"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.”



Private Prison Profits Soar Through Bipartisan Pork

by Dave Bennion
Keep in mind that most immigration violations are civil, not criminal, violations.
Even crossing the border without a visa is only a misdemeanor.
To understand how well the prison business is faring and how immigrants are key to prison profits, you can listen in on the prison firms’ quarterly conference calls with major Wall Street investment firms. In early November, the country’s prison corporations reported soaring profits.

CCA Faces Scrutiny After Man Dies In Jail

By Chris Echegaray • THE TENNESSEAN •
Terry Battle, 55, suffered from hepatitis C, hypertension, gastroenteritis and blindness when he was in the custody of Corrections Corporation of America beginning in March 2007, his autopsy showed. Guards found him unresponsive in his cell June 3, a day after he'd been to see the prison doctor for a bout of diarrhea. The medical examiner said the cause of death was pneumonia.

Guerra Reveals Evidence

WILLACY COUNTY - District Attorney Juan Guerra says his investigation took him all the way to the top, to the Vice President of the United States. He showed NEWSCHANNEL 5 records that he says could be used to prove Dick Cheney is guilty of criminal activity.

Profits Soar for Private Prisons

by Matt Kelley
Private prison companies aren’t worried that the Democratic Party sweep will mean that fewer immigrants are sent their way because of party promises of enacting comprehensive immigration reform. GEO Group’s chairman George Zoley on Nov. 3 assured investors: “These federal initiatives to target, detain and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years and these initiatives have been fully funded by Congress on a bipartisan basis.”

Guerra Speaks On Injustice In Prisons

By Kenny Lopez
Story Created: Nov 26, 2008 at 10:17 PM CST
Story Updated: Nov 26, 2008 at 10:21 PM CST

Willacy County District Attorney, Juan Angel Guerra says what it all boils down to is exposing the injustice within the prison systems.He says, there's a lot of corruption in the prisons.In 2001, Guerra says one inmate at the Willacy County Jail was beaten to death by fellow inmates.Naiton-wide, he says, the number of inmates being killed is astounding.

Arpaio’s Jail Staff Cost Ambrett Spencer Her Baby, and She’s Not the Only One

By John Dickerson
Ambrett Spencer was one of 1,578 pregnant women who passed through Arpaio's jails in 2006, county records show. Only 42 of those women gave birth while in custody.
Spencer pleaded guilty to two DUIs and served her time. Now she's out, and she's suing Joe Arpaio and the county's Correctional Health Services department. Spencer believes delayed medical care caused her baby's death

Finally Free After 20 Years

Innocence Project client Steven Barnes was 23 when he went to prison for a murder and rape he has always said he didn’t commit. Today, at age 42, he walked out of an upstate New York courthouse a free man, due to DNA test results supporting his longstanding claim of innocence.

The Case for Fraud: our “prison industry”

It's bad enough, concludes Ms Fitts, we have created a system whereby "a significant number of private interests – investment firms, banks, attorneys, auditors, architects, construction firms, real estate developers, bankers, academics, investors among them – . . . have a vested interest in increasing the prison population and keeping people behind bars." To make matters worse, there is also an interest "in passing laws regarding mandatory sentencing or other rules that will increase the needs for prison capacity [in anticipation, as it were, and regardless of whether those needs will be met or not, because] the passage – or anticipation of – a law that will increase the demand for private prisons is a 'stock play' in and of itself." It's a double whammy.

Immigrants Boon to Prison Profits

Private prisons have been booming over the past eight years. From 2000 to 2005, the number of private prisons increased from 16% of all prisons to 23%. All of the increase in federal prisons has been in prisons owned or operated by private firms.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the country’s oldest and largest prison corporation, boasted that it enjoyed a $33.6 million increase in the third quarter over last year, while earnings rose 15%. Formerly known as Wackenhut, GEO Group, the nation’s second largest prison company, saw its earnings jump 29% over 2007. Another private prison firm that imprisons immigrants is Cornell Companies, and it reported a 9% increase in net revenues in the third quarter.

Indictments against GEO guard unsealed. Four Corrections Officers Face Obstruction Indictments

The QPCF is a prison owned and operated by The GEO Group, Inc. which houses federal inmates pursuant to a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the charges stem from an assault committed by Wells, 46, against a pretrial detainee at the QPCF on April 17, 2007.

Officer at Bay County Correctional Facility Arrested

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen announces the arrest of a prison guard, Kennedy Eugene Patterson, B/M, 08/14/1970, of 734 Redwood Avenue, Panama City; FL. Patterson was employed by Corrections Corporation of America.

