mention of SNY there of course, before or after the sexual abuse?

Mr. March is wrong on some many levels here. He may be the vice president of the GEO Corporation, but he either has not been inside very many prisons or he is just lying to his investors.

The reason our prisons are overcrowded is simple------1) legislators, in an attempt to look "tough on crime" have enacted too many laws as felonies with sentences much too harsh and 2) prosecutors in their zeal to increase their conviction rate and again to look "tough on crime" to an uneducated public tend to file charges on too many incidents, with a conviction resulting in a sentence much too long.

Period. That is the reason we have too many people in prison. Politicians and prosecutors are the main instigators of our bulging prison population.

Prosecutors can be compared to the "hired gun" you seen in the Wild West movies----a conviction, a notch in the belt, at any cost.

Mr.March can make all the excuses he wants that we have a higher crime rate because we are an affluent society or because our borders are porous and not secure, but that is not the reason our prisons are on life support.

We have too many people in prison serving long sentences for minor crimes.

Let me give you a few examples------I had a cell mate who received a 36 year sentence for stealing a six pack of beer from the local convenience store. I believe a five year sentence would have been appropriate.

One friend I had received 70 years because they found a syringe in his house containing a small amount of a precursor of methamphetamine. No dealing was ever proven and manufacturing was never proven. He often joked that he received more prison time than Manual Noriega, the Panamanian dictator and large cocaine dealer, who only received 40 years.

One student I had received a 15 year sentence on a first time bogus check charge. I cannot remember the amount, but it was not much.

There were many inmates in prison for possession of small amounts of drugs and they were serving sentences anywhere from five years to 20 years. I am speaking of small amounts. No distribution, only possession. It is true that nobody goes to prison for smoking a small amount of marijuana, but the prosecutors did send guys to prison for small amounts on possession charges.

One guy who was a fellow tutor was accused of masturbating in front of his four year old daughter. This was during a custody/divorce dispute. The DA out of Tulsa told him if he went to trial, he would ask the jury for 80 years. My friend pleaded for 20 years, serving eight. I am confident he was not guilty.


Several of my older students were in prison for DUI convictions.

People will look at these examples and say that these were just rare examples. No, they are not. These examples were very commonplace.

I would have inmates attend my GED or literacy class and when I learned of their charges, I would think, "Why in the hell are they here in prison? Why not probation??"

If you work in prison reform and look at the exonerations by DNA, you will see how the DAs play the game. In Oklahoma, an offender received 3,200 years for sexual assault of a small child, BUT he was later exonerated by DNA. He was never guilty.

When DAs put people in prison for 60 years, when a 10 year sentence would be just as effective, it clogs up the system and causes even more overcrowding. When the legislature decided to get "tough on crime" and enact Truth-in-Sentencing legislation which required inmates convicted of certain crimes to serve 85% of their sentence, it stalls the system. And when the state practically refuses to parole anyone with their legal definition of a "violent" crime, the system shuts down.

I could go on and on and on.

People might say, "Oh, they don't send people to prison for crimes like that." Well, they do. I was there and I am here to tell you the prisons are full of low level offenders who could be easier managed on probation. Many have 15 to 20 year sentences when five years would have been adequate.

People in politics want to place all the blame on the offender and forget about the ridiculous laws with long sentences. While the guilty offender is to blame for the conviction, some of the blame for prison overcrowding has to be placed on other factors, such as the legislators and the prosecutors.

The American prison system is in a mess for sure, but it is not because Americans commit more crimes than any other country or that Americans are just more evil than people of other countries. We are not a bunch of lawless people in this county who contribute to prison overcrowding nor do we have---or have ever had----a "crime wave" in this country.

The problem lies with the DAs, prosecutors, and politicians. Don't allow anyone to tell you any different.

rewdiazepam

True Christmas story about a long sentence for nothing much:
: This young guy was born a little bit slow as attested by the fact that he was already on SSD when this all happened. Seems he got hungry and held up a hamburger place with a toy gun. He demanded money AND he ordered a hamburger, fries and a coke and he sat right down and ate the whole thing right in the shop. When the cops arrived he was arrested, charged, and sentenced to 7 CS 7 years at NSP. This was back in the day when they still paid SSD onto a man's book even though he was incarcerated...so he was rich. The guards stole his money and he fought every day just to keep his store. Then the guards tried to prevent him from buying store and have his $$ diverted to their Christmas party fund because they said he just bought cokes and chips and stuff that wasn't good for him but the law library objected and he finally got to chose what he wanted to eat and his $$ was not diverted to the pay for Guard's Christmas party.
The man served his entire 14 years before they let him out. Last time I heard of him he was living on SSD in a motel in Sacramento. and I bet he still he get mad when some one makes the mistake of wishing him a Merry Christmas!

63% of the incarcerated in the USA are there for non-violent crimes ...