Article written in response to political corruption from Sacramento's neo-Cowpoke Arnold and local officals in Crescent City, CA, home of CDC's infamous Pelican Bay State Prison..
original article @;
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/09/27/18314699.php
People recognize the ineffectiveness of warehousing prisoners in large state prisons, beginning with economic exploitation of disadvantaged rural prison communities to provide labor in the form of prison guards..
Christian Parentti has an article in ZNet about the beginning of the CDC offer to Crescent City residents to construct a maximum security prison in their town following the economic devasation after an earthquake induced tsunami..
"In 1964 a tsunami swept over Crescent City, California completely destroying the downtown. Only nine people died, but the town—nestled just below the Oregon border—never recovered. It was rebuilt as a shabby imitation of Southern California’s worst planning examples; empty parking spaces and box-like buildings dominate the landscape.
In 1989 another tsunami hit—this time the tidal wave was political. The California Department of Corrections (CDC) rolled in, and with little opposition, built the sprawling, $277.5 million Pelican Bay State Prison, one of the newest, meanest super-max prisons in the system. Pelican Bay is now an international model of sensory deprivation and isolation; half the inmates are deemed incorrigible and locked in their cells 23 hours-a-day. The prison is also Crescent City and Del Norte county’s largest employer—and, some say, its new colonial master."
read on @;
http://zena.secureforum.com/Znet/zmag/articles/june97parenti.htm
The CDC hired prison guards are then given the task of monitoring a wide range of prisoners for safety, an impossibility in this hostile environment. Pelican Bay is overcrowded and tensions between prison gangs and guards results in violence to prisoners, abuse (psychological & physical) and rape. The range of offenses resulting in young men being carted off to Pelican Bay include minor drug offenses (including medical cannabis arrests) and repeated tresspassing (three strike law targets homeless, low income) with other charges thrown in. Here non-violent criminals are forced to interact with murderers, rapists and other violent criminals. In the long term, super-max state prisons like Pelican Bay only worsen people with years of repeated abuse from guards, prison gangs and other more violent prisoners..
Many corporations now employ prisoners in sweatshop like conditions for below minimum wage pay. Computer boards and other various technological devices are assembled in prisons by hand, the long hours and low wages similar to undocumented immigrants in the US and sweatshops operating in less fortunate nations. The only difference is that lower income people in US prisons are accussed of a crime, usually a result of living in poverty or drug addiction..
While people are requested by society to be personally responsible, we can hardly apply this ideology to US corporations, many of whom recieve billions of dollars yearly in taxpayer subsidies, when welfare payments to lower income people are far less. If large US corporations like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc.. actually needed to be financially independent of US taxpayer funds, thier business would consume far more resources than the toxic unhealthy substances they create and poison the public with misleading advertisements. Try having heart disease when you're forty and sue McDonalds because they were the only affordable foods available in your neighborhood. This lawsuit in Brooklyn occurred and was dismissed because the person was suppossed to have "free will" and refrain from eating unhealthy foods, despite the fact that this food is physiologically addictive..
Tulane researchers observe low income and ethnic neighborhoods tend to concentrate fast food corporations with few healthy options available nearby without using bus fare;
"Fast Food Joints More Common in Poor, Black Neighborhoods
The high density of fast food outlets in low-income, majority black neighborhoods may contribute to the obesity epidemic, say Tulane University researchers.
"Where people live and the kinds of food available close to them is likely to affect their ability to have a healthy diet," says senior author Karen DeSalvo, chief of general internal medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine. "We found that high-income and mostly white neighborhoods have fewer fast food outlets per square mile than lower income or mostly black neighborhoods."
read on @;
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/60975.html
Then we enter the realm of diet influencing behavior and the usually unthought out and hasty decisions that result in an individual being handed a long term prison sentence. The entire US food culture of coffee/caffiene (go faster, work harder), refined sugars (quick boost, downward crash), refined flours, and the synthetic drug culture of meth and crack cocaine influence behavior to fast reactions, when dealing with police can be life altering..
