Because of the time of the year, heat is affecting many people. It is easy for some people to say inmates don’t matter. It is their own fault they are in prison. But we know there are many people in prison who shouldn’t be there, and at the very least shouldn’t have prison sentences that last nearly their entire lives. But since prisons are for profit, the longer they are there, the richer some corporations get.
Who cares if inmates are “uncomfortable.” But it is more than just being uncomfortable. Heat kills. In the prisons, medical care is already done on the cheap. If they can get away with not treating the inmates illnesses, who is going to stop them? When you try to stop any corporation from making money, they use that money to buy the right people who will allow them to continue their dirty games. How can we stop that?
You will find a link further down the newsletter to a petition that was started at www.change.org. Prisons need cooler air that is tolerable to breathe. Inmates shouldn’t die from the heat inside their cells. In addition, prison guards shouldn’t have to work in those conditions, either. They work there because the small towns that most prisons are located in, provide needed jobs. Would anyone tolerate up to 120 degrees and low pay unless they had to? High heat adds up to shortened tempers and violence in prisons and in the workplace, especially when you can’t get out of it. I hope you take the time to go to the link, read the article, sign your name and share it with as many people as possible. Make a good cause. Do the right thing.
Sometimes we wish there was something we could do to help but don’t know what to do. There has been so much in the media this past year as both Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the prison system being so out of control. It is everyone’s fault. No one calculated what the costs were going to be if we continued to lock up people with the same diligence year after year. Now it takes more money than we ever dreamed of to keep these people locked up.
The people don’t want to pay for the inmates care, but the Prison Industrial Complex has signed twenty year contracts with state governments being promised them the prisons will be kept full, in exchange for the corporations footing the bill for the food, care and educations they promised the inmates but don’t deliver with any decency. Who loses the most? The people who don’t belong there. There will always be bad guys to lock up, but we locked up too many in our zest called the War on Drugs, the War on Crime and the War of Terror. None of these so-called wars worked, but it sure did make certain corporations a crapload of money.
We ruined people’s lives, and caused the mess our country is in right now. We have no one but ourselves to blame. Now these people in prison need medical care we don’t want to give them, decent food to stay healthy and help ward off diseases like diabetes and heart disease, or give them education and training. Especially the ones they keep in G5, AdSeg or solitary confinement so they can support themselves and their families when they get out, because x-felons are not eligible for SNAP or section 8 housing.
Jamie used to have a GED book he studied just in case someday he could take the test, but recently the property manager at the prison he was moved to took (stole) it from him, along with 19 other books. Why would she take his GED book? What was her motive? Now he needs a new one. Inmates are punished and have cases written up against them if they are caught sharing their books with other inmates who don’t have anyone to send them books.
Over all, who is going to pay to help the inmates? Why, the American people, of course. We are supposed to be the good guys. The corporations that caused this won’t fix it and we can’t make them. We, the people, have paid for all of their greedy mistakes so far, haven’t we, because the people swallowed, hook, line and sinker, all of the propaganda mainstream media could pump out.
People were told that black people have a crime gene that makes them prone to commit crimes.- and you believed it. Black people do more drugs than white people – and you believed it. Black people are not as intelligent and only want government handouts. (like White people don’t) On and on until people even believed they were a more privileged race of people, even though it has all been proven false. But they say all they have to do to believe the lies was to see how many black people are locked up. Disclaimer – I know all white people don’t fall into this kind of thinking. There are good and bad of every race. Race does not determine if you are a good or bad no matter what anyone thinks.
There needs to be change at our prisons. Everyone needs to help. It affects all of us. We need to change the laws. We need to care about each other. This crap with racism has to stop and we need to stop blaming each other about who is more responsible than the other. Change is slow, but it can happen. Please be part of that change. |
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