America's Prison Industrial Complex

The Hive would like to thank the NBC family for their continued show of support. With each airing of a DatelineTM exposé featuring the HiveTM, our membership soars to new levels. People come here to educate themselves, and each new member pounds another nail into the coffin of the unethical War on Drugs.

W.O.D. ENTERTAINMENT

DRUG SCANDAL ROCKS NBC'S 'FRIENDS' Sergeant WILLIAM BARRY says, "There are all sort of rumours that cast and crew of such shows as Friends and ER, as well as high-profile producers, were involved in this bust.

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W.O.D. HEADLINES

Children Are Collateral Casualties of N.Y. Drug Laws 124,000 Children Have Lost Parents to Prison 10 year old Philip Gaines, Orphan of the War on drugs letter to the judge "I will cut your grass and wash your car everyday just don't send my mom off. Please Please Please don't!!!" Throw a Party and Go To Jail. The Ecstasy Awareness Act (H.R 2962) will make it a federal crime - punishable by up to 20 years in prison - for organizing raves or similar electronic dance events.

W.O.D. SPORTS

ET TU, BRUTE? The Corcoran Prison Guards staged "Gladiator Fights" among inmates, and netted 7 kills and a surprise aquittal in overtime. Score: 31 shootings of unarmed prisoners 7 inmate fatalities 1 Aquittal of all involved BOTCHED DRUG RAID MARKSMANSHIP Officer David Hawn, who had previously distiguished himself as an expert weapons handler by shooting the body of a man who was already dead, shot 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda in the back with a shotgun as he laid spread eagle on the floor. Score: 1 dead unarmed 11 year old No charges, Declared accidental Officer Tony Gonzalez fired three fatal shots into the head of unarmed Jose Colon. Score: 1 dead unarmed man. No indictment. More police shootings

W.O.D. FINANCE

Corrections Corporation of America makes $1 billion off of American prisoners. Companies rake in HUGE PROFITS from US slave prison labor.

According to the Pittsburgh Press, over 92% of all cash in circulation in the US now shows some drug residue. That means even if you don't do drugs, your money will probably alert a drug dog, which will enable the police to envoke forfeiture laws to confiscate all of your cash for the protection of society.

THE WAR ON DRUGS ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION

MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTECES In 1986 Congress enacted mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which force judges to deliver fixed sentences to individuals convicted of a crime FORFEITURE LAWS The government seizes $2 billion worth of property from people a year. 80% of those people are not found guilty of any crime. They don't get their money back. Federal Prosecutors may seize a person's property without the necessity of proving that the person has committed a crime... In fact, no criminal arrest or charge is necessary to subject property to forfeiture. Across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration is seizing the luggage, cash and cars of hapless travelers. Under America's new civil forfeiture laws, mere possession of a large amount of cash or a drug dog barking at your luggage is sufficient probable cause for police to legally seize everything you are carrying. More info about Forfeirture

The United States, with a population of 286 million, imprisons more people than any other country by a considerable margin. In fact, 25% of the entire world's prison population is housed right here at home, staggering considering our population only accounts for 5% of the entire global population.

THE A-LIST

Most people go to jail when they violate drug laws, but not everyone. The A-List is a list of people in America who are free to violate drug laws with impunity. The 'A' stands for ABOVE THE LAW. If you don't see your name on this list, DON'T GET CAUGHT! GEORGE H.W. BUSH 1 2 The most successful drug trafficker of the 1980s - No charges brought! GEORGE W. BUSH 1 2 Arrested in 1972 for cocaine use, or maybe he wasn't. Who knows? His record was expunged by a judge friend of Bush Classic. Multiple pull-overs for DUI! JENNA and BARBARA BUSH 1 2 3 Repeat offenders for underaged drinking, one while on probation. One possession of a Fake ID. They did some community service, probably volunteering at the Whitehouse. NOELLE BUSH 1 2 Not as lucky as the rest of the Bush clan, but still better off than those not on the A-List. She has served time, but nothing you would consider a "sentence". 10 days here, 3 days there for things that would have put most people away for 7-10 years, like forging perscriptions, multiple probation violations, and possession of crack. But if she's a good girl and finishes treatment, some of those charges will just disappear! RUSH LIMBAUGH 1 2 Bought thousands of OxyContin on the black market. Checked himself into rehab and avoided jailtime. WANT TO JOIN THE A-LIST? If your name isn't on the A-List, you're RISKING YOUR FREEDOM! But don't worry, you can join the A-List today by completing this form*. If you know of anyone else who has avoided harsh drug law penalties due to their political connections or fabulous wealth, contact us and we'll add them to the A-List! *Note: To be eligable for the A-List, you must contribute at least $100,000. Is that too much to ask for your freedom?

