Better be quiet or the bullies will make it even worse. There are so many thoughts I have on this but it all boils down to this.
Do you submit that not talking about something very wrong that is happening right now in your justice system and is supported by it, are you saying that keeping quiet about it is a "better" option than making it open, public and letting people know?
That is exactly the logic of an abused kid. I am sorry.
The complaints that Weev has are the same complaints that prisoners in the federal system have had for decades. Prisoner treatment in the US has been litigated to death with no significant reform. Courts have made explicitly clear that current law effectively allows for barbaric treatment of inmates. Given the virtual impossibility of changing the status quo in the US political system, it is doubtful that our laws will be changed to upgrade the experience of criminals (which is how the cynical US public views such proposals).
So, when it comes to our unyielding government, I suppose every US citizen is an abused child. It is a bully that will not ever go away, and can and does abuse anyone it wants to without consequence. Ironically, this bully is empowered by its own pool of potential victims, most of whom are in favor of all of this right up until the time they become its target - which is becoming increasingly easy to do.
1. The police who arrested and charged you.
2. The prosecutor who decided to go ahead with the charges.
3. Your lawyer.
4. The judge (if it ever gets there)
5. Yours - you probably lost your job as soon as you were arrested anyway and good luck finding a new one with that on your record.
There is only one person on this list who even cares about your innocence. That's right, you.
Even your lawyer? S/he doesn't really care. For him/her, it's about getting the "best" deal. Because going in front of a judge is like flipping a coin and if you fit any stereotype, you are likely fucked.
Ever had a tax audit? Same idea. No one cares about fairness or justice in the government. They only care about their salary and performance.
The police are given more funding, the more arrests they make. The prosecutor has a full pipeline ensuring his/her job. The judge likely doesn't even need to see a single case in a week.
There is no way out. Talking about it doesn't help because anyone who takes a plea is assumed to be guilty: "Yeah he wasn't found guilty, but he must have done something otherwise why would he take a deal instead of go to trial?"
That is the way the layman thinks. If I was to tell you that I was arrested for walking in a room a police officer told me to walk into, you'd laugh and say I was lying. But it's true. And I had to plea out of it. Because it's my word against his. And I took a plea after he tried to steal $400 from me and burned my watch while I was in custody.
The government is a mechanism for satisfying bullies. Is it any wonder why small government is desired by some?
This seems like a veiled ad-hominem.
Here are some interesting things to read if you want to know more.
Good general overview of prison labor:
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/04/04/prison-labor...
More detailed account of prison labor in Nevada regarding casinos and construction.
http://vltp.net/casinos-prison-labor-strange-bedfellows/
The slave market:
You can even get slave labor to operate your call center:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction"
Statistics are what you make them, considering that blacks are more likely to victims of violence to other blacks, when they are not the majority, how can the outcome of incarceration rates be remedied?
[1] http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1118
[2] http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-marijuana-arrest-...
The amount of time and money spent dealing with cannabis is mind-boggling. About 50,000[1] Mexicans have been murdered in the recent drug wars. Some of those are because cannabis is illegal.
Cannabis prohibition is going to be viewed with horror in the future.
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2084224,00.htm...)
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/opinion/hit-mexicos-cartel...)
(http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics)
(http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/05/05/fbi-marijuana-is...)
[1] numbers are hard to check, but some people say 62,000 since 2006.
http://globalgrind.com/news/more-black-men-prison-system-tod...
I'd like to know why we have so many awful laws on the books. Seems like we have so many, that most of us could be locked up, if they happen to irk the wrong people.
Conveniently answering your own question.
When you have so many laws, everyone is a criminal. And when everyone is a criminal, those enforcing the laws become the ones who make them. Why is the speed limit still laughably low in most of the country? Most drivers are consistently driving 10-15 mph over the speed limit, at least where I live. It gives cops the ability to pull you over whenever they see fit.
Edit: I want to point out that I've defended speed limits here before because speed limits, like building codes, are created by engineers, not some arbitrary big government conspiracy. Like most laws, they are well thought out and for everyone's safety.
- No matter how well you write it, it seems that law will always be subject to a certain degree of interpretation. You could even argue that good law intentionally leaves room for interpretation- see "reasonable person" clauses. This is because people are not black and white, and society changes over time.
- Some laws probably really are too broad, left that way to ensure you can pin people. As always when this subject comes up, I recall Al Capone, who was brought in on tax evasion (not mobstering)
[1] Though there is the remote possibility that it would be cared about 'less' because it would be seen as racial discrimination rather than just out right maliciousness, but I'm optimistic that this wouldn't be the case.
Humans are likely to ignore a problem that doesn't affect anyone they know or identify with.
| Humans are likely to ignore a problem that
| doesn't affect anyone they know or identify
| with.
Yes, you should be revolting over this.
What I've read about weev suggests that he's the type of guy that will try to push every button on every person at every opportunity. If this is true about him, that he's being mistreated in this way is not a surprise at all. Maybe some good will come of the attention, but I would be surprised if it's a positive change in the way the BOP responds to irritant prisoners.
Indeed. If true it's probably good to be separated from the prison population to avoid him getting shivved.
The halfway house in Oakland sucked more than being inside (they had shootings and people died), but hope compelled me to go there.
As far as Weev himself, not much can be done. The feds are permitted to house any inmate in essentially any conditions they want as long as they meet certain (incredibly low) standards. Once you are in their grasp, you are at their mercy. Theoretically, they can keep him in segregation for the duration of his sentence. The bra thing is ordinary for jails and prisons. He is being threatened with "Diesel Therapy" - being moved from prison to prison - in order to disrupt his posts to the Internet which violate their rules.
Basically, he hasn't learned (but will soon) that he is no longer in control. The harder he fights against the rules, no matter how idiotic those rules may be, the more difficult his life will become. This is true both while in custody and during the entire term of his Supervised Release. None of this is necessary or right in the eyes of anyone with half a brain, but it is the system we have and he exposed himself to it.