Prison population to have first drop since 1972

Of course, it's because of the economy, not any sort of sensible sentencing.

DALLAS – The United States may soon see its prison population drop for the first time in almost four decades, a milestone in a nation that locks up more people than any other.

The inmate population has risen steadily since the early 1970s as states adopted get-tough policies that sent more people to prison and kept them there longer. But tight budgets now have states rethinking these policies and the costs that come with them.

"It's a reversal of a trend that's been going on for more than a generation," said David Greenberg, a sociology professor at New York University. "In some ways, it's overdue."

Harry Reid: Gitmo detainees will need to be relocated to U.S. prisons

By GottaLaff

Harry, Harry, Harry, you need a long rest after all the bouncing around:

After previously suggesting that he wouldn’t support Guantanamo detainees being relocated to the U.S., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) acknowledged [...] some Gitmo detainees will be put in federal prisons. While conservatives have baselessly claimed that “terrorists” could roam in Americans’ “backyards” if Guantanamo is closed, Reid defended the ability of the U.S. prison system to hold dangerous criminals:

REID: A maximum security prison in the United States, there has never been a single escape.

Q: You think eventually the plan is going to be to put them in maximum security prisons here in this country, correct?

REID: I think some. Keep in mind, Jon, there’s so many different issues. There’s no question that a number of these people who are there are not guilty of anything. The Uighurs, these are a group of Muslim Chinese who are guilty of nothing. They were arrested, put in there. They are there. They are doing nothing. We’re going to have to find someplace to put them. We can’t send them back to China. Should they go into a maximum security prison? Probably not.”

[...] Reid is now trying to coax his colleagues into supporting Obama’s position, following the president’s speech last week. “The vast majority of the Senate – Democrats, certainly – agree that it should be closed,” Reid said. “And it’s going to be closed.”

I hope all those bad guys don't escape at the same time! Can you imagine the havoc and destruction to countless American backyards? There go the swing sets...

Hundreds 'tortured' in Iraqi prisons

By GottaLaff

What? They're not calling it "enhanced interrogation techniques"?

Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights has declared in a report that hundreds of people were tortured in Iraqi prisons last year.

According to the report published in Baghdad's al-Sabbah newspaper Sunday, of the 306 cases of torture and abuse in Iraqi prisons, 107 took place in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has also declared that the torture or abuse of Iraqi prisoners is "routine and commonplace."

The group said that detainees were suspended for long periods of time with their hands tied behind their back, routinely beaten with cables and metal rods and had shocks administered to their earlobes and genitals by security officers, DPA reported.

But that's not torture. The Nation of Dick said so. Besides, "some say" (I just wanted to say "some say") only waterboarding is torture... but that's not torture either, "some say".

The word torture is undoubtedly reminder of the photos of the Abu Ghraib prison which provoked shock across the world, especially in the Muslim countries.

The word torture is undoubtedly a reminder that America, um, tortured under BushCo. The word torture is undoubtedly a reminder that prosecutions are in order.

VIDEO: Judith Miller cites her time in prison to argue that U.S. facilities can hold terrorists.

By GottaLaff


This is one of those times Judith Miller has some credibility. She has actual hands-on (so to speak) experience:

This morning, the hosts of Fox and Friends brought up FBI Director Robert Mueller’s recent comments warning that if Guantanamo detainees are allowed into U.S. prisons, they may turn to “radicalizing” other inmates. Fox News contributor Joel Mowbray said that it would be dangerous putting detainees into U.S. prisons because guards “know how to handle rapists and murderers and drug dealers,” but “they do not know how to handle terrorists.” Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller took issue with Mowbray’s conclusions, saying, “We know how to do this.” To back up her point, she pulled out her street cred and cited her time serving in prison.

It's all about commercializing and politicizing yet another issue: Us against them. The Big Dueling Speeches. Chris Matthews insisted on asking (paraphrased), who's going to win America to their side?

Yes, Chris, it's all one big game show.

Congratulations.