Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

At  4/23/2008 09:39 AM,Gene GeRue wrote:


> The expense of maintaining a police, court and detention business of
> this magnitude is awful. Citizens are in prison, costing we taxpayers
> large sums of money to give them food, shelter, clothing and medical
> care, and in many cases doing the same for their spouses and children.
> Through out various failings we cause and support this war against our
> citizens.
>
> The only answers I have are to eliminate dumb laws like the stupid War
> on Drugs and to offer non-violent lawbreakers the option of prison
> versus a decent job and a strict parole system so they can support
> their families and gain a sense of self-worth.

There is so much money being made in "the war on drugs" on both sides 
of the law that it's not countable.
At http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/one_million/onemillion.html  it says it 
cost "20,224.65 to incarcerate one jail inmate for one year in 1997. 
" The inflation calculator ( 
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi ) says that's 
26478.44  last year. And that is tax payers cash going into someone's 
pocket. It's hard to kill a cash cow in our land of purchased lawmakers



> Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations'
> By ADAM LIPTAK
> Published: April 23, 2008
> The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population.
> But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.



Rob
becida AT comcast.net