4 ms·

They are locking up drug users. There is a heroin epidemic in this country and they just lock them up when they need treatment. My friend was locked up, got o

They are locking up drug users. There is a heroin epidemic in this country and they just lock them up when they need treatment. My friend was locked up, got out on bail and OD'd two nights ago. It didn't have to happen.

mirimir 11y ago
This! It's plainly the Drug War that's filled prisons. Sorry about your friend :(
- brownbat 11y ago
  Well, prison populations are actually really complicated. There's a good piece at The Marshall Project discussing this, with an interesting interactive that illustrates how difficult it would be to dramatically reduce the prison population by only focusing on nonviolent drug offenders: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/03/04/how-to-cut-the-prison-population-by-50-percent#.OtWFszhGW https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/03/04/how-to-cut-the... The drug war was a massive overreach. It's not 100% of the overcrowded prisons problem though, they're related but somewhat independent challenges.
  - mirimir 11y ago
    Thanks. I suspect that much violent crime is also Drug War related. Robberies to buy drugs. Bad influences while imprisoned for drug-related offenses. Few countries imprison such high percentages of their populations. What else could be accounting for that? Lead poisoning? Dysfunctional culture?
  - tyingq 11y ago
    A fair amount of the overcrowding is also driven by sentence length. Things like "three strikes" and "enhanced charges" drive sentence lengths in the US that don't match up with any other civilized nation.
    - burfog 11y ago
      The court system is also badly clogged. The "three strikes" laws reduce the problem by limiting how many times a person can go to trial.
      - tyingq 11y ago
        You don't think 3 strikes would increase the number of jury trials vs plea deals? http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/23/us/3-strikes-law-in-california-is-clogging-courts-and-jails.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/23/us/3-strikes-law-in-califo...
        mirimir 11y ago
        Plea deals are evil. It's fundamentally class-based. Or about money, which is what stands for class in the US. With no money for competent representation, accepting a plea deal is your best option. Many lives get ruined out of that.
        tyingq 11y ago
        True, but not really in context. I mentioned them only because the claim is that three-strikes somehow streamlined the court system.
650REDHAIR 11y ago
If you need anyone to listen to you vent I'm here for you.

mirimir 11y ago

This! It's plainly the Drug War that's filled prisons. Sorry about your friend :(

brownbat 11y ago
Well, prison populations are actually really complicated. There's a good piece at The Marshall Project discussing this, with an interesting interactive that illustrates how difficult it would be to dramatically reduce the prison population by only focusing on nonviolent drug offenders: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/03/04/how-to-cut-the-prison-population-by-50-percent#.OtWFszhGW https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/03/04/how-to-cut-the... The drug war was a massive overreach. It's not 100% of the overcrowded prisons problem though, they're related but somewhat independent challenges.
- mirimir 11y ago
  Thanks. I suspect that much violent crime is also Drug War related. Robberies to buy drugs. Bad influences while imprisoned for drug-related offenses. Few countries imprison such high percentages of their populations. What else could be accounting for that? Lead poisoning? Dysfunctional culture?
- tyingq 11y ago
  A fair amount of the overcrowding is also driven by sentence length. Things like "three strikes" and "enhanced charges" drive sentence lengths in the US that don't match up with any other civilized nation.
  - burfog 11y ago
    The court system is also badly clogged. The "three strikes" laws reduce the problem by limiting how many times a person can go to trial.
    - tyingq 11y ago
      You don't think 3 strikes would increase the number of jury trials vs plea deals? http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/23/us/3-strikes-law-in-california-is-clogging-courts-and-jails.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/23/us/3-strikes-law-in-califo...
      - mirimir 11y ago
        Plea deals are evil. It's fundamentally class-based. Or about money, which is what stands for class in the US. With no money for competent representation, accepting a plea deal is your best option. Many lives get ruined out of that.
        tyingq 11y ago
        True, but not really in context. I mentioned them only because the claim is that three-strikes somehow streamlined the court system.

650REDHAIR 11y ago

If you need anyone to listen to you vent I'm here for you.