Being in jail certainly sucks! People blame elected officials for horrible conditions, yet we, the public voted those people in. And we, the public, demanded them to be "tough on crime". We meant violent criminals & such, not addicts & petty crimes! Why we think it's ok to spend our tax money incarcerating drug addicts, instead of educating our children is crazy! Our tax dollars could be better spent on our children obtaining better educations, possibly preventing them from later becoming an addict and rehabilitation for those who already have, instead of labeling drug addicts as felons & making it even more difficult for them to get housing & decent jobs, thus perpetuating this senseless cycle, forcing them further into crime and more dependent on welfare! FYI, Texas has the largest prison population in the WORLD! Compared to WHOLE COUNTRIES! Seems to be a goal, to lock up everyone at least once! At this rate, every household in Texas will have at least 1 felon! If not u yet, maybe next time? If u think it could never happen to u, only naive think judicial system is fair & impartial! Jail is where the ACCUSED go, innocent UNTIL proven guilty, so u don't actually have to do anything to find yourself there. If ur unable to bond, u stay, still "assumed" innocent, until ur case is heard. Sometimes months, up to 2 years! Some states have been sued for not providing those who were unable to bond out a more affordable bond or an alternative. It was deemed unfair and violation of rights, punishing the poor as they're forced to sit n jail, fighting their charges and not being able to help prepare their defense as well as they could have. Also, how long would u sit n county jail, fighting a charge? Even if u REALLY r innocent, after awhile, 6 months or so, probation offer looks really good! System is absolutely unfair and prejudiced against the accused. Even rich people find out how unfair system is. (Bernard Kerik! Former New York City police commissioner! Spent $1million on defense, still convicted of bogus charges. Does average person without a million bucks really stand a chance? His views on prisons & jails certainly changed once he became an inmate instead of the warden!)
Next election year, SPEAK UP! Remember, they're only doing what they think public wants! Tell them we want a FAIR and IMPARTIAL justice system! Find candidate who wants to SERVE the public, instead of punishing it and making us pay the bill, while our children suffer without books in school, poor educations. We don't wanna pay to house drug addicts for YEARS in our prisons! (33k per inmate/per year! Versus few months n rehab!) Send em to rehab, don't label them, so that we have to support them! Spend that money on teachers & education so our kids have a chance! After all, it's our tax dollars. They're listening to someone, make ur voice count! read more