Mississippi Inmate Death Rates Near Top

PEER report found state's prisoners didn't always get timely medical care
Chris Joynerchris.joyner@jackson.gannett.com
That is what the Mississippi Legislature ' s Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review found last December when it released a report on inmate health care. The PEER report found inmates did not receive timely medical treatment from MDOC ' s medical contractor, Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources, and that Wexford did not meet medical care standards set forth under its contract with the state.

DA Brings Indictment On Politicians For Conflict Of Interests "Prison Profiteering"

This is America, with Jon Elliott
Great Audio Program
Jon Elliott
is joined by Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra who discusses his accusations against Dick Cheney.

Nye County Tries To Ease CCA Concerns So The Big Payoffs Can Get Bigger

By MARK WAITE, PVT
A new 50-page development agreement for the proposed federal detention center specifically defines the type of inmates who will be confined and asks Corrections Corporation of America for more annual instead of one-time contributions.

War On Drugs & Now On PBS 419 Prisons For Profit

Today, nearly 500,000 Americans are imprisoned on drug charges. In 1980 the number was 50,000. Last year $40 billion in taxpayer dollars were spent in fighting the war on drugs. As a result of the incarceration obsession, the United States operates the largest prison system on the planet, and the U.S. nonviolent prisoner population is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska.

GEO Background Investigation Shows GEO Group Has History of Prisoner Abuse

WILLACY COUNTY - The GEO group, the prison corporation at the center of the indictments has a long history filled with allegations of prisoner abuse. The abuse has sometimes even turned deadly.

Who profits from private prisons?

By: JULIA

California has shipped more than 5,100 inmates to private prisons run by Corrections Corp. in Arizona, Mississippi and other states since late 2006, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered emergency measures to control a ballooning state-prison population. Prisons were so overcrowded that hundreds of inmates were sleeping in gyms, according to one report. An additional 2,900 prisoners are scheduled to be transferred to private prisons outside the state by the end of next year, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation....

Cheney, Private Prisons, Slave Labor And Latinos

Buried deep in the news cycle is the story of an indictment out of a Texas grand jury which accuses Vice President Dick Cheney of complicity in the unsavory affairs of “private prisons,” specifically federal prisons with privatized management. This is a largely untold story that has many levels, each more frightening than the next

Vice President Cheney Criminally Indicted For Prison Profiteering

Censored News
BRENDA NORRELL
Human rights activists urged a probe into prison profiteering after the private prison corporation GEO Group and CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) began receiving numerous federal contracts to build detention centers. GEO's new contracts included migrant prisons in Laredo, Texas and Jena, Louisiana.

Four GEO Private Prison Guards Charged with Beating Inmate

By JONATHAN DIENST
U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said, "This prosecution affirms our strong commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of individuals not to be subjected to unjustified and excessive force by officers whose duty it is to uphold the law."

Larger Inmate Population Is Boon To Private Prisons

STEPHANIE CHEN
The Wall Street Journal
Prison companies are preparing for a wave of new business as the economic downturn makes it increasingly difficult for federal and state government officials to build and operate their own jails.

TRICKY DICK REVISTED “I AM NOT A CRIMINAL BUT SO WHAT IF I AM?”

By AHMA DAEUS

The criminal indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney and his crime partner Ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is yet another sad and shameful indictment of the corrupt and supremely arrogant Bush administration. These injudicious hypocritical bullies are not above the law; they need to be held accountable for the innumerable unconscionable lies they have continuously fed the American people. However, as one of the founding members of The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP) I have to admit, I could not be happier about this generous and unprecedented gift the Vice President and his sidekick have made in support of our efforts to abolish private “for profit” prisons in America. It is in this spirit that I extend my immeasurable thanks and appreciation to Vice President Cheney and his #1 inhibitor
Ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for their unspoken proclamation highlighting both, the reason and the unquestionable need for Congress to dismantle, deregulate and ultimately abolish the immoral and criminal private “for profit” prison business in America. In light of the details surrounding Cheney’s criminal indictment on charges of prison profiteering, the government is really without choice, -ethical choice anyway- in how it chooses to address this atrocious dilemma. The beacon light of truth shining on this cancerous two-headed monster as a result of the Cheney indictment clearly reveals that the original blueprint used to erect this shameless industry was an inherently flawed malignancy, rooted in greed. This diseased incurable pariah cannot be repaired, treated, or cured. Our only hope of surviving this contaminated darkness begins and ends with the surgeon’s tool. In fact, resolution demands and urgently calls for the scalpel. This immoral industry is a lethal toxin whose existence annihilates the possibility of impartial and uncompromised justice. It is a proponent and perhaps, the chief agent for “legalized slavery” in America. These “thieves in the temple” rob our nation of moral integrity and our association with them makes us complicit in compromising any hope for being or becoming a just and democratic society. There is no cure for this cancer that threatens and promises to destroy the infrastructure of our justice system. Only the surgeon’s tool can save us. It is naïve to believe that we have options; we cannot question what we know. This is a challenging moment for our nation, a moment which compels us to remind our government that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the guiding light and moral conscience of the land. We must raise the sword of justice to a higher level and the blow we administer must be swift and mighty – as mighty as our collective destiny and the burning desire we possess to fulfill it, as one nation, one government, of the people, by the people and for the people.