DRUG WAR VICTORIES

Michigan Legislature Repeals Draconian Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences Over 86% of Federal Judges call for outright abolition of mandatory sentencing. Some refuse to hear drug cases. The Judicial Conferences of all 12 federal circuits have urged the repeal of mandatory minimum sentences, after concluding that they are unfair and ineffective. A divided Supreme Court, noting the evils of mandatory minimum sentencing, today signaled that Congress should abandon such laws in the face of widespread criticism. When will the poltiticans listen? Probably when it becomes more profitable than locking people up.

EDITORIAL

Attempting to capitalize on the deaths of over 3000 Americans, the Bush administration has declared drug money to be the source of terrorist funding. In over 30 years of prior drug investigation, the government never made any correlation to terrorism. Were they just not looking? If so, that probably wasn't tax money well spent. Of course, the connection between drug money and terrorism isn't exactly a revelation. During the 1980s, Bush Classic funneled millions of dollars from the Los Angeles drug trade to the Contras. It's not terrorism as long as the Whitehouse approves and the terrorists are on our side. It wasn't until 3 planes fell out of the sky and the government realized they were missing a financial opportunity that they decided to take notice. "Drug money funds terrorism" according to Washington. One can extrapolate then, that it is your patriotic duty to become a self-sufficient producer. Manufacturing drugs for your own consumption will keep money out of the black-market drug economy, preventing the advance of terrorism. Home-made drugs are purer than the mass produced imports the government smuggles in from South America to keep the War on Drugs going, and you'll be removing yourself from the dangers of getting shot during a sour drug deal. Home manufacture: It's better for you, it's better for America.

SPONSOR

SON OF BUSH POLITICS

“Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” -- Joseph Stalin Diebold Election Systems, A Top Fundraiser For The Bush Campaign, Wants Your Vote - Literally! Diebold Election Systems is under fire for e-voting security vulnerabilities and uncertified system patching. Following an embarrassing leak of its proprietary software over a file transfer protocol site last January, the inner workings of Diebold Election Systems have again been laid bare. BACKBOX VOTING: BALLOT TAMPERING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

SPONSOR

SPONSOR NEWS No-bid contracts work for sharholders. Despite scandal, Halliburton shares keep rising. Halliburton Releases War Profiteering Report to Shareholders Income Report Highlights Fuel overcharges - $61 million Meal overcharges - $24.7 million Kickbacks - $6.3 million Total contracts so far - $9 billion Expense Report Highlights Bribes to Dick Chaney - $150,000/year Bush Administration Contributions - $700,000. Taxes - $15 million (Not bad for a multiBILLION dollar company!)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK Bush liberates another Iraqi! The same Tomahawk missle that blew off her feet made Dick Chaney's buddies at Halliburton $1.2 billion

NBC's parent company, General Electric, is a Drug War Profiteer. Prison financing might seem like an unlikely venture for a company that is better known for its lightbulbs, but GE is just one of the mega corporations cashing on the War on Drugs.

Over 2 million people are currently behind bars in America.

By comparison, there are more people in prison than there are in the individual states of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The prison population is about equal to the state population of Utah.

You can blame these figures on the War on Drugs, a fictitious "battlefield" that exists only in the minds of policy makers. The war may be make believe, but the casualties are very real - they are your friends and family, dying in prisons. Their dreams have been destroyed, their futures erased, and their families are forced to carry on without them. They may not be dead, but their lives are certainly over. Like all wars, its purpose is to generate wealth for those in power at the expense of those who are not.

"When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." - Ayn Rand

Violent crime has been on a downward trend for the passed 30 years. While most people would view a reduction in violence as a move forward, from an economical standpoint, this reversal in "market growth" is detrimental to the earnings potential of the government's vast prison industry. If the percentage of violent offenders never grows, the profit potential from incarcerating them becomes bleak.

Recognizing this downward momentum since the early 70s, the government unveiled a new product (the War on Drugs) in hopes of tapping a new market (the non-violent drug offender). The government had always half-heatedly combated drug use as a method to lock up minorities, but it wasn't until prisons were actually emptying out that they approached it with wild abandon, despite the historical failure of the Prohibition.

The rate of incarceration quadrupled during the 1980s, at the same time the violent crime rate was dropping. The majority of these new criminals were non-violent drug offenders, quite a paradox from the image portrayed by the government of drug offenders as murderous thieves. The government latched onto a major revenue generating cash-cow, and the plan worked better than even they could have imagined. Not only were they raising massive amounts of money to combat this new 'threat', but they had created the perfect opportunity to begin stripping away the rights of citizens under the auspices of "drug enforcement".

