Just wonderful - prisoners have it pretty cushy
Two items:
From the
Oregon Catalyst:
Tax dollars for prisoner satellite TV
Common Sense For Oregon today announced its fourth Golden Fleece Award winner. The award has been given for a second time to the Oregon Department of Corrections for spending nearly $1 million on free satellite television service for prisoners.
“This is unbelievable,” said Ross Day, executive director of Common Sense For Oregon, “First we discovered the state was giving away free soda pop, now we discovered the state is giving prisoners free satellite television.”
Although the satellite television service is paid out of the Inmate Welfare Fund, which is an account that is funded through profits from the sale of items to prisoners and families, revenue from the Inmate Welfare Fund could be spent on other programs which are currently being funded with taxpayer dollars.
“The taxpayers of Oregon are back-filling drug and alcohol treatment programs, education programs, and counseling programs so the Department of Corrections can provide free satellite television service to prisoners,” said Day.
Item number two -- from the
Seattle Times:
State plans to appeal ruling on felon vote
Washington state will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn a surprising federal-court ruling that tossed out the state's 120-year-old prohibition against voting by incarcerated felons, Attorney General Rob McKenna said Wednesday.
The ruling, handed down Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, found that Washington's criminal-justice system was so "infected" with racial discrimination that a ban on felon voting violated civil-rights protections.
The 9th Circuit has been known for some loony rulings which have subsequently been overturned by the Supremes (
71% of cases) but still, when you cross the line and commit a felony, you give up a lot of your rights. This has been the case for 120 years and it should remain so...
Posted by DaveH at January 29, 2010 8:05 PM
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