“Not criminalizing drugs doesn’t mean we approve of it,” says Nancy Gertner, a judge for the U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, in her speech to a panel of judges at the 1998 Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL) sponsored by the Partnership for Responsible Drug Information (PRDI). She continues: Not criminalizing drugs doesn’t mean we … [Read more…]
In an effort to shave approximately $3 million annually from their $27.4 billion budget (State of Massachusetts), GOP lawmakers in Massachusetts have announced a bill to cut the payment of prisoners for performing routine maintenance duties within the state’s penitentiaries. This bill, while having the potential of realizing a marginal savings to taxpayers, is flawed. If enacted, this law would take away the only way some prisoners have of paying for vital personal care items such as toothpaste and razors while the cost of relegating these tasks to unionized labor, the norm in Massachusetts, has not even been determined. This nation, can not allow its prisons to become an even greater breeding ground for increased crime, debt, and demoralization than they already are. Certainly not while attempting to paint a picture of fiscal responsibility by lawmakers for the taxpayers they serve.
John Crimpton sits on a bus headed for his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. In his lap rests a worn bible, a small duffle bag full of his sparse belongings and a slip of paper. On the slip of paper is the name Renaldo Vasquez. John is one of the nations more than 650,000 inmates to … [Read more…]
You’ve been given beautiful eyes to see with. This gift allows you to look carefully at the world. This gift allows you to make your own decisions and to determine your own fate. You’ve been blessed with beautiful eyes that cry when you’re sad and glow when you’re happy. This gift must be used carefully. … [Read more…]
And so it begins.
This little foray into the blogosphere is underway and frankly, it freaks me out just a little bit. I have always had this little idea in the back of my mind that I had something to say. I had a tendency to say whatever it was that I had to say out loud and usually out of turn.