Land of the not so free

Well after the events in Ferguson much of the world indeed even many Americans are bewildered by the militarisation of the police force of a small town,well if you know the stats you wont be surprised by 2005 80 per cent of towns between 25000-50000 had a SWAT team,SWAT raids have increased from about 3000 a year in the 1980's to 50000 per year now.In 2013 the Pentagon sent $450 million dollars worth of military equipment to police in 1990 this figure was only $1 million.The ACLU report states 1033 cities use grants from the Department of Homeland security to purchase military grade equipment.With all this law and order the prisons must be getting tidied up?

Wrong by 2009 7.2 million people in the US were either incarcarated orunder official supervision like parole.One in 30 men between 20 and 34 are behind bars for minorities this number is higher,734 out of every 100 000 Americans are in prison per capita this beats Russia and South Africa with the next highest rates.From 1987 to 2007 the prison system tripled.In 1972 there were 300 000 inmates by 1990 this was 1 million,there are now over 2.3 million in prison.

This 2.3 million is being turned into profit,it is a workforce larger than Walmart with 2200,000 employees or Mc Donalds with 440,000 and they work for 25 to 90 cents an hour depending on skill level.A workforce with no holidays,sick leave,insurances or bonuses one that is full time and will always show up-or face isolation if they dont.Who uses this labour.IBM,Boeing,Microsoft,AT & T,Texas Instruments,Dell,Honeywell,Hewlett Packard,Nortel and many more.

Prison labour makes 100 percent of military helmets,ammunition belts,bullet proof vests,36 percent of home appliances,30 percent of headphones and 21 percent of office furniture.Where is all this headed?

Now the corporatizsation of the prison system has begun the 2 big players are Correctional Corporation of America and G4S or Wackenhut these 2 have 75 percent of a growing market.Ten years ago there were 5 private prisons with 2000 inmates now there are 100 with 62000,there will be 360,000 private inmates by the end of this decade.The money for this labour provides prisons with an incentive to lock people up and lock them up longer,prisons depend on this income all these minimum sentance laws popping up are not for charity or any concern for law and order but the almighty dollar.CCA actually signs contracts to supply prisons and share in the profits this means they have to catch criminals to staff these prisons thats why increasingly longer sentences are being handed out for misdemeanours.CCA also has sent letters to 48 Governors actually looking for prisons to buy.

So thats my bit on the trend on the US prison system to become a massive slave labour portal for corporations,run by corporations,the funny thing is any study of serious crime in the US suggests that it has significantly decreased overall.

a reply to: khnum

It's Free for these guys, they even get Government Subsides: click

Do you think the masses will believe you? No because it's inconvenient.

They are ok as long as they can hold onto a few of their crumbs. If their neighbor has their crumbs taken away that's ok tho.

The fallacy of 'all for one and one for all' is just that, a fallacy. Nice, hollow, meaningless. It's going to be everyone for themselves because at their core most are just hot air until it gets real. It's getting more real every minute but what's happening? Nothing. It's a few trying while the majority are spectators because it's not on their front lawn.

In the past, people stood against Tyranny...Now they record it to see how many 'likes' they can get.

Peace

Why is this in New World Order forum, that's the current old world system, the New World comes to crush this world. I really hate when people blame the problems of this current world on a world that hasn't even been unveiled yet. Deception at its finest.

a reply to: khnum

If corporations had their own way everyone would be getting 90 cents p/h.

a reply to: khnum

They have convicts making ammunition?

Did no one play Fallout:New Vegas and deal with the Powder Gangers? Same concept, except they would use convicts with explosives to clear debris from the global nuclear war between the US and China.

