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GEORGIA GREEN PARTY MAKES PRISON REFORM MAJOR PRIORITY
Black Agenda Report - Georgia's Green Party. . . will announce that its major focus for the coming two years, including the 2010 election cycle, will be making a political issue out of black mass incarceration. The Green Party of GA intends to do this by running candidates for the state legislature and for district attorney and sheriff, not just in metro Atlanta, but in Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Savannah and elsewhere. Georgia's Green party will expect its candidates to put the fact of black mass incarceration squarely on the political table by advocating positions including but not limited to:
- opposing in principle the trials of or incarceration of juveniles as or with adults;
- repealing all mandatory sentencing legislation;
- an end to all privatized prisons and jails, and the swift phasing out of piecemeal privatization of inmate health, food services and other functions;
- an end to all privatized probation services
- ceasing the incarceration of juveniles for most or all nonviolent offenses and reexamining the "zero-tolerance" policies forced upon many school districts;
- immediate cancellation of all the private contracts enabling well-connected corporations and corrupt politicians to collect exorbitant tolls on the money sent to and phone calls made to inmates and persons in custody;
- the extension of meaningful educational opportunities beyond G.E.D. to people in the state's jails and prisons and its extensive community corrections networks;
- opposing in principle the trials of or incarceration of juveniles as or with adults;
- repealing all mandatory sentencing legislation;
- an end to all privatized prisons and jails, and the swift phasing out of piecemeal privatization of inmate health, food services and other functions;
- an end to all privatized probation services
- ceasing the incarceration of juveniles for most or all nonviolent offenses and reexamining the "zero-tolerance" policies forced upon many school districts;
- immediate cancellation of all the private contracts enabling well-connected corporations and corrupt politicians to collect exorbitant tolls on the money sent to and phone calls made to inmates and persons in custody;
- the extension of meaningful educational opportunities beyond G.E.D. to people in the state's jails and prisons and its extensive community corrections networks;
3 Comments:
Nice thinking, but futile. The Greens do not have a constituency that will give them any money. The GOP knows that the way to get white votes is to hype black crime. And the Dems are beholden to public employee (including cop/prison guard) unions and trial lawyers -- who benefit from the current arrangement.
Sorry, Anonymous 6:53. You're almost right. It's not that the GOP gets votes for hyping black crime so much as it is that they represent the interests of all those corporations which get the privatization contracts. Remember, follow the money trail and you will discover the truth.
One would think that the upcoming election seasons would be a banner opportunity for the Greens.
Obama and the Democrats ran on promises of progressive change, but instead are governing like they are Bush's third term.
One would think that there are a lot of angry, progressive Obama voters out there that would be prime targets to be converted to Greens right now.
If there was ever a time for strong campaigns to challenge the Democrats, and grow the Green Party by attracting those who realize that the Democrats are not the answer, now would seem to be that time.
Instead, what I'm seeing everywhere within the Green party is this strategy that its time to focus on local and state issues.
While I like the issue, and it certainly needs attention in Georgia, the sub-title to this story could be
"Green Party decides not to challenge the Democrats."
We need a real opposition party in this country. Right now. Not at some vague time in the future. Yet, the Green Party seems determined NOT to be that opposition.
Guess we gotta look somewhere else then! Or start it ourselves and then don't allow it to be infiltrated by Democrats the way the Green Party is today.
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