Two Million Imprisoned = Too Many

On August 13, thousands of people from around the nation are expected to march in a "Journey for Justice" to our nation's capitol. Times have certainly changed since the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, but this year's march still has everything to do with what many view as institutionalized racism.

Lois Ahrens, a participant in the 1963 March and a local Journey for Justice organizer, hopes the march will "make the connections between the promise of that march and that movement for civil rights and mass incarceration."

The U.S. is the world's leading jailer, imprisoning around 22 percent of the world's prison population in spite of representing only around 4.6 percent of the world's population. Of black men in their 20s and 30s, one in eight is imprisoned in the U.S., compared to only one in 63 white men. Yet Justice Department statistics show that from 1994 to 2003, violent crime fell by over 33 percent and property crimes by 23 percent.

This year, family, friends and allies of the more than two million people in U.S. jails and prisons will convene to voice their opposition to what is known as the prison industrial complex (PIC) -- the ever-expanding web of relationships among institutions, individuals, and corporations that benefit from continued reliance on mass imprisonment.

Roberta Franklin, director of Family Members and Friends of People Incarcerated in Montgomery, Alabama, and her group are the main organizers of the march and have obtained sponsorship from over 70 other organizations in their fundraising efforts for the event. These include diverse prison reform groups targeting specific aspects of the criminal justice system, such as capital punishment, drug-related sentencing and juvenile justice.

The march has also secured sponsorship from groups with broader, more radical critiques of the PIC and the oppressive systems that drive it. These include groups with a long-term vision of a world without prisons, where everyone could thrive regardless of race, class, sexuality or gender.

This unprecedented alignment of organizers with politics ranging from liberal and progressive to radical and revolutionary speaks to widespread consensus on the severity of the current crisis of imprisonment.

Despite all this, the U.S. continues to push "tough on crime" rhetoric and invest in punishment and surveillance rather than nurturing local communities that have survived years of systemic oppression on the basis of race, class, sexuality and gender. This means that the mass imprisonment of communities of color and poor communities of all races only exacerbates existing inequities by taking loved ones away from families and communities.

Challenging mass imprisonment can be a tough sell even in leftist and progressive crowds, so opportunities like the "Journey for Justice" are important steps in amplifying these common demands to end imprisonment as the primary response to poverty and a lack of mental health care or effective responses to addiction.

But as with any social movement of activists who share deep concern about an issue, this one also harbors internal contradictions between those who seek "damage control" -- prison reformists -- and those who seek to challenge root causes driving the problem -- prison abolitionists. Enabling reformists and abolitionists to engage with each other allows them to focus on the common goals.

Reform and Abolition

Abolitionism is grounded in a vision of radical social and cultural transformation in building a world beyond the PIC. Prison abolitionists have been critiqued by reformists for prioritizing concerns with systemic harm experienced by groups of people -- for instance, institutionalized or state violence like policing and prisons and economic violence -- over harm experienced by individuals, as in incidences of interpersonal violence. Reformists also criticize abolitionists for prioritizing political theory over the actual conditions faced by people in prison.

Abolitionists, on the other hand, reproach reformists abolitionists for emphasizing conditions of confinement in the here-and-now at the expense of a longer-term vision of what a safer world without cages would actually look like. Abolitionists have thus argued that reformist efforts have historically failed to address the root causes underlying the PIC.

When it comes to day-to-day work, the lines between abolitionist and reformist strategies are certainly not black and white. Anti-prison and prison reform activists often easily agree on the need to offer drug programs, employment opportunities, affordable housing and mental health care, all of which would drastically reduce our nation's prison populations.

But many reformist efforts that at one time seemed necessary or logical have caused anti-prison and prison reform activists to evaluate whether these are causing more harm than good today. Reform efforts, for example, have historically advocated prisons tailored specifically to the daily needs of women. But such efforts have easily fed into arguments for bigger and "better" facilities -- and more of them.

It is true that most people who get locked up are convicted for nonviolent offenses, contrary to what the media and politicians would like us to think. But reformist rhetoric that uncritically accepts this divide between "deserving" nonviolent offenders and "undeserving" violent offenders only perpetuates the fundamental stories we are taught about safety and the need for continued punishment and confinement.

Projects that use such rhetoric stop short of questioning how the state constructs "crime" in response to poverty, institutionalized racism, heterosexism and gender oppression in order to disappear people whose lives are deeply impacted by these social problems.

