
              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6  Num. 37
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                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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DRUGS ARE DRIVING THE PRISON BUSINESS AND PRISON PROFITS
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By Marianna Wertz
The New Federalist, 10/30/95
 
"When It Comes To Marketing, Crime Does Pay," boasts an article 
in the Oct. 20 New York Times business section. The article 
reports on the financially lucrative marketing of "Prison Blues" 
blue jeans, T-shirts, and other apparel manufactured by prisoners 
in the state of Oregon. The state expects to sell more than $3 
million worth of clothing this year, up from $221,000 in 1991. 
The Times notes, in a parenthetical sentence near the end of the 
article, that the prisoners, who both make and *model* the 
apparel for promotionals, receive a "meager hourly wage."
 
This report should prompt the following questions:
 
  Does the potential of prison labor for money-making have 
  something to do with the fact that nearly one-third (32.2%) 
  of all black American males in the age group 20-29 are under 
  criminal justice supervision on any given day -- in prison or 
  jail, on probation or parole?
 
  Does the fact that drug arrests are the single most 
  significant factor contributing to the rise in criminal 
  justice populations in recent years -- and especially the 
  imprisonment of black Americans -- have something to do with 
  the fact that our nation's cities are being flooded with 
  drugs?
 
  Are the 827,440 young African American males in our nation's 
  jails and prisons -- nearly 40 percent of whom are there on 
  drug-related charges -- increasingly being viewed as a prime 
  source of loot?
 
                 -+- Drugs Driving Prisons -+-
 
That drug convictions are the prime source of the exploding 
American prison population -- now at or near 1.5 million people 
-- and that minorities are being arrested for drugs at a 
disproportionate rate, is documented in an October 1995 report 
issued by The Sentencing Project, based in Washington, D.C. The 
report is written by Assistant Director Marc Mauer and Tracy 
Huling, a criminal justice consultant.
 
Here are some of its findings:
 
  ** African-Americans and Hispanics constitute almost 90 
  percent of offenders sentenced to state prison for drug 
  possession.
 
  ** Drug policies constitute the single most significant 
  factor contributing to the rise in criminal justice 
  populations in recent years, with the number of incarcerated 
  drug offenders having risen by 510 percent from 1983 to 1993.
 
  ** The number of black (non-Hispanic) women incarcerated in 
  state prisons for drug offenses increased 828 percent from 
  1986 to 1991.
 
 
While African-American arrest rates for violent crime -- 45 
percent of arrests nationally -- are disproportionate to their 
share of the population, this proportion has not changed 
significantly for 20 years. For drug offenses, though, the 
African-American proportion of arrests increased from 24 percent 
in 1980 to 39 percent in 1993, well above the African-American 
proportion of drug users nationally.
 
To complete the circle of inquiry, one merely has to note the 
following: Hundreds of billions of dollars in drug money flow 
into "legitimate" businesses and banks in this nation every year, 
as this news service has documented in the best-selling book 
"Dope, Inc." Leading Wall Street firms, among them Goldman Sachs, 
Smith Barney, American Express, and General Electric, are 
investing millions of dollars in building prisons. Those prisons 
are right now producing billions of dollars worth of goods, at 
close to zero wage levels: It was reported at the Million Man 
March that by 1998, prisoners in America will be producing $9 
billion worth of goods, while displacing 400,000 salaried 
workers.
 
Drugs, slave labor and mega-bucks go hand in hand. Look at the 
facts and draw your own conclusions.
 
 +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +
 
The New Federalist: $20 for 50 issues. Make checks payable to The 
New Federalist, PO Box 889, Leesburg, VA 22075. (Note that I have 
no connection to The New Federalist; I merely pass along this 
info because otherwise their newspaper is not easy to find.)
 
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

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