Prison in America

[redstar2000]

The Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles currently holds about 30 youths under the age of 18 - twice as many kids as the combined total for all the other adult jails in California.

These are all children who have been charged or tried as adults but, by law, they must be separated by sight and sound from adult detainees. To comply with that standard, the youths are generally locked in windowless single cells for 23 1/2 hours each day. The cells measure 4 by 8 feet, which means that they are confined in spaces narrower than their outstretched arms.

What's life like for these kids? In addition to 30 minutes a day for showers and phone calls, they have a three-hour recreation period once a week in individual rooftop cages that are just slightly larger than their cells and contain only a pull-up bar and a telephone. Apart from these brief breaks, family and attorney visits and trips to the nurse or court, they remain locked up with little or nothing to do.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...nes-oped-manual (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stauring24nov24,1,983253.story?coll=la-headlines-oped-manual)

[Hampton]

In a bleak corridor of the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los
Angeles, as many as 44 teenagers spend up to 23 1/2 hours a day
locked in windowless 4-by-8-foot cells.

Even more confined than state inmates on death row, the juveniles,
mostly 16 and 17, cannot watch TV or listen to a radio. They sleep on
inch-thick foam pads and eat meals alone in their cells while facing
trial for such crimes as murder and car jacking. Some are accused of
lesser violent crimes but are sent here after hurting or threatening
others at Juvenile Hall.

Los Angeles County incarcerates twice as many minors this way as the
rest of California combined. These teenagers are considered the most
dangerous of the 150 or so juveniles who are being tried as adults at
any given time in the county.

http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/pr...une/007609.html (http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/2003-June/007609.html)

[BRIN]

What are the average prison sentances for crime there in the US? i've heard they're pretty nasty,and whats the legal aid like?

I'm just curios because my countries legal system (Australia) seems to be becomming increasingly Americanised and it's FUCKED!!!.So any info would be appreciated

[Hampton]

As far as legal aid for the average joe if you get a public defender, you're going to jail. We have bloated sentences for drug addicts and sellers.

As far as violent crimes: Here (http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:hXSDxpi--sgJ:www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/psatsfv.pdf+average+prison+sentences&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

In federal court today, low-level crack dealers and first-time offenders
sentenced for trafficking of crack cocaine receive an average sentence of 10
years and six months. This is:

--only 18% less than the average prison sentence received by those who committed
murder or manslaughter (153 months);

--59% longer than the average prison sentence received by rapists (79 months);

--38% longer than the average prison sentence received by those guilty of weapons
offenses (91 months).

Here (http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:CJnrW5CJEL8J:www.drugwarfacts.org/crack.pdf+average+prison+sentences&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

SENTENCES AND CORRECTIONAL POPULATIONS (http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/1998/crime_sentence_86_96/chapter_5_1b.html)

Sentencing Guidelines 1995-96 Annual Report (http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/sg_annual/9596/list.html)