Thus was born the era of proactive law enforcement, with it's underlying premise that if a crime doesn't present itself, go out and look for one - or alternately, create one. Drug offenses are victimless crimes. If the police had to sit idly by waiting for victims of drug offenders to appear, it would've been a long wait. The only way to catch these viscous criminals was by invading the privacy of vast numbers of people and stumbling across a few who used drugs. It was a pretty safe gamble. Drug use has been a prevalent and normal part of civilization for thousands of years, so it was just a matter of time before getting lucky.

Forfeiture Laws, the Government Taketh

The government claims to be protecting all of society, as if society might crumble down around us because someone smokes a joint in the privacy of their own home. They took great steps to ensure the safety of the public not the least of which was an overhaul of the principal 'innocent until proven guilty'. Guilty until proven innocent is a much more lucrative method of law enforcement, and ushered in gross abuses of 'probable cause' searches that invaded the privacy and destroyed the lives of thousands of people in the process.

But being the overzealous defenders of liberty they were, the government didn't stop there. With the reintroduction of forfeiture laws (a medieval ritual of government-sponsored theft that laid dormant in this country for 150 years), they topped themselves with the credo of guilty until proven innocent; and if proven innocent, still guilty most of the time.

Forfeiture laws allow police to confiscate assets of people suspected of being engaged in illegal activities. No conviction necessary, and in fact they abolish the whole bothersome trial completely. You're found guilty on the spot, and sentenced to the loss of your property. The police became judge, jury and executioner.

Forfeiture is the government's nuclear arsenal in the War on Drugs. Even worse than the threat of a thirty year jail sentence, where you would at least have a chance to defend yourself during a trial, forfeiture allows the government to take everything you worked for your entire life without the benefit (and Constitutional right) of due process. It gives police an incentive to steal, and the authority to do so.

The government rapes people of over $2 billion worth of property every year. Eighty percent of those people are either innocent or never charged with a crime, but most of them won't get their money back. The police will sell those possessions and use the proceeds to buy themselves assault weapons which will be later used to kill innocent people in botched drug raids. You could, if you had any money left, sue to recover your possessions, but the likelihood of winning such a lawsuit is quite slim. Nevertheless, it's in law enforcement's best interest to make sure they get every dollar you have, just in case you get cocky and decide to fight for your property.

The government and private companies cash in

During the 70s and 80s, the bureaucracy that grew out of the Drug War exploded with such force that Home Depot ran out of red tape. The newly created DEA sucked up a good portion of the country's tax dollars. The DEA had existed in lesser potent incarnations in the past, but the War on Drugs revitalized it enough to warrant a name change and the injection of several hundred million dollars of tax money. States set up their own agencies to deal with the "drug problem", and also to capitalize on their own forfeiture laws adding another level of complexity to the criminal code. Both federal and state agencies were staffed with the close personal friends of whatever politician created them. Their experience may have been questionable in some cases, but that didn't affect their fat government paycheck. To the victor belong the spoils.

Somewhere along the line, raising money for prisons took a back seat to raising money for salaries and new PT Cruisers with the D.A.R.E. logo on them (though some of them were plunders of forfeiture). Prisons are now over crowded, sentences are longer, and more and more people are being busted every year for non-violent offenses with no signs of a slow down. During this time when one might think the government should pause and reflect upon the failures in their drug policy, instead they are going ahead full force with even stricter laws and harsher penalties.

Today, only about 375,000 of the country's 2 million prisoners have committed violent acts that warrant imprisonment. They rest of the over 1.6 million are there because they broke laws that were specifically created to incarcerate non-violent people. If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, it's estimated that 1 out of every 15 people will serve time in prison.

Everyone reading this knows at least 15 people. One of them, quite possibly yourself, will be going to prison for the non-violent 'crime' of possessing a 'controlled substance'. You might as well start picking out your accommodations now, because there is practically no escaping it. The government is hell-bent on sending everyone to jail at some point, even if they have to create new crimes and revoke your rights to do so. To help you get started, here's an overview of 3 popular government lodgings:

The illustrious jails of Chicago boast unprecedented levels of overcrowding. Lucky inmates will be one of the hundreds forced to sleep like animals on the floor because they don't have enough beds. One year's cost to your family, friends, and other tax payers: $21,900/prisoner.

If snow isn't your thing, you might want to book ahead with Los Angeles County. The Auschwitz of American penal colonies is largest in the country, featuring more overcrowding and forced prison labor. Carrying on the tradition of other notable concentration camps, they also have a gas chamber a short drive away. Annual cost to taxpayers: $24,000/prisoner.

