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Killing Inmates Is Costly~Cheaper to Watch TV (w/ Torture Videos)
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by duo | March 24, 2009 at 03:42 am
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Do you remember Johnny Taylor’s song from the 70’s entitled "It’s cheaper to keep her"? The lyrics addressed the high cost of divorce as opposed to keeping one’s wife. Some states are making a similar assessment when they consider the high cost of the death penalty compared to making life in prison without parole their highest punishment.
Associated Press reports, “While US opinion polls for years have shown a two-thirds support for lethal injections, this year the financial crisis has stressed the 10-to-one cost of execution compared to life imprisonment and made 10 states also consider its abolishment.”
SEE? It pays to be nice.
When Americans see the torture videos below, they may agree that prison is enough punishment. An excerpt from the AP report is below. Use the link to access an article.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) Amnesty International USA said in an annual report to be published Tuesday that capital punishment in the United States has become regional and fairly isolated event, with Texas accounting for roughly half of all executions.
"Only nine of the 36 states that retained the death penalty in 2008 actually carried out executions, and the vast majority of these executions took place in one region: the South," the US section of the London-based human rights group said in a statement.
"Texas accounted for, in essence, half (18 of 37) of the US executions in 2008," it added. And the southern state has carried out 12 of the 20 nationwide executions so far this year.
Other states including Virginia (east), Tennessee (south), Alabama (south), Ohio (north) and Oklahoma (south) also allow lethal injections -- the preferred method of execution, but in much smaller numbers.
New Mexico, also in the south, last week abolished capital punishment in its territory.
"Executions in the United States are increasingly a regionally isolated phenomenon," said Amnesty's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign director Sue Gunawardena- Vaughn.
"Elsewhere, concerns about cost, the possibility of executing the innocent and racial bias have led to a significant decline in support for capital punishment", she added.
While US opinion polls for years have shown a two-thirds support for lethal injections, this year the financial crisis has stressed the 10-to-one cost of execution compared to life imprisonment and made 10 states also consider its abolishment.
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This link has more information on AI's report: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Executions_in_US_a_regional_phenome_03242009.html
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports, “New Mexico isn’t the only state taking another look at the death penalty. Bills to repeal, study or place a moratorium on executions have been or are being considered in eight other states: Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.” See more of ACLU’s death penalty report at this link: http://www.aclu.org/capital/index.html
Southern states must be some rich if they pass up a deal like this during tough economic times. Commuting death row inmates’ sentences to life without parole reduces the cost of punishment by up to 90%. That is a great deal! Hopefully, more states will take advantage of the opportunity to reduce the burden on their taxpayers by abolishing the death penalty. Some of the savings could be channelled toward inmate rehabilitation. The AP reported that Florida recently made commendable steps to improve on prisoner rehabilitation and better prepare inmates to re-enter society. See this link:
AP Reports Florida's New Goal: Rehabilitate Prisoners
www.nowpublic.com/health/ap-reports-floridas-new-goal-rehabilitate-prisoners
Certainly, when the Southern states give up the death penalty, there are citizens who will miss it. But we should all pull together and make sacrifices during the economic downturn. Enjoying Cable TV is much cheaper than lethal injection, and many Americans are getting by on that.
Let's crunch the numbers, shall we? The Death Penalty Information Center reports: "The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually.” (2008 data)
Think of it! Savings of $90,000 per year, per death row inmate! That is a whopping lotta money, even in a flourishing economy. More financial considerations comparing the death penalty to life without parole sentences are available at this link: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
While most of us are concerned about the high cost of living, state legislatures and governors are re-thinking the high cost of killing. The following excerpt is from 2003, so it is reasonable to assume that inflation has hit the death penalty industry like any other.
NY -The estimated costs for New York’s death penalty, which was reinstated in 1995: $160 million, or approximately $23 million for each person sentenced to death, with no executions likely for many years. (The Times Union, Sept. 22, 2003)
Here's "Cheaper to Keep Her" Texas style. Enjoy! (Texas remains #1 in executions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLp6EKkWeZs
As a Southern girl, born and raised, I am willing to give up killing inmates and just watch TV. It's too darn expensive. Plus that, the Innocence Project reports that 233 people have been exonerated since 1989 by DNA testing - turns out they never did the crime! Most Southerners try to be good Christians, and I certainly wouldn't want to meet my LORD with innocent blood on my hands.
