You’ve Got A Friend, But It’s Not U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions !

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at a conference for the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Nashville, TN on Thursday, his focus, increasing the prison population!

You would think that government would be more interested in decreasing prison population, wouldn’t you?

The federal prison population has decreased from 220,000 to 180,000 over the past few years.  To me, that would seem like a good thing, we’re getting a handle on crime and fairer sentencing.  What part of that doesn’t Mr. Sessions get?  He wants to pursue “longer” sentences, and his reasoning is rather perplexing. Mr. Sessions stated “We’ve got some space to put some people, we need to reverse a trend that suggested that criminals won’t be confronted seriously with their crimes.”

Really? When was it ever “suggested” that criminals wouldn’t be punished for their crimes?  Does the idea that those in former administrations came to their senses and realized that maybe, just maybe, some of the punishments we’ve dealt out over the years were a bit too harsh for the crimes committed mean that they weren’t punished? No, it doesn’t. It means that justice was dealt out the way it was meant to be dealt out, fairly.

Clearly since Mr. Sessions was presenting his speech to a group of law enforcement officials, he must have been looking for a laugh from his audience.

Sir, you are not a comedian!

Sessions also wants to pursue mandatory minimum sentences, he thinks that’s a “step in the right direction.”  Can someone please tell this man that he is moving backwards.

While he received some standing ovations at the conference, at least one sheriff didn’t completely agree with his irrational thinking.

Sheriff Daron Hall, Davidson County, TN doesn’t think that because jail space is available, it should be filled. While wanting safe communities, Hall acknowledged that keeping jails filled hasn’t proven to accomplish that.  In fact, Hall is working with the district attorney, public defender and Nashville judges to try to create ways of lessening the jail population by sending fewer misdemeanor suspects to jail before trial.  It must be working because Nashville’s jail population is down 30% over the past 2 years.

Nashville has also built a new jail with 100 “fewer” beds than the old jail, and has added a treatment center for those with mental health and substance abuse issues.  This is a city that is focused on what Mr. Sessions should be focused on, “treating people instead of locking them up.”

Sessions massaged the egos of the crowd by calling them “the thin blue line that stands between the law-abiding and the criminals” and commenting on how we are “not going to stand by and let violent crime increase.”

At least now we know where our U.S. Attorney General stands, in his mind there are only two types of people, violent criminals and law-abiding citizens.

Can you guess in which of these two categories he will place those with sex offenses?

 

3 thoughts on “You’ve Got A Friend, But It’s Not U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions !

  • March 16, 2018 at 3:05 pm
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    Jeff Sessions also said that “good people do not smoke marijuana”, a slap in the face to everyone in a state that has legalized marijuana, either recreational or medical. The man has no good justification for most, if not all, of his positions.
    It should be obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it that having a larger proportion of our population in prison than any other country in the world is not a good thing. But perhaps Mr. Sessions feels that if you have committed a crime, then you should be in jail. I have to wonder if he realizes that it is a federal crime to be in possession of an undersized lobster. Or that you could be on the sex offender registry if you grabbed a child’s wrist (for any reason), with unlawful restraint of a minor listed as the crime.
    It is such nonsense that keeps our jails and prisons full.

    Reply
  • March 16, 2018 at 11:33 am
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    So many things could be said here. I think the Majority would agree most offender’s who land in prison could and should be rehabilitated by other means and there is programs far better then the ones offered in prison’ Prison’s in the U.S Cost Billion’s a year. It also soars the cost of welfare and reduce’s cost at every corner. Then there is these Corporate prisons what a joke. This should of never happened and should be stopped if the Government wants you in prison then they should be the one who operate’s it (perhaps it would help them learn) It being prison it should not be owned by Corp. Also would you agree that the sentencing Judge should be the one who decides the punishment of a offender without being told what he can and can not do. We elect these Men and Woman who we trust to serv. our courts in a legal and proper manner or we kick them off the bench. I believe someone smarter then me would know how the ACLU could approach a suit to stop Corp prisons in the United States and give the courts the power to do the job they are suppose to do!

    Reply
    • April 4, 2018 at 3:26 pm
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      The justice system as a whole is corrupt. Corporate prisons are just another slap to the face of the lower and middle class. The same corporations that own these prisons are the same funding election campaigns of judges and prosecutors. So of course they try to fill their “Business” to capacity.

      Our elected officials as a whole disgust me with the ease in which they are swayed by corporate influence. I don’t feel someone making 100k a year can properly represent someone making 40k a year. So add millions to the equation and the divide is even greater.

      The federal government was essential in building this country in the early 1900’s. More than a few states didn’t generate enough revenue to build schools and roads so other states paid taxes and the feds distributed. I understand that, but in a modern age where most commerce is controlled at the corporate level and most in infrastructure at the local level, I wonder.

      Is the government beginning to feel less of an essential protector and more of an agency of extortion, overreach and fuel on the fire of record profits recorded by the same corporations that fund their campaigns?

      Reply

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