* A note on the DC "Corrections" system - Why is there resistance to change and implementation of rehabilitation programs?
A lot of jobs depend on the constant flow of inmates through the system.
Most of the inmates and probationers are quite capable of being
rehabilitated. They may have a relatively minor anger management
or drug problem. They are not such "hardened criminals" that they
could not learn a helpful hypo-metabolic hyper-alertness technique.
In DC there are no jury trials sentences less than 6 months. Judges
side with the prosecution about 80% of the time. They need to arrest
about
100 people per day to keep the jail filled. Black men are often stopped
by police and searched without probable cause. There are more
police officers per capita in DC than any city in the world. It is ironic
that the Bill of Rights sits in a glass case, one block from the Court
House.
Some are in jail for extremely minor "crimes" such as Brown University graduate
and activist
Elena Sassower, who merely asked to speak at a Congressional hearing,
and got 6 months for "Obstruction of Congress."
Sassower.org
A Virginia tenant was even charged with trespassing in his own home by the landlord in retaliation for his forming a Tenant Association to educate fellow tenants in their rights by Virginia law, and to assist in the recovery of their security deposits in small claims court.