"Prison Imperialism: How the US is Spreading a Repressive Incarceration Model Around the World"

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Air date:

Tue, 05/13/2014 - 12:00am

Law and Disorder Conference: James Patrick Jordan, Alliance for Global Justice, May 11, 2014

Presentation at the Law and Disorder Conference at Portland State University, May 11, 2014 by James Patrick Jordan, Alliance for Global Justice (http://www.afgj.org) (Recorded and produced by Paul Roland)
http://www.lawanddisorder.wordpress.com
Alliance for Global Justice Headquarters
225 E. 26th St., Suite 1
Tucson, AZ 85713
202-540-8336
afgj@afgj.org, james@afgj.org

The US Bureau of Prisons and USAID have been quietly investing in prison construction and helping restructure penal systems in a variety of countries around the world—usually countries with militaries that are heavily subsidized by the US government, that have been directly invaded by the US military, or that are linked to the US through Free Trade Agreements. These countries include Colombia, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Honduras, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and elsewhere. These efforts are often referred to as the “New Penitentiary Culture”. This “prison imperialism” has its roots in the 2000 accord known as the Program for the Improvement of the Colombian Prison System. Since this accord was implemented, there has been a disproportionately large increase in the general prison population and even more so in the number of political prisoners. Reports of torture in the jails have sky-rocketed. The first Colombian prison constructed with US funding, La Tramacua, is notorious for its bad conditions. In fact, UN, Colombian government agencies and an international NGO have, on three different occasions found fecal contamination of prison food. At La Tramacua, prisoners only have access to fresh water for an average of 10 minutes a day. This workshop will not only shed light on US “prison imperialism”, but will focus as well on the domestic and international struggle against the US model of mass incarceration, neglect and abuse of those we call “Prisoners of Empire.”