Strengthening the movement

Anti-prison and prison reform activists and organizers have begun working to challenge mass imprisonment without undermining each other's preferred approach. Sitara Nieves, an organizer with Critical Resistance (CR), says that day-to-day organizing against the PIC at local and national levels provides opportunities to discuss how "fixing things a little bit is often subverted" and ends up strengthening the system. Zein El-Amine, who also organizes with CR, recognizes that engaging in these conversations is difficult. El-Amine says he has learned a lot from years of these often-heated debates. Today, he says that, "the way I personally work is to highlight abolition in the building process."

Palak Shah, editor of Defending Justice -- an activist resource kit published by the Political Research Associates to help "progressive activists understand and resist the Right, the State, and other forces" that contribute to the growing PIC -- agrees. Shah facilitated a series of workshops in conjunction with the recent release of Defending Justice. In each of these conversations, Shah says, it was "interesting to see how people respond to the abolitionist line. ...How you start talking about it is really important."

People in the anti-prison and prison reform movements have also begun carving out spaces specifically to dialogue with each other. For instance, the Progressive Communicators Network (PCN) recently sponsored its first Strategic Prison Reform and Abolition Communications Gathering. According to Alice do Valle, a member of PCN and the campaign coordinator at Justice Now, anti-prison and prison reform activists analyzed the potential harm and effectiveness of messaging currently used by their groups and movements. To do this, they examined whether groups' messages challenge or reinforce mainstream myths about the effectiveness and role of prisons.

This August's Journey for Justice provides yet another opportunity for the anti-prison and prison reform movements to reinforce each other. It also gives anyone concerned about the crisis of mass imprisonment a chance to support ending the suffering of people in prison today and abolishing the system in the long run.

Journey for Justice is scheduled for Saturday, August 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., starting at Lafayette Park on the north side of the White House. March participants will have the opportunity to meet each other ahead of time at a welcome reception at City Hall on Friday, August 12 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW, 1st Floor Foyer in Washington D.C.)

Vanessa Huang is a fellow at Justice Now, a human rights organization that works with women in prison to build a world without prisons.

By Vanessa Huang, WireTap Posted 5 August 05

WireTap

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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.

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.

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.

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 enemy 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.

Iraqi Women in the Occupation Prisons As Material and Means of Violations It is important to say at the beginning that there are many psychological, social and cultural obstacles for Iraqi women to talk openly about what they actually went through inside the occupation prisons.

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.

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 George W Bush reaffirmed when asked why no such weapons had been discovered in Iraq.

Saddam trial US propaganda
Saddam Hussein's trial will play an important part in the US election no doubt and for that to work at its potential just put a "women" behind it "She called the trials". Then add some "cleansing" like she's just doing the dishes and then some "reconciliation" by slaying Hussein during a US election. Now you can go and tell everyone you're reversing the trauma but really you're killing two birds with one Saddam.

The Mass Incarceration of the Mentally Ill

Prisons as Mental Institutions

U.S. prisons and jails, packed with over two million inmates [prisoners], hold many people that society would be wise to keep elsewhere. With state budgets bankrupted by the high costs of mass incarceration, the need to reconsider the draconian sentences meted out to nonviolent drug offenders has never been more obvious.

There is, moreover, another sizeable group of prisoners for which wholesale imprisonment is even less appropriate: the mentally ill. Prisoners with mental illness frequently endure violence, exploitation and extortion at the hands of other inmates [prisoners], and neglect and mistreatment by prison staff [guards.] Not only is the experience of imprisonment counter-therapeutic for such prisoners, many mental health experts believe that it dramatically increases their chances of psychiatric breakdown.

Despite good reasons to limit the incarceration of the mentally ill, the number of mentally ill people behind bars continues to grow. Over the past few decades, the country's prisons and jails have become its default mental health system. Somewhere between two and four hundred thousand mentally ill people are incarcerated, several times more than the number of people living in mental institutions.

The results, from a therapeutic, humanitarian, and human rights perspective, are appalling. "We are literally drowning in patients," explains one California prison psychiatrist, "running around trying to put our fingers in the bursting dikes, while hundreds of men continue to deteriorate psychiatrically before our eyes."

