The New Asylums

US: Fewer than 55,000 Americans currently receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, almost 10 times that number -- nearly 500,000 -- mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons.

As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and often ill-equipped caretakers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: Have America's jails and prisons become its new asylums?

"We are the gatekeepers of a lot of persons who are mentally ill, and that's not something we relish. ... We don't like the idea that we're being charged with fixing a lot of the woes of our communities," says Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of Corrections. "In addition to being the director of the Department of Corrections, I became a de facto director of a major mental health system."

In "The New Asylums," FRONTLINE goes deep inside Ohio's state prison system to explore the complex and growing issue of mentally ill prisoners. With unprecedented access to prison therapy sessions, mental health treatment meetings, crisis wards, and prison disciplinary tribunals, the film provides a poignant and disturbing portrait of the new reality for the mentally ill.

"It was surprising to see how much treatment was going on inside Ohio's prisons," say FRONTLINE producers Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor. "And while the prison system is doing a commendable job, you are still left with the feeling that prison is not the answer to this very large social problem."

As the rising number of mentally ill inmates shows no sign of abating, those working inside the nation's prisons are struggling with a system designed for security, not treatment. Corrections officers now have the responsibility of not only securing inmates, but also working with mental health staff to identify and manage disturbed prisoners.

"Providing effective psychiatric care in a maximum security prison is extraordinarily difficult," says prison psychiatrist Gary Beven. "If you have untreated manic depression or bipolar disorder, untreated schizophrenia, somebody might be hallucinating and extremely paranoid. If you don't identify the fact that [a] person has schizophrenia, if you don't provide them with the proper medication, if you don't place them in an environment that allows them to function at an adequate level, then it's just a matter of time, perhaps, [that] something aggressive might occur."

And because these inmates have difficulty following prison rules, a disproportionate number are placed in solitary confinement. "People who are just so unsocialized and so psychologically fragile to begin with are deprived of any kind of social support, any kind of psychological stimulus. And they just fall apart," says Fred Cohen, a prison litigation specialist.

Inmate Carl McEachron, sent to prison for stealing a bicycle in 1988, has spent much of his time in prison in isolation, unable to cope with the strict prison environment and racking up an extensive list of violations. His mental illness was left undiagnosed and untreated until recently.

"He was the type of individual who was very difficult to work with," says Beven. "[He's] been very aggressive towards staff, including, I believe, by spitting on staff members and throwing body waste. And so there wasn't a lot of empathy for him. ... The tendency would be for somebody like that to just [say], 'Let's lock him away - let's just not have anything to do with him.'"

"Being placed in a solitary situation is like being placed in a prison's prison," McEachron tells FRONTLINE. "And that's worse than simply being taken from society and placed in prison."

Eventually, a majority of mentally ill inmates are released back into the community, generally with a limited amount of medication, little preparation, and sometimes no family or support structure. "We release people with two weeks' worth of medication. Yet it appears that it's taking three months for people to actually get an appointment in the community to continue their services É and if they don't have the energy and/or the insight to do that, they're going to fall through the cracks and end up back in some kind of criminal activity," warns Debbie Nixon-Hughes, chief of the mental health bureau of the Ohio Department of Corrections.

Within six days of being paroled in 2000, inmate Sigmon Clark, a paranoid schizophrenic, was rearrested for robbery. "Six days with $75 in my pocket. Fare the best way you can, man. We done took 12 years out of your life, and you're mentally ill - do what you can for yourself," Clark tells FRONTLINE.

Some feel change will be difficult to implement.

"Many of those persons who would have been in state hospitals are now in state prisons," Wilkinson says. "I've actually had a judge mention to me before that, 'Hey, we hate to do this, but we know the person will get treated if we send this person to prison.'"

By PBS Frontline posted 18 June 05

Watch full program online

Why are so many mentally ill behind bars? Who's to blame? What can I do as a citizen? Why is Ohio at the forefront of dealing with this issue?...

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Doctor Ron Woodham I presume?
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Isolation, psychiatric treatment and prisoner' control
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Carr's Castle the real story H.R.M.U.The High Risk Management Unit Goulburn Correctional Centre. A prisoner writes, " I was unsuccessful in my letters to Dr Matthews CEO of the Corrections Health Service on my problem regarding air - claustrophobic effect the cells have on me. Just recently the management decided my injuries are not seriously affecting me so no further discussions are necessary.

Risdon prisoners' seize prison to protest mistreatment
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No Safe Place
In a brief four month span from August 1999, five men died in Tasmania's Risdon prison. Their deaths have put the state's corrections system in the dock and led to the planned demolition of a jail which even the State's Attorney-General now calls an "appalling facility".

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

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A psychiatrist from the prison Mental Health Team attached to Queensland Health made the comment that 25 per cent of inmates suffer from a diagnosed mental illness.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

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Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.

2nd Renaissance - Beyond Industrial Capitalism and Nation States Some Practicalities Of Emptying The Prisons [287] Given the importance that prisons and punishment have in maintaining control of increasingly restless populations, the task of achieving the release of the people in the jails and the closure of those institutions, seems daunting. But it is so vital to the 2nd Renaissance that we must find ways to do it.

JAILS AND PRISONS - THE NEW ASYLUMS:

Inside the "new asylums" prisons crammed with the mentally ill.

Nearly 500,000 mentally ill men and women are now locked up in America's jails and prisons. That's 10 times the number who remain in its psychiatric hospitals.

In a system that's custom-built for security and punishment, not treatment, ill-equipped jailers double as caretakers of a burgeoning population of schizophrenic, paranoid and psychotic prisoners.

