Thursday, 16 July 2015, EL RENO, Okla. - President Barack Obama today became the first sitting U.S. President in history ever to visit a federal correctional facility as he passed through a series of metal gates and fences topped with concertina wire to enter Cell Block B which had been emptied of prisoners in a lockdown in advance of his visit to the federal medium security Oklahoma El Reno Correctional Facility with satellite minimum security camp.
The President stared inside the 9 by 10 foot Cell 123 at its three bunks, a toilet with no seat, a small sink, metal cabinets, a little wooden night table with a dictionary and other books. He later reflected apparently on his own personal history saying, "[t]here but for the grace of God." Because Mr. Obama who has previously stated that he tried cocaine and used marijuana as a young man but apparently was fortunate enough not to land a prison term much less one lasting decades Mr. Obama today stood outside Cell 123 as the President of the United States rather than inside as a federal prisoner.
The only inmates President Obama saw were six nonviolent drug offenders who had been selected to have a conversation with the President filmed by the "news organization" VICE to be shown in a "documentary on the criminal justice system" to be aired on HBO in the fall. (Actually that is a very carefully processed way of charitably describing VICE as some typical program which it is not produced by Bill Maher who repeatedly has jibed the President for not coming on his HBO show "Real Time With Bill Maher". Maher donated $1 million to Obama's first presidential campaign and now ribs Obama on air that Obama is avoiding even being on Maher's show as if Obama owed Maher money rather than Maher having donated $1 million to Obama's campaign. Anyway it sounds like Maher's payback time finally has begun with his Obama exclusive on Maher's VICE.)
The President in observing that he might be in a prison cell rather than the White House after being moved by his conversation with the imprisoned six nonviolent drug offenders did not overlook along with referring to himself also reminding many in the press corps of their similarly good fortune. "When they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren't that different from mistakes I made and mistakes a lot of you guys made," President Obama told reporters afterward.
As has been widely reported Mr. Obama recently commuted the sentences of 46 more non-violent drug offenders in addition to a relatively small number reported on here earlier in the year. Not to worry there are still 2.2 million prisoners behind bars in the United States. One study found that the size of the state and federal prison population is seven times what is was forty years ago. The United States with 5 per cent of the world's population now has 20 per cent of the world's prison population.
President Obama has shown no tolerance for violent offenders even as he has called for legislation to overhaul the criminal justice system by the end of the year encompassing everything from sentencing to conditions in the nation's prisons. Before former Attorney General Eric Holder left office he directed U.S. Attorneys offices no longer to put weights of drugs seized in federal complaints so that judges would not be constrained to follow federal sentencing guidelines based on drug weights that they found inappropriate.
Strangely there is now wide bi-partisan support for these criminal justice reforms to a system which is wasting both people's lives in often abhorrent conditions for non-violent mistakes they made in their youth or later as well as the huge amounts of money it is costing the People to maintain a system which makes no sense and does not work but essentially mandates a criminal culture for survival. Advocates of reform have brought together nearly unthinkable coalitions of people ranging all the way up to the Koch Brothers joining forces with liberal groups like the Center for American Progress to advocate changes. Those readers interested in more information about the above including a video statement of President Obama as well as links to related recent New York Times articles can go to the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/obama-el-reno-oklahoma-prison.html
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
The President stared inside the 9 by 10 foot Cell 123 at its three bunks, a toilet with no seat, a small sink, metal cabinets, a little wooden night table with a dictionary and other books. He later reflected apparently on his own personal history saying, "[t]here but for the grace of God." Because Mr. Obama who has previously stated that he tried cocaine and used marijuana as a young man but apparently was fortunate enough not to land a prison term much less one lasting decades Mr. Obama today stood outside Cell 123 as the President of the United States rather than inside as a federal prisoner.
The only inmates President Obama saw were six nonviolent drug offenders who had been selected to have a conversation with the President filmed by the "news organization" VICE to be shown in a "documentary on the criminal justice system" to be aired on HBO in the fall. (Actually that is a very carefully processed way of charitably describing VICE as some typical program which it is not produced by Bill Maher who repeatedly has jibed the President for not coming on his HBO show "Real Time With Bill Maher". Maher donated $1 million to Obama's first presidential campaign and now ribs Obama on air that Obama is avoiding even being on Maher's show as if Obama owed Maher money rather than Maher having donated $1 million to Obama's campaign. Anyway it sounds like Maher's payback time finally has begun with his Obama exclusive on Maher's VICE.)
The President in observing that he might be in a prison cell rather than the White House after being moved by his conversation with the imprisoned six nonviolent drug offenders did not overlook along with referring to himself also reminding many in the press corps of their similarly good fortune. "When they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren't that different from mistakes I made and mistakes a lot of you guys made," President Obama told reporters afterward.
As has been widely reported Mr. Obama recently commuted the sentences of 46 more non-violent drug offenders in addition to a relatively small number reported on here earlier in the year. Not to worry there are still 2.2 million prisoners behind bars in the United States. One study found that the size of the state and federal prison population is seven times what is was forty years ago. The United States with 5 per cent of the world's population now has 20 per cent of the world's prison population.
President Obama has shown no tolerance for violent offenders even as he has called for legislation to overhaul the criminal justice system by the end of the year encompassing everything from sentencing to conditions in the nation's prisons. Before former Attorney General Eric Holder left office he directed U.S. Attorneys offices no longer to put weights of drugs seized in federal complaints so that judges would not be constrained to follow federal sentencing guidelines based on drug weights that they found inappropriate.
Strangely there is now wide bi-partisan support for these criminal justice reforms to a system which is wasting both people's lives in often abhorrent conditions for non-violent mistakes they made in their youth or later as well as the huge amounts of money it is costing the People to maintain a system which makes no sense and does not work but essentially mandates a criminal culture for survival. Advocates of reform have brought together nearly unthinkable coalitions of people ranging all the way up to the Koch Brothers joining forces with liberal groups like the Center for American Progress to advocate changes. Those readers interested in more information about the above including a video statement of President Obama as well as links to related recent New York Times articles can go to the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/obama-el-reno-oklahoma-prison.html
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
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