CORRUPTION AND TOO MANY PRISONERS.

This petition calls on the United States government/congress to write and debate new legislation concerning the modernization of our nations prisons and jails as part of the ongoing stimulus bills/money being released for infrastructure and other improvements towards our nations economic recovery.

Also debate and legislation concerning conflicts of interest that can arise from judges, lawmakers, lobbyist and others who may conspire together to increase criminal sentencing which increases prison/jail/drug rehab. populations and creates a demand to build more prison/jails and drug rehabs.....because these corrupt individuals/officials may have stock in.....or covert investments in.....companies that build and supply prisons, jails and drug rehabs. facilities.....public and private, and therefore stand to profit financially from such "get tough on crime" laws.

Overpopulation of our nations prisons/jails and drug rehabs. diverts resources/money away from modernization of our prison/jail and drug rehab. infrastructure because so much money goes into simply providing minimal basic care for such huge populations of inmates.....such as simply feeding millions of inmates a day.....very little is left for rehabilitation and safer prison/jail infrastructure.....therefore for a better, safer more effective prison/jail/drug rehab. system in the United States, inmate populations must be reduced to realistically manageable levels.

Many of our nations prisons and jails are old and poorly designed and are difficult to manage, leaving prisoners vulnerable to abuse and assault by other inmates and in some cases guards who may be poorly trained and screened to guard vulnerable prisoners in a appropriate manner.

Inmates/people in our nations prisons and jails who are not adequetly protected/guarded because of poor prison and jail design and poorly trained and screened prison or jail guards are also vulnerable to being infected with HIV, Hepatitis and other sexually trasmitted diseases through sexual assault by violent predatory inmates and, unfortunately in some cases, predatory guards.

These communicable diseases can then be spread to wives and girlfriends/boyfriends when these inmates leave prison putting others at risk and putting our healthcare systems at risk from the associated costs of treating Hepatitis, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, some of which require lifetime medical treatment and monitoring.....better prison design and management techniques could remedy much of this abuse and neglect.

Various methods of improved prison design could allow guards better ability to monitor, manage and better care for inmates....such as circular central prison design with guards housed in the center which gives them a 360 degree view of inmate cells, areas of interaction etc., which would improve response times to any altercations or assaults in progress or before assaults begin.

Also better lighting and friendlier interior design which puts inmates at ease and decreases stress. Stress is increased by cold internal design such as predominantly cold cement and steel bars, which threatens inmates and creates tension, prisons should not be luxury hotels, but some consideration of inmates emotional, psychological and spiritual state should be considered when designing the interiors of prisons.....create a cold and heartless environment/prison and most likely you'll create a cold and heartless inmate/human being who lives in fear and hypervigilance and is more likely to be assaultive. 

Also improved surveillance cameras and video monitoring of inmate areas could improve inmate/guard safety and developing methods of holding guards accountable if they fail to monitor video surveillance screens and respond quickly enough to inmate trouble. 

Of course better rehabilitation, counseling, education and work opportunities in prisons and jails which gives inmates the tools to rehabilitate and reintegrate.

Also another concept to be studied is segregating inmates by height, weight and nature of their crimes which can prevent larger inmates from preying upon.....manipulating, controlling, stealing from and physically and sexually assaulting smaller inmates. 

Committing and be convicted of a crime, regardless of the crime, does not mean that you can now be raped, assulted, ripped off and manipulated by other inmates or prison staff.....or even murdered.

When a prison system, jail system, it's management, it's staff and the state allow this to happen, it's as if they were agreeing that this inhumane treatment is acceptable, and then the state and it's prison/jail systems/staff/management, in some sense, become rapists, thieves, criminals and murderers themselves because of their attitudes and apathy towards the well being of these inmates who's lives and well being they/we are responsible for.

In a poorly managed or designed prison/jail system where inmates are relatively free to prey on each other, very little rehabilitation or healing can happen.....what actually happens is that the strong become free to prey upon the weak and sharpen their criminal skills and the weak become further traumatized, depressed and hopeless leading to further self-destructive or destructive behavior upon release or even suicide within prison walls when no bearable alternative can be seen or imagined and they have no legitimate authority to turn to for help.

Also their should be much vigilance and suspicion towards privatization of our nations prisons and jails which can sometimes turn prisons which are meant to administer justice in a humane and fair fashion into prisons for profit.
 
Prisons for profit  can create a conflict of interest and corruption between judges, lawmakers or lobbyist who could possibly own stock or somehow be invested covertly in  companies that build and supply private prisons, jails or drug rehabs. 

Also contractors, lawyers and others who could possibly conspire with judges to lobby lawmakers for tougher sentencing laws to fill up "for profit" private prisons and jails which creates the demand to build more private prisons and jails when capacity reaches full because of tougher sentencing laws.

Perhaps this type of corruption can also happen with the building of public prisons and jails by corrupt contractors, judges and lawmakers who conspire together, but it seems to be less likely to happen.....many question if this is what was behind the tougher sentencing laws legislated and passed in the 1990's when "get tough on crime" laws were implemented all across the U.S. and there was a boom in prison building.....were corrupt judges, contractors and lawmakers behind much of this?.....did they stand to profit from owning stock in companies that build and supply prison and jail facilities?.....I guess the jury is still out on that one....maybe "We the People" could look into that.

Private prisons can also be more difficult to regulate by the federal, state and local government regulatory authorities.....who are elected by "We the People" to monitor such potential abusive situations.   

Another threat is unregulated or poorly monitored alternative sentencing to "private" drug rehabilitation centers which can also abuse and mistreat inmates without much intervention from government regulatory agencies. Private drug rehabilitation centers may also profit off of tougher sentencing laws for drug offenders and lobby for such laws and/or conspire with judges, lawyers and lawmakers etc. to pass tougher sentencing laws or keep inmates/drug offenders in these facilities for extended lengths of time for various infractions once their inside......which leads to filling up their drug rehabilitation centers further.....which creates the demand to build more drug rehabilitation centers and thus more potential profit.

Our nations lawmakers and we as citizens should monitor the development of private prisons and drug rehabs. and not be afraid to ask questions about how they're run and who regulates them when, and if, one comes to your community, because our kids, wives or husbands could end up in one.

Of course wardens/staff and guards can only do so much with the tools, training and facilities they're givin but certainly there is room for much improvement in our nations prisons and jails, public and private.......these millions incarcerated in our nations prisons, jails and drug rehabs. are our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons and it's our responsibility as citizens of our country to see that they are treated in a humane, just and fair, fashion.

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of this author, that a significant portion of any future stimulus money be put back into modernizing and humanizing our nations prisons, jails and drug rehab. systems to provide a safe, peaceful and humane environment for our nations offenders to work towards rehabilitation, re-education and recovery so they can go on to live their lives as productive, whole, healthy beneficial citizens of our country and we as Americans can know that we have acted in a just and fair way to protect the welfare of our citizens.