Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Prison

Last night I went onto youtube to look up a clip and saw on the main page this video. I clicked on it because the last time I watched a little video from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver it was pretty funny. This video was no exception & I'm glad that John doesn't shy away from topics like prison & tells it how it is (with a twist)



It's been a very long time since I've seen a Sesame Street episode but I figured they would be talking about the same stuff they did when my younger sister watched it. I had no idea that they had to do a talk about prison so that kids know about it and if they have a parent who is in prison, you are not alone.

In case you missed it, here is the talk Sesame Street did (the one John Oliver shows)



Here are some other videos from Sesame Street that talks about things related to incarceration.







There are a couple more but I'll just leave it at that.

How sad that we have to teach children about incarceration because the prison system is broken & being run my private businesses. Sure some of those inmates are going to be released early but those are only the ones that faced drug charges.
New Rule Permits Early Release for Thousands of Drug Offenders

Tens of thousands of prisoners serving time for federal drug offenses will be eligible to seek early release beginning next year.

The United States Sentencing Commission, which voted in April to reduce the penalties for most drug crimes, voted unanimously on Friday to make that change retroactive. It will apply to nearly 50,000 federal inmates who are serving time under the old rules.

The Sentencing Commission said the move would help ease prison overcrowding and reduce prison spending, which makes up about a third of the Justice Department’s budget. The change comes amid a bipartisan effort to roll back the harshest penalties set during the height of the drug war.

I hope one day we can have proper prisons were the only people in prisons are those who can not be rehabilitated & repeat offenders. The rest of the people should go to a place where they can receive the help they need & be rehabilitated back into society. When we send people to prison for the first time, they learn how to be criminals and come out worse than when they went in. We also need to stop having mentally ill people in prison, they need to be in a proper care home with people who are trained to deal with the mentally ill.

Yeah I watched the show, it was a good program and just goes to show how society in America is failing. The U.S have more prisoners incarcerated than China & are supposedly a free country.

This has been a point of contention for most of the countries who the U.S takes to task on humanitarian issues like China & Iran because it's highly hypocritical.
So why does the U.S have the biggest prison population of the world?

a reply to: knoledgeispower

Every war is prodded along by war profiteers. The war profiteers for the "war on drugs" is the privatized prison industry.

It is a war on freedom.

originally posted by: mclarenmp4
Yeah I watched the show, it was a good program and just goes to show how society in America is failing. The U.S have more prisoners incarcerated than China & are supposedly a free country.

This has been a point of contention for most of the countries who the U.S takes to task on humanitarian issues like China & Iran because it's highly hypocritical.
So why does the U.S have the biggest prison population of the world?

I thought it was funny how the UN gave the U.S heck for making it illegal to be homeless & told them to smarten up. Yet what does the U.S do, crack down even harder.

I think the prison population is so high because it's become so profitable & its easier to chuck someone in jail than to properly address the situation & help people who are clearly in need o

originally posted by: knoledgeispower
I think the prison population is so high because it's become so profitable & its easier to chuck someone in jail than to properly address the situation & help people who are clearly in need o

That's what happens to anything when it is privatized. Look at the energy industry, the health industry, the higher education industry.

Now compare ours to nations where those industries (which should be considered "services", no "industries") are nationalized. There are nations where you can go to four-year college and get free health care and it's mostly subsidized by the publicly-owned resources (like oil). Some of those nations are prime examples of stunning prison systems, as well. You know, where the punishment actually fits the crime and non-crimes aren't crimes and a little thing called "rehabilitation" is actually valued.

When we privatize things that should belong to the public, this is what happens. You pay a lot more for a lot less.

originally posted by: Cuervo

originally posted by: knoledgeispower
I think the prison population is so high because it's become so profitable & its easier to chuck someone in jail than to properly address the situation & help people who are clearly in need o

That's what happens to anything when it is privatized. Look at the energy industry, the health industry, the higher education industry.

Now compare ours to nations where those industries (which should be considered "services", no "industries") are nationalized. There are nations where you can go to four-year college and get free health care and it's mostly subsidized by the publicly-owned resources (like oil). Some of those nations are prime examples of stunning prison systems, as well. You know, where the punishment actually fits the crime and non-crimes aren't crimes and a little thing called "rehabilitation" is actually valued.

When we privatize things that should belong to the public, this is what happens. You pay a lot more for a lot less.

Canada isn't much better than the U.S and sometimes it makes me want to move to a better country. I hate how I can't afford the proper medications I need so I have to be given "band-aid" medications. There is one I need but it is $75 for a months supply but it would greatly reduce my endometriosis problems and put it in remission. Because I can't afford that I have to take the depo shot for a short period of time so I don't suffer too much of a bone loss. It's b.s I tell ya.

Thumbs up to John Oliver . I spent three months in county jail about 15 years ago. It was an abysmal hell hole. If a dog pound put animals in the same conditions, there would be marches in the streets. All my time served did is make me meaner. It took a lot of time and meditation to get my feet back on the ground and relearn how to trust people. I fail to see how there is any benefit to society in locking people up until they are psychologically damaged, and then set them loose on the street.

a reply to: skunkape23

There is no benefit to society, but that's not what it's about. The prison industry doesn't want you free. They want you to come right back to jail and then they want you to work in their factory for a slave wage.