For many mentally ill people, prisons have become first and last option. The old safety net has gone. As psychiatric hospitals shut down, patients went onto the streets and became a policing problem, then a corrections problem.

The system has begun to feed on itself.

The courts now look to jails and prisons as the best chance of providing any treatment. "When you know the courts are more apt to send a person to prison because they're going to get treated, there's something disconcerting about that," observes the U.S. state of Ohio's Corrections chief, Reginald Wilkinson.

While the U.S. is the focus of this program, the issues it raises resonate loudly in Australia where mental health agencies estimate nearly half of the prison population suffers mental illness.

Authorities in the American state of Ohio, allowed cameras to go deep inside a jail system warehousing thousands of mentally ill prisoners. With unprecedented access to therapy and treatment sessions, crisis wards and prison disciplinary tribunals.

"THE NEW ASYLUMS": this PBS Frontline film starkly portrays how society has failed the mentally ill will be aired on Four Corners Monday night June 20, 2005 at 8:30 PM (AEST).

Basic Description of Mental Illness:

Any of various conditions characterised by impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioural functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors, such as infection or head trauma. Also called emotional illness, mental disease, mental disorder.

Basic Description of Mental Retardation:

Mental retardation is defined differently than mental illness. Retardation is indicated by sub-normal intellectual development as a result of congenital causes, brain injury, or disease and characterised by any of various cognitive deficiencies, including impaired learning, social, and vocational ability. Also called mental deficiency.

Common Mental Illnesses of Prisoners, including of Prisoners on Death Row: Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia, Suicide.

By ACADP posted 17 June 05

******************************************
AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
© ACADP Incorporated ¨
******************************************
The Premier Australian Internet
Resource on Capital Punishment

Related:

Submission to Senate: Inquiry into Mental Health 2005
We appreciate that the urgent issues of Human Rights and other abuses including institutionalisation and the use of force, and the lack of progress on Burdekin are being examined by the Committee.

Mental Treatment and Pharmacy Profit $$$$$
Mentally ill patients are being kept in solitary confinement within maximum security NSW prisons as punishment, against the most basic principles of human rights law.

'Killing Rational' and Prisoner Control in NSW
Dear Justice Action, I'm writing to you regarding xxxx, he has rung me a few times in the past weeks and has been drugged to the max, he rang today twice and could hardly speak to me, he said he was going to ring you and talk to you about it but he couldn't so I told him I would get in contact with you and see what you could do! He has told them he doesn't want the sedatives but they hold him down and give it to him anyway, they have drugged him 4 times in the last 2 days he said.

Mental Health Tribunal recommendations on forensic inmates
Below is the answer we have received from the Minister for Health regarding prisoners recommended for parole or release by the Mental Health Tribunal FYI

Death in custody: In memory of Scott Simpson
Scott Simpson 34 died in custody on 7 June 2004 leaving behind a child. It is alleged that he hanged himself in a segregation yard at Long Bay Prison Complex. Justice Action has reasons to believe that Scott had been mistreated from the time he was taken into custody and the subsequent events that ensued that led to his sad death. We think that his treatment may well have caused his death.

Doctor Ron Woodham I presume?
"Corrections Health staff provide medical care. However, its staff's authority is essentially limited to making recommendations to corrective services on treatment. Corrective services staff can then decide what treatment can be given."

Isolation, psychiatric treatment and prisoner' control
The 2003 NSW Corrections Health Service (now Justice Health) Report on Mental Illness Among NSW Prisoners states that the 12 month prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in prison is 74%, compared to 22% in the general community, and while this includes substance disorder the high rate cannot be attributed to that alone.

Call for royal commission into NSW prison health system
Mr Tony Ross a social justice activist said yesterday that a royal commission into the health system in NSW should be wide reaching to ensure that the Corrections Health Service is also exposed because of reported widespread cover ups in the prisons health system.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

Escape proof but not so the prisoners mind
Fewer prisoners escape from prison these days because they're "cemented in" by materials that do not break and by legislation that can keep prisoners in jail until they die.

Carr's Castle the real story H.R.M.U.The High Risk Management Unit Goulburn Correctional Centre. A prisoner writes, " I was unsuccessful in my letters to Dr Matthews CEO of the Corrections Health Service on my problem regarding air - claustrophobic effect the cells have on me. Just recently the management decided my injuries are not seriously affecting me so no further discussions are necessary.

Risdon prisoners' seize prison to protest mistreatment
Apparently one prisoner had been mistreated and held in isolation in an SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) [Solitary Confinement] because, he'd had and altercation with a screw. SHUs cause severe mental harm - regarded as torture - and are a cruel, inhumane and degrading way to keep prisoners.

No Safe Place
In a brief four month span from August 1999, five men died in Tasmania's Risdon prison. Their deaths have put the state's corrections system in the dock and led to the planned demolition of a jail which even the State's Attorney-General now calls an "appalling facility".

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

Corrected or Corrupted
A psychiatrist from the prison Mental Health Team attached to Queensland Health made the comment that 25 per cent of inmates suffer from a diagnosed mental illness.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison
The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

Justice Action: Access to our community
NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

Overhaul Department of Justice: Reform Group
WA: The Prison Reform Group of WA is calling for a complete overhaul of the Department of Justice following recent events which have compromised its integrity, placing prison staff, prisoners, their families and the community, at risk. We call for the Minister to publicly apologise for last week's debacle which has seen the public badly let down by the Department of Justice yet again.

Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.

