ESTABLISH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE WORLD'S PRISONS.

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Many of the world's prison's and jails have become nothing more than centers for assault, rape, torture, murder and disease spread. Often prisons/prison sentences are used for political revenge. 

Political leaders lobbying for harsh sentencing laws without making efforts to properly fund, monitor, regulate and reform their prison and jail systems are in many ways themselves become murders, torturers, rapists and plague spreaders, since they know very well the fate of weaker/smaller inmates and others who enter poorly run/corrupt prison systems.

Guards/prisons are often not given the manpower, resources, funds or authority to overcome the will of criminal gangs and large/dangerous inmates within prisons, which of course allows prison gangs to prey freely on weaker/smaller inmates. Reports of prison torture have now become regular news stories in the world's media.

Prison inmates should be segregated by size and severity of the crimes they committed. High tech video monitoring of inmates should be mandatory in all prisons.

Worldwide standards/monitoring agencies for prisons and jails should be established, such as we now have for nuclear power plants etc. Many inmates contract tuberculosis, AIDS and hepatitis in world prisons and then spread these diseases to the greater population when they're released contributing to worldwide plagues. (2 billion people are now infected with potentially deadly hepatitis B). 

A significant source of all these tuberculosis, hepatitis B and AIDS infections are rape, overcrowding and poor sanitation/food in world prisons. Much of the general public, and sometimes even prison administrators, seems to believe that if you break the law it's OK for you to be raped and tortured in prison.......because you are a criminal. 

The purpose of prison is to take away the freedom of offenders....not to allow them to be raped and tortured for the rest of their lives. Torturing and raping inmates, or allowing the torture and rape of inmates causes extreme hatred and violence to grow within these inmates.....which will almost surely cause them to commit more crimes when they're released. 

Prisons should be places of rehabilitation and healing which gives inmates the greatest possible chance of overcoming criminal behavior and not re-offending/victimizing others. We should remember that hatred begets hatred. If we hate and do violence to the world's imates, how can we expect them to do anything less than hate and violence. 

For many of these inmates in impoverished/remote countries, the U.N. and other international non-profits are their only hope for humane treatment and deliverance from brutality/rape/torture.

The United States has the highest PER CAPITA incarceration rate ON EARTH. Higher than China, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iran etc. African Americans are incarcerated at 5 times the rate of European Americans. 

The U.S. Civil Rights Act was not passed until 1964, so this has given African Americans about 45 years to recover from 400 years of economic disenfranchisement/exclusion, slavery and abuse, while European Americans and our now prospering ancestors, have greatly "benefited" financially from the 400 year run of FREE SLAVE LABOR in the U.S. 
Many will often point to a few African-American rappers, athletes and celebrities and then report to the world that everything is fine here...and if African Americans are poor, it's because they're lazy, drug addicts or criminals. 

The millionaire celebrities, athletes and rappers in America only number around a few thousand, while the overall population of African Americans in the U.S. numbers around 38 million. 

If we drive around almost any large metro area in the U.S., you will see these metro area surrounded by enormous black ghettos. African Americans will need much more than 45 years to erase 400 of wealth disparity. In the mean time, many African Americans will continue to need our support...through our tax dollars...to educate their children and to have a place to live and food to eat. All Americans should be thankful that our tax dollars go for such things. It's a blessing to us to help those in need, who our ancestors have wronged, and helps to heal centuries long racial wounds. 

To argue that Americans do not need to pay taxes to help the poor, or that our federal government needs to be dismantled, is highly dangerous rhetoric. Especially based on our dark history of slavery. 

Poverty, compounded by racism, breeds hopelessness, depression/mental illness, addiction, crime and self-abuse. The laborers are still waiting to get paid.

After doing some research on this subject send a summary note or letter to your U.S. Senate or House member at the contact links below and politely express your concern for the world's prison and jail inmates. Let them know that you are concerned with the inhumane treatment of prisoners, not only in the U.S., but worldwide and let them know you are extremely disturbed by recent reports of the torture of inmates in Afghanistan. Request a congressional committee(s) be established to investigate the lack of international standards concerning the world's prisons and ask them to inform you about what we in America can do to insure the humane treatment of our prisoners here, and the humane treatment of prisoners abroad. Express your concern about talk of defunding the U.N, since they are one of the few international agencies that monitors world prison conditions. Write a short note to the U.N. thanking them for their work in international prison monitoring and reform.

SOME ARTICLES CONCERNING PRISONS CONDITIONS/TORTURE:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Where-Are-the-Most-Violent-Prisons-Worldwide?&id=3117620

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_rape

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_rape_(United_States)

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34392&Cr=prison&Cr1=

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17432

http://justiceworldwide.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/prison-conditions/

NON-PROFIT LINKS FOR PRISON REFORM:

http://prisonnewsblog.com/2008/10/why-cant-guards-stop-prison-rape/

http://www.rapeis.org/activism/prison/prison.html

http://www.justicefellowship.org/get-involved-with-justice-fellowship/12920-get-involved-stop-prison-rape

http://justdetention.org/

SENATE CONTACT LINK FOR ALL 50 U.S. STATES:

http://www.theorator.com/senate.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE LINKS FOR ALL 50 STATES:

http://www.theorator.com/government/house.html

CONTACT LINK FOR THE U.N. OFFICE FOR DRUGS AND CRIME:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/contact-us.html

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of this petition.