"Criminalizing" the Mentally Ill

The American Psychiatric Association, in a study published in 2000, concluded that as many as one in five prisoners was seriously mentally ill, with up to 5 percent being actively psychotic at any given moment. It also estimated that over 700,000 mentally ill people were processed through prison or jail each year. The mental disorders affecting these prisoners include such serious illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.

There are no national data on historical rates of mental illness among prisoners, but state information suggests that the proportion of mentally ill prisoners has grown significantly. Human Rights Watch, in a report published last week, traces this increase to the inadequacy of the country's mental heath services.

With the "deinstitutionalization" effort that began in the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of mentally ill men and women were released from state institutions. These people escaped grim conditions and sometimes brutal treatment. They largely did not, however, obtain proper care after their release. Rather than receiving continuing mental health treatment, thousands of mentally ill people were released to communities that had made little or no accommodation for their care.

While states cut funding for mental hospitals, they have not made commensurate increases in their budgets for community-based mental health services. Chronically underfunded, the country's mental health system does not reach anywhere near the number of people who need it today.

Left untreated and unstable, mentally ill people enter the criminal justice system when they break the law. And given the punitive criminal justice policies of the past few decades, they often face long stays behind bars.

Neglect and Abuse

In a series of chilling passages in its recent report, Human Rights Watch described the abuses endured by the mentally ill while incarcerated.

To begin with, few prisons or jails have sufficient numbers of trained staff to accommodate prisoners' mental health needs. As a result, many mentally ill prisoners go untreated, or receive treatment that is extremely limited in both quantity and quality.

From other prisoners, who label them "dings" or "bugs," the mentally ill are vulnerable to assault, sexual abuse, exploitation, and extortion. From security staff, who frequently dismiss their symptoms as faking or manipulation, they may face physical abuse and mental harassment. Human Rights Watch cited numerous cases of correctional officers who taunted mentally ill prisoners, deliberately provoked them, physically mistreated them, used force against them maliciously, or turned a blind eye to abuses against them by others.

Viewing mentally ill prisoners as difficult and disruptive, correctional staff also frequently place them in barren high-security solitary confinement units. In these small, sometimes windowless cells, these inmates are deprived of nearly all human interaction and face extremely limited mental stimulus.

In such harsh conditions, some mentally ill prisoners deteriorate so severely that they must be removed to hospitals for acute psychiatric care. But after their condition stabilizes, they are frequently returned to the same segregation units until the next psychiatric episode occurs.

The Need for Reform

The immeasurable human suffering caused by the mass incarceration of the mentally ill is not only inhumane, it is unnecessary. While some dangerous offenders must be confined to protect society, there are many low-level, nonviolent offenders with mental illness who could be safely diverted into community-based mental health treatment programs.

By reducing the overall number of mentally ill prisoners, such programs would also free up prison resources that could be used to remedy the generally low quality of prison mental health care.

Federal legislation is currently pending in Congress to institute such reforms. The bill, called the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, would provide federal grants to divert mentally ill offenders into treatment programs rather than prison or jail. It also allocates funding to improve the quality of prison and jail mental health services, and to establish discharge programs for mentally ill prisoners who are released.

It is a national shame that our prisons and jails serve as mental institutions. It reflects a lack of planning, a failure of public commitment, and a single-minded focus on punishment. The pending legislation represents a saner and more compassionate approach.

By JOANNE MARINER posted 31 October 03

Related:

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.

Report on State Prisons Cites Mental Illness
NEW YORK: Nearly one of every four New York State prisoners who are kept in punitive segregation [solitary confinement], confined to a small cell at least 23 hours a day are mentally ill, according to a new report by a nonprofit group that has been critical of state prison policies.

High court keeps alive case of prisoners held in solitary
NEW ORLEANS: The nation's highest court refused Monday to kill a lawsuit brought by two prisoners and an ex-prisoner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary who spent decades in solitary confinement.

US: Mentally Ill Mistreated in Prison More Mentally Ill in Prison Than in Hospitals (New York, October 22, 2003) Mentally ill offenders face mistreatment and neglect in many U.S. prisons, Human Rights Watch. "Prisons have become the nation's primary mental health facilities. But for those with serious illnesses, prison can be the worst place to be."

Shut down the Security Torture Units
San Francisco: October 18 In solidarity with other prison activist organizations, MIM, RAIL, the Barrio Defense Committee (BDC) and the Prison Reform Unity Project held a four hour rally in San Francisco demanding the Security Housing Units (SHUs) in California prisons be shut down.