Then this environment where lower income people live is generally contributing to their desperate economic situation and need for fast, thoughtless decisions that result in criminal acts. Exploitation of prisoners for short term corporate economic gain by insulated CEOs is as heinous a crime as whatever the prisoner may have done. This exploitation of prisoners by corporations is a violation of labor law, though the GW bush/Cheney regime doesn't appear to be greatly concerned with obeying any law other than the voices in his sociopatic head..
Slave labor in California's prison industry authority (PIA);
"The type of work program run by the PIA should be considered a violation of human rights for three reasons.
First, the work done is not really voluntary as those who run the program claim. According to District Marketing Representative, Joe Sheppard, prisoners gain good time behavior for working a PIA job, sometimes as much as one day off their sentence for each day worked. Therefore, prisoners who refuse to work for the PIA or other prison-related work are stuck with sentences outrageously long to begin with thanks to Three Strikes and other "get tough" mandatory minimum sentencing laws. To say prison jobs are voluntary when refusing to work can mean much longer sentences is misleading at best.
Second, prisoners working for the PIA are paid slave wages of 30 to 95 cents an hour, leaving prisoners totally estranged from their life-activity. Prisoners putting in eight-hour days of hard work for the PIA, year in and year out, will not enjoy even a sliver of the wealth they have produced ever. Prisoners are human beings and exploitation is exploitation whether it is behind the bars of the California Men's Colony or the barbed wires of a sweatshop in Indonesia. One wonders why prison labor is a violation of human rights in China but not here. Is it because, unlike in China, all US prisoners really are guilty of terrible crimes and deserve the worst? Prisoners are people, two-thirds of whom guilty of non-violent offenses and many the victims of racial profiling, police set-ups, and a justice system severely skewed towards the rights of the rich. The recent LA Rampart Police Division scandal that began in 1998, where over 70 officers were implicated in activities such as evidence planting and over 100 criminal convictions were overturned suggests that our own criminal "injustice" system has much in common with China's.
Third, prisoners working for the PIA do not have labor rights. They do not have the right to organize and remain far out of the reach of state and federal laws regulating workplace safety. The PIA is not required to pay prisoners for holidays, provide workers' compensation, sick leave, health insurance, or any other benefits. In a recent LA Times articles, Sharon Cornu, a spokeswomen for the California Labor Federation asked, "Do they have an advocate who they can turn to if they have a problem on the job?"
"
read on @;
http://www.prisonwall.org/pia2.htm
If Pelican Bay pennetentiary is to continue operations, please reserve a bed for future war criminal GW bush. Include a neighboring cell for Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and maybe we'll put Feith and Karl Rove on the next teir to avoid any late night strategy whispering into GW's waiting ears..
We the people of the US have a responsibilty to see that all prisoners of Pelican Bay and elsewhere are treated fairly and humanely, as stated in our Constitution. There is no need for any Pelican Bay expansion as proposed by the CDC to alleviate overcrowding. Today is the day to begin releasing any and all non-violent CDC Pelican Bay prisoners who were arrested on cannabis charges. There is no crime in smoking or handling the medicinal cannabis plants. We guarantee that this decision will give remaining prisoners and guards some breathing room and reduce tensions of overcrowding at Pelican Bay and other CDC operated prisons..
Oregon NORML list the outrageous cannabis prohibition drug laws in North America under the current GWbush/Cheney regime, instead of getting reasonable these two war criminals seek to encourage longer sentences (also taxpayer supported) for non-violent cannabis users. BTW, rapists and other violent abusers recieve equal or less sentences than non-violent cannabis users. Many returning veterans will require medical cannabis for their healing, and draconian drug laws will discourage them from getting access to a natural medicine with less side effects than petrochemically derived pharmaceutical products. Notice the double standard in CA law with regards to medical cannabis;
"The cultivation or processing of any amount of marijuana is punishable by up to sixteen months in state prison. There is an exception to the cultivation prohibition for patients or patients’ caregivers who possess or cultivate for personal use by the patient upon approval of a physician.
The laws regarding possession and cultivation of marijuana do not apply to patients or patients’ primary caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for the personal medical use of the patient, upon the recommendation or approval of a physician.
Selling marijuana in any amount is punishable by 2 – 4 years in the state prison. Giving away less than 28.5 grams is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of up to $100."
"
read on @;
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4525
Meth abuse and meth related crimes (usually burglary, other non-violent) are preventable, if only the meth trade was dealt with on the upper echelons of the heirarchal drug triangle, maybe start with the CIA corruption? Punishing working class US residents for meth addiction with harsh prison sentences is counterproductive to any healing potential. In terms of US drug policy officials, one the one hand punishing addicts with harsh prison sentences while simultaneously trading weapons and partying with known drug traffickers is beyond hipocrisy..
Mario Menendez argues for decriminalization of drug use and investigation of drug kingpin ties with US law enforcement in his essay "Dare to Legalize" found @;
http://narconews.com/hmonth0500.html
The CDC announced plans to expand holding capacity at Pelican Bay by construction of additional buildings, estimated cost to taxpayers, over $608 million..
"Pelican Bay is one of 10 state prisons that may be expanded as part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's short-term prison improvement plan. The expansion would cost approximately $608 million, according to the state's estimate.
Pelican Bay could see an additional 550 beds added to its already overcrowded facility, prison spokesman Ken Thomas said. These would be constructed within the prison's existing perimeter, he said, and 400 of those beds would be for lower to mid-level security inmates.
The remaining 150 would be for inmates in administrative segregation, the "prison within the prison" inmates go when they've broken rules.
Pelican Bay was designed to hold 2,376 inmates. Today, the prison is over capacity by 1,098 inmates, Thomas said."
read on @;
http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=2153
There will be no expansion of the Pelican Bay prison anytime soon. The people of the north coast are tired of being taken advantage of by the CDC for suffering economic hardships of an overlogged coastal forest town and frequent tsunamis. The abuse of prison guards by CDC heirarchal structure is mostly psychological, the daily task of depriving many people of their freedom is also a hard task for our gurad's human soul's to accept. Again, alcohol and other albeit legal addiction also mask the pain and suffering of the prison guards. Other are able to emotionally detach and rationalize their position by escapist thinking based on statist propaganda theories (it's just their lot in life, they had their chance, etc..)..
Setting lower income urban people in adversarial positions with lower income rural people and then escalating tensions with the formation of ethnic/regional prison gangs (to stifle prisoner union organizing) is the tactic of the ruling class to prevent any popular organizing for equal rights, community land co-ops, equal distribution of resources, and alleviation of poverty as the root prevention of any future crimes..
The Angola Black Panthers tried to mend the rifts between prisoners during their stay in notorious Angola Pennetentiary in Louisiana;
"The Angola Panthers not only challenged the prison administration, but they also organized to end aspects of the inmate social order that hindered prisoner unity and played into the hands of the guards. The Panthers risked their lives to protect younger and weaker inmates from the rape, prostitution, and sex slavery that pervaded prison life. As Woodfox puts it, "It wasn't much help to go to the security because most of the security people were condoning that type of activity. They would benefit from it because they would get money or favors for allowing rapes to happen. Some of the guards themselves would be involved in the rapes."