WE ARE WITHOUT CHOICE WE MUST CHANGE THE LAW AND UNEQUIVOCALLY PROCLAIM: “UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL WE ALLOW PRIVATE BUSINESSES TO IMPRISON HUMAN BEINGS “FOR PROFIT” OR OTHERWISE ON AMERICAN SOIL.”

IT IS SLAVERY! ABOLISH IT! DO IT NOW!

“Single Voice Petition” To Abolish Private -for profit- Prisons
(petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition) Visit: http://www.npsctapp.blogspot.com

Vice President Cheney Indicted for Prison Profiteering

By BRENDA NORRELL
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney general Alberto Gonzales have been indicted for criminal conspiracy in "prison profiteering" in Texas

Ex Jailer In Texas Sentenced To 16 Months In Prison For Punching Helpless Inmate

The Associated Press
Del Rio, Texas
The U.S. Atttorneys Office announces sentence of former Val Verde jailer

Two Idaho Families Testify In Texas Against Private Prisons

By ANDREA JACKSON
Times-News Writer
Families of two Idaho inmates who apparently killed themselves while in lockups run by the private prison company GEO Group Inc. plead with Texas Senators to bar out of state prisoners from Texas.

GEO Group Private Prison Guard To Serve Time For Institutional Sexual Abuse

By MARLENE DIGIACOMO
Ex-Guard Sentenced In Prisoner Sex Case

Scottish Private Prison Filled With Inmates Forced To Abandom Extension Plans

By MICHAEL HOWIE
Writer for "The Scotsman"
Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, abandoned plans for a private firm to build and run a multi-million pound prison near Glasgow. In a major policy shift from the previous administration, the SNP decided the replacement jail and subsequent jails will be run by the public sector.
Mr. MacAskill said "prisons are for public safety, not private profit, so we are drawing a line in the sand."

Australian Correctional Officers Oppose Plans For Prison Privatization

Public Service Association (PSA) of New South Wales launched their opposition campaign with a 24hr strike and huge public rally.
"Private companies must turn a profit and they will do that by reducing safety measures, rehabilitation programs, training, staffing, health services and every other corner they can cut to reduce their bottom line. This proposal would undermine security both within the jails and in the broader community."

GEO Private Prison Bidding To Run California Inmate Medical System

Say It Ain"t So "Arnold" & Joe?!
It appears to me that our esteemed governor Mr. Schwarzenegger and "Joe-da-plumber" who's real identity is the GEO Group, is trying to lay some serious pipe here. The GEO Private Prison Group with it's GOD awful record of safety and care treatment which by the way just happens to be WORSE than the Department of Corrections has made a surprise bid to operate the California inmate health care system.
By DON THOMPSON

GEO Private Prison Short Staffed When Idaho Inmate Commits Suicide

REBECCA BOONE
Inmate Ignored By Prison Guards On Night Of Death

CCA Private Prison Guard Busted With Cocaine

Federal Contract Corrections Officer Arrested In Arizona Conspiring To Smuggle Cocaine To Inmate

IDAHO PLAYS "MUSICAL CHAIRS" WITH PRIVATE PRISON CONTRACTS...FIRES PRIVATE PRISON IN TEXAS - HIRES PRIVATE PRISON IN OKLAHOMA

By: REBECCA BOONE -Associated Press Writer
Chronic understaffing put Idaho offenders' safety at risk.

92 Guards Hired Without Background Checks "Undetected For Two Years!"

By: GENE JOHNSON -AP Legal Affairs Writer
GEO Employee Takes Plea In Hiring Scandal

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

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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