2nd Renaissance - Beyond Industrial Capitalism and Nation States Some Practicalities Of Emptying The Prisons [287] Given the importance that prisons and punishment have in maintaining control of increasingly restless populations, the task of achieving the release of the people in the jails and the closure of those institutions, seems daunting. But it is so vital to the 2nd Renaissance that we must find ways to do it.

OHIO: Appeals court tosses death sentence for U.S.-British citizen

In Cincinnati, a federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the conviction and death sentence of a man with dual U.S.-British citizenship who was convicted of killing a 2-year-old girl by starting a fire in his ex-girlfriend's apartment.

A 3-judge panel of 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kenneth T. Richey received incompetent legal counsel and ordered the state of Ohio to retry him within 90 days or release him.

Richey, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted of killing Cynthia Collins, who died in 1986 in a fire at her mother's apartment in the northwest Ohio town of Columbus Grove. Prosecutors said Richey intended to kill his ex girlfriend but ended up killing the child.

The case received wide attention in Great Britain, where filmmakers produced two documentaries questioning Richey's guilt. British citizens and politicians have written thousands of letters to news organizations and government offices to protest his conviction.

Amnesty International sought a new trial for Richey, and one member of Britain's Parliament visited Richey on death row in Mansfield last year and asked Gov. Bob Taft to review the case.

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro, said lawyers were reviewing the ruling to determine whether to appeal. State attorneys could ask the full circuit court or the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.

Did you know?

"Had Kenny accepted any of the plea-bargains he was offered, he would have been released well in time to have celebrated the new millenium in freedom.

The only reason not to, is that he won't admit to something he didn't do - he is stubborn in that respect." KRC - The Official Kenny Richey Campaign

By Kay Lee posted 28 January 05

Shared by Kay Lee kaylee1@charter.net

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Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.

US Empire Votes For Pre-Emptive War!!!

Kerry calls Bush to concede defeat

SENATOR JOHN KERRY ASKED WAR CRIMINAL GEORGE W BUSH TO TAKE A WALK, TO TAKE A WALK, JUST A LITTLE WALK, DOWN BESIDE WHERE THE WATERS FLOW, DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE OLD OHIO.

United States President war criminal, George Dubya Bush has been re-elected, winning four more years to press his war on liberty at home and resources in the Middle East after a bitter campaign against Democrat John Kerry that focused on the US empire's role as - imperialists - initiating, pre-war plans, false flag Reichstag, 911, pre-emptive war on the sovereign nations of Afghanistan and Iraq - without the United Nations approval and in direct contravention of International law - and subsequently committing occupations, genocide,  maiming, rendition, secret prisons and torture.

Senator Kerry called Bush to concede the country's first presidential contest since the devastating USA, CIA Reichstag 911 three years ago after holding out for hours in the vain hope he could pull out a miracle win in the pivotal state of Ohio.

His gesture produced a relatively smooth denouement to a close contest that gave every sign of ending up like the 2000 debacle that went to the US Supreme Court before Bush was declared the winner.

But this year, war criminal Bush won by a bigger margin, capturing a majority of the popular vote for the first time and spearheading a successful Republican drive to expand the party's control of both houses of Congress.

GEORGE BUSH ONLY SAY THAT YOU`LL BE MINE IN NO OTHERS TERMS WILL YOU FIND, DOWN BESIDE WHERE THE WATERS FLOW, DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE OLD OHIO.

War criminal, Bush, 58, is to speak later on Wednesday but his chief of staff, Andrew Card, appeared before cheering supporters around dawn to proclaim his victory "a strong endorsement of President Bush by his fellow Americans".

After four tumultuous years at the country's helm, Bush was sure to claim a mandate for his anti-liberty, resource war drive - controversial, lies, imperialism, pre-war plans, pre-emptive strikes on sovereign nation states - war, occupations, maiming, rendition, secret prisons and torture - and imprisonment in Iraq and around the world - and a range of domestic policies from tax cuts to limits on stem-cell research.

The Republican's triumph came after eight months and a billion dollars of acrimonious campaigning that turned on Iraq and who could better keep the country living in fear and thinking it was safe as long as the smoking gun, war criminal, George Dubya Bush had control of the media in the US empire?

Voters were said to have chosen between who could better keep the country safe from a repeat of the, USA, CIA, false flag Reichstag, 911 onslaught.  To do that you have to have control of the media to be able to produce the propaganda that obviously has deluded mainstream America.

THEY HELD AN ELECTION AGAINST THEIR FEARS AND INTO DUBYA'S ARMS THE VOTERS PRESSED, SOME CRIED, "OH, GEORGE, DON`T MURDER ME, I`M NOT PREPEARED FOR ETERNITY."

Either that or the majority of the USA are simply barbarians who are prepared to kill, maim, mistreat and torture anyone who has the other two thirds of resources they need to maintain their status quo, greed, and ignorance towards the rest of the world including International law and human rights standards.

Exit polls showed Bush's strategy of boosting his own leadership credentials as a "war president" bore fruit among the more than 110 million Americans who cast ballots.

Eighty-five percent of those who voted for the President said they did so because of his leadership skills and ability to deal with terrorism, according to the surveys cited in US newspapers. [?]

Bush won the popular vote 51-48 per cent with a 3.5 million-vote margin, a sweet reversal of 2000 when he lost the nationwide tally to Democrat Al Gore but took a decisive majority of electoral votes awarded in separate state contests.

The Republicans also scored big in the US Congress, poised to add up to four seats to the 51 they already controlled in the 100-member Senate.

Among the prominent Democrats to fall was leader Tom Daschle.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans were also set to add at least five seats to the 227 they held in the outgoing 435-member body.

