NLBS #49: Louisiana is the Prison Capital of the US. Because; Money!

Prison capital? only on ATS can we have a discussion as such. (Just more doom porn fyi)

a reply to: TrueBrit

excellent post. this is why i will die before my son ever steps foot in a public school.

Louisiana is a giant poo-hole of corruption. If you drive through with out of state plates, you are very likely to get pulled over and searched. There are a lot of fat alligators in those swamps.

originally posted by: jaymp
Black and white. Not in the sense of race, but if they CAN charge you for a crime, they will. Whether or not they SHOULD doesn't enter into the equation. As far as district attorneys are concerned, it's all about conviction rates. Even if you take a plea bargain, it's still a guilty verdict, and the more they get the more their careers are furthered. Then they go on to be judges and do even more damage.

Which is why you should never take the plea. A prosecutor in theory only has a 50/50 chance of convicting you, and that's per charge. A jury is likely to let you off on atleast some of the charges. Even a really good prosecutor may only get a 70% conviction rate. Yet prosecutors have on paper conviction rates of 99%, this is because the vast majority of cases are plea bargains where they convince the accused to do their job for them.

This is furthered by public defenders who want to move forward in their careers and can only do so by having a good relationship with the prosecutor in order to cut clients deals in the future. They will encourage you to take the plea. If everyone actually demanded a trial by jury the system would collapse as it would only have time to try and convict 2% of those it currently finds guilty.

a reply to: theNLBS

These stats are unbelievable whoa

Let's not forget about the people that get jailed that have disabilities like diabetes! The average cost "to the state" may be ~$10,000/year per the "average" prisoner! A diabetic that is "well cared for" will cost to the tune of ~$50,000/year! Let me tell you this-diabetics are NOT WELL CARED FOR in prisons! Honestly, the lack of care in prisons for people with disabilities would be a GREAT NLBS episode! Please do one Joe!

I think it's sick that corporations are "invested" in profiting off of prisoners. Many of the prisoners don't deserve to be there, yet the corporations and the state(s) make a boatload of cash off of their labor. The average prisoner makes AT MOST $.50/hour. The average is actually $.13/hour! They are only allowed to spend that money on overpriced phone cards, or commissary items that are extremely unhealthy. I would have to say that is modern day slave labor (especially if they were convicted, yet do NOT deserve to be there)!

If the trend of throwing people away to these profiteers continues, how long will it be until EVERYONE ends up there? It's an unfortunately lucrative industry. When will the "so called" Department of Justice look at this? It had better happen soon. At this point, it's a downward spiral in my humble opinion!

I would guess that at least 20 to 45% of the prisoners in America were convicted of crimes that do not deserve prison sentences. It would be very interesting if an attorney ANYWHERE in the USA would take a close look at this issue, and take on a pro-bono case to try to expose the problems with the broken system, and get the Supreme Court to fix them. I have my doubts that will ever happen....

As a long time resident of Louisiana, I would like to confirm

The police state isn't coming....It's already here

There are some recent attempts to lower minor drug offender prison sentences, but it's all for show.

All in all, nice people here, great food, hot weather. Just don't slip up!

originally posted by: InFriNiTee
Let's not forget about the people that get jailed that have disabilities like diabetes! The average cost "to the state" may be ~$10,000/year per the "average" prisoner! A diabetic that is "well cared for" will cost to the tune of ~$50,000/year! Let me tell you this-diabetics are NOT WELL CARED FOR in prisons! Honestly, the lack of care in prisons for people with disabilities would be a GREAT NLBS episode! Please do one Joe!

It's worse for the people with mental illness. If you have a mental illness in prison your treatment is being thrown into solitary confinement where you stand a very high chance of developing permanent, irreversible, and untreatable psychosis.

a reply to: Aazadan

Try being a diabetic denied insulin! That's worse than a person that gets an irreversible mental illness! Just look up the side effects of a diabetic without insulin. Amputations, kidney disease (resulting in dialysis), blindness, etc. I think that's worse than any irreversible mental illness! Even PTSD doesn't compare to a diabetic that's denied their meds! I know it happens in prisons in the USA! I have talked to inmates that were denied their meds and almost died (one did actually die). If you're sick, you'd better not mess up in the USA! It's a death sentence...

