From Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton,and from Rand Paul to John Boehner, politicians seem to realize that putting so many people in prison isn’t popularSpurred on by the historic #BlackLivesMatter movement and the increasing realization our enormous prison population is both inhumane and costing us a fortune, and presidential candidates who once competed with one another over who was “tougher on crime” – are falling all over themselves to praise reform efforts meant to reduce the number of prisoners in the US. Even more shocking: its coming from both parties. But will the much-needed attention lead to actual change?President Barack Obama this week became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison,where he sounded more like a prison rights activist than a law-and-order president in his brilliant speech on the injustices faced by incarcerated Americans. He even ticked off statistics lamenting how the US to become by far the biggest jailer in the world: the US has only 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners; we absorb four times as many prisoners as China; and African-Americans and Latinos are 30% of the US population yet create up 60% of prison inmates.Continue reading...,
Source: theguardian.com