Solitary Confinement: Mental illness in prisons
As noted earlier, inmates [prisoners] with mental illness are over represented in our toughest prison settings. Symptoms of mental illness (i.e., delays in response time, paranoia, difficulty interpreting the actions of others, command hallucinations, and so on) can make complying with prison rules difficult.

Post-Incarceration Sentences
Pat: "The 1990s brought a new front in the war on drugs, featuring a new layer of the Prison Industrial Complex, which has the effect of ensuring that people coming in contact with the criminal punishment system remain within the grasp of the Prison Industrial Complex even beyond prison walls."

Inside Prison, Outside the Law
Every year, tens of thousands of prisoners in state and federal custody are attacked. The exact number who die is difficult to determine: According to the nonprofit Criminal Justice Institute, in 2000, the most recent year for which figures have been compiled, 55 prisoners were murdered, 39 died "accidentally," and 118 died for unknown reasons.

Day Seven of the Fast for Freedom in Mental Health:
PASADENA, CALIF: On the seventh day of a hunger strike by six psychiatric survivors to oppose human rights violations in the mental health system, the American Psychiatric Association faces a direct and unprecedented challenge from a Scientific Panel of 14 academics and clinicians.

Supreme Court Justice Criticises Sentencing Guidelines
San Francisco, August 9, 2003, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said today that prison terms are too long and that he favours scrapping the practice of setting mandatory minimum sentences for some federal crimes.

US prison population 2.1 million
The US prison population grew more than twice as fast last year as in 2001, bringing the total number of people held behind bars in the United States to more than 2.1 million, a record, according to a government report.

McKean Federal Prison: An Alleged Model
McKean, a federal correctional institution [? prison], does everything that "make 'em bust rocks" politicians decry--imagine, educating inmates [prisoners]! And it works. [Allegedly works.]

Prisoners Justice Day Press Release (Montreal)
On August 10th, 1974, Eddie Nalon bled to death in a solitary confinement unit at Millhaven Maximum Security Prison near Kingston,Ontario when the emergency call button in his cell failed to work. An inquest later found that the call buttons in that unit had been deactivated by the guards.

Notebook of a Prison Abolitionist
In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass recalls how as a slave he would occasionally hear of the "abolitionists." He did not know the full meaning of the word at first, but he heard it used in ways that he found appealing.

Study Warns of Rising Tide of Released Prisoners
Washington: More than 625,000 former prisoners will be coming back into U.S. society this year, part of a record flow of prisoners who will face crushing obstacles in finding work and housing and repairing long-fractured family ties, according to a newly released study.

Incite Statement Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex
We call social justice movements to develop strategies and analysis that address both state AND interpersonal violence, particularly violence against women.

Second International Conference on Human Rights & Prison Reform
**This second gathering will be much smaller and more in depth in participation. A report on the human rights violation of discrimination in regard to prisoners will be produced. This report will be given to the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights which will be having its annual meeting near our conference and is the"think tank" for the human rights agenda of the United Nations.

Judged Forever- The Orange County Register
US: California's largest job-placement program for parolees will be shut down May 31 after an Orange County Register investigation found that ex-convicts were sent to questionable jobs [?] and that the state was charged for placements that did not occur. [? According to the ruling-class]

California Family Visiting Case
US: CALIFORNIA: Today (5/03/08) in Superior Court around twenty friends and family members of inmates from CSP Solano showed up to show their support in the Gordon vs. CA Department of Corrections (Case #322862) which deals with the subject of bringing back Family Visits to all inmates.

Prison Rates Among Blacks Reach a Peak, Report Finds
An estimated 12 percent of African-American men ages 20 to 34 are in jail or prison, according to a report released yesterday by the Justice Department.

Justices question prison visitation policies
WASHINGTON: In a case that could affect the visitation rights of millions of prisoners, Supreme Court justices on Wednesday struggled with the question of whether inmates have a constitutional right to visits with friends and family.

Inquiry told reforms will decimate Indigenous education

A Senate inquiry has been told the Federal Government's proposed higher education reforms will decimate education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The National Indigenous Postgraduate Association Aboriginal Corporation says Indigenous students will be the hardest hit by increases in student fees, interest on postgraduate loans and attacks on student representation.

The corporation's Peter Randoll gave evidence to a Senate hearing in Canberra last week.

