ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons'

Acclaimed "The New Jim Crow" author and Ohio State University professor Michelle Alexander, one of the first to draw the nation's attention to the mass incarceration problem, posted this to her Facebook page yesterday:

The Clinton family likes to portray themselves as champions of black Americans. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Going back almost three decades, the Clintons have a consistent track record of exploiting, targeting, and trampling on the black community, using government as the means to perpetuate white supremacy.

If asked what state has the highest incarceration rate of Black people, most people would likely cite Mississippi, Alabama or perhaps Louisiana. They would be about 1,000 miles too far south.

'This historic vote demonstrates support to advance a public safety strategy beyond incarceration to include treatment and prevention.'

Corrections is the ultimate human service—and it can be done more cheaply and more effectively without locking so many people up.

Profiteers and their political allies don’t give up the ship without mobilizing all their resources for the fight. They will grant small concessions, window dress their past practice, even invite their most intransigent enemies into the tent, but they will not change unless a political force emerges that compels them to do so.