Monday, September 13, 2010

Hey, Friends: PLEASE HELP! "300 American Prisoners Will Be Raped Today"

From: arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com

Hey Phoenix Anarchists, family, old friends, and fellow prisoner rights activists:

I could use your help fighting the bad guys today. There's a petition at Change.org
to stop prison rape. It's addressed to Eric Holder about neglecting the PREA
standards, and it's been up there since the end of August. Please go sign it and
leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Incredibly, 4,876 people have viewed the
page, but only 367 have signed the petition (which is about where it was a few days
ago).

I think it stalled because the abusive comments people have left are so disturbing.
These people really think that the only folks in prison are child molesters and
murderers, and that they deserve to be tortured - and they aren't even all from
Arizona. Their only alternative to having prisoners rape eachother is solitary
confinement - or hope they just kill themselves.

No wonder we had George Bush for 8 years.

I left my own comment to counter them, but so far the only people who have followed
me are the same idiots coming back to chew me a new one for calling them ignorant (I
was pissed). So, if anyone out there wants to chime in and back me up over the next
few days or so, it might help to turn the tide and get the petition rolling again.
Otherwise it looks like the overwhelming majority of Americans interested in
"justice" at Change.org endorse rape as not only a punishment, but also a means of
preventing crime - and anyone who disagrees is intimidated into remaining silent.

So please at least go sign on, then pass the link on to all your Spacebook friends
and email contacts.

Thanks, and sorry if this is the first time in a long time I've written.

Peg.

here are some of the initial remarks made about prison rape:

Phillip Gwinn

Several ways to fix the problem come to mind.

First and cheapest: Advertise the sexual assault and predatory nature of prisons.
Hire people to publisize it with all the resources a creative ad agency can come up
with. The message: If you commit a crime and go to jail, the guards cannot protect
you. By making sure the potential criminal has a graphic understanding of just how
brutal the system is perhaps someone will not commit a crime.

Second and not as cheap: Eliminate prison as a punishment for non-violent offenders
except as an exception to the rule. Let the violent prey on each other.

Third and really expensive option: Build more prisons and place inmates in permanent
solitary confinement. I like this option best personally. It punishes the criminal
without gratuitous violence. It also safeguards the convict and the prison staff.

------------------------------------

Linda G

I like the way you think. I say let the sexual predators at each other. Keep the
white collar criminals together, so on and so on...and let them know they are in
there for the duration of their sentence. Unless someone decides to shorten their
lives. As Barrada used to say, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time!"

Help us out - PLEASE!

----------------------------

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To
deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our
literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness, and
our ability to tell our own stories..."

- Arundhati Roy

Prison Abolitionist
http://prisonabolitionist.blogspot.com
Arizona Prison Watch
http://arizonaprisonwatch.blogspot.com
Arizona Juvenile Prison Watch
http://azjuvenileprisonwatch.blogspot.com
Hard Time Alliance - AZ
http://hardtimehepc.blogspot.com
Free Marcia Powell
http://freemarciapowell.blogspot.com

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