Severe overcrowding and poor living conditions have reached boiling point in Alabama prisons resulting in a 10-day prisoner strike. Surprisingly, the prison authorities have invoked the 13th Amendment of the U.S. which allows “slavery and servitude” as just punishment for crimes justifying the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. The co-founder of the “Free Alabama Movement" Kinetik Justice, an organizer of the strike, spoke out against the inherently unjust economic system. The strikers tried unsuccessfully petitioning the courts and lawmakers highlighting their living conditions. Prison officials at the Holman and Elmore Correctional Facilities retaliated against the strikers by denying them basic hygiene and starving them with “bird feeding” portions. Several exonerations have prompted legislators to create – an Innocence Inquiry Commission pushing for transparency in the courts and humanity in the prison system. A number of high profile politicians, most notably, Bernie Sanders, have criticized the current ‘broken criminal justice system’ which disproportionately targets people of color. “Correctional” facilities should live up to their name and use the European model to rehabilitate prisoners with appropriate skills to enable them to transition to society to reduce the high recidivism that currently exists.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Prisoner Strike 5-15-2016
15, May 2016 Prisoner
Strike
Severe overcrowding and poor living conditions have reached boiling point in Alabama prisons resulting in a 10-day prisoner strike. Surprisingly, the prison authorities have invoked the 13th Amendment of the U.S. which allows “slavery and servitude” as just punishment for crimes justifying the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. The co-founder of the “Free Alabama Movement" Kinetik Justice, an organizer of the strike, spoke out against the inherently unjust economic system. The strikers tried unsuccessfully petitioning the courts and lawmakers highlighting their living conditions. Prison officials at the Holman and Elmore Correctional Facilities retaliated against the strikers by denying them basic hygiene and starving them with “bird feeding” portions. Several exonerations have prompted legislators to create – an Innocence Inquiry Commission pushing for transparency in the courts and humanity in the prison system. A number of high profile politicians, most notably, Bernie Sanders, have criticized the current ‘broken criminal justice system’ which disproportionately targets people of color. “Correctional” facilities should live up to their name and use the European model to rehabilitate prisoners with appropriate skills to enable them to transition to society to reduce the high recidivism that currently exists.
Severe overcrowding and poor living conditions have reached boiling point in Alabama prisons resulting in a 10-day prisoner strike. Surprisingly, the prison authorities have invoked the 13th Amendment of the U.S. which allows “slavery and servitude” as just punishment for crimes justifying the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. The co-founder of the “Free Alabama Movement" Kinetik Justice, an organizer of the strike, spoke out against the inherently unjust economic system. The strikers tried unsuccessfully petitioning the courts and lawmakers highlighting their living conditions. Prison officials at the Holman and Elmore Correctional Facilities retaliated against the strikers by denying them basic hygiene and starving them with “bird feeding” portions. Several exonerations have prompted legislators to create – an Innocence Inquiry Commission pushing for transparency in the courts and humanity in the prison system. A number of high profile politicians, most notably, Bernie Sanders, have criticized the current ‘broken criminal justice system’ which disproportionately targets people of color. “Correctional” facilities should live up to their name and use the European model to rehabilitate prisoners with appropriate skills to enable them to transition to society to reduce the high recidivism that currently exists.
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