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Nursery programs allow imprisoned moms, newborns to bond
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Three-week-old Kevin fussed in mother Melissa Lankey's arms until she started singing softly to him, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." The newborn began dozing within seconds. "That's kind of our little song. It usually calms him right down," Lankey said. Lankey did not sing the tune in the baby's bedroom. She was behind bars at the Indiana Women's Prison, where a new program allows some inmates to keep their newborns in their cells for up to 18 months. The program debuted last month, becoming the sixth in the nation in a growing trend among state prison systems.
"That's kind of our little song. It usually calms him right down," Lankey said.
Lankey did not sing the tune in the baby's bedroom. She was behind bars at the Indiana Women's Prison, where a new program allows some inmates to keep their newborns in their cells for up to 18 months.
The program debuted last month, becoming the sixth in the nation in a growing trend among state prison systems.
This should go on the front page at some point. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
European Tribune - Mother's Day American Style
When released, the mothers who have been convicted of drug offenses will be ineligible for food stamps and other public assistance, including public housing.
Argh! It's that right wing, punish the immoral mentality. To it's extreme. The idea is that when you serve a prison sentence, you are being punished for your crime. When released, that punishment should be over.
Who does it help to refuse public assistance after release? It's a bigger cost for the state when people are left with no alternative but to resort to crime again to get hold of food for their children, clothes, anything to make life liveable. Talk about taking opportunities right out of children's hands, perpetuating the cycle of poverty of crime.
Stupid policy makers. Stupid, stupid. Ad astra per aspera
There are many examples of this punishment for life mentality in American laws. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
You could probably argue that point for any other offender also. I'm still in two minds about public registers of sex offenders because it can lead to people being victimised on an horrific level when they actually are no longer a risk or the level of offence that put them on the register does not necessarily equate to paedophilia (or they happen to have the same name as someone on the register, or were falsely accused). I don't know what criteria put people on the register, is it any sex offence and aren't people removed after a certain length of time for some offences? Can the public find out what the offence was?
What does the public gain from having access to that information? Will they stop their children from going out, take alternative routes to the shops, scream blue murder about it at neighbourhood watch meetings?
I can see the case for an awareness of friends/family members being on the register since most attacks are committed by people known to the victim.
Should people not exercise some degree of caution about their personal safety anyway? Could knowing that Mr X in number 32 is on the register provide a false sense of 'security' that if he is avoided/intimidated then we'll all be fine? Or will they actually be safer for knowing? Can such things as random attacks from being in the wrong place at the wrong time be avoided? Ad astra per aspera
There are apparently registers for sex offenders where I live (Virginia) and the State makes some of that information available to the public. One of my friends and a neighbor, with small children, looked up and found that one of our close neighbors was a registered offender (pedophile). This was information she considered important to know but I don't beleive she had any intention to harass the individual in any way.
Frankly, I don't consider any neighborhood in the US safe for small children anymore, and watching how parents guard their children, it would appear that my views are shared by many. So, knowing where pedophiles live is not really the answer. Eternal vigilance may be the price of liberty, but it also pays to keep a very close watch on your children no matter where you live. A sad commentary on modern society regardless. won't wonders never cease? _ Snuffy Smith
Reminds me of Sarkozy who pulled cops out of the projects after the 2005 riots. Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
He did this with a elaborate set up : when visiting a group of such policemen in Toulouse, one of his advisors asked them to talk about a rugby game they had played against kids from the 'hood ; a minor point, not the thing the cops wanted to put forward. When the policemen talked about it, as they had been told, Sarkozy ripped into them, saying it wasn't the police's job to play games with the youth, and went on to destroy the program.
Of course, the right wing governments keep on cutting the funds of the people whose job it is to play games with the youth and organise activities. Repression is much better than prevention for these politicians, as it happens after the crime, and thus allows to frighten people.
Yet another example being that it is getting harder to get parole, despite the fact that parole greatly reduces the risk of recidivism. Thankfully, such laws as "Three strikes and you're out" are unconstitutional in France, and the French justice system does partly cares about the felon's rights, meaning that the similar "peines planchers" law is resisted a bit. Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
disgusting.
your story exemplifies your sig to a T There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer
two most recent, grotesque examples: allemano in rome and boris in london There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer
Every time I think I've seen social and moral stupidity in the US system reach a peak, it turns out there's something beyond that that's even more stupid. Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship
Some of us old dopers were luckier, or smarter, or ---lighter skinned. Useful talking follows experience, the more experience the better. Talking that precedes experience is known as bullshit.
while we're on prison systems, how about
Over the last three decades 12 million Americans have lost the right to vote for all or most of their adult lives.
Prisoners Prohibited from Voting
We have been interviewing current and former prisoners in New York , Connecticut, and Ohio about their voting histories, attitudes about voting, and knowledge and understanding of the rules of disenfranchisement that apply to them. We find that prior to disenfranchisement they registered and voted at rates similar to the general population (40 to 50 %) and most would like to do so again. As few realize they have the right to vote, their registration and voting rates post-release are reduced to half of what they were before. This is accompanied by a time lag in getting back on the roles that effectively doubles the years of voting life lost to disenfranchisement. A recent study by The Sentencing Project finds sharp disparities in the effects of disenfranchisement by race: in Atlanta one of every seven African American males is disenfranchised. So as the imprisonment rate for blacks has climbed over 3 decades, long traditions of voting in many black families have been broken – each successive generation votes at lower rates than the previous one. This is true of all Americans since the 1960s, but the rates are most pronounced in black communities, where 30-40% of the men have been disenfranchised. A study by the University of Virginia School of Law finds that in states with the harshest disenfranchisement laws the overall voter turnout among African Americans is 13% lower than those who disenfranchise only for prison time. And that may be no accident.
As few realize they have the right to vote, their registration and voting rates post-release are reduced to half of what they were before. This is accompanied by a time lag in getting back on the roles that effectively doubles the years of voting life lost to disenfranchisement.
A recent study by The Sentencing Project finds sharp disparities in the effects of disenfranchisement by race: in Atlanta one of every seven African American males is disenfranchised. So as the imprisonment rate for blacks has climbed over 3 decades, long traditions of voting in many black families have been broken – each successive generation votes at lower rates than the previous one. This is true of all Americans since the 1960s, but the rates are most pronounced in black communities, where 30-40% of the men have been disenfranchised. A study by the University of Virginia School of Law finds that in states with the harshest disenfranchisement laws the overall voter turnout among African Americans is 13% lower than those who disenfranchise only for prison time.
And that may be no accident.
gee, ya think not?
the technique of establishing draconian punishments for minor offences, then enforcing those punishments with extreme racial bias, then disenfranchising the convicted, is as neat a "democratic" way of reversing universal suffrage and creating apartheid-in-all-but-name as you could wish. those who follow US electoral history will probably be thinking "Southern Strategy" at this point. yup... The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
Thank you, Izzy!!!! It´s good to read you. _Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._
self-perping vicious cycle, those poor kids...
between this and nomad's, i think i'll have a cry now, what a waste... There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer
