"Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere"

MARTIN LUTHER KING
...Letter From the Birmingham Jail, 1963

"Peep Game" The NPSCTAPP Video Channel

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” HAILE SELASSIE

Vision Without Action Is A Daydream. Action Without Vision A Nightmare.

The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons made a concerted effort when choosing its name to erase any possibility of ambiguity regarding who we are and our mission statement. It is our unwavering organizational belief that as long as our government permits Private Prisons For Profit to operate as legal businesses, the American Criminal Justice System, in particular, will never have the capacity to develop -in theory or otherwise- a credibility that the people of this great nation can respect and feel morally comfortable with. This is not a complicated matter. In spite of the endless assortment of political debates and the countless number of discussions among independent committees appointed to research and examine the economic pros and cons of privatization, and in spite of all the "other" arguments created by design, to distract, divide, frighten and confuse the citizens of this country and prevent them from using humane common sense, one cannot ignore or pretend not to see the flashing red flag draped around the philosophical question standing at attention in the middle of the room. Arguably, the criminal justice system is not designed to be a "moral compass." However, it cannot ignore or deny the inherent components at the core of its foundation: equality, fairness, and the humane practice of justice. These are more than lofty concepts to be arbitrarily applied when convenience allows. Our justice system must offer unequivocal, resplendent and reliable standards of "right and wrong" ..."just and unjust" because the people cannot respect or pledge an allegiance to a justice system that fails to demonstrate the difference between "right and wrong" in its own application. The inherent and most fundamental responsibility of the criminal justice system cannot be shirked, avoided, taken lightly or "jobbed out." Like it or not, when an institution is the definitive symbol representing authority and judicial proceeding, your function must reflect a fundamental fairness, and above all else, it must be accountable to all of its citizens. If ever there was a reason for second guessing the process or the ability of the United States Government (Federal & State) to perform its duty when addressing the important task of corrections and rehabilitation in the criminal justice system, the cornerstone of that uncertainty sits squarely upon the shoulders that permit private prisons for profit to operate in the United States of America. Clearly, this immoral profit driven system is without parallel in its resemblance to the most heinous institution to ever exist upon American soil. Slavery.

Aristotle wrote, "It is the peculiarity of man, in comparison with the rest of the animal world that he alone possesses a perception of good and evil, of the just and the unjust"

INCARCERATING PEOPLE FOR PROFIT IS IN A WORD WRONG

All law emanates from the people, so that, when the laws thus enacted are not executed, the power returns to the people, and is theirs whenever they may choose to exercise it.

We are mindful that the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the constitution...we are also mindful that the federal and state correctional facilities originate from government design and, therefore, must be regulated and maintained by the government.

We must restore the principles and the vacated promise of our judicial system. Our government cannot continue to "job-out" its obligation and neglect its duty to the individuals confined in the corrections and rehabilitation facilities throughout this nation, nor can it ignore the will of the people that it was designed to serve and protect.

There is urgent need for the good people of this country to emerge from the shadows of indifference, apathy, cynicism, fear, and those other dark places that we migrate to when we are overwhelmed by frustration and the loss of hope.

My hope is that you will support the NPSCTAPP with a show of solidarity by signing our petition to send one million signatures to congress expressing the will of the people to abolish the private prison for profit industry. Ahma Daeus

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality"... DANTE

The Single Voice Project

"until all private prisons in America have been abolished and outlawed, “the promise” of fairness and justice at every level of this country’s judicial system will remain unattainable."
--Ahma Daeus

"Practicing Humanity Without A License"

My photo
"Kindness Is The Greatest Wisdom"

Man In The Mirror

No man can emancipate himself, except by emancipating with him all the men around him. My liberty is the liberty of everyone, for I am not truly free, free not only in thought but in deed, except when my liberty and my rights find their confirmation, their sanction in the liberty and the rights of all men, my equals. -BAKUNIN

Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit

By IAN URBINA and SEAN D. HAMILL
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers.