He says the Government is offering minor incentives to Aboriginal students to compensate for a 30 per cent increase in fees for some courses.

"Those Commonwealth accommodation scholarships and the Commonwealth accommodation cost scholarships are a tokenistic payment to try and win over the Indigenous vote in terms of Indigenous education," he said.

"It's not going to, it's going to devastate and decimate Indigenous education if these go ahead."

By Equality 20 Oct 03

Related:

ANU ignores federal governments demands
The Australian National University has become the first institution to ignore Federal Government demands. Instead, 800 staff looked on yesterday as its Vice-Chancellor, Ian Chubb, signed a new Australian Workplace Agreement which gave them a 17.4 per cent pay rise over three years and 26.5 weeks paid maternity leave.

Community groups highlight poverty fight
Australia's political leaders are being asked to zero-in on poverty. It is Anti-Poverty Week and a consortium of community organisations will discuss ways of reducing hardships faced by people both in Australia and overseas.

Building Industry Bill condemned by the community
The Community has joined the building workers in support of their condemnation of the (Capitalists) Building Industry Bill. Mr United from Justice Action a social justice group told GKCNN, "This is a blatant attack on social justice by greedy capitalists who wish to dictate and lie to workers and the community." They want to put you in jail if you don't work with crummy conditions and wages". He said.

Social Services small change? Or wast the money on WAR!
Lone parents on [social services] average 12 years of benefits - and are often worse off if they work. But reforming the system is risky and often costly, Bettina Arndt explains.

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
Name removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

Unemployed farm postings would cost jobs: AWU
The Australian Workers Union has rejected a proposal to place work-for-the-dole participants on drought-affected rural properties.

Economy benefiting from non-profit institutions
Non-profit institutions are contributing $30 billion a year to Australia's economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found about a third of that comes from volunteers who worked free for more than 550 million hours in 1999/2000.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death
Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.

Democrats preferences split down the middle

The Australian Democrats will divide their preferences evenly between Labor and the Coalition, and both will be put below progressive minor parties on Democrat how-to-vote cards, party leader Arthur Chesterfield-Evans revealed yesterday.

Dr Chesterfield-Evans said the party opted for the split ticket in 50 seats because both major parties had failed to properly deal with reforms to workers' compensation, public liability insurance, civil liberties and law and order.

"As far as the Democrats are concerned there is virtually no difference between the Carr Labor Government and the Coalition," he said. "Bob Carr is probably the best Liberal leader this state has had since Nick Greiner.[?]

"Carr's silence on Australia's [Howard's] backing, [instigation and complicity] of the American war against [on] Iraq is deafening. It has seen $17 million ripped out of essential services to pay for anti-terrorism measures [scapegoat measures] in Sydney."

However, on the Democrats' double-sided how-to-vote leaflets, preferences will not be extended to either of the major parties in six electorates, including Camden, Drummoyne, Maitland, Mt Druitt, Myall Lakes and Willoughby.

In the seats with split preference tickets, the major parties will appear on Democrats how-to-vote cards below minor progressive parties such as the Greens, Unity, and Reform the Legal System Party.

Democrat preferences would be exhausted before they reached the smaller right-leaning parties such as One Nation and the Shooters Party, as well as Pauline Hanson.

Dr Chesterfield-Evans attacked the Greens' decision to give preference to Labor ahead of the Greens in the key seat of Baulkham Hills, where the Democrats were hoping for their strongest return, having fielded high-profile local councillor, Margaret vandeWeg.

Ms vandeWeg said the Democrats would respond in kind, putting the Greens below the major party split.

Dr Chesterfield-Evans also said he was disappointed the Greens had opted to give preferences to Labor rather than split or exhaust their preferences in other key seats.

Mr. & Mrs. Mandatory Sentencing

Well congratulations to the bride and groom. Could you please be upstanding and raise your glasses for Mr. And Mrs. Mandatory.

By Con Fused 11 March 03

THE EGG: I wish my brother George was here. He could tell me the difference between who is wrong and who is wrong? Right! Wrong when you don't know who is the worst.

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Carr's pitch: Will leave you in a ditch: Let him bury you?
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NSW ELECTION 2003: VOTE 1 GREENS
Drug law reform: The Greens are proud to have the most progressive policy of any party on drug law reform. Our Drugs and Harm Minimisation Policy is available in full from The NSW Greens, as are all our policies.