Best to end executions to save money and be sure not to kill the innocent.
Here is a way to contact your representatives about this and other issues. Also, check online for contact information and email your own governor. $90,000 per year per inmate could fill lots of cracks in the state budget! That's more money than the average family of four lives on in two years. The innocent don't deserve execution; the guilty don't deserve to cost us that much money to save them from life in prison. Let them rot in jail! Just let them live. http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
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I hope you recognize satire. This writer, a death penalty opponent, was surprised to encounter a certain callousness in people's attitudes recently while reviewing online comments about Edward Bell's execution. It was pretty shocking to realize that some people seemed to enjoy knowing there was an execution happening. I therefore adopted that tone for this article, recognizing that financial constraints might achieve what compassion cannot. See these films and know that prison is punishment.
PRISON TORTURE VIDEOS
See this prison torture video, and it is happening INSIDE the U.S.A. We need to stop prison torture at home. (Beware - graphic violence, nudity, and death):
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm
Our mental patients are in prison now. See how many of them live:
www.jennackerman.com/blog/2008/03/trapped-mental-illness-in-americas-prisons/
Solitary Confinement - More Torture
Here is how our most vulnerable citizens live since we were "humane" enough to "save" them from mental hospitals in the 1970's, and other inmates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEs3BQ0znAs
And the final bad news is that lots of people sent to prison for what used to be misdemeanor offenses end up on this website: (WARNING - graphic images; violence): http://www.geocities.com/prisonmurder/
PRISON IS ENOUGH PUNISHMENT, yet 2,400 people were executed last year, including the mentally ill and children.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Executions_in_US_a_regional_phenome_03242009.html
LONDON (AFP) – Almost 2,400 people were executed last year, including more than 1,700 in China alone, but the world moved closer towards abolishing the death penalty, Amnesty International said. A total of 2,390 people were put to death in 25 countries in 2008 and five states -- China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States -- accounted for 93 percent of the executions, the group said in an annual report.
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RUMOR HAS IT that Americans may get a taste of our own medicine.
MASS GRAVES BEING PREPARED IN AMERICA
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/mass-graves-being-readied-americans
Here’s another old saying: “What goes around comes around.” Comments are invited after the blank space below.
Mary Neal
Website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/Group/AIMI
Psalm 102:16-20
When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.
Wake-up Call BlogTalk Radio
Jan. 2008: "The Wrongful Death of Larry Neal Show"
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wakeupcallshow/2008/01/22/TBA
Real Talk with Brothas Keepa
May 2008: "Mental Illness in the Black Community"
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nbbta/2008/05/28/Real-Talk-With-Brothas-Keepa
The NVO Radio Hour ~ Second Guest on Show - Mary Neal
March 2009: "CHANGE the Justice System" - Capital Punishment Discussed
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/NVO/2009/03/26/The-NVO-Hour
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Crowd Power
duo
Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (13)
at 08:25 on March 26th, 2009
For those who are not impressed with how humane it is to abolish the death penalty, think of your wallets!
I recognize my writing articles about prisoner issues such as the urgent need to decriminalize mental illness and abolish the death penalty are like small drops of water against a rock. The good news is that if enough raindrops hit the same place over time, they will make a hole in the rock. Why not add your raindrops to mine? Together, YES WE CAN! Read:
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
~ Edmund Burke
This time I did something different: Each photo has its own mini-article. Go see!