For those who demand luxury, nothing but the best will do. New York sports all-inclusive suites to the tune of up to $59,000/prisoner each year, billed to the tax-payer's tab.

The prisoners don't get much for the hard-earned money extorted from tax-payers, but the State sure does. So do the private companies now working in the lucrative prison industry. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private-sector prison company, made $1 billion dollars last year by providing people just like you with one-star accommodations in any of their 64 correctional facilities. $78.8 million of that will go to wealthy shareholders, who could really care less about your rehabilitation, because a rehabilitated criminal represents lost dollars. You can see how much the officers of CCA are making off of your pain and suffering here.

In a report on CCA, Prudential Securities wrote, "It takes time to bring inmate population levels up to where they cover costs. Low occupancy is a drag on profits," but went on to note that "company profits would be strong" if facility populations were jacked up at an "acceptable rate."

Phone company giants like AT&T are cashing in as well, by providing overpriced phone service to prisoners calling home. Half of the money goes to the phone company, and half goes to the State Treasury. New Hampshire has received over $840,000 in "commissions" since they signed with Worldcom. Collect calls from prison are typically 4 to 6 times higher than regular phone calls, and normally impose a 'connect fee' of $3 or more. The government actively pursues and tries to shut down companies that wish to compete with the telecommunications monopolies by providing cheaper phone service to inmates.

Companies like General Electric and American Express are cashing in too, by financing prison building in Tennesee and Oklahoma. GE, makers of lightbulbs and jet engines, also manufacture secure entry and surveillance systems that are used in prisons, as well as drug detection systems. Proceeds from the Drug War are just part of the company's $134.2 billion revenue.

Part of the high cost of jailing people is providing them with medical treatment, and it's no surprise that politicians turn to their wealthy golf buddies in the private sector to provide it - at drastically inflated prices. One such company is Prison Health Services, Inc, (PHS) a wholly owned subsidiary of America Services Group, that currently has over 1,000 lawsuits pending against them resulting from prisioner deaths and improper treatment.

America Services Group did $549.3 million worth of business with the government last year, a fraction of the $7 billion industry of providing healthcare to inmates, of which an estimated 40% is outsorced to private companies.

Buddies or not, occassionally budgets need to be trimmed, and health care is the first area to be slashed during a budget cut. Another area is housing, which results in overcrowding and contributes to prison violence. These things may effect prisoner wellfare, but at least the bottom-line is protected for the wealthy profiteers. There's only one expenditure of the corrections industry budget that is sacred and immune from downsizing: the salaries of corrections officers and facility managers. In fact, their earnings typically grow every year, despite cut backs in other areas.

The median salary for a corrections officer in the United states is $29,478. In Chicago, where inmates are sleeping on floors due to overcrowding, the average corrections officer salary is $32,121 and can go above $40,505.

Prison costs will only increase. The government has made sure the number of inmates continue to rise by eliminating parole options, reducing time off for good behavior, and worst of all, legislating mandatory minimum sentences. Longer prison sentences mean older prisoners with more expensve health care needs. If you don't have any kids now, you should have some as soon as possible. Their tax money will be needed to pay for your retirement in prison, and besides, we need new fodder for the next generation of politicians.

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

If the government turned their backs on the Constitution with the reintroduction of forfeiture laws, they dropped their pants and shit all over it with the passing of mandatory minimum sentencing 'guidelines'. This legislation usurps power from our judges and places it in the hands of the legislators. For those of you who may have forgotten your US history (which is appearently every member of Congress), our three branch system of government was designed to prevent this sort of injustice from occurring. In fact, it was one of the highest priorities of our forefathers when they wrote the Constitution. The legislature makes the laws, the judiciary interprets them and passes judgement. At least, that appeared to be the original concept until the age of the Drug War.

But no more. Judges no longer have the power to sentence people in proportion to their crimes. The State has already decided what your punishment should be, mitigating circumstances be damned. A trial before a judge is now a mere technicality played out before a black robed symbol of what our judicial system once was.

Don't think the judges are too happy about it either. You can read the dessenting opinions of many of them here. However, dissent as they might, they can't change drug policy.

I would be remiss to insinuate that everyone convicted of drug offenses is subjected to the draconian sentencing policies of America's unconstitutional drug legislation. If your last name happens to be Bush, things like cocaine use, underaged drinking, drunk driving, perscription forgery, and multiple drug probation violations will get you no more than a slap on the wrist, perhaps some community service, and likely your court records will be sealed or completely expunged by corrupt judges who were elected with the help of your father's political connections.