The Breen Machine - Reform The Legal System Party
For the past four years, Reform the Legal System has promoted human rights in the new South Wales Parliament. Our most significant achievement is the legislation, passed late last year, to require all bills introduced into the Parliament to be checked for breaches of human rights.

PM lost in space! Pre-emptive Strikes & Star Wars Defence!!
War criminal PM backs missile defence investigation but he is not on his own. Bob Carr dubbed Darth Vader after draconian laws were introduced in NSW following John Howard's threats to strike first and ask questions later.

Constitution, politics, police and prison corruption

Carr appeal is rotten
NSW voters believe the Carr Labor Government has performed bad on crime and public safety and done a poor job in health and hospitals, people can see it with their own eyes.

NSW Election 2003: The Sale of Justice
NSW Young Lawyers' Criminal Law & Human Rights Committees, however, have been concerned about the civil rights trade-offs that both major parties have been proposing (or, in the case of the Government, implementing) prior to the election.

Human Rights 'Framed'
Here is a quick report on our Human Rights Commission approach on Framed (the quarterly magazine of Justice Action) being banned from all NSW prisons. After 42 issues went in.

Abolition of 800 year old double jeopardy law a crime
The 800-year-old rule prevents a person who's acquitted of a criminal charge from ever being re-tried for that offense.

Prison Privatisation: Death camps looming in NSW
I asked for the identification of the person I was speaking to and was told that I was not entitled to that information. I needed to verify the call and asked for a name or number to register my call because I was asked to get those details by my coordinator.

Take crime talk beyond the bars:'lobby group'
A coalition of academics, crime experts, welfare and church groups is preparing to launch an intensive pre-election campaign aimed at refocusing the attention of NSW politicians from harsh sentencing reforms to crime prevention strategies.

NSW A-G moves to stop criminals and ex-criminals selling stories
From next month criminals or ex-criminals who try to profit (earn a living for paid work, like writing a book etc..) from their crimes in New South Wales will have the proceeds confiscated.

NSW Govt criticised over criminal justice record
Key criminal justice groups have described the New South Wales Government's record on justice issues as a "disappointing performance".

Demolishing Democracy
How Bob Carr, [ the Coalition of the Killing,] and Bin Laden gave birth to the NSW police state. The [CIA false flag ]Bali bombings could not have come at a 'better time' for [the Coalition of the Killing and] Bob Carr and his project to bring an end to Westminster democracy in NSW.

Litigants are drowning: in the High Court
There were so many self represented litigants appearing in the High Court that more than half of its registry staff's time was taken up in dealing with them. The "go it alone" litigants have to take on tasks well above their qualified league causing them stress. This growing problem cannot be left unchecked.

The community questions ICAC's slagging and fobbing you off?
The ICAC, Commissions, Ombudsman, Police Integrity Commission (PIC), and numerous Tribunals etc, are all arms of government set up as an insurance police for the government's 3 or 4 year election terms. In short they'll be out of office by the time you may be lucky enough to have your matter heard.

Mr. & Mrs. Mandatory Sentencing
Well congratulations to the bride and groom. Could you please be upstanding and raise your glasses for Mr. And Mrs. Mandatory.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

NSW Parliament Bitter Pills To Swallow?
One delusion pill: So people who investigate their own mistakes make sure there was no mistake or someone else made the mistake. Perhaps you're not biased and you will be honest about it.

Who is bad?
Super Rat? M5? M11? K8? N2? So I trust that some people who, with the photos and guns guessed that a jury would quickly establish a case against a profiled person whom, you just had a picture and a history of. Common knowledge? The government knew their victims would take the blame. Not just chess in court, 'moving around the pieces', but 'putting false evidence, or not enough evidence before the jury."

False flag operations, scapegoats and patsies

State terror units caused the terror!
The level of suspicion and surveillance created by the [US false flag operation and call to arms] Bali bombings, created by [ the Coalition of the Killing and Australian's complicity to go to war on Iraq] means that all Australian's suffer the loss of their human rights, civil rights and their democratic rights, as well as those Australian's who lost their life in Bali.

Middle Eastern: Specific Legislation
"If there is a target person the police would have powers in relation to that type of person," Mr Costa said. Asked what he meant by "type of person", Mr Costa said: "The example that's been given is if there's a description of somebody, an identikit photograph released by Interpol or other agencies ... these powers may well be exercised on that type of person."