Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Individual Freedom For Everyone

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Governor Gary Johnson & Sheriff Joe Arpaio: 'Prison Industrial Complex'

Source:Randy 7845- Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"This is a clip from the film "American Drug War: The Last White Hope"


I think two things that we know that really don't work when it comes to prison reform, is locking up drug addicts for simple drug possession or usage, thinking that if we just take their freedom away, they will get their act together and quit illegal narcotics all together. And with all due respect to Governor Gary Johnson who I respect as a Classical Liberal myself, we know that prisons don't work either.

40 years after President Richard Nixon declared the so-called War On Drugs, we have the most drug addicts, even on a per-capita basis, of any country in the developed world. So we know treating drug addicts who are guilty of nothing other than illegal possession or usage or illegal narcotics, like common felons, doesn't work. 

We know private prisons doesn't work, because the private prison industry is a for-profit industry. Nothing wrong with for-profit, for the most part, but when you incentivize private companies to lock people up, even if they're no real threat to society, they're going to try to lock up as many people as possible, to get as much money as possible. And, they're going to try to extend the prison sentences of their current inmates, to get more money from taxpayers to pay for their prisons. As well as lobby legislatures and executives for more laws and harsher sanctions for people who commit felonies.

1 comment:

Bob Sloan said...

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is responsible for creating most of these "Bad Laws" you mention. You can see many of their current "Model Bills" at http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_related_to_Guns,_Prisons,_Crime,_and_Immigration. They were responsible for pushing the 3 strike, mandatory minimum and truth in sentencing laws now in place nationwide. Their members include 2,000 Conservative state lawmakers and top U.S. corporations, including Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) that are profiting off of this incarceration. ALEC currently have 100+ alumni serving in the U.S. congress who advance their laws/legislation at the federal level, see: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/105417713/ALEC-Federal-Forum for some of this legislation.