Some people think death penalty opponents would feel different if it were them who lost a loved one through violence. That is not always the case. I can think of several people who forgave the people who robbed them of a loved one. It is easy for families like ours that have wrongly lost someone to feel bitter and seek revenge. I've read that it does not help grieving families as much as they believed it would to see the person responsible for their loss executed. Instead, we must rely on this truth:
The Battle Not Yours, It's the Lord's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN26jw53c0M
Blessings,
Mary
at 04:10 on March 25th, 2009
Thank you, Jazzyzazzy. Lots of things that are done in the justice system turn out to be about dollars and cents to the exclusion of decency, compassion, and even justice itself. I was very disappointed to learn this. Very.
at 04:47 on March 25th, 2009
IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR YOU
at 03:07 on March 26th, 2009
oh, haven't we heard that said before, not worth killing, and I never gave that a minutes thought to what it really meant for us today! and think of all those innocent people murdered by our court system who could have been spared. unfortunately, dear friend, many people just don't care unless it has touched their own lives personally, and then it's too late.
:(
at 05:49 on March 26th, 2009
Thanks for responding, Attila. This article shows clearly that it certainly does impact on all taxpayers to continue having capital punishment in their states. That $90,000 savings PER INMATE, PER YEAR could go to improving schools, teachers' salaries, infrastructure, health care, and other things that citizens should be more concerned about than killing inmates. Life in prison without parole is a tragic sentence. More states are deciding that it is ENOUGH! SEE THE VIDEOS AT THE ARTICLE AND DECIDE FOR YOUSELF.
at 05:45 on March 26th, 2009
This writer suffers intimidation and endangerment since beginning attempts to educate the public regarding certain social concerns facing our country. It reached the point that I am followed and accosted at neighborhood businesses. but when I called 911, police did not respond during the hour my little grandson and I were waylaid at a Chevron station last summer. Several vehicles of men, including a USDOT truck, had followed me about three miles and pulled into the Chevron parking lot behind me. I have a number of new neighbors who drive nice cars and moved into the seven foreclosed properties on my street right around my house that are valued at over $120,000 each, yet they seem to not need to work - just watch my home. So pray for us.
In 21st Century America, we live almost like Ann Frank in Nazi Germany or families who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad.
With unemployment running out fast, I would prefer a job writing at home. Let me know if you have such a position. Thanks for reading and commenting on this article!
Mary
at 07:17 on March 26th, 2009
Mary wrote:
"In 21st Century America, we live almost like Ann Frank in Nazi Germany or families who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad."
She is 100% correct. Those who are victimized by those conducting these operations are marginalized and/or dismissed by those who have the power to intervene and do something.
Regarding "organized stalking", as Greg Symanski states in one of his articles, "...stories of gang (sic) stalking...by a U.S. government grown mad with power, add to a growing list of thousands of Americans who are desperately trying to alert the public about what they call "the perfect crime." He also states, "It is a rule of the intelligence community that you hide things in plain view."
Those involved in "organized stalking" operate with a sense of impunity. These operations are big, and it's hard to believe that there isn't multi-governmental-agency involvment (but I'm only speculating). Anyone who complains or reports the crimes that are being committed (intense surveillance, thefts, vandalism, psychological harassment, etc.) is dubbed "delusional" or just plain "crazy." These groups have been operating in the U.S. (and many believe, worldwide) for decades, so it seems unlikely we will see an end to this madness. (Again, this latter point is "speculation", based on what some are reporting.)
I continue to hope and pray that "the truth" will come out and "set us free." If it doesn't, at least we can say that we gave it our all.
Thank you for your good work and courageous efforts, Mary. Good people like yourself should never have to suffer in this way. No one should have to be "under seige" in their own homes and communities across this nation - no one should be subjected to this truly "cruel and unusual punishment."
I only wish that the good people in power could do something to stop it. I hope and pray that someone with inside knowledge regarding these practices will have "a crisis of conscience" and bring these atrocities to the attention of someone with the will and ability to intervene.
at 08:09 on March 26th, 2009
Thank you. My incidents of stalking and harassment cannot be dismissed like some people's can. They are matters of public record. I know such persecution accounts are often dismissed by people simply because they make people uncomfortable. However, it does not help to pretend not to see. I think they tried that in other cultures.
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.
~ Frederick Douglass
I don't know what else to do other than call the police when endangered, write to authorities, and alert the public, especially my neighbors who have lived nearby a long time, to watch out for us. And pray, of course. We pray lots!
