Michael Russell

“ You don't have to be responsible to be accused. You don't have to be guilty to be arrested. You don't have to go to trial to be sent to prison (i.e. plea bargain). You don't have the ability to defend yourself against the system. In the United States, you don't have the right of Habeas Corpus* anymore (*A court order requiring that a confined person be brought to court so that his or her claims can be heard). Any one of us can be railroaded, how many people can afford lawyers? The prison industrial complex is rolling out of control. More people incarcerated than any other nation state, more money spent on prisons than on education (budget), Prison worker unions biggest unions in the country, lobby politicians to increase length of imprisonment, average incarceration costs more than Harvard, over-crowded prison warehouses fail to safely rehabilitate or offer options, and racial and social injustice is shown in demographics. The first step is understanding you have a problem. ”