The majority, [allegedly], vindicated Bush in the USA, but you can forget about the rest of the world because war criminals regardless of their followers are never ever vindicated for their war crimes against humanity. After a second four-year term in the White House when more and more people become directly affected in the USA history will judge the war criminals no doubt!

GEORGE ONLY SAY THAT YOU`LL BE MINE IN NO OTHERS TERMS WILL YOU FIND, DOWN BESIDE WHERE THE WATERS FLOW, DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE OLD OHIO.

The majority also gave Bush a leg up on his father, former president, war criminal, George HW Bushit, who lasted only one term.

The younger Bush, a born-again murderer, had sought a mandate to complete what he said was unfinished work after his CIA false flag Reichstag 911.

The devastating CIA false flag Reichstag a few months into his term, [allegedly], turned Bush into an avenging war criminal, spearheading a "with me or against me" drive against global liberty and resources that sent US militants rumbling into Afghanistan and Iraq.

"If America shows any uncertainty or any weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy," he said in his signature line on the campaign trail. "This is not going to happen on my watch."

GEORGE STARTED HOME `TWEEN TWELVE AND ONE, HE CRIED, "MY GOD, I HAVE ONE? BUT KILLED THE ONLY COUNTRY SOME IN THE USA LOVED, BECAUSE SHE WOULD BE HIS BRIDE."

This line served him well in the battle against Senator Kerry, a decorated Vietnam war veteran he managed to paint as a weak-kneed waffler on defence, [war], and trump in the polls on the key question of national security even though Bush himself had never been exposed to the horror of war first hand and therefore could not possibly fully understand the implications of his foreign policy especially on Iraq.

But Bush will start a new chapter in his tenure at the White House dealing with a nation deeply divided over the Iraq war, which also alienated many US, allies abroad, and several other issues.

But for the second straight time, a US presidential election foundered, at least temporarily, on the archaic US system based on 538 electoral votes that are awarded in separate state contests.

The candidates and officials of both parties had been hoping to avoid a replay of the 2000 debacle, when Bush won only after a 36-day legal battle over a recount in Florida.

Bush won the state by 537 votes.

In this election's end, the outcome came down to Ohio and its 20 electors. Two stations called the state for Bush, one said it was to close to call and two others had no judgment.

The Kerry campaign refused to concede the state until Wednesday morning after considering the potential impact of thousands of Ohio's provisional ballots, which are kept aside while their validity is determined.

GEORGE ONLY SAY THAT YOU`LL BE MINE IN NO OTHERS TERMS WILL YOU FIND, DOWN BESIDE WHERE THE WATERS FLOW, DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE OLD OHIO.

By Gregory Kable & Joan Baez 4 November 04

Related:

The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820 consists of 15,000 pages of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century.

Kerry's 'amazing journey' draws to a close
US: Democratic challenger John Kerry has reflected on an "amazing journey" as he cast his vote in the US election. Senator Kerry says he is very confident he has made the case for new US leadership.

Who's counting the dead in Fallujah? CARE?
In distress: CARE says it is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of Mrs Hassan. But who's counting the dead in Fallujah?

Sydney Peace Prize winner urges Iraqi resistance!!!!!!
"One wasn't urging them to join the Medhi army [in Iraq] but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be a non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation," she said.

Iraqi civilian deaths put at 100,000
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led invasion last year, according to public health experts who estimate there were 100,000 "excess deaths" in 18 months.

British militants take up 'badlands' position in Iraq
Sixty-eight British militants have died in combat and from other causes, including accidents, since the war began, compared with more than 1,100 Americans and at least 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

BBC news boss slams US media bias
The head of the BBC's news operations has accused United States media organisations of being overly patriotic in their coverage of the lead-up to the Iraq war.

Resistance in Iraq want Japanese militants to leave
Allegedly, resistance in Iraq has threatened to behead a Japanese hostage it said worked with Japanese forces in Iraq, if Tokyo does not withdraw its forces from the country within 48 hours.

Australia, Iraq US puppet work for Hassan's release
Margaret Hassan ... her kidnap is the result of the illegal and degrading war on Iraq and the subsequent occupation, genocide, maiming and torture of a sovereign nation.

Freed journalist denies he ignored advice
Australia: Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says an SBS journalist detained by militants in Iraq was in an area of Baghdad to which he was advised not to travel.

Australia's Baghdad embassy to be moved
He says the embassy is currently located several kilometres from that area and security provided by Australian troops is "adequate".

Why is war-torn Iraq giving $190,000 to Toys R Us?
If that seems backwards, it's because it is. Iraqis have never been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently called "illegal". Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations for crimes committed by their former dictator.

Iraq war protesters take to London streets
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of central London to protest against the Iraq war as Prime Minister Tony Blair struggles to shake-off fierce criticism of the invasion.

Blast hits cafe near Iraqi Australian embassy
A loud explosion has rocked a cafe frequented by Iraqi militia near the Australian embassy in Baghdad, according to witnesses.

US launches air bombing on Fallujah
US planes raided the Iraqi town of Fallujah killing five people and wounding 16. US warplanes have launched sustained and fierce attacks on the Iraqi town of Fallujah, witnesses said.

500,000 Iraqis may be in mass graves?
Satire: Baghdad, Iraq - Fatima Al-Zahra is believed to have up the ante and said Saddam Hussein's government buried as many as 500,000 opponents in 300 mass graves that dot the Iraqi landscape.

Five killed as US militants clash with resistance
United States warplanes have dropped a huge bomb on the Iraqi city of Fallujah after US marines clashed with resistance on the eastern fringes of the Sunni Muslim bastion.