Most people are aware that things have changed in America, but they choose to pretend not to see what is plainly before us. This is because U.S. citizens expect our law officers and government officials to protect our civil rights. That has been the case for hundreds of years, with African Americans and Native Americans largely excluded. When civil rights protections were recently withdrawn from many people, it caught us off guard. Although I am black, I believed that even African Americans would have their civil rights protected in this 21st Century. I am sad about that being untrue. Sad and scared, because with recent news reports and rumors, I don't know how far the loss of civil rights will go for any of us.
at 14:48 on March 26th, 2009
Thanks again, NP. Congratulations! The Care2 Community has promoted your submission to the Care2 News Network Front Page.
at 03:23 on March 28th, 2009
A member of Patrick Crusade sent this information:
NEW MEXICO last week became the 15th state without capital punishment. It happened not because of a judge's ruling or a botched execution, but because the legislature and the governor decided the death penalty is too costly, the chance for error too great, and executions don't deter crime.
Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who previously supported capital punishment, said signing the bill was "the most difficult decision" of his political life but that "the potential for... execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings."
He visited death row, saw the execution chamber and agreed with a majority of the state's lawmakers that life in a prison cell "may be worse than death."
Practically, the change won't make a difference in the statistics. Only one person has been executed in New Mexico since 1960, and the state's two death row inmates will remain there even after the law takes effect in July. But symbolically, the decision speaks to an awakening among the public that the penalty has been too often carried out on the wrong people.
Several states, including Montana, are considering legislation to abolish the death penalty. Meanwhile, Virginia is heading in the wrong direction. Lawmakers passed three bills this year to expand capital punishment. Gov. Tim Kaine, who has vetoed such expansion efforts before, has not acted on the legislation.
In the past 35 years, 130 people on death row in the United States have been exonerated - an average of five per year from 2000 to 2007. Some were because of prosecutorial misconduct. Rather than continuing to risk making mistakes that can never be corrected, New Mexico's lawmakers agreed to do away with capital punishment for premeditated murder and substitute life in prison without the possibility of parole. A statewide poll in 2008 indicated 64 percent of residents supported the change.
Last week's decision is remarkable for several reasons. It happened not in New England or on the Left Coast, but in the centrist to conservative Southwest. It happened, as it should have, as a result of examination and debate by the state's elected lawmakers. And it came about because of a growing realization in New Mexico that too much money was being wasted on death penalty cases that could be spent to help victims' families heal - and to prevent other crimes.
NOTE: The member sent no link to access the full article, if the member did not write this himself.
at 18:00 on April 7th, 2009
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The Innocence Project of Pennsylvania Opens Today
Posted: 06 Apr 2009 07:36 AM PDT
The Innocence Project of Pennsylvania"It is the heart that makes a person rich. One is rich according to what one is, not according to what one has."
"Do what you can,
where you are,
with what you have."
at 18:46 on April 8th, 2009
LETTER FROM SIX EXONERATED MEN. Someone wrote that the death penalty would not be so costly if we had swifter executions. Before agreeing with them, please read this letter from six innocent men who would be dead instead of free today if death sentences were swiftly rendered: http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/Riley_Arthur.pdf
Select the link above to read the letter these men wrote to try to help another inmate who proclaims innocence to get post-conviction testing. Here are the signatories who spent years on death row before being proved innocent:
Rolando Cruz Exonerated though DNA testing in 1995 – a decade after being sentenced to death in Illinois
Charles Irvin Fain Exonerated through DNA testing in 2001 – more than 17 years after being sentenced to death in Idaho Ray Krone Exonerated through DNA testing in 2002 – a decade after being sentenced to death in Arizona Ryan Matthews Exonerated through DNA testing in 2004 – five years after being sentenced to death in Louisiana Curtis McCarty Exonerated through DNA testing in 2007 – 21 years after being sentenced to death in OklahomaEarl Washington Exonerated through DNA testing in 2000 – 17 years after being sentenced to death in Virginia
at 21:57 on July 24th, 2009
My announcement of a radio interview to wherein I discussed this article must have been one of those "offensive" messages that were removed.