Bernie Sanders Intends to Strike at the Heart of the Prison Industrial Complex

[Jefferson23]

Sanders stakes out two more positions far to the left of Democratic party orthodoxy.

By Zaid Jilani / AlterNet

May 29, 2015

Last night, Bernie Sanders did a series of events in New Hampshire, with the largest being in Portsmouth, where he spoke to 800 people at a local church.

Much of the territory he covered was the traditional Sanders spiel: raise taxes on the wealthy who have long dodged their tax responsibilities, make education and health care free, combat rising political and economic inequality.

But during the question and answer session he divulged from his normal territory and took on a few new areas: education, the prison industrial complex, and immigration, staking out left-wing positions that are bolder than any major party nominee in recent memory.

First, someone asked him about the mass detention of immigrants and for-profit prisons:

http://www.alternet.org/bernie-sanders-intends-strike-heart-prison-industrial-complex

Voted YES on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons. (Jun 2000)
Voted NO on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime. (Jun 1999)
Reduce recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance. (Mar 2007)
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm

[davidpdx]

1. These are important social justice issue

Reforming the justice system is badly needed as a lot of our money is going to locking up individuals, some of whom CAN be rehabilitated. This needs to take place on both a state and national level though. Oregon for example has gone so far down hill the last 20 years that very little rehabilitation takes place and those who are convicted of a crime are released with very few skills.

[NV Whino]

2. Good for Bernie

This has become a major issue in the last few years. And we don't need to reinvent the wheel. We have only to look at the Sandinavian countries for examples of a proper penal system.