It is hoped that people who come to the march will walk away with more knowledge about the big business of prisons than they had when they arrived.  The team members of this march have a difficult and disturbing truth to tell the American people and its leaders.  That truth is that unnecessary harm must be eliminated from our government and each other.  This society was initially built on "truth and justice" and we called that the American Way.  Today, integrity has disappeared before our eyes so much that citizens are finally beginning to notice that something is wrong with the way this government is treating people.

Americans are questioning the events of 911.  They are questioning the war in Iraq, and among other things, they are disturbed by reports of abuse and torture to Iraqi prisoners by American guards many of whom came from American prisons which is where they got their training.  These men and women are trained to believe it is their job to punish people who are in prison.  They have more than proven to us that they do their jobs well.  People in prison are beaten, raped, and murdered.  Many murders are a result of medical neglect or the complete indifference to a patient's medical needs.  We call this "murder with no weapons".

In actuality, according to the American penal code, a person goes to prison AS punishment not FOR punishment.  It is severe enough to be removed from society and placed behind bars for a period of time in a "correctional" facility.  In a healthy society further punishment is not a condition of imprisonment.  In a healthy society, correcting errant behavior by means of education, training and treatment is what prisons are supposed to be all about so that when the person has finished his or her sentence they may rejoin society as a productive citizen who doesn't want to commit any more crimes.

If this is not so, then the name "correctional" facility needs to be called what it is: "punishment" facility.  So then you would have punishment officers, trained to punish rather than rehabilitate.  Would that be okay with American citizens?  Would citizens vote for punishment facilities to be built across this nation?  Fact of the matter is, that is what we are doing today.  We are voting for punishment facilities where it is okay to abuse, torture and murder if you are a paid punishment officer but it is not okay to commit these crimes if you are an ordinary citizen.

The abuse of power in American prisons and courtrooms is yet another failure of our government to act as a government should, while mainstream media acts like it is oblivious to the needs of American citizens.  Their silence is deafening.

The judicial system in America is now a rogue network designed to imprison millions of people and once behind bars, it doesn't matter what a few thousand people say for it is secure in the knowledge that most Americans are not savvy about the internal workings of the big business of prisons.  Sentencing terms have continued to increase and with that, severe overcrowding.  In a typical Alabama prison, cells designed for one man now house 3 men.  They are not placed with offenders in kind but rather young "pretty" adult men are placed with known rapists, often for punishment.  Prisoner rape is used by guards as punishment or as measures of control.  

When a person is finally released from prison, having endured such humiliation year after year, he or she may be suffering from post-traumatic delay syndrome - quite similar to the symptoms associated with people who return from the battle field in war.  Without help in getting back on their feet, they have no where to go; they are shunned by potential employers, family and friends.  They are continuously punished by this government when their right to vote remains stripped away.  They can pay taxes, they can go to war, but they have no representation in government.  If politicians would but realize that they would benefit from and additional 6.5+ voters, they might change their minds about returning the vote to all citizens whether imprisoned or not.

Conservative estimates indicate that 5% of the people who are convicted and sent to prison are innocent and that 85% of the people in prison are there as a result of the failed war on drugs.  That only leaves 10% of the people in prison actually violent and/or a threat to society, yet we see proposals for building new prisons every day.  Why not find another way to discipline drug offenders through community service and drug treatment? And why not investigate crimes seeking truth rather than being satisfied to "just convict anyone"?  That would make so much more sense.  The reason this is not happening is because the more people that are in prison, the greater the bottom-line revenue is for those who make a living from the prison industry.  Crime only pays when you are a stock owner, supplier of prison goods, or employed by the prison industry.

This industry is not healthy for the American society as a whole.  Prisons are a school for crime - to teach people to be better criminals.  Prisons create more victims of crime.  Our streets are not safer for this industry is geared to avoid rehabilitation and "corrections" and why?  To ensure that the revolving door syndrome keeps the recidivism rates high.  More bodies mean more revenue.  The commodity of the prison industry is human beings.

It is my hope that a general awareness takes place as a result of the march in DC this August and that citizens begin to realize why the criminal justice system is NOT working for the benefit of the people.  If there are over 2 million people in prison now and 5% of them are innocent, that means there are approximately 100,000 innocent people in our prisons, right now, as we speak.  To bring proof of innocence before the courts takes an act of God before that case is heard.  You see, innocence is not sufficient grounds for release according to law.  The only thing that is sufficient grounds for release is a constitutional violation that is deemed by the court as "harmful error", and if you are too late in presenting your proof of innocence, according to the law, that's too bad for you ad your family.

Is this the American Way?  No it isn't.  A new paradigm for the criminal justice system is in order not only to ensure freedom for us, but for the children and their children.  In this 21st century, with all the technological developments humans seek, may human beings not leave an unjust legacy to future generations.