Welcome to Camp 17

Was thinking it over the other night - how many people I've met have done serious jail time, or been imprisoned here in the USA? So I made a list that numbers in the scores of individuals who've been gaoled ("jailed," spelled for the benefit of my Brit friends) and at least 25 who were imprisoned at some point during the period 1976-2012. Incidentally, at least six of those friends/acquaintances who went to prison are now deceased. Only one of those 25 inmates was a convicted murderer and I believe he's still living. The vast majority of these folks were jailed/incarcerated for non-violent "offences." I also realised that many of these people are only known to me because I grew up in lower middle class or impoverished circumstances, depending on the era. Of course, I'm white, so I cannot even imagine how long that list might have been were I non-white; the fact that I've known a lot of alcoholics and addicts is also a significant factor. Me? Haven't been arrested since 1988, and that was for the grievous transgression of hitch-hiking in notoriously Republican-reactionary Waukesha County Wisconsin. Despite my occasional rants, I'm really pretty well-behaved, and extremely cautious. Here in the rather goddamn uptight Upper Midwest, Wisconsin state pigs are just that, pigs. I know of several formerly young men arrested for thumbing a ride during the '70's and '80s in Waukesha County. Yet, in Illinois during the three or four adventures I had in the 1980's, the Illinois State Patrol simply told me to get off the highway, either verbally or using symbolic language. Go figure! The only way I can conceive of to turn this penal industry on it's head would be for its "natural victims" to exercise the greatest level of discretion humanly possible. Most people should simply not drink alcohol, to start. Practice an unusually self-conscious, perhaps even "excessive" level of risk aversion in ones everyday affairs. Study the laws, including the US Constitution at least at the most basic level, with special emphasis on the Bill of Rights. In fact, there is simply no excuse for literate people not to have read the Constitution in its entirety. Even though in practice, Law Entrapment agencies usually violate its relevant provisions. Be ones own lawyer, so to speak, to the greatest extent possible. Sensibly assert ones civil liberties. Develop ones negotiating and "diplomatic" skills to a point where they appear to be as highly refined as