“The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined,” said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.

“There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”



Banking On Bondage Private Prisons & Mass Incarceration

This report has been a project of the ACLU National Prison Project and Center for Justice and was authored by David Shapiro (Staff Attorney, National Prison Project). First and foremost, the author would like to thank Mike Tartaglia (Paralegal, National Prison Project) for his many contributions to the report, and David Fathi (Director, National Prison Project) and Vanita Gupta (ACLU Deputy Legal Director) for their support of the project. Numerous individuals generously reviewed drafts or otherwise contributed their wisdom and insight, including Anjali Abraham, Rachel Bloom, Mike Brickner, Inimai Chettiar, Scott Crichton, Shakyra Diaz, Terence Dougherty, Marjorie Esman, Alex Friedmann, Jennifer Giuttari, Lisa Graybill, Judy Greene, Rachel Jordan, Bob Libal, Victoria Lopez, Will Matthews, Rachel Myers, Nila Natarajan, Stephen Pevar, Daniel Pochoda, Judy Rabinovitz, Chris Rickerd, Tom Stenson, Willa Tracosas, Jennifer Wedekind, Margaret Winter, and Paul Wright.

Judge Stops Florida’s Plan to Privatize 29 State Prisons

By: Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
The ruling by the judge, Jackie L. Fulford, stops the state’s plan to privatize the prisons, which was expected to begin early next year. Nearly 4,000 correction workers were expected to lose their jobs or be transferred.

States Easing Restrictions Against Ex-Convicts

By: Kenneth J. Cooper,
America's Wire

States across the country are passing laws intended to make ex-offenders more likely to find jobs and, as a result, less prone to commit crime again. Behind the legislative trend is an unusual combination of budget-conscious officials seeking to trim prison populations and activists opposing “structural discrimination” against applicants with criminal records.

America’s New Slavery: Black Men in Prison

By: Charlene Muhammad
Final Call
A new American slave trade is booming, warn prison activists, following the release of a report that again outlines outrageous numbers of young Black men in prison and increasing numbers of adults undergoing incarceration. That slave trade is connected to money states spend to keep people locked up, profits made through cheap prison labor and for-profit prisons, excessive charges inmates and families may pay for everything from tube socks to phone calls, and lucrative cross country shipping of inmates to relieve overcrowding and rent cells in faraway states and counties.

Cesar Chavez Shows His Papers; So Does Jan Brewer

By: Robert Illes
Valley Dems United News Letter
I was going to talk about Cesar Chavez had he lived to see the advent of Arizona’s AB 1070, and its not so thinly veiled demonization of “illegal immigrants”, or those among us who might be, walking around brown like some people do. I would imagine Chavez would have felt compelled to mobilize Latinos in Arizona: rousing them to get out and protest en masse (along with civil liberties allies of all colors, and whoever are the Bobby Kennedys of today), and, just as important, rousing them to vote – also en masse.

What's Costlier Than A Government Run Prison? A Private One

By: D.M. Levine
FORTUNE
In recent years, the trend toward privatization, both among state governments and at the federal level has been part of an attempt to address serious budget troubles and crisis-level prison overcrowding by outsourcing more and more corrections operations to private companies.
The move has translated into big business for industry leaders like Corrections Corporation of America (CXW), The Geo Group (GEO) and Cornell Companies, Inc. (CRN) (just last week, The Geo Group and Cornell finalized a merger valued at $730 million).

Is Slavery Legal In America?