Weapons inspectors missed WMD in Iraq
An Iraqi minister has said United Nations nuclear inspectors are welcome to return in response to concerns of an "apparent systematic dismantlement" of Saddam Hussein's once-vigorous nuclear program.

US accused of breaching international law
The United States is violating international law by holding prisoners in its war on terror incommunicado and in secret hiding places, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be published on Tuesday calling for an end to such practices.

Observers endorse Afghan election despite complaints
International observers in Afghanistan have endorsed the nation's first, [alleged], democratic election despite, [pre-emptive strikes on the Sovereign Nation, subsequent occupation, genocide, maiming, torture and a puppet government, as well as], irregularities that caused several candidates to boycott the poll. The, [alleged], voter enthusiasm for Saturday's first democratic poll in Afghanistan was, [allegedly], formidable.[?]

Kerry attacks Bush's Middle East policy
The US Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry, has slammed, [war criminal], President George W Bush's Middle East policy, saying democracy cannot be imposed on foreign nations.

Bloodshed continues as Rumsfeld visits Iraq
Two blasts have killed up to 18 people, including an American, [militant], in Baghdad, hours before US Defence, [War], Secretary, [War Criminal], Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq to gauge efforts to calm violence ahead of January elections?

US votes against the draft
The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have brought back compulsory militant service. The measure sought to require Americans aged between 18 and 26 to perform two years of national service.

Gaddafi joins calls for British hostage's release
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has added his voice to calls for the release of British engineer Ken Bigley, who was kidnapped by resistance in Iraq last month. He also called on the, [war criminal], British Government to use its influence to persuade Iraqi and the, [war criminal], United States authorities to free a number of Iraqi prisoners, in line with the, [resistance], demands.

HOWARD NO REMORSE!
Australian caretaker Prime Minister, [war criminal], John Howard 'a rodent type' does not need to apologise for the illegal and degrading war in Iraq despite a new report that has found Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the US-led invasion.

IRAQ: `Things are definitely not improving'
It's been a frequent refrain of US officials that Washington is winning its counter-insurgency war in Iraq. "It's very important for the people of the world really to know that we are winning, we are making progress in Iraq. We are defeating terrorists." In this case, however, it was US-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi who made the claim.

Nothing fair about more lies, fear, terror and war!
Who's going to be sacrificed? for HoWARd's illegal and degrading war in Iraq and Australia's current foreign policies that are morally bankrupt?

Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite denials
The United States, Australia and Britain started to plan the invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, according to a report Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document.

UN warns of Iraqi malnutrition
One in four Iraqis are dependent on food rations to survive and many of them have to sell what little food they have for basic necessities like medicine and clothes, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said.

Jordan's king doubts Iraqi elections possible
Iraq is far too unsafe to hold elections as scheduled in January and extremists would do well in the poll if Baghdad tried to hold it, Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview. Excluding troubled areas from the nationwide poll would only isolate Iraq's Sunnis and create deeper divisions in the country, he said.

British hostage pleads with Blair to save his life?
A video, [allegedly], posted on an Islamic web site and allegedly recorded by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq has shown British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, pleading to, war criminal, Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life.

Annan tells world leaders to respect law
United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan has made an impassioned plea to bring about the rule of law across the globe today. Mr Annan told world leaders to respect international law at home and abroad.

CO-OFFENDERS DO NOT REBUFF UN ON 'ILLEGAL WAR'
The 'coalition of the killing's' complicities - the US, Britain and Australia - have insisted that their countries' military action in Iraq was legal after they have committed war crimes against humanity.

Iraq war illegal, says Annan
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says the United States decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was "illegal". Australia was a key supporter of the war on Iraq and sent troops to join the United States-led invasion last year.

Bush team 'knew of abuse' at Guantanamo
Evidence of prisoner abuse and possible war crimes at Guantanamo Bay reached the highest levels of the Bush administration as early as autumn 2002, but Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, chose to do nothing about it, according to a new investigation.

Australia will not Save Your Soul
The Federal Government will not Save Australian Soul's? Even if they're an innocent bystander caught up in it. Despite a group claiming to have kidnapped two Australian security guards? The alleged group, which allegedly calls itself the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army, allegedly has given the, war criminal, Prime Minister John Howard 24 hours to end Australia's involvement in Iraq.

World wants Bush out: poll
The world wants United States President, [war criminal], George W Bush out of the White House, according to a poll that shows in 30 of 35 countries people preferred Democrat candidate John Kerry.

Free Speech Free Speech "New York Style" Eight Blocks to Go !
The opening day of the Republican National Convention. Rudy Giuliani, New York City's beloved mayor, spoke. Giuliani disappointed me, although that shouldn't surprise anyone. He spoke about the Iraq war as if it were part of the War on Terror. Speaking with Bill Hemmer, he spoke of the Iraq war as if it were the War on Terror.

Anti-Bush rally hits New York streets
More than 100,000 people have marched through New York on the eve of the Republican National Convention, protesting against President George W Bush and the war in Iraq.

TIDE? OR IVORY SNOW?: Public Power in the Age of Empire
When language has been butchered and bled of meaning, how do we understand "public power"? When freedom means occupation, when democracy means neo-liberal capitalism, when reform means repression, when words like "empowerment" and "peacekeeping" make your blood run cold - why, then, "public power" could mean whatever you want it to mean. A biceps building machine, or a Community Power Shower. So, I’ll just have to define "public power" as I go along, in my own self-serving sort of way.

Najaf clashes stretch hospital to the limit
Some stroke victims are too afraid of the fighting to go to hospital, doctors don't have the medical instruments to save many victims of mortar bombs and snipers and ambulances cannot get to patients at night. Najaf's main hospital can barely cope with the chaos gripping the city of 500,000 after three weeks of battles between resistance Shiite's and US militants.

