What are the candidate’s stances on the business of an overpopulated prison system?

nobodyspecial
#1. March 25th, 2009, at 6:55 AM.

Read this…

chrismo1980
#2. March 26th, 2009, at 4:25 PM.

they dont talk about that stuff often so i wouldnt know let just hope they can fix it by each state

MacGyver
#3. March 29th, 2009, at 5:56 PM.

First interesting thing I’ve heard Hillary address.

Crime and prisons are a absolute disaster in this country, its an internationally recognized fact, and absolutely no attention gets brought to this issue.

The # of Americans per capita in prisons has increased 600% in 30 years. It increases exponentially every year. We can’t maintain this, nor should we want to.

My Evil Twin
#4. April 1st, 2009, at 7:36 PM.

Too bad she doesn’t really give a damn about overcrowded prisons or non-violent offenders. That’s just another bit of fluff one of her speechwriters told her to say in order to make it appear as if she cares.

mneal000
#5. April 4th, 2009, at 4:02 AM.

To decrease the prison population, simply treat the mentally ill in hospitals — that is all it will take.
Announcing Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (”AIMI”)
Personal tragedy sometimes gives rise to important new legislation, organizations, and programs promoting social change that benefits Americans, like the Amber Alert, America’s Most Wanted, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and others. In response to the secret incarceration and wrongful death of Larry Morris Neal, his family is establishing AIMI, an organization to advocate for the decriminalization of mental illness in America and increased availability of inpatient psychiatric services.
Larry was a mentally ill heart patient who was secretly arrested in mid-July 2003 and incarcerated until his fatal heart attack on August 1, 2003. For the 18 days of Larry’s detainment in Shelby County Jail, Memphis, TN, on some misdemeanor connected with his mental disability, his family and social worker searched for Larry as a missing person. The jail falsely and repeatedly reported that neither Larry nor anyone meeting his physical description was detained in that facility. As an unidentified inmate, Larry presumably did not receive his vital prescription heart and psychiatric drugs. Upon Larry’s death, the (Johnny) Cochran Firm was hired by Larry’s elderly, grieving mother to bring a wrongful death suit against the jail and negligence suits against the State of Tennessee and Larry’s final care home. However, the managing partner of The Cochran Firm’s Memphis office, Julian Bolton, was actually a 20+year member of the Shelby County Commissioner, the entity which owns and operates the jail where Larry died. In an undisclosed conflict of interest, that law firm secretly kept Larry’s wrongful death case on its shelves inactive for 10.5 months while the Tennessee statute of limitations ran (suit in USDC, Northern Dist. of GA, 1:07-cv-1935-TCB, pending against Cochran Firm for contract fraud, etc.). Subsequently, for over four years, Larry’s family has been denied access to any official records regarding Larry’s fatal arrest, despite the fact that the jail was under federal overview at the time of Larry’s euthanasia. Sadly, Larry’s story is not unique; the mentally ill in America suffer many hardships resulting from inadequate or no care. Thousands of chronically mentally ill Americans who cannot orient themselves into society are jailed, homeless, or warehoused in substandard hospitals where many die each year.
Presently, only the mentally ill who seek and/or willingly accept psychiatric treatment are serviced or hospitalized, unless or until patients prove to be a danger to society. People who are too sick to recognize their own psychosis are left largely to their own devices. Here is a secret we learned during years of visiting Larry in mental institutions and having met many sick patients: Many acutely mentally ill people simply do not know/believe/accept that they are sick. Ironically, the movement to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill in America was led for the most part by ex psychiatric patients who had themselves been institutionalized. There was a time when even people suffering epilepsy or nervous breakdown were institutionalized. Rejoining society obviously worked well for those who were capable of the self-discipline and presence of mind to launch this movement, many of whom went on to pursue psychiatric careers after release from asylums. But deinstitutionalization was a tragic development for people like Larry and thousands of other sick people presently incarcerated, having only swapped hospital care for jail cells. That is why this mental health system based on voluntary treatment has failed and our humanitarian decision of the 1970’s to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill has resulted in a growing prison population of mentally ill detainees. How humane is jailing sick people? Other side-effects of our “patients in charge” mental health system are overcrowded jails, an overtaxed criminal justice system, increasing homelessness, and a more dangerous society. Both the Texas woman who drowned her five children and the Virginia Tech student who killed 32 people during a violent rampage were mental patients who needed better treatment and control. We must free our nation’s law enforcement to get back to the business of fighting crime rather than acting as psychiatric caretakers.
Americans generously give to organizations that address social ills partly caused by inadequate care for the chronically mentally ill, like homelessness. Prayerfully consider giving to help establish AIMI, an organization that will address one major cause of these problems – inadequate care for the acutely mentally ill. We believe chronically mentally ill people should be hospitalized, not jailed for their disabilities. Please help “the least of these, His brethren.” See the CONTACT US tab for details on how to contribute and otherwise support our efforts at. Lawyers contact me, please – suit filed pro se to protect the statute of lim. Help!

martinx07
#6. April 4th, 2009, at 6:10 AM.

Ron Paul knows why many prisons are overpopulated with many innocent cellmates. First, ever since the War on Drugs started, many had been thrown in without access to an attorney, and they classify them as “criminals” yet, these people are actually mentally sick. Another reason would be that many patients suffering from Muscular Dystrophy are using marijuana, or industrialiazed hemp as medication. But many of them are getting their medications taking away from government officials, and again, accused of criminals. You can read more here: