The statement has further practical explanation of why this opposition: Continue readingOur Lord began his ministry by declaring “release to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 NRSV), and he distinguished those who would receive a blessing at the last judgment by saying, “I was in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:36b NRSV) Jesus also declared that one cannot serve two masters and condemned the idolatry of mammon, or wealth. (Luke 16:13).
Christians, therefore, must have a special concern for those who are captive in any way, especially for those who are imprisoned, and for the human conditions under which persons are incarcerated. Individual Christians and churches must also oppose those policies and practices which reflect greater allegiance to the profit motive than to public safety and to restorative justice for offenders, crime victims, and local communities.
Therefore, The United Methodist Church declares its opposition to the privatization of prisons and jails and to profit making from the punishment of human beings.
ADOPTED 2000
Tag Archives: Incarceration
Cheap prison labor used to build U.S. military weapons?

Mike Elk wrote for Alternet 28 April 2011, Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech Weapons Systems
It is a little known fact of the attack on Libya that some of the components of the cruise missiles being launched into the country mayl have been made by prisoners in the United States. According to its website, UNICOR, which is the organization that represents Federal Prison Industries, “supplies numerous electronic components and service for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability Missile (PAC-3)”.Maybe you’re out of a job. Can you compete with 23 cents an hour?In addition to constructing electronic components for missiles, prison labor in the United States is used to make electronic cables for defense items like “the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems”.
Traditionally these types of defense jobs would have gone to highly paid, unionized workers. However the prison workers building parts for these missiles earn a starting wage of 23 cents an hour and can only make a maximum of $1.15 an hour.
More detail in Noah Schactman’s Danger Room story
And Justin Rohrich, who apparently broke the story, says Lockheed Martin demanded a correction because they claim: Continue reading
Statewide Rally: the Quitman 10 in Macon
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When: | Saturday at 11:00pm – Sunday at 2:00am |
Where: | Stewart Chapel AME Church, 887 Forsyth Street |
Who: | Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Robert Brown, Rep. Tyrone Brooks, Sen. Vincent Fort, Rep. David Lucas, Ms. Helen Butler |
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Cairo in Mexico City
But while such stories have become tragically common in Mexico, this was the first time the mourners could vent their grief in front of tens of thousands of sympathizers and TV cameras from across the world.Continue readingAnd in this media spotlight, the protesters made a new demand — amid the failure of the government to provide security, they cried, the Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna must resign.
“We don’t want more dead. We don’t want more hate,” protest leader Javier Sicilia told the crowd. “President Felipe Calderon — show you are listening to us, and make the public safety secretary resign.”
The demand announced at Sunday’s rally gave a new edge to a movement that has been steadily rising amid the massacres and mass graves of Mexico’s drug war.
Up until then, protesters had come out with a mix
Dialog and VSEB —John Robinson

Here’s the video:
Let us try to come together and find some method —John Robinson
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 April 2011,
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
George Rhynes posted a complete transcript. Here are a few excerpts: Continue reading
Private prisons are a public safety problem
W.W. wrote in The Economist 24 August 2010 about The perverse incentives of private prisons:
Arizona, the place Georgia just copied Continue readingLAST week authorities captured two fugitives who had been on the lam for three weeks after escaping from an Arizona prison. The convicts and an accomplice are accused of murdering a holiday-making married couple and stealing their camping trailer during their run from justice. This gruesome incident has raised questions about the wisdom and efficacy of private prisons, such as the one from which the Arizona convicts escaped.
Local businesses help the local economy
Somebody remind me why VLCIA’s main efforts are on bringing in big chains?Independent businesses have been found to generate between 60% and 300% more local economic activity that chain retail stores do.
Or why people are so fascinated with Olive Garden, for that matter?
Well, I suppose if you want lower wages, big box retailers are good for that.
Hm, so the ultimate big box would be a private prison: a literally captive audience paid for by captive tax dollars and hirable at the lowest possible wages.
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CCA profits from California private prisons
CCA contributed to cutting funding for other services while getting more contracts for itself. Is that what we want in Georgia? Cut education funding while paying private prison companies? Is that what we want in Lowndes County?In three years, a private-prison construction and management company, the Corrections Corporation of America, has seen the value of its contracts with the state soar from nearly $23 million in 2006 to about $700 million three months ago – all without competitive bidding. Even in a state accustomed to high-dollar contracts, the 31-fold increase over three years is dramatic.
During the same period, the company’s campaign donations rose exponentially, from $36,750 in 2006, of which $25,000 went to the state Republican Party, to $233,500 in 2007-08 and nearly $139,000 in 2009. The donations have gone to Democrats, Republicans and ballot measures. The company’s largest single contribution, $100,000, went to an unsuccessful budget-reform package pushed last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Costs vary, but CCA receives about $63 per day per inmate, or about $23,000 annually.That would pay for a lot of rehabilitation and education. How about we do that instead?
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Texas still susceptible to private prison boondoggle
Mike Ward wrote 30 April in the Austin American-Statesman, Lawmakers chafe as push continues to privatize prison health care
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“There is a push on to change the system we have, a system that is cost-effective and is a national model, even before we know whether there will be any real savings,” said House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson .
“I think it’s something we should look at, to see what the real facts are, but I don’t think we should be rushing to a decision right now about this,” Madden said. “Most of the Legislature, I believe, think(s) that a decision this big — whether the system should be privatized — is one that we should make, not some board or agency.”
The American-Statesman first reported the privatization efforts in March and that top aides to Gov. Rick Perry have been involved in some of the meetings with vendors and lobbyists.
More from the article: Continue reading
Georgia first to copy Arizona anti-immigrant bill

Seth Freed Wessler wrote 15 April 2011, Welcome to the Wild, Wild South: Georgia Passes SB 1070 Copycat Bill
Many worry about the financial costs of the bill. Though these are surely not the greatest concerns for immigrant communities who would be most impacted if Georgia’s bill is enacted, many business groups are anxious. A national boycott of Arizona cost the state an estimated $250 million in lost taxes, tourism and other revenue, according to the Center for American Progress.Most states that have had this bill introduced have had the good sense to get rid of it. Continue readingEven before the Georgia bill passed, a group of organizations across the country threatened to wage a boycott of the state of Georgia if it enacts the legislation.