Journalists ordered to leave Najaf as fighting continues
Journalists have been kicked out of Najaf as clashes flared in the Iraqi city, prompting speculation that a major United States-led assault on resistance Shiite fighters was imminent.

Enemy Mortars attack opening of Iraqi summit
US Enemies have fired mortars at a meeting where Iraqi puppet government leaders met to pick an interim national assembly, killing at least two people.

Howard's war crimes, Turnbull, at least he's honest
HIGH-profile Liberal candidate Malcolm Turnbull has told voters the Iraq invasion was "an unadulterated error".

Alexanda Downer guilty of war crimes!
The agreement for going to war on Iraq carried with it and incentive and that was free trade with the US. The Howard Government knew about it and went along with it with the US under the guise of Iraq's WMDs. In criminal law this is commonly know as collusion to commit a crime.

John Howard's war crimes blameworthy
General Peter Gration is the spokesman for a group of 43 ex-military leaders, diplomats and departmental heads who have criticised the Government, saying involvement in Iraq has put Australia at greater risk of a terrorist attack.

Human Rights Watch slams Iraq war attacks
Human Rights Watch has condemned the 'wanton' targeting of civilians by 'armed militants', in Iraq. Then what about the Coalition of the Killing?

Genocide and Torture in Iraq: Justice in the balance?
No one is more vulnerable than a prisoner held beyond the reach of the law. So the grim picture of life as a US detainee, [prisoner], held without charge or trial, set out in the Guardian yesterday by three Britons should come as no surprise.

Auditor Generals damning war report
The Defence Department computer system upgrade has cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in a gigantic bungle, according to the Federal Opposition. The Commonwealth auditor-general has issued a damning report into the project.

Truck drivers working for US face death: resistance
A lot has been written about Insurgents they're all over the place these days especially in Iraq and the term means "Rebel" so all the Rebel's once they've been locked up and "tortured" become "Enemy Combatants" without any "rights". Can someone explain to me what is going on?

Ancient Babylon ruined by foreign troops: Iraqi minister
Iraq: Foreign forces in Iraq have caused severe damage to the site of ancient Babylon, one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, and need to leave the area as soon as possible, Iraq's Culture Minister Mofeed al-Jazaeri said.

UK report propaganda
Damaged basic services, cover up of key intelligence and prisoner abuse........They got that right but they got the remedy of the report wrong. Sure as hell they're using this as serious "propaganda".

Iraqis accuse British troops of war crimes.........
British troops committed "war crimes" in post-war Iraq, unlawfully killing civilians and beating and torturing prisoners in their custody, lawyers for the victims have alleged. Soldiers played cruel "games" with prisoners, forcing them to recite lists of English or Dutch footballers and beating them if they failed, Phil Shiner, a British lawyer leading six test cases in the High Court this week, said.

Fifteen "resistance" killed in Iraq shootout
The US military said insurgents opened fire on Iraqi security forces as they provided security for the 1st Infantry Division during a raid in a nearby farming area.

US:Military Draft expected
US: There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.

US accused of butting into Australian election
The Prime Minister, war criminal, John Howard couldn't win an election this year if he hired the cheerleaders of the US Super Bowl. Howard the coward has accused the Opposition leader of hypocrisy in his response to the, war criminal. Bush administration's criticism of Labor's Iraq policy.

Whatcha Gonna Do, When They Come For You? Bad boy!
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a threat and sought to possess weapons of mass destruction, United States President, [war criminal], George W Bush reaffirmed when asked why no such weapons had been discovered in Iraq.

Saddam trial US propaganda
Saddam will be handed over to Iraqi, [puppet], justice on Wednesday, two days after the country allegedly regained sovereignty from Washington, but US militants will still guard him to ensure he does not escape.

US liars warn against 'fortress Australia'
The US and Australia could lose the war on terror, [the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East], if they adopted a fortress mentality and failed to go after the terrorists, [scapegoats and patsies], in their global strongholds, US ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer warned yesterday.

Fahrenheit 9/11: Cannes ends in controversy
Moore's film - about the, [war criminal], George Bush presidency and its response to, [US reichstag, call to arms, false flag], 9/11 and the subsequent, [resource], wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - pulls no punches in depicting George W. as a duplicitous buffoon.

George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes
My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know; no, the kindest, gentlest human being I have ever known. He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun. Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him.

IRAQ: CPT Colleagues Describe Massacre in Fallujah
What is portrayed in the US mass media as a grand and heroic firefight is,in reality, the crassest, goriest, and basest single incident of massacre of innocents by US troops in recent memory.

Lose the Occupation and Win the War on Liberty!
Friendly allies do pull militants out of illegal battles, believe it or not, under the heading, lose the battle and win the war. In this case it's lose the Occupation and Win the War on Liberty.

Spain demands 'radical change' in Iraq strategy
Spain's prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has demanded a "radical change" in the post-war strategy in Iraq otherwise he would withdraw Spanish militants from the country.

'FACTOPHOBIA' HOWARD, BLAIR AND BUSH
Well think about this! Australia's intelligence agencies, [fear mongering, propaganda agencies], look set to receive a substantial funding boost in this year's Federal Budget, with the Prime Minister saying it is an obvious step to take.

US to increase Iraq border security in Iraq
Just plain rubbish, the USA are the terrorists and are dividing and conquering Iraq, by attacking the Shiite Muslims and blaming it on someone else another "A" typical false flag operation.