Clint Richardson
(realitybloger.wordpress.com)
While one might be shocked at the presentation of such a question about such a historically controversial subject, one might also not be worse off to simply read their Constitution of the United States…

Let’s have a look at the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

AzBlueMeanie

Blog For Arizona.Com

In February 1991 a major political scandal rocked the state of Arizona as a grand jury charged seven legislators, five lobbyists and five others with felonies including bribery, money laundering and filing false campaign statements. Scandal In Phoenix - TIME:

The product of a 16-month, $1.4 million investigation by the Phoenix police and the Maricopa County attorney's office, the indictment charged the accused with accepting $370,000 from an undercover agent posing as a Las Vegas "gaming consultant" building support for casino gambling. Police say the sting began as an investigation of an illegal gambling network that had attracted the interest of organized crime. "We didn't know at the time how earth shattering it would be," said Phoenix Police Chief Ruben Ortega, "until the evidence began to grow."

Private Prison Industry Had Heavy Hand in Drafting and Passing Arizona’s S.B. 1070

Peter Phillips
The Daily Censored: World News,
An investigative report released this month by In These Times details how Arizona’s anti-immigrant S.B. 1070 law not only promises dramatic financial benefits for the private prison industry, but that lobbyists and administrators working for private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, played substantial parts in drafting and ensuring the passage of the bill.

Racially Biased SAT Speaks to a Broken Education System

The Black Commentator
Posted IN LA Progressive
By: David A. Love
Although the SAT is a big problem facing American education that needs addressing, it is not the only problem. Rather, it is merely the tip of the iceberg. After all, many young people are not even in a position to take an SAT test or go to college. The cradle-to-prison pipeline in poorer and disproportionately black and brown communities provides children with a poor excuse for an education in crumbling, crappy, sub-par schools. They are programmed for a life with few options other than to go behind bars. The communities that provide the prisoners are predictable: North Philly, East New York, East L.A., Chicago’s South Side. In Brooklyn, some blocks in predominantly black neighborhoods are known as “million-dollar blocks”: the state pays $1 million or more to imprison residents of that block. At a cost of $30,000 per prisoner, that’s at least 33 prisoners per block. In 2003, there were 35 such blocks in Brooklyn, and even a $5 million block—at least 167 prisoners from a single city block.

Privatization's False Promise

Kentucky.Com
Open Editorial
Here we go again. Another gubernatorial administration is falling for the old privatization con game, the one that offers comparable public services — maybe even better — at lower costs. This time, the plan is to put all 18 state park golf courses and food services at seven resort park lodges in the hands of private vendors.

The Dreamer

Just Seeds

Just Seeds
Prison Portfolio Project

Click The Cage To Read "Silja Tavi's" Compelling "Women Behind Bars"

Click  The Cage To Read "Silja Tavi's" Compelling "Women Behind Bars"
Never Forget We Are More Than This Situation

Women And Prison

Women And Prison
Writer's Block...The Voices of Women Inside

Strength To Love

Strength To Love
"Human Salvation Lies In The Hands Of The Creatively Maladjusted"... Martin Luther King Jr.

Ask Yourself

Ask Yourself
CLICK THE BANNER

Sign The Petition

Sign The Petition
JOIN THE SYMPHONY OF ONE

BOSTON LEGAL'S "GUARDIANS AND GATEKEEPERS"

http://www.abc.com/ This dramatic second episode of Boston Legal's 5TH season highlights the moving court case of a young girl allegedly raped in a private "for profit" prison by one of the prison guards. To view this compelling episode, go to abc.com and follow the prompts. Click on "full episodes"... then click on "Boston Legal" and continue to follow the prompts to the episode titled "Guardians And Gatekeepers" This really is a compelling and provacative "must see" episode

Ahma Daeus' Favorite Quotes

  • "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable" JOHN F. KENNEDY
  • "We must be the change we want to see in the world".........GANDHI
  • "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies".... M.L. KING JR.
  • "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty, the obedient must be slaves"
  • "The law will never make a man free; it is men who have got to make the law free"..... HENRY DAVID THOREAU
  • "The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear" ................AUNG SAN SUU KYI
  • "When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, it becomes less & less important whether I am afraid"................... AUDRE LORDE
  • "The function of freedom Is to free someone else".............TONI MORRISON