-Caveat Lector- .............................................................. Forwarded from the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]: From: APFNetwork <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: APFN ONELIST <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: ~~Rural jails are packed, troubled Date: Saturday, December 25, 1999 2:47 PM *The Fourth Amendment found in the charred remains of the Davidian's home* http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/waco3.html http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/0,1038,500146600-500176605-500699506-0,00.html Rural jails are packed, troubled Copyright � 1999 Nando Media Copyright � 1999 Christian Science Monitor Service The Web site of the Christian Science Monitor, source of this article. By JILLIAN LLOYD DENVER (December 25, 1999 1:56 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - In every U.S. state, crowded jails are a fact of life - no matter how many new prisons are built. But across the landscapes of rural America, the trend is claiming new territory: Small county jails, with antiquated and understaffed facilities, are packing in inmates like never before. It's a situation that's veering toward crisis proportions, some say, with the potential for increased violence and health problems. "We have more inmates coming into jails than ever before, and the vast majority of jails in the U.S. are small rural jails," says Steve Ingley, of Hagerstown, Md., executive director of the American Jail Association. "If you're at 150 percent capacity, and your jail was built in 1900, and you have no new technology, how do you deal with that?" In many cases, not very well, he says. As tougher laws and mandatory sentences intersect with crumbling infrastructure and limited resources, the strain on jails is hitting unprecedented levels. A record number of Americans - some 2 million - are incarcerated. Yet while prisons - which generally house longer-term inmates - are funded at the state level, most of the nation's 3,201 county jails are paid for by local taxpayers. And for a growing number of counties, the cost of operating a jail is prohibitive. In rural Costilla County, the poorest county in Colorado, the recent solution was to shut down the jail. The dilapidated 12-cell facility - last remodeled in 1964 - posed health and safety risks to inmates, and was chronically overcrowded. "We don't have the tax base in the county to fund a jail," says Undersheriff Lou Pugliese. "We don't even have portable radios for our officers." Now, the department drives its inmates 100 or more miles to jails in neighboring counties. "It puts a real strain on the department," he says. Costilla County's troubles are not unique. Forty of Colorado's 62 counties struggle with the same problem. "Jails have been required to do a lot more, with a whole lot less," says Ingley. "They have a huge responsibility, without the resources. If we're going to continue on this path of putting away people, we're going to have to deal with this." Ingley says it's troubling that states leave the cost of running jails to local jurisdictions. Some states have recognized the problem. West Virginia and Kentucky have moved toward a system of regional jails that serve several counties. And other states are experimenting more with jail alternatives, such as home arrest and third-party custody. Still, even as U.S. crime rates fall, incarceration rates continue to climb. And the prison-building boom of the 1990s failed to make a significant dent in jail crowding. California has the largest corrections system in the country and spends more on prisons than on education. Yet the Los Angeles County Jail had to release 700 inmates in one day not long ago because of crowding. With new cells costing upward of $50,000 each, taxpayers are growing weary of paying for prison or jail beds. On the other hand, crowded jails are not without costs. With common areas converted to bunk rooms, lined with floor mattresses, and cells triple-bunked, jails become emotional pressure cookers. In many cases, plumbing, heating, and ventilation systems have become overburdened or inadequate. So have the prison staffs and their supervisors. "Frustration and tensions begin to rise. And the staff may use excessive force in dealing with problems, because they are overextended," says Kara Gotsch, of the ACLU's National Prison Project in Washington. Legal avenues for improving conditions are limited. Legislation passed by Congress in 1996 makes it very difficult for inmates to sue, explains Gotsch. "We get 1,000 letters a month with complaints about conditions. The toll on inmates is nonetheless real, says Lindsay Hayes, of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, in Mansfield, Mass. Suicide is the leading cause of death in rural jails; in county jails the suicide rate is 9-1/2 times greater than in the general population, he notes. "I believe that there is a direct correlation between the conditions of confinement and suicide," he says. Complicating the issue is the fact that 15 states - Colorado is one - have neither state inspections nor compliance standards for jails. This raises likelihood of poor conditions, Hayes says. Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director in Denver, is investigating charges of inhumane treatment at the La Plata county jail in Durango, Colo. Inmates reported being handcuffed and chained to a wall for six hours and shackled with leg irons to a floor ring. La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard declined to comment on the allegations, but said overcrowding has made it difficult to maintain order and physical restraints are sometimes needed. The jail has a capacity of 88 inmates, yet routinely houses 130. "Any time you cram people together that tight, tensions rise," he says. The county, meanwhile, is trying to convince voters to approve a $14 million referendum to build a 250-bed jail. La Plata is a relatively well-to-do county, with a strong oil and gas industry, yet local taxpayers are conservative, says Sheriff Schirard. "A jail is a hard sell to the electorate. " Even industry experts aren't convinced the answer lies in building jails."We need to be doing more prevention and treatment. We need to realize that this isn't all arrest and incarcerate," says Ingley. "There's more to the puzzle than that." (c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society ======================================================= http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/0,1038,500146600-500176605-500699506-0,00.html Virginia crime victims asked to consult police before talking to reporters Copyright � 1999 Nando Media Copyright � 1999 Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. (December 24, 1999 3:53 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Police in this Washington suburb plan to start requesting crime victims that they contact them before talking to the media, a move believed the first such action in the United States. Starting next month, victims and witnesses involved in high-profile crimes will be given a business card telling them they don't have to talk to reporters. The card will also advise them to consult with police first if they do decide to give an interview, according to Fairfax County Police spokesman Warren Carmichael. Carmichael said the department began considering the card in October after a local TV reporter revealed the identity of a child who had been approached by a suspected child molester. At the time, the suspect was still at large. Carmichael says the reporter's actions compromised the safety of the boy and his mother, who was interviewed for the story. Kyle E. Niederpruem, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, said that victims or their relatives often want to talk to reporters and that Fairfax County is overreacting to one incident. "I have not heard of a police agency anywhere in the country doing this," Niederpruem said. Joel K. Kaplan, chair of the newspaper journalism department at Syracuse University and a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, told The Washington Post that he thought crime victims and witnesses would interpret what the card says as a direction, rather than a suggestion. But John Stein, deputy director of the Washington-based National Organization for Victim Assistance, said he thinks the cards are a good idea. He said public figures familiar with the media know they can decline an interview, but victims often are not media-savvy. And Carmichael said reporters will not be impeded from doing their jobs. "I don't think (the card) infringes on the rights of the media," he said. "The media can ask for anything." ============================================== Memo to terrorists of the world http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_rockwell/19991224_xclro_memo_to_te.shtml 10 Judges Hit With RICO Lawsuit http://www.jail4judges.org [apfn] The Beating of "Citizen joe 6pk" by the Gestapo http://www.insidetheweb.com/mbs.cgi/mb77532 Priming America for Terrorism http://www.allsouthwest.com/columnists/jeteye.html SUBSCRIBE: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/apfn_waco During an April 20th ABC News special on the tragedy, FBI Director William Sessions asserted that "the American public expects that law enforcement will deal with those people who have broken the law." He is right, and that expectation includes -- indeed should begin with -- those federal officials who violate both the spirit and the substance of the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. http://thenewamerican.com/focus/waco/vo09no12_waco.htm Take a moment to picture this... http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/picturethis.html >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>< > WE WANT A CITIZENS INVESTIGATION - NEED FUNDING! < > ~~~CONTACT~~~ David Hall, Producer - [EMAIL PROTECTED] < > WACO INCIDENT - INVESTIGATIVE VIDEO PROVES CS GAS < > KILLED THE CHILDREN - Tel: 580-767-8827 - FAX: 767-8846 < > http://www.kpoc-tv.com < >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>< *The Fourth Amendment found in the charred remains of the Davidian's home* http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/waco3.html 1995 Congressional Hearings: Steven Schiff, US Congress, New Mexico (R): I'd like to focus on the search warrant. First, it was put together, as a number of witnesses have testified, in a prejudicial and inflammatory manner. And second . . . it clearly misstates the US Code statute number for the offense charged, and, I think makes other technical mistakes in the law. Which means to me it was put together in a sloppy fashion, Now you put together inflammatory with sloppy, that means to me that ATF was in a hurry to make a big splash with something. not necessarily endorsed by: *********************************** Lloyd Miller, Research Director for A-albionic Research (POB 20273, Ferndale, MI 48220), a ruling class/conspiracy research resource for the entire political-ideological spectrum. Quarterly journal, book sales, rare/out-of-print searches, New Paradigms Discussion List, Weekly Up-date Lists & E-text Archive of research, intelligence, catalogs, & resources. 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