Halliburton's Ancient Scandals
In the world of corporate scandals, the story breaks, there is a frenzy of reportage, a culprit in the lower levels of upper management is thrown to the SEC and then, slowly, the story dies.

Missile defence program 'will lead to arms race'
A group of Australian doctors opposed to war is warning national security will be compromised by any proposed involvement in the United States' missile defence program 'Son of a bitch'..

Pope calls for sanctions on leaders who violate rights
Leader of the child molesters, Pope John Paul II has called for political leaders who violate human rights to be punished, in a World Day of Peace message released amid worldwide debate over how Saddam Hussein should be brought to justice.

War criminals should be tried: Human Rights
The UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague should try George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard for their part in the coalition of the killing for crimes against humanity.

Who cares wins? Those who inflict or those who endure?
When occupation means war then who cares wins? Not those who can inflict the most, but those who can endure the most, I would have thought.

Coalition of the Killing's alliance against law 'the wrong way'
Australia and Britain [and the Coalition of the Killing], could have agreed that the [resource], wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, and liberty, the proliferation of Security Housing Units, and Detention Centres, can be addressed unilaterally - a trend in the US that is feared all over the world - but must be faced collectively.

A STRUGGLE ON TWO FRONTS: PRISONS & IMPERIALIST WAR
After a war waged by the U.S. military against Vietnam which took the lives of more than 3 million Vietnamese people and more than 58,000 GIs, the U.S. finally withdrew in 1975. It had suffered its first official major military defeat by a united people struggle led by the Vietnamese, along with a mass U.S. anti-war movement.

Police surround protesters outside US Embassy
Thousands of protesters have marched to the Lodge to protest against [war criminal], US President George W Bush's visit. The protesters had rallied outside Parliament House, booing when the president arrived this morning and chanting "go home Bush you war criminal".

David Burchell: Paradox of anti-Americanism
[War criminal] President George W. Bush's trip to our shores today has focused attention on a striking fact - the apparently irresistible rise in hostility among many Australians towards the US.

Pilger said White House knew Saddam was no threat
Australian investigative journalist John Pilger says he has evidence the war against Iraq was based on a lie which could cost George W Bush and Tony Blair their jobs and bring Prime Minister John Howard down with them.

Illegal and degrading war crimes: Society on the New World Order (OWN)! While Australia and the US are very distinctive societies war criminal, Prime Minister John Howard and war criminal, President George Bush share core values.

Thousands march for peace! But does that mean no war?
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets around the country yesterday to march against the war in Iraq and for world peace.

US disturbed over 'biased' reporting in Arab media! But the US lies to the world! How could anyone describe pre-emptive strikes on a sovereign nation, occupation, genocide, torture, and human rights abuse by the Coalition of the Killing in a positive light?

Coalition force 'surprised' by stiff resistance for food aid
About 4,000-5,000 allied forces have launched what they vowed would be an all-out blitz. "We're going straight through that city," a US Marine officer, who asked not to be named, said. "It will be a Hail Mary with guns ablazing."

Explosions rock Baghdad, jets overhead Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 20 [Rooters] A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn today as jets roared overhead, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded.

Bin Laden calls? CIA blind man's bluff!
A [US propaganda, fear-mongering] taped message purportedly from Osama bin Laden has warned Arab nations against supporting a war against Iraq but has branded Saddam Hussein an infidel.

U.S. AMBASSADOR WARNED TO STOP MEDDLING:
The Australian Federal Opposition and Labor Party Leader, Simon Crean, has again warned the U.S. ambassador to stop meddling in Australian politics.

War: Part one The human cost
On the road to Basra, ITV was filming wild dogs as they tore at the corpses of the Iraqi dead. Every few seconds a ravenous beast would rip off a decaying arm and make off with it over the desert in front of us, dead fingers trailing through the sand, the remains of the burned military sleeve flapping in the wind. "Just for the record,'' the cameraman said to me. Of course. Because ITV would never show such footage.

Mandela speaks out against Bush, Blair
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has lashed out at US President George W Bush's stance on Iraq, saying the US leader has no foresight, and cannot think properly.

All the way with (LPK) Love Peace and Kindness: Dalai Lama
Communication is a two way street. Threats and punishment solve nothing and serve none. In fact it is against the law in most countries to threaten or punish a person.

Pleas for peace ring the globe
Anti-war demonstrators turned out in their hundreds of thousands around the world on Saturday to protest against United States military preparations for an invasion of Iraq.

Not too late for Iraq peace, Blix says
But we all know that's rubbish now. The Coalition of the Killing were not seeking WMD in Iraq, they were there for their resource wars. So who gave the 'UN' and Blix the wrong information back then? War criminals!

George Bush's other poodle
John Howard, Australia's PM, is the mouse that roars for America, whipping his country into war fever and paranoia about terrorism within.

OHIO: Judges join dissent on execution delay

Lewis Williams - his attorneys argued that he was mentally retarded, was executed by lethal injection on Jan. 14 2004 in Lucasville, Ohio at age 45.

In Columbus, 5 federal appeals court judges say a convicted killer's request to delay his execution was illegally denied because 2 senior judges participated in the vote.

4 judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday added their names to a 5th judge's dissenting opinion in the case of condemned inmate, [prisoner], Lewis Williams, executed Wednesday in Lucasville. Federal law allows senior judges to participate in a vote by the full court only if the judges participated in the initial panel ruling on the same case, said the 5 judges.

Judge Eric Clay was the first to call the vote illegal, in an opinion Tuesday as the court ruled against blocking Williams' execution.

Williams, 45, struggled with guards and pleaded for help until the end Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was sentenced to death for shooting a Cleveland woman in a 1983 robbery.

