Archive for the ‘Prisons and crime’ Category

The inhumanity of justification

Tuesday, March 1st, 2005

I am so grateful that Clancy pointed to Deborah Stone's powerful juxtaposition of American torture and her mother's experience of lung cancer:On the morning of May 7, the day I was to learn about air hunger, Mom had awakened before me. When I came into the kitchen, my arms out ...

The prison population in the United States

Sunday, August 1st, 2004

So the U.S.A. has 2.1 million people in prison. Add this to the fact that "crime rates have been declining since 1990, but the prison population has risen by 49% during this time." This is the biggest prison population in the world, and an unusually high proportion of the population. ...

Prisoners and mental health

Thursday, October 23rd, 2003

Nathan Newman notes that up to 300,000 prisoners in the USA are seriously mentally ill - while there are only 80,000 people in mental hospitals - according to a new Human Rights Watch report. That's one in five prisoners.

Prisons in Ireland

Monday, July 7th, 2003

Seems the first report of Ireland's new Inspector of Prisons is quite hard hitting - including calling for two of the main prisons to be demolished! It took a bit of digging (on the incredibly ugly, if functional, website of the Department of Justice) but I managed to find the ...

You thought ‘3 strikes’ laws were tough?

Monday, April 14th, 2003

From the Guardian's wonderful 'Informer' email service: "I came here thinking I wouldn't need any Arabic at all - just 'Put your hands up' and 'Put your weapons down.' They've been teaching me how to talk to the thieves. Things like, 'You are lying, I'm not stupid,' and 'If you steal, ...

Death penalty for trespassing?

Sunday, March 16th, 2003

So it seems that the penalty for trespassing could be death in the US of A.

Death Penalty

Monday, March 10th, 2003

I wonder when the US will cease with cases like this and remove the death penalty?

Forced Medication

Sunday, March 2nd, 2003

Following on from this earlier story, the latest report on forced medication and the US justice system is just disquieting. Bodily integrity would seem to be a fairly basic principle that should only be overturned in extremis. Of course, there are voices raised in opposition.