The corrupt American prison system is imprisoning children who can’t pay their debts. This practice is creating a whole new source of revenue for the criminal private prison system who make money for every new prisoner, even children.

Just How Bad Are Our Prisons?

Over 2.2 million people are currently in U.S. jails or prisons. The United States has the highest prison population in the entire world. Half of the world’s prison population of approximately 9 million people is held in the U.S., Russia, or China, coincidentally, the three most powerful nations on the planet and all three nations are increasingly controlling their populations through incarceration.

There are, at present more jails than colleges in the U.S. If this does not show the priority of the ruling class and how they view everyone else, I do not what does.

The U.S. prison population has more than quadrupled since the early 1980’s when mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drugs when into effect. Mandatory sentencing was championed by the private prison lobby who gets paid for every prisoner occupying a prison bed, and George H.W. Bush was the champion of this movement.

Severe prison overcrowding leads to the release of violent criminals who are being released early to make room for the more profitable non-violent drug offenders who are required to serve a minimum amount of time, regardless of what a judge might otherwise rule. About 50% of the inmates in federal prisons are serving time for non-violent drug offenses.

Federal law requires a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for a first-time, non-violent drug offense (i.e. simple marijuana possession). The average annual cost to incarcerate one inmate in federal prison is about $29,000 which is more than many first year teachers make. State spending on corrections has grown about 300% in just the past two decades.

What About the Kids?

The youth of America commit only a small portion of the nation’s total number of crimes. For instance, in 2013, 11% of violent crime clearances and 17% of the property crime clearances nationwide involved only youth. According to the FBI, youth under age 18 accounted for 14% of all arrests.

Youth crime has also been going down for many years. The number of adults arrested in 2009 and in 2000 decreased 1%, whereas the number of juveniles arrested dropped a staggering 20% during that same time frame.

Youth At Risk in the Prison System

Confined youth are at tremendous risk of sexual assault. More than 1 in 10 youth (12%) in state juvenile facilities reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or facility staff in the past 12 months or since admission, if less than 12 months.

On any given night in America, 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. State laws vary widely as to whether youth can be housed in adult facilities. Although the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) requires that youth in the juvenile justice system be removed from adult jails or be sight-and-sound separated from other adults, these protections do not apply to youth prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system  (Minton, Todd D. (June 2015). Jail inmates at midyear 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. West, Heather C. (June 2010). Prison inmates at midyear 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics).

There are less severe alternatives to incarcerating youth, and they work. Community-based programs, including diversion programs, drug treatment, evening reporting centers commonly called half-way houses, treatment clinics and family programs. All of these programs have been shown to be less costly than detention or incarceration and to help youth stay out of trouble and to not re-offend. The problem is that these kids cannot afford the fees for these programs and when they don’t pay, under pressure from the private prison system, these kids are sent to prison, debtor’s prison.

The outrageous details of the great increase in children’s incarceration are contained in the following video. This story should anger you beyond words.

If the bad guy has night vision and you don’t he wins. Don’t be a victim, find out more by  CLICKING HERE   

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