A BUNK BED FOR 3 SIR OR SOLITARY?

In one of the local papers here, there is a shocking photograph of a prison dormitory in California State Prison in LA. The room is jam packed with male inmates sitting or lying on 3 tier bunk beds. No surprise then that prisons in California which were built to house 100,000 now hold 174,000. Apparently, Arnie (Schwarzenegger) is planning to transfer thousands of prisoners to facilities in other states.

As part of a more progressive reform package, he is calling for ‘re-entry centers’ to serve thousands of men in the period leading up to and subsequent to their release. He has also proposed the transfer of many women and youths to be moved to smaller institutions closer to their homes.

The USA incarcerates somewhere in the region of 2 million people. 1 in every 140 of its residents. This is the highest rate of imprisonment in the world. Moreover, 1 in 3 black men spend part of their lives behind bars. To add insult to injury, it keeps some 20,000 prisoners in long-term solitary confinement within supermax (super-maximum security) prisons. Compare this as a percentage with the UK. A figure close to 2% as opposed to 0.1% of the UK prison population who are held in isolation wards. An unknown number of people are held in isolation units within traditional jails.

Supermax prisoners are subjected to 23 hours a day confinement, 24 – 7 video monitoring, including in the shower and toilet, and constant cell lighting. There is also plenty of evidence of the use of electronic stun devices and restraint chairs. In 2000, the UN Committee Against Torture declared that the Supermax prisons were violations of the Convention Against Torture.

In June 2005, a Supreme Court Judge concluded that inmates at Ohio State Prison ‘are deprived of almost any environmental or sensory stimuli and of all almost all human contact.’ Remind you of a place populated by people in orange jump suits? Quite a few of the long – term prisoners at Ohio State Prison are routinely refused parole despite evidence being presented that they are ‘model inmates’ whose behaviour has been excellent. The reasoning given is often simply that the seriousness of the original offence outweighs the good behaviour.

According to the Prisoners of Conscience Project of the National Council of Churches, there are more than 100 political prisoners in the US. Some belong to the Puerta Rican independence movement and were caught whilst fighting to prevent annexation. Others are members of the militant black liberation movements which sprang up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Many of them are victims of illegal covert FBI operations such as the infamous Counter-Intelligence Programme (COINTELPRO).

Some political prisoners, who have spent time on death row, are now very high profile. They are also the victims of well-documented miscarriages of justice. For example, Mumia Abu Jamal, the black liberation movement supporter, and Leonard Peltier, the American Indian activist.

A new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says that the male prison population is set to increase by 12% over the next 5 years whilst the female prison population is expected to rise by 16% over the same period. The reasons given include mandatory minimum prison sentences, reduced parole rates and high recidivism rates.

It is all intensely depressing and myopic. It seems that the federal government and / or the individual states are more than happy to shell out billions of dollars (an estimated $35,000 annually per prisoner in California) on locking people up and throwing away the key rather than investing in education, drug – rehabilitation programmes, universal healthcare and enlightened, community based, solutions.

INSTITUTIONALISED THEFT

Greetings earthlings. I trust that you're all frightfully well

In Bill Bryson’s book, ‘Notes from a Big Country’, there is a chapter entitled ‘Spinning The Truth.’ In it, Bryson does not mince his words. He is unequivocal that corporations and other big businesses lie to the public about the products and services they are offering and the prices they are charging.

Bryson gives a number of examples of misrepresentation, such as a food product called a ‘blueberry waffle’ which does not contain blueberry. He talks about the ruses of junk mail companies and reports promoting new drugs in medical journals, where the researchers have been ‘bought’ by the pharmaceutical companies.

When he confronts a motel chain employee about the misrepresentation of a special offer and says to him ‘But that’s fraud’, quick as a flash, the guy responds ‘No, sir, that’s America.’

We have had one or two nasty shocks here. The worst one was when we were late with a payment to a company called ‘Dish Network’, a satellite TV company. They just went ahead and took about $250 from our credit card account which they said was a cancellation fee and an equipment fee. Apparently, the minute anyone is late with a payment Dish Network’s policy is to assume that the customer has cancelled the contract and that the returnable parts of the equipment will not be recovered. No warnings, red bills or anything like that.

We had deliberately withheld payment because we were having technical problems and had not received service for over 2 months. When I tried to arrange a call – out with a technician, Dish Network told me that we actually had a separate contract with a satellite installation company and that we would have to contact them directly to arrange the call-out. They also kindly informed me that if we wanted to cancel the contract, both companies would charge us around $250. None of this was ever explained to us at the beginning, nor was it in the small print we were given.

To cut a long story short, I had it out with them on the phone (by the way, it is a lot, lot harder to get through to customer services in the US than it is in the UK) and managed to get the penalty reduced to $100.

We’ve got an account with Bank of America. I found out today that when we withdraw money from a non Bank of America ATM (cash point) machine, Bank of America charge us $2 as a penalty for not using their machine!! Can you adam and eve it? So, we pay the usual fee to the other bank which, as in the UK, you have to agree to before the machine gives you the money. Plus, we get hit for another $2 by a Bank which is acting like a spiteful child. ‘That’ll teach you. Don’t do it again’ is the message. It’s breathtakingly audacious, is it not?

The other major thing you need to get used to here is that when you get quoted a price for something it doesn’t include the tax which is usually between 8% and 12% on top. Also, if you want a warranty on something you’ve purchased you have to pay for it. It usually costs about 10% of the price. Basically, there are hidden costs upon hidden costs.

There’s something about the way people you do business with are overly polite and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. Agreed, it's nice when people behave decently. But you're often left with the feeling of being sucked into something that you're going to regret. I took out car insurance and got a letter from the agent which I’d have been pleased to receive from a life – long old school friend. All sorts of stuff about his gratitude and wanting me to feel comfortable about turning to him at any time. Maybe he can double - up as my shrink.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. You get flooded with people’s business cards, many of which include a colour photo of them. Soon makes you paranoid you know. Everywhere you turn in the house, you catch a glimpse of someone looking up at you.