Health & Fitness
Voting 'Yes, but . . .' for the New Justice Center
I'll be voting for the justice center. Some increase seems warranted, but questions, concerns and unused opportunities remain.
Humankind has struggled with virtually every aspect of crime and punishment since we came down out of the trees.
The economic and human cost of the "solution" called incarceration have created both a multi-billion-dollar industry and human failures. "With more than 2.3 million people locked up, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. One out of 100 American adults is behind bars -- while a stunning one out of 32 is on probation, parole or in prison. This . . . has created a thriving prison economy. The states and the federal government spend about $74 billion a year on corrections, and nearly 800,000 people work in the industry." (CNBC)
Prisons have now become America's most fully occupied, and expensive, public housing program.
Nor have Iowa, and Iowa City, remained outside these challenges. Johnson County's supervisors, and sheriff, are recommending local residents approve a near-$50-million bond burden on top of their current property taxes to provide a substantial expansion to our local contribution to the prison industry and our own public housing.
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