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Friday, September 12, 2014

Prison Corporations Cash In On Incarcerated Immigrant Children

NICOLE FLATOW
September 2, 2014
ThinkProgress

The country's largest private prison firms are experiencing strong increases in the price of their shares as a result of the incarceration of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in recent months.

Share prices for two of the largest private prison firms have spiked sharply since an influx of unaccompanied migrant children crossing the border was reported this summer. And some investors in GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America are seizing on the opportunity for more profit from incarceration, according to recent comments to CNN Money.

“Investors see this as an opportunity. This is a potentially untapped market that will have very strong demand,” activist investor Alex Friedmann told CNN Money.

Both firms, which house prisoners through private sector contracts with the government, have arrangements with federal agencies to detain immigrants. Since July 30, CCA’s stock has increased 8.5 percent, and GEO’s has increased 7 percent. Analyst Brian Ruttenbur added that both companies are “extremely well positioned” to “help with the crisis.”

Monday, June 2, 2014

TELL SENATORS: SUPPORT SENTENCING REFORM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2014

Justice Advocates Support Sentencing Reform; HRM Urges Disciples to Call Their Senators

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Human Rights Ministries (HRM) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) called on all Disciples committed to human rights and criminal justice reform to take action on prison sentencing reform by calling their senators on Wednesday, June 4, to voice their support for the bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act. According to HRM Director Ford Rowan, "Our prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders who are there on minor drug charges, most of them people of color and poor.  Justice is not served by this unjust situation.  People of faith need to speak out, and Congress needs to act."

The Smarter Sentencing Act, which has successfully passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and is now poised for a vote by the full Senate this month, would reduce racially disparate mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. It would also allow current prisoners serving outdated sentences for crack cocaine offenses to apply for a sentence reduction.

The National Council of Churches (NCC), of which the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a member, is prioritizing the issue of mass incarceration because of its tremendous impact on American populations over the past decades. Federal prisons are crowded with people serving excessive sentences for low-level and nonviolent drug crimes. Mandatory minimums have contributed to an 800% increase in the size of the federal prison population since 1980. This expensive system continues to grow and is squeezing out needed funding for crime prevention, victim services, and reentry. The Smarter Sentencing Act is a crucial step toward stopping this damaging trend.

HRM is urging Disciples to participate in a call-in campaign on Wednesday, June 4, to encourage their senators to support this much-needed legislation. Interested Disciples can call the Capitol Switchboard TWICE by dialing 1-888-427-0484, asking to speak to their state’s senators, and urging them both to support the Smarter Sentencing Act, S. 1410, and to request that their Senate leaders bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote this month. The following script has been provided:

“Hi, my name is ________, and as a constituent and member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I urge Senator ________ to support the Smarter Sentencing Act, S. 1410, and ask that the senator tell Senate leadership to bring the bill to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. Thank you for passing along my concerns.”

The following talking points are also recommended:
• “As a person of faith, I am concerned about the harsh mandatory minimum sentences Congress passed almost 30 years ago. They have created racial disparity in federal prisons and resulted in an 800% increase in the prison population since 1980.”
• “The bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act is an incremental sentencing reform that would reduce the excessive penalties for low-level drug offenses. I support its passage and urge you to support it as well.”
• “The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Smarter Sentencing Act, and it is ready for a vote in the full Senate. Please urge Senate leadership to bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote.”

In their conversations, Disciples should be sure to identify themselves as constituents and to thank the staff for listening to their concerns.

For more information, please contact HRM Director Ford Rowan at fordrowan@comcast.net.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Good News from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture!

We have good news to share with you!  Today, thanks in large part to your hard work over many years, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to release critical portions of its report on CIA torture.  The vote was bi-partisan and it represents a significant step toward ensuring that our government will share the truth about our nation's past use of torture with the public.

This is a victory that deserves to be celebrated.  With this vote, our nation takes a significant step to shine a light on torture and restore human dignity.  Together we have achieved an important milestone in the work to end torture. 

Your advocacy played a critical role since one of your Senators voted to release the report.  Please send a quick email to your Senator thanking him or her for voting to help expose the truth about torture.

However, our work is far from done.  The report will now go to the President and the executive branch for a redaction process before it is made fully public.  And then, once the report is made public, NRCAT and our many allies in Congress and across the country will need to use the information in it to establish safeguards that will permanently prevent the use of torture in the future.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

From the Economic Policy Institute: The Native American Jobs Crisis and How to Solve It


In the short videoNative Americans and Jobs: The Challenge and the Promise,” Algernon Austin, EPI research associate, analyzes the ongoing Native American jobs crisis and presents policy initiatives to address it. Although Native American unemployment remains extremely high, there is great promise to increase employment of Native Americans with policy interventions, including increasing technical education and investing in infrastructure.

Native Americans suffer from crisis-level unemployment rates across the country. They have significantly lower odds of being employed than whites. Further, they have endured five years of unemployment rates over 10 percent. One way to generate job growth is by addressing the country’s tremendous infrastructure needs, which could put millions of Americans of all races back to work, and would help stimulate a much-needed economic recovery for Native Americans. Other policies include empowering Native American communities, improving Native American education outcomes, and conducting additional research on Native Americans’ economic circumstances.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

HRM Joins NRCAT in Applauding Senator Feinstein's Defense of Congressional Oversight Regarding Torture Program

Today, prompted by controversy over a Central Intelligence Agency internal review document that is said to corroborate the results of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into CIA torture, Committee Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein vigorously defended the Committee’s work, suggesting that “If the Senate can declassify this report, we will be able to ensure that an un-American, brutal program of detention and interrogation will never again be considered or permitted.” She described how the CIA repeatedly removed documents it had previously provided the Committee and how it, possibly illegally, monitored the Committee’s work. She also said that the CIA’s acting general counsel, an individual who is named more than 1,600 times in the Committee’s report, may have attempted to intimidate Committee staff.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hupacasath First Nation Files Documents with the Federal Court of Appeal in Canada

The Hupacasath First Nation has filed documents with the Federal Court of Appeal to continue its historic, legal challenge to the Canada China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA).  See the letter below:



Stay tuned for a court date.