Well as somebody who has lived in central louisiana for a long long time, I can tell you this:


The cops here are like their own gang. I know truck drivers that would go up through Arkansas and back down through Texas rather than drive through Louisiana and have to deal with the cops here. My wife got a ticket in town for not wearing her seat belt not long ago. Thing is, she had her seat belt on! When she showed him the cop literally said nothing shrugged his shoulders and handed her the ticket. I see people get busted, get fined and harrassed by the police, unless they have a relative thats a cop. Then it all just goes quiet and you never hear any more about it. God help you around here if you get busted with half a joint and you have no police in the family. This state still sends people to prison for 20 years if you get caught with a joint three times. Hell the sheriffs son is the biggest drug dealer I've ever seen around here. The good ol boy click is alive and well in this state.

Honestly the cops around here scare the hell outta me. They can pretty much do whatever they want and once youre snared into the legal system here its almost impossible to get out.

I used to think I was safe out here in the boonies, not anymore. Since the beginning of this year, I've seen all manner of cops from local deputies to state troopers driving around the dirt roads out here, writing people tickets for stuff like riding their 4wheelers on the dirt roads. I've lived out here 10 years and I've never seen such a police presence way the hell out here.

Now on the other side of the coin, there are alot of cops, yes, but there is also a hell of alot of crime here. Almost none of it makes the local papers though, becasue I live close to a small town that pitches itself as a quiet little retirement community to tourists. Since my nephew is a cop (thank god I have a cop in the family) I get to hear alot of the real stuff that goes on.....theres murders, rapes, robberies....yet none of it is ever reported on. They don't want to tarnish their tourist image by reporting on the real crimes. This is a very poor state. You can go to some places and still see people plowing with mules. Poverty and crime go hand in hand, but I don't think having more and more cops who are all part of the "good ol boy" click is the answer to make it go down.

There needs to be opportunity here. Something to do for people. Something to do besides drugs and drinking. If youre an avid hunter or fisherman this place is great, but for anything else it sucks here. And thats another thing too with places like Louisiana, all the smart people leave, so all thats left is the most poor and most ignorant of people. So it ends up being a cycle. Any time my life got better and I felt like I was in a good place, it was always when I worked or lived away from here.

"Liberty and justice for all" right?

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
I guess you didn't watch the video. Because, in the case of Louisiana, outsourcing incarceration is the problem.
In fact, in Louisiana, the sherifs profit from keeping the prisons full.

I guess I'm making a distinction between outsourcing and privatization.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: theNLBS

I remember discussing on ATS, more than once, all these stupid little laws and how they target kids and minorities disproportionately and using arguments ad absurdum to make points. So what happens when the absurd becomes reality?

When will people get that slavery never truly ended?

Great show.

Yeah because white criminals don't go to prison.

originally posted by: Ancient Champion
Yeah because white criminals don't go to prison.

They don't. There have been a lot of studies on the racial bias in sentencing laws. If you're white you on average get a much reduced sentence (1 year probation vs 5 years prison), and pay lower fines.

a reply to: Aazadan

They don't. There have been a lot of studies on the racial bias in sentencing laws. If you're white you on average get a much reduced sentence (1 year probation vs 5 years prison), and pay lower fines.

I would like to see some of these "studies" because I tell you what, I've been arrested, bonded out, fined, court probabation, community service (and this was one arrest with a clean record) everything just as much and in the same way the black folks get around here, so I have to call BS.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: theNLBS

Sounds like a recipe for corruption. Remind me never to go there.

a few years ago, my wife and I went down to Louisiana for a vacation....never again. we got treated like crap in the hotel we were staying in, and in 2 restaurants we ate in. was hustled all the time in the French quarter for money, and it stunk like a fifty-year-old urinal. it was muggy hot, and after hearing jazz played for hours on end, you want to hear something else. good riddance to nawlins'

a reply to: jimmyx
It sounds like hell to me. I tend to stay away from large cities if I can.

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

Whereas a black man probably would have served time.

a reply to: theNLBS I have a bit of difficulty focusing while watching you talk (my daughter would say 'fangirl much?'). But this is right on point and is similar to other places in this country that are jailing people for unpaid fines, mainly poor people where the fines keep doubling and tripling and then are even charged money to be in jail....causing a heinous circle. Return of Debtor's Prison? Would be nice to see a NLBS on this.

originally posted by: Cancerwarrior
a reply to: Aazadan

They don't. There have been a lot of studies on the racial bias in sentencing laws. If you're white you on average get a much reduced sentence (1 year probation vs 5 years prison), and pay lower fines.

I would like to see some of these "studies" because I tell you what, I've been arrested, bonded out, fined, court probabation, community service (and this was one arrest with a clean record) everything just as much and in the same way the black folks get around here, so I have to call BS.

Here ya go:

American Bar Association Blog

Which is from this study: Wall Street Journal

Louisiana

I am calling NLBS on you.