Loitering law hits homeless (Jeb Bush)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Jun. 24, 2004


LEGISLATION


Loitering law hits homeless

Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill that allows judges to lock up habitual misdemeanor offenders for as long as six months.

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
[e-mail]


TALLAHASSEE - The homeless and downtrodden who are habitual offenders of loitering laws may be locked up for six months under one of 19 bills Gov. Jeb Bush signed on Wednesday.

The law was aggressively sought by Jacksonville legislators and the Duval County sheriff in anticipation of the 2005 Super Bowl. The measure lets them clean up their streets by allowing judges to send anyone convicted of five misdemeanors in a 12-month period to six months in jail or a residential treatment facility.

Critics of the bill, including Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat, and Miami-Dade County Judge Steve Leifman, say that it is intended to target the most powerless of society and could lead to potential crowding of jails across the state.

Bush dismissed the criticism, saying the impact of jailing habitual offenders will be ''negligible.'' He cited an analysis by the Office of the State Courts Administrator last year that found there were only 931 offenders statewide who had been convicted of five misdemeanors within 12 months.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8997249.htm
(Free registration required)

[Joanne98]

1. Cruel and inhumane pigs

Is there any doubt "torture" is a Bush family hobby?

[Maddy McCall]

2. I think there is ONE THING at the center of this issue, and it is a very..

Republican thing.

It has to do with the simple laws of supply, demand, and the free capitalistic market.

Lock up thousands of homeless people, and, OOPS, you run out of jail space. What to do, what to do?

Build more jails! PRIVATELY owned jails. Legislation creating more demand for jail space by locking up people who have committed what can arguably be defined as not even an offense at all results in the necessity for more places to lock such "offenders" up. Increased demand requires increased supply.

The jail/prison industry benefits--at taxpayer expense.

[Judi Lynn]

10. You're absolutely right.

Prisons, Profits & Gov. George W. Bush

By Tim Wheeler

Longhorn cows. Oil. They’ve made a few Texans rich and famous. But under Gov. George W. Bush another industry is pumping out cash like an East Texas gusher – private prisons!

George and Richard Wackenhut, owners of Wackenhut Corporation, operate 13 prisons in the Lone Star State. They are so enthusiastic about fellow Republican George "Dubya" Bush and his race for the presidency that they have contributed considerable sums to his election campaigns.

Bush’s ties to the prison-industrial complex raise troubling questions about his posturing as a "compassionate conservative." It sheds light on his "lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key" policy on the incarceration of drug users – even though Bush does not deny reports that he snorted cocaine in his youth. It also reveals much about his hard-line support for the death penalty which he has imposed 137 times since taking office, more than any other governor. Another 13 executions are scheduled in Texas between now and election day.

Bush sent Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) to his death despite widespread doubt about his guilt. He also executed Karla Faye Tucker, the first women in 100 years executed in Texas, despite worldwide calls for clemency.

The death penalty is a centerpiece of the GOP’s policy of criminalizing youth and people of color. That policy has resulted in the incarceration of 1.8 million people in U.S. prisons, rivaling the number of youth attending college. At least $35 billion is spent each year on prison incarceration and the "privatizers" of the GOP see this industry as a lush pasture for super-profits.
{snip/...)

http://www.pww.org/past-weeks-2000/Gov.%20George%20W.%20Bush.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Founded in 1954 by former FBI agent George Wackenhut, Wackenhut Security now provides security for numerous private ventures and government facilities worldwide, including the Nevada Test Site. Wackenhut has been accused of operating perimeter security for Area 51, a charge that has not been proven and has been denied by former employees.

The Wackenhut Corporation is a leading provider of security-related and diversified human resources services to business, industry and government agencies on a worldwide basis. Its array of services includes: security and physical protection, employee leasing and temporary staffing, facility management, food service, education and training, and fire, emergency and supplementary police services.

The company is the majority shareholder in Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, a global leader in privatized corrections: designing, financing, building, and managing correctional and detention facilities for government agencies.
(snip/...)

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/wackenhut.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GEORGE WACKENHUT,
an ex-FBI man, formed his namesake security company in Florida in 1954. Closely tied to the Mob, radical Cubans, and right wing nuts including WACL. Since the company's inception, its board has been packed with "former" CIA, FBI, and military agents. The company guards the US' most sensitive facilities, and runs vast domintel ops. Was a key player in the Inslaw/Octopus affair, and reportedly smuggled arms to Iraq during the BUSH Administration. Wackenhut Corrections Corp. is now the no. 2 private prison contractor. Mr. Wackenhut once called George Bush "pink".
(snip)

http://www.subliminal.org/mugbook/spooks/wackenhut.html

[Mountainman]

3. Reminds me of Dickens' Christmas Carol

When he is asked for a contribution, Scrooge inquires whether the prisons and work houses and poor houses are still in operation. When he is assured that they are, though they are inadequate and desperate alternatives for the poor, Scrooge responds that his taxes support such institutions, and that is where the poor should look for relief.

[donsu]

4. we pay for the homeless to be locked up in private prisons

this is a business scam - we are the ones being scammed.

[Laughing Mirror]

11. Yep. Warm bodies to feed the prison industry

The taxpayer, the warm body. The double whammy. They make off real good, don't they?

[cureautismnow]

5. The Only One Who Needs to be Locked Up...

...is Jeb-boy himself!

He's been loitering in the Governor's Mansion for years, when he's not traveling around the state, country, and world at Florida taxpayers' expense.

We need a constitutional amendent on the ballot in November to throw this aimlessly wandering corrupt bum in the clink. :bounce:

[pennylane100]

6. I wonder what constitutes "Loitering"

Is there a time limit that separates citizens on the streets and "loiterers" Also, it would seem unconstitutional to arrest people for being on the streets when they do not have a home to go to.
I would think that the city would have to offer shelter to the homeless before arresting them.

[htuttle]

7. In my experience, it comes down to having an ID and money in your pocket

I spent some time on the street during the 80's, and the 'drill' was that police would ask you for ID and whether you had any money on you. If you did, you'd generally be sent along on your way. If you were broke (or nearly broke), they charged you with 'vagrancy', and you sat in jail for awhile.

Some would drive you out of town and tell you not to come back. Legal? Who the hell knows, probably not -- vagrants don't have any rights in this country.

You see, while we have improved over the situation of the Classical Greeks where only land owning Greek males were considered 'persons', our concept of personhood still does not include all of humanity. If you aren't living within the framework of the system, you really have no rights of personhood in America -- lip service to them is all you get.

[pennylane100]

8. Thats why we need organizations like the ACLU

Hopefully they will look into it if innocent people are being locked up because they have nowhere to go.

I will now stop stalling and renew my membership which lapsed a few weeks ago.

[daleo]

9. What's an extra few thousand in jail to a Bush

You can bet it will be more than 931 once this gets going.