Yeah, you can figure out what happened...

a reply to: khnum

Sounds free to me, they have harmless pot heads and drug addicts making stuff for us

a reply to: ugmold

Well despite 45 billion a piece bailouts for Bank of America and Citicorp since 1998 they have spent 37.9 million and 32.1 million on lobbying respectively,Exxon Mobil is a cheapskate only spending $481,000 on lobbying in 2013 but the rest are superstars,GE spending 6700,000 on lobbying and 2980,000 on contributions,Honeywell $6724,878,Merck $1424,039,Microsoft $2168,935 in contributions and $4420,000 on lobbying,Pfizer $1859,141 on contributions and $5090,000 on lobbying and Verizon $2374,749 on contributions and $7210,000 on lobbying and FED EX $8100,000....so despite these poor companies not being able to pay tax they do contribute to the economy(sarcasm)

a reply to: MX61000
The new world order is the old world order but without a smiley face.

a reply to: jude11
Unfortunately I agree with you just like Nazi Germany as long as its not happening to 'them' they turn a blind eye.

a reply to: Illiberation
Yes but soon will it be vagrancy,speeding,drunk and disorderly or some other small crime for which you serve a long time?

a reply to: khnum

Do you have a link for the prison labor and what it produces?

a reply to: Sremmos80

My info came from www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289

originally posted by: khnum
a reply to: Illiberation
Yes but soon will it be vagrancy,speeding,drunk and disorderly or some other small crime for which you serve a long time?

They may also be making the unemployment/assistance programs so unbearable, prison might become better.

a reply to: xuenchen

Agreed there are nasty changes about to happen in my country with regards to youth unemployment which may make crime and prison an attractive alternative,what the politicians seemingly dont realize is you cant get a job if there aren't any and taking money off the disadvantaged doesn't allways work out how you like.

a reply to: khnum

Would you clarify your OP? You start with a fairly standard complaint about how the police are getting scarier looking equipment. (They were using armored cars and machines guns against Capone for crying out loud.)

Then a switch to the number of people incarcerated.

Then a switch to the work that prisoners do.

First, are you talking about Federal or State? If Federal, then consider:

Federal Prison Industries, also known as UNICOR and FPI, is a wholly owned United States government corporation created in 1934 that uses penal labor from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to produce goods and services. FPI is restricted to selling its products and services to federal government agencies.

Recently private companies gained some access to UNICOR workforce: companies can outsource call centers to UNICOR.

Under US laws and regulations, federal agencies, with the exception of the Department of Defense, are required to purchase products (but not services) offered by UNICOR, unless authorized by UNICOR to solicit bids from the private sector. This "mandatory source clause" has drawn controversy over the years, with allegations that UNICOR is unfairly competing with private businesses. From 2002 to 2004, Congress and the Bush Administration made several efforts to mitigate this competitive advantage held by UNICOR over the private sector. In 2003, UNICOR's board of directors eliminated the mandatory source clause for federal purchases under US$2,500, and mandated itself to approve waivers in all cases where the private sector provides a lower cost.

Under current law, all physically able inmates who are not a security risk or have a health exception are required to work, either for UNICOR or at some other prison job (Emphasis added)

If they have to work, would you be happier if they sorted sand by color all day?

en.wikipedia.org...

So, as your complaints seem to have little to do with the federal system (if I misunderstood something, please correct me), I suppose you're talking about the States, But you don't mention even one state anywhere, so what are you talking about?

a reply to: khnum

....so despite these poor companies not being able to pay tax they do contribute to the economy(sarcasm)

Of course they're able to pay tax, they never claimed they couldn't. Their only claim is that they don't have to pay more than the law requires them to.

a reply to: khnum

My info came from www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289

It may be true, or it may not be true. Like RT, Press TV, Al-Jazeera, and others, that's a source that it's good to have back up for.

a reply to: charles1952

Yes it is legal to run your business through hundreds of offshore tax haven subsidiaries,use an army of accountants and lawyers to find every loophole,lobby for tax subidies and virtually pay no tax if you are a multinational.

a reply to: charles1952
I dont know every nuance of the system but by prisoners I believe they mean all prisoners,with the corporatisation of prisons this seems to be focused on the state level.