Happy Halloween, But Fear Your Neighbors!?

October 31, 2004

"I haven't been able to find any evidence that a kid has ever been killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat received while trick-or-treating," he says. "I can't say that it has never happened, but to say that it happens a lot, that it happens all the time, that it justifies all the worrying and warnings? That's overblown. There's just no evidence."
-Dr. Joel Best quoted in Halloween hand-wringing
Are the stories about trick-or-treat mayhem for real? by Jill Wolfson in the October 29, 1999 Salon. Be sure to read the second page of the article about "where these horror stories come from".

New documentary on juveniles being tried as adults

October 28, 2004

Leslie Neal has new documentary about the growing problem of juveniles being tried and sentenced as adults. Juvies (2004) reveals the shocking reality of juvenile offenders in America, many of whom are serving draconian sentences for marginal involvement in so called 'gang' crimes. The director, Leslie Neal taught a video production class at Los Angeles Central Juvenile Hall to 12 juveniles who were all being tried as adults. Juvies is the product of that class, made jointly by teacher and students, witnessing heartbreaking stories of children abandoned by families and a system that has disintegrated into a dehumanizing vending machine of injustice.

Cheney and Edwards flub debate's domestic AIDS question: It's the prisons, stupid.

October 6, 2004

At tonight's Vice-Presidential debate, moderator Gwen Ifill asked the candidates to talk about AIDS in the United States, particularly as it affects Black women, and both candidates ignored the question:

IFILL: I will talk to you about health care, Mr. Vice President. You have two minutes. But in particular, I want to talk to you about AIDS, and not about AIDS in China or Africa, but AIDS right here in this country, where black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their [white] counterparts.

What should the government's role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?

Dick Cheney talked about the administration's work to get $15billion for AIDS in other countries and said he had "not heard those numbers with respect to African-American women." John Edwards talked about Russia and China and doubling the administration's $15billion for fighting AIDS in other countries. Neither addressed the question, so we will.

The high rate of AIDS infection for Black women has everything to do with the high rate of incarceration of Black men and the refusal of state prison officials to apply the successful infection reduction strategies used by public health officials outside of prisons. Many prisons don't bother to test for HIV, but prisoners are infected at a rate at least 7 times higher than the general population. Without proper prevention, AIDS will only increase behind bars,

While some political leaders may be so short-sighted that they deny prisoners their human right to be protected from communicable diseases, the taxpayers should remind these leaders that the average prisoner completes his sentence and returns home within 3 years.

While he ignored Ifill's question, Dick Cheney did correctly explain what inaction to AIDS looks like:

"In some parts of the world, we've got the entire, sort of, productive generation has been eliminated as a result of AIDS, all except for old folks and kids -- nobody to do the basic work that runs an economy."

That's a textbook definition of genocide. But Cheney was talking about Africa. He wasn't talking about the fact that 13% of Black men in their late twenties are confined in disease factories called prisons and he wasn't putting that together with the fact that Blacks make up 48% of our country's new AIDS cases.

Both candidates were, after all, talking about other countries.

Resources on this under-discussed topic:

• Prison's hidden cost: Inmates can take home AIDS risk By Margaret Newkirk and David Knox, Sun, Mar. 17, 2002Akron [OH] Beacon Journal. Amazing article that looks at the failure of American prisons to respond to the public health crisis behind bars. Focuses on Ohio, but does a wonderful job with the national and international context. This is an absolute must read. For some followup on Ohio's (ironically Ohio was host of the debate) refusal to make common sense reforms that would aid public health, see the Prison Policy Initiative's efforts to change the state's disciplinary policy.
• Why jails should allow syringes by Rick Lines.

Two Empty Bottles with Different Labels -- Paul Wright reviews John Kerry on criminal justice issues

October 2, 2004

Prison Legal News editor Paul Wright reviews John Kerry's record on criminal justice issues in Two Empty Bottles with Different Labels in Counterpunch. It's a must-read piece.