Review: "Texas Tough - The Rise of America's Prison Empire"

[Dave U. Random]

(The New Republic) - Robert Perkinson’s sweeping and troubling
account of the Lone Star State’s penal system from the days of
slavery to the present (Amazon: http://xrl.us/TexasTough ) is a
sober reminder that gaping budget deficits will not necessarily
reverse the prison boom. The “Texas tough” style of justice is not
only deeply embedded in the state’s budget but also in its
political, cultural, and social fabric.

Most accounts of the phenomenon of mass incarceration have focused
on national developments to explain why the United States has the
world’s highest rate of incarceration and locks up more people than
any other country. Recently attention has begun to shift to the
state level. While all fifty states have seen their incarceration
rates explode since the 1970s, these rates still vary considerably
between states, from a high of nearly 1000 per 100,000 people in
Louisiana and Texas to a low of about 300 per 100,000 in Maine.

Perkinson draws much needed attention to Texas, which operates the
country’s largest state prison system, and holds more people today
than the prison systems of Germany, France, Belgium, and the
Netherlands combined...

Continued: http://sn.im/TexasTough

[Diogenes]

Post by Dave U. Random
Perkinson draws much needed attention to Texas, which operates the
country's largest state prison system, and holds more people today
than the prison systems of Germany, France, Belgium, and the
Netherlands combined...

---
Texas has more Mexicans and Niggers than the countries listed above.
People in prison are convicted criminals, so the more criminals you have the
more go to prison. The alternative is to have a law-abiding population or
to allow criminals to go free.