Being a member of America's aristocracy certainly has it's prevlidges. "Mandatory" minimum sentences which are truly mandatory for most people are merely extreme suggestions never to be considerred seriously when the accused is among the 5% of America's uberwealthy and politically connected families.

The more valuable you are to the economy outside of the prison system, the less likely you are to find yourself trapped in it. Unfortunately, the vast number of Americans aren't pulling their weight by the government's standards. If you aren't making a lot of money, you probably don't enjoy your freedom anyway, so you shouldn't care if it's taken away. Freedom is for the rich. For everyone else, there's a jail cell with your name on it.

Slave Labor, it makes America Work

The government and private prison industry aren't the only ones capitalizing on the "success" of our country's conviction rate. Some of the biggest companies in the world are using forced US prision labor to lower their bottom-line and reward their wealthy shareholders. TWA, Chevron, IBM, Motorola, Compaq, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Microsoft, Victoria's Secret and Boeing are just a few of the names you'll recognize profitting from prison slave labor. Your incarceration makes them money, so don't expect to see any of these companies lobbying for more sane drug legislation or civil rights anytime soon. If you value your personal freedom, you'll boycott these companies and any others that profit off the work of prison slaves. Ironically, the US took a vocal stance against China's use of prison labor, illustrating the hypocracy of the US government's wealthy elite.

The government touts prison labor programs as being rehabilitating and preparing prisoners for their release back into society. But rehabilitation is not a priority of the US corrections program, and at any rate, preparing someone for release back into society by sending them to labor in a sweatshop for 30 years is a gross miscarriage of justice by anyone's standards. George Bush supports the death penalty. As the former Governor of Texas, he personally signed off on the cold-blooded execution of his own countrymen. It's hard to believe such a person's stance on rehabilitation is anything other than disingenuous.

It's pretty clear that prison is a driving force in the nation's economy, and inextricably linked to the bank accounts of the wealthy. As such, there's no danger of the prison boom slowing down in the forseeable future. The government wins, big business wins, the only people who loose are you, but you don't matter anyway. This country was designed for the rich, and it's your duty to serve them. You should be honored that your years in prison will put food on the table of our politicians and CEOs.

Rehabilitation lies

You'll probably notice that the government's prison system doesn't place much emphasis on rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is not a priority, or even a desirable pursuit. They do speak highly of the good job they are doing with rehabilitation programs because it's the politically correct thing to do. But in reality, rehabilitation of prisoners is not a goal. "Treatment" means incarceration, and the longer the jail sentence, the more successful the treatment.

People in jail equals money for the government. A rehabilitated prisoner released back into society costs the government tax dollars. But rehabilitation works. It works in other countries, and it even works right here at home in the few pilot programs the government allows in order to keep up appearences. It costs less tax payer money, and results in lower repeat offenders - two things the government fears more than anything, which is why they aren't looking too hard for alternatives to jail time.

The DEA also speaks of the lofty goal of a drug-free America. But how many people would go to work everyday with the goal of undermining the need for their employement? A drug-free America would force thousands of government workers out of their jobs and that would be bad for the economy. The Drug War is a safe battle because it can never be won, therefore those fighting it will never outlive their own perceived usefullness.

When will it all end

You may wonder what you can do to curb the government's wreckless abuse of power, to protect your Constitutional rights, and to free the two million hostages from our country's prisons. Suprisingly, you can do quite a bit. Unfortunately, you'll likely do nothing. The government knows this, and in fact they are counting on it. In America, fewer people vote than in any other democracy in the world because they can't be bothered.

The United States is now a police state, but it didn't happen overnight. It happenned in plain view right before your eyes over a period of 30 years. If you weren't too self-absorbed to care, you might have been able to stop it.

Now, it might be too late. Diebold Corporation, headed by CEO, Walden O'Dell (an open and avowed Bush supporter) is going to make a nice profit by producing the new paperless electronic voting machines that President Bush will use to steal the next election.

The government has now linked terrorism to the War on Drugs and inacted the Patriot Act, which has effectively become the country's new constitution. Any freedom and rights you thought you once had, you no longer do.

You might think I'm being a bit hard on you for placing all the blame on you, but since it is in fact your fault, I really don't care. I hope you'll get mad enough to prove me wrong and do something about it, but I know that you won't. You'll forget all about this by November, which is exactly what the government wants. You'll continue to think "it can't happen to me", so why bother? Two million people in jail thought it would never happen to them either.

You probably won't don't click on the links at the bottom of this page that will take you to organizations fighting to end the War on Freedom. You probably won't bother to get involved in politics or to vote for sane drug reform if it requires you to get off your ass and take action, and you probably won't bother to stand up and let your voice be heard. That is, after all, the American way.