The 4 judges who added their names Thursday: Boyce Martin of Louisville; Martha Craig Daughtrey of Nashville, Tenn.; Karen Nelson Moore of Cleveland; and Guy Cole of Columbus. (source: Cincinnati Enquirer)

Expanded viewing of executions increases accountability

The disturbing mental images created by witness descriptions of Wednesday's execution of Lewis Williams clearly requires Ohio prison officials to revisit a recent decision.

Under pressure from the ACLU to allow witnesses to view the entire proceedings leading up to executions, the state changed its policies for Williams' execution, the 9th since Ohio resumed death sentences.

Those opposed to the death penalty wanted greater access to view the condemned as they are brought to the execution chamber, prepared for their lethal injection and strapped into the bed. In the past, curtains were drawn until the inmate, [prisoner], was restrained and prepared to offer a final statement.

Williams, who 'professed his innocence' until his final moments, was the first Ohio inmate, [prisoner], to struggle with the state's execution team, even gripping a door frame in an effort to delay his death. The scene disturbed everyone from public defenders to the prison's director, making one wonder if the ACLU got more than it bargained for.

State officials immediately began a probe to determine if Williams struggled more because of the increased public viewing or if he would have behaved in the same manner no matter what. Unfortunately, we'll never really know. [?]

[Or who 'professed his innocence' until his final moments?]

Either way, we see nothing wrong with the increased accountability the new policy provides. Ohio prison officials should welcome a chance to show how professionally they handle this difficult process.

By This Is Incredible posted 20 January 04

Related:

Mexico Awaits Hague Ruling on Citizens on U.S. Death Row
Sbaldo Torres, a convicted murderer on death row in Oklahoma, should have been dead by now, his appeals exhausted, his time up. But because 15 judges in The Hague, acting at the request of the government of Mexico, have forbidden his execution for now, he is alive in a cell in McAlester, awaiting the next move from the Netherlands.

Jury Passes On Business Of Killing
US: This drives the death penalty crowd in the legislature nuts. Yet another jury - another 12 men and women, tried and true, who had all attested to their belief in the death penalty - has refused to join in the killing business.

Ultimate Punishment: Dealing With the Death Penalty
Scott Turow has long juggled two careers‹that of a novelist and that of a lawyer. He wrote much of his first and best known legal thriller, Presumed Innocent, on the commuter train to and from work during the eight years he spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, and he has churned out another blockbuster every third year since joining the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in 1986.

Are you sane enough to be executed?
New York: The US Supreme Court has let stand a ruling by a federal appeals court in February that officials in the state of Arkansas had the right to force a convicted murderer to take drug treatment to make him sane enough to be executed.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty. Amnesty director Irene Khan has released a statement, which raps governments for carrying out "executions".

Port Lincoln Mayor has lost the plot!
Controversial Port Lincoln Mayor Peter Davis has called for drug addicts to be given a lethal injection to cut rising illicit drug use on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD: Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

There has been some debate whether: 'Capital punishment should be re-instated in Australia, since the terrible events that took place in Bali' In all democratic nations, every human being is considered innocent of any alleged crime, until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by a court of law. For this reason, certain safeguards must be used for capital punishment cases.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER
Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
" ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Supreme Court Justice Blocks Execution
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens blocked Indiana from putting to death its oldest death row inmate Tuesday to give the 71-year-old prisoner, who is partially deaf and blind, extra time to file federal appeals.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law
GEORGE RYAN, outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois a republican who leaves office today, has put US capital punishment on the road to oblivion by commuting the sentences of all 167 of the state's death row inmates. Three were re-sentenced to 40 years' jail and the remaining 164 got life without parole.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

LIFE SKILLS IN US PRISONS: SCA 8

California: On behalf of Senator John Vasconcellos, I am pleased to inform you he has authored and introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment (SCA) 8 pertaining to prisoners and asks for your support of this important legislation.

SCA 8 seeks to place a proposal on the ballot for the people of California to express themselves and make their own choice regarding how best to assure their public safety. This measure proposes to reform our corrections system to live up to its name, and to advance and assure the public safety of all Californians by attending to inmates in ways that hold the most promise for empowering them to cure, or at least curb, their dangerous ways upon their release from prison.

The primary purpose of the entire system of law enforcement and corrections should always be to promote the public safety of all Californians. However, our current system is profoundly failing - having a recidivism and failure rate of close to 70%.

Greater public safety will only be attainable when we better prepare our inmates to live constructive lives. Canada has in place a system which includes the provisions of this bill, and has a success rate of nearly 85% .Louisiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Maryland have all implemented portions of what is prescribed by this bill, and are having similar success rates.

Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio did a Tri-state longitudinal study on more than 3000 inmates who received curriculum to enhance their educational level (just one of the rehabilitative components of this legislation). There was a 23% reduction in recidivism with a showing that for every $1 spent on education, there was a $2 return in reduced prison costs.

SCA 8 would require, commencing January 1, 2005, the Director of the Department of Corrections to cause each person incarcerated in state prison, within 90 days of their entry, to be smartly evaluated with respect to his or her educational and vocational level of development and capacity, and with respect to his or her psychological level of development and ability to lead a constructive life.

Based on these evaluations, a program be prescribed and implemented for the inmate that addresses his or her deficient level of psychosocial, educational, and vocational development -- so as to better equip him or her to lead a constructive life upon release from prison so as to promote the public safety upon that person's release from prison. Please send your letters of support to our office for inclusion in upcoming committee hearings.

By Senator John Vasconcellos posted 29 April 03