Jane Sanders Visited A Controversial Immigrant Prison In Arizona. She Left Horrified.

Sanders tweeted that Arpaio admitted that “the temperature in the tents were up to 130 degrees in the summer” and that he removes meat from all of the prisoners’ meals. Arpaio, meanwhile, insisted that the conditions at Tent City are appropriate. “These are all convicted (inmates). They’re all doing their time,” he told Sanders, according to The Arizona Republic...
http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2016/03/15/3760249/jane-sanders-visits-arpaio-tent-city/

Nevada Prisoner Forced To Smash His Own Teeth Out | ThinkProgress

“Due to the unbearable pain that the plaintiff endured, despite his repeated and desperate cries for help, the plaintiff was forced to smash out his teeth by punching himself in the face, other macabre means, and pulling the teeth out,” the official court complaint reads.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/04/02/3765942/nevada-prisoners-forced-to-pull-out-teeth/

Florida Cuts Ties With Private Prison Company That Abused Kids For Decades

Private prison corporations, including the notorious GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), rake in money by requiring states to guarantee that they pay for 90 to 99 percent of the beds, which gives states the incentive to lock up more people. At the same time, the corporations try to minimize costs by under-funding and under-staffing their facilities, leading to poor management and little oversight. That concern for the company’s bottom line sets the stage for a wide range of abuses to occur...
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/18/3761410/ysi-gets-the-boot-in-florida/

It’s Official, The Government Only Works For The Wealthy

In America today, we have too many people going hungry, too many people living on the streets, and too many people who don’t know how they’re going to pay their medical bills. This isn’t the result of a lack of leadership, it’s the result of bad leadership. Republicans in America have worked very hard to create these problems just so they can give a few more handouts to the already-wealthy.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/p25Gk2sZIbs

No, Bernie Sanders Did Not Promise to Free a Quarter of America's Prisoners

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wagner-givens/no-bernie-sanders-did-not_b_9276422.html

Get Your Memes Right: The 1994 Crime Bill Didn't Create Mass Incarceration

German Lopez points out today that the 1994 crime bill wasn't responsible for mass incarceration...
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/get-your-memes-right-1994-crime-bill-didnt-create-mass-incarceration

Part 2: Seth Freed Wessler on Uncovering the Deaths of Dozens at Privatized Immigrant-Only Jails

A shocking new investigation about private prisons has revealed dozens of men have died in disturbing circumstances inside these facilities in recent years. We continue our conversation with journalist Seth Freed Wessler, who spent more than two years fighting in and out of court to obtain more than 9,000 pages of medical records that private prison contractors had submitted to the Bureau of Prisons.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/PvMKWy3XMwQ

Youth Activists Take To The Street In Washington D.C.

Activists shut down central Washington D.C. this morning to demand political action on climate change, immigration, and racial ... Read more

Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe, with Antony Lowenstein (The Humanist Hour #171)

In this episode, Bo Bennett speaks with author and journalist Antony Lowenstein about his latest book, Disaster Capitalism, dealing with a broken political system in need of fixing.

Antony Loewenstein is an Australian independent freelance journalist, author, documentarian and blogger. He has written for the The Guardian, Washington Post, New Statesman, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, The Daily Star, Le Monde Diplomatique English, Foreign Policy, The National, Al Akhbar English, Dawn, Haaretz, The Nation, New Internationalist, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, BBC World Service, Adbusters, Al Masry Alyoum, Juan Cole, Mondoweiss, Tehelka, Sydney’s Sun-Herald, New Zealand Herald, Sydney Ideas Quarterly, The Australian Financial Review, Crikey, Melbourne’s Age, Brisbane’s Courier Mail, Canberra Times, Online Opinion, New Matilda, The Conversation, ABC Unleashed/The Drum, Amnesty International Australia, Green Left Weekly, Eureka Street, Kill Your Darlings, Tikkun, Adelaide’s Advertiser, The Bulletin, Znet, Overland, Sydney PEN, The Big Issue, Counterpunch and many others.
Links:

• AntonyLoewenstein.com

Interview:

http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/podcast/the-humanist-hour-171-disaster-capitalism-making-a-killing-out-of-catastrophe-with-antony-lowenstein

The True Cost Of Incarceration: Families On Lockdown

When a person is sent to prison, they aren't the only one who pays for the crime. AJ+ speaks with families burdened by mass incarceration in America.
https://youtu.be/3fdt5ZPr570

Clinton To Cut Ties With Private Prison Industry

The announcement comes after months of pressure from Black Lives Matter and immigrant rights groups. ... Read more

John Oliver: Mental Health (HBO)

John Oliver explains how our national system of treating mental health works, or more often than not, how it doesn’t.
https://youtu.be/NGY6DqB1HX8

Justice Is Not For Sale (Bernie Sanders)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation to ban private prisons, reinstate the federal parole system and eliminate quotas for the number of immigrants held in detention.
https://youtu.be/-A8HgT7Pp_Q

The Official Pope Francis Plush Doll Is Brought To You By A Company That Served Maggots To Prisoners

Aramark will charge you $5 for a pin commemorating Pope Francis' impending U.S. visit, but it won't say what it charges to ... Read more

Prison Guard 'Beat Up' Squad Accused of Killing Inmate: Why Prison Abuse Is So Common and Overlooked

America is the only democracy in the world that doesn't have independent oversight of prisons.
...  Read more

San Jose inmate violently beaten to death

Michael Tyree was allegedly beaten to death in Santa Clara County Jail by deputies and wasn't even supposed to be there...
https://youtu.be/to765s7YXyQ

Bernie Sanders: Abolish Private Prisons

Bernie Sanders will be introducing legislation to ban private prisons. Private prisons have spent millions lobbying the government to change the laws to lock more people up, with longer sentences. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

"Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to abolish private prisons, one piece of his comprehensive racial justice reform package that has won praise from Black Lives Matter activists.

“When Congress reconvenes in September, I will be introducing legislation which takes corporations out of profiteering from running jails,” the independent senator said at a campaign rally in Nevada.”*
http://youtu.be/E6frR_oda2M

Private Prison Company Employees Profited From Unpaid Prisoner Labor, Former Inmates Say

It's against state law in Tennessee for prison employees to pocket money directly from the labor inmates perform.  ... Read more

Bernie Sanders To Introduce Legislation Abolishing Private Prisons When Congress Reconvenes

He has called for-profit prisons "morally repugnant and a national tragedy."  ... Read more

Almost Half Of Firefighters In California Are Inmates, Being Paid $1 An Hour On The Line

As climate change threatens to make fire season worse and prison reforms are reducing the state's source of cheap labor, ... Read more