Eenzame opsluitng

"There Is Nothing I've Experienced In My Life That Is Worse"
"Dit is het ergste wat ik in mijn leven heb meegemaakt"

Shane Bauer, who was kept in solitary confinement while held hostage in Iran, visited Pelican Bay, a
supermax California prison with a large solitary population. One of his guides at Pelican Bay asked
him how Iranian situation compared:

Shane Bauer, die in eenzame opsluiting werd gehouden als gijzelaar in Iran,
bezocht Pelican Bay, een “supermax” gevangenis in Californië met een groot
aantal gevangenen in eenzame opsluiting. Een van zijn gidsen op Pelican Bay
vroeg hem naar een vergelijking met de Iraanse situatie:

"There was a window," I say. I don't quite know how to tell him what I mean by that answer. "Just having that light come in,
seeing the light move across the cell, seeing what time of day it was—" Without those windows, I wouldn't have had the
sound of ravens, the rare breezes, or the drops of rain that I let wash over my face some nights. My world would have
been utterly restricted to my concrete box, to watching the miniature ocean waves I made by sloshing water back and forth
in a bottle; to marveling at ants; to calculating the mean, median, and mode of the tick marks on the wall; to talking to
myself without realizing it. For hours, days, I fixated on the patch of sunlight cast against my wall through those
barred and grated windows. When, after five weeks, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground utterly broken, sobbing and
rocking to the beat of my heart, it was the patch of sunlight that brought me back. Its slow creeping against the wall
reminded me that the world did in fact turn and that time was something other than the stagnant pool my life was draining into.

Here, there are no windows.
-------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KS7hCZ8IiMc

The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly
The American way of life / Gevangenissen die op bejaardenhuizen lijken.

Uit onderstaande link :
…………………..
………
The United States is the largest incarcerator in the world, with 2.3 million people behind
bars. Prisoners across the country are also getting older and experiencing all the same
ailments that afflict those of the same age who are not behind bars. Our extreme sentencing
policies and a growing number of life sentences have effectively turned many of our
correctional facilities into veritable nursing homes—and taxpayers are paying for it.

From 1980 to 2010, the United States prison population grew over 11 times faster than the
general population. During this time, the general population increased by 36%, while the
state and federal prison population increased by over 400%. The number of elderly people
in our prisons is growing even faster.

De Verenigde Staten zijn de grootste gevangenbewaarder ter wereld, met 2,3 miljoen
mensen achter de tralies. Gevangenen in het hele land worden ook steeds ouder en
ondervinden alle ongemakken die mensen van dezelfde leeftijd teisteren die niet achter
de tralies zitten. Ons extreem gevangenisbeleid en een groeiend aantal levenslange straffen
hebben veel van onze tuchthuizen veranderd in ware verpleeghuizen — en de
belastingbetalers krijgen de rekening.

Van 1980 tot 2010 groeide de gevangenisbevolking van de Verenigde Staten meer dan 11
maal sneller dan gewone bevolking. Gedurende deze tijd, steeg de bevolking in z’n geheel
met 36%, terwijl de staats en federale gevangenisbevolking steeg met meer dan 400%. Het
aantal ouderen in onze gevangenissen groeit nog sneller.
…………………..
……………

http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/elderlyprisonreport_20120613_1.pdf

Verkapte bejaardenzorg?

Als de zorg redelijk/goed is, dan zullen meer Amerikanen dat willen.
Veel bejaarden zijn van elke zorg gespeend.

De gevangenisbevolking rijst de pan uit. In de Verenigde Staten zitten per 1000
inwoners ruim 7 mensen achter de tralies. In Nederland is dat één per duizend.

Het gaat om 2,3 miljoen gevangenen. Stel dat er in iedere gevangenis 1000 man
zitten kun je uitrekenen hoeveel gevangenissen er nodig zijn!!

CONCLUSION

Inside America's Prisons

42 Years of Solitude --- By Ryan Jacobs

81,622 Number of prisoners in solitary confinement across the United States in 2005,
the last year for which the federal government released data
11,730 Number of inmates held in isolation in California prisons today
7 Percentage of California inmates who are in isolation
39 Percentage of inmate suicides that happen in isolation units
78 Percentage of Security Housing Unit (SHU) inmates not classified as gang “leaders” or “members”
$ 12,317 Extra annual cost to taxpayers for each prisoner in the Pelican Bay shu
11'7" x 7'7" Dimensions of a SHU cell at Pelican Bay
6' x 8' Dimensions of the average American home’s walk-in closet
51 Percentage of Pelican Bay SHU inmates who have spent at least five years in isolation
89 Number who have been in solitary for at least 20 years
1 Number who have been there for 42 years

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/solitary-confinement-shane-bauer