J. R. Woodgates
Tag Archives: criminal justice
In recent years, federal sentencing guidelines have been revised, resulting in less severe prison terms for low-level drug offenders. But…tens of thousands of inmates who were convicted in the “war on drugs” of the 1980s and 1990s are still behind bars.
The average annual cost of housing a federal inmate in general population is $27,500. The price tag for an older inmate who needs medical care – including expensive drugs and treatment – is $59,000.
THE PAINFUL PRICE OF AGING IN PRISON
Why are we keeping someone behind bars who is bedridden and needs assistance getting out of bed and feeding and clothing himself?
In 1984, I was 33 years old. I was arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself. I was not as interested in justice as I was in winning…
The clear reality is that the death penalty is an anathema to any society that purports to call itself civilized. It is an abomination that continues to scar the fibers of this society and it will continue to do so until this barbaric penalty is outlawed. Until then, we will live in a land that condones state assisted revenge and that is not justice in any form or fashion.
After unnecessarily languishing for three decades on Louisiana’s Death Row, Glenn Ford has at last been exonerated as an innocent man.
Now, former state prosecutor A.M. Stroud III says Ford deserves to be compensated for what he suffered because of Stroud’s refusal 30 years ago to even consider that Ford might have been innocent of murder.
This is his personal letter to The Shreveport Times:
Prison life may be a recurring theme on TV and in the movies, but prisoners themselves often feel totally ignored and forgotten by the public. The fact is, prisoners are totally ignored and forgotten by most people – including the ones responsible for their well-being.
This is John Oliver at his best, examining the indifference too many top officials have towards the conditions endured by too many incarcerated Americans. (Obscene language advisory)
It’s not just “the war on drugs” that has expanded America’s prison population. CBN News reports that a steady increase in new categories, classes and kinds of actionable offenses is also responsible.
“Overcriminalization” is making felons of Americans like never before.
There are more African-American men in prison and in jail or on parole and probation today than were enslaved in 1850 – a decade before the start of the Civil War.
In her book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that minority (especially black) men are being deliberately targeted for disenfranchisement via America’s criminal justice system.