The Panthers worked to mend the schism between black and white prisoners that the prison officials manipulated to their advantage, a difficult feat considering that the prisoner housing, dining halls, and worksites were still racially segregated, with privileged living arrangements and work assignments going to white prisoners. The BPP also exposed the widespread corruption of the people who ran Angola, many of whom came from families that had lived on state land and had worked at the prison for several generations. Guards often diverted food, grown by the prisoners for their own consumption, to their own families and friends or sold it in town."
read on @;
http://www.prisonradio.org/angola-three.htm
There is clearly a ruling elite than benefits financially from the racial divide in prisons and antagonisms between people of different ethnicities/cultures. Currently several individuals have occupied the most extreme position of power, an Office in Washington DC nick-named "the White House". From this isolated location the GW bush regime broadcast messages via TV/radio waves instructing the people of north america to support his "War on Terrorism" and not ask him any question when he lies to US and makes severe errors in judgement that result in many innocent Iraqi civilians dead and US soldiers coming home dead to their families. However, it is believed by this author that the Bush regime's errors in judgement are not hasty and thoughtless, instead they are premeditated acts of mass murder..
Again, like CDC prisoners and guards, many people serving in the US military are also lower income and won't have much to look forward to upon return if they become physically ill from depleted uranium exposure or mental trauma. The promises young people heard from military recruiters before they signed on to serve are often not delivered by VA upon return. Many returning US soldiers experience long term cancers induced from depelted uranium exposure. Following return to the US veterans of Iraq are told that their medical insurance doesn't cover "mental trauma" and the VA adamantly denies any risks from depeleted uranium exposure. Depleted uranium was already a known radioactive carcinogen/mutagen from Desert Storm under Bush Sr., and the current GW bush regime was repeatedly warned NOT to use Depleted Uranium in this current invasion of Iraq. Needless to say, GW bush Jr. did not heed this warning either, nor did the military brass bother to tell US soldiers stationed in either Iraq conflict about the health risks of DU exposure..
"
"Because of the chemical and radiological toxicity of DU, the small number of particles trapped in the lungs, kidneys, and bone greatly increase the risk of cancer and all other illnesses over time," Durakovic, an expert of internal contamination of radio-isotopes, said.
According to Durakovic, other symptoms associated with DU poisoning are: emotional and mental deterioration, fatigue, loss of bowel and bladder control, and numerous forms of cancer. Such symptoms are increasing showing up in Iraq 's children and among Gulf War veterans and their offspring, he said.
"Although I personally served in Operation Desert Shield as Unit Commander," Durakovic said, "my expertise of internal contamination was never used because we were never informed of the intended use of DU prior to or during the war."
"
read on @;
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2004/08/15_bollyn_depleted-uranium-blamed-cancer.htm
Even today the GW bush regime annouces the urgency of US soldiers to remain in Iraq "until the job is done", meaning "until Halliburton uncovers some more oil and sells it off to China, ExxonMobil, etc.." Meanwhile US soldiers continue to be exposed to DU in tank armor and also windblown DU fragments remaining airborne in Iraq's desert duststorms..
For these crimes of deceit and misleading the US public into an illegal occupation and invasion of Iraq an international war crimes tribunal for the Bush regime is needed. We in the US request outside assistance (ie., Hugo Chavez) into making this need a reality. If people can stomach locking up a twenty-one year old young man for smoking cannabis in CDC's Pelican Bay than surely we can bring a deceitful oil baron responsible for mass murder and genocide of thousands in Iraq & elsewhere up on charges for misuse of Office of US Presidency for furthering his billionaire families bank account??
Lack of economic oppurtunity results in either military or prison for many lower income north americans. Throughout other locations in rural CA (Susanville, etc..), the CDC remains the sole source of economic sustanence for rural residents. If not a prison, then either a military base or toxic sweatshop factory, plantation, etc...
It certainly doesn't help Crescent City to lose their fishing staple salmon to another dam induced toxic algae/bacteria fish kill in the coastal rivers. Then after local fishing people are out of business they'll have no other choice but to work for the CDC's Pelican Bay prison sweatshop..
We desire to close CDC's Pelican Bay State Pennetentiary and resupply the people of Crescent City with a sustainable economy based on coastal forest ecosystem. No mas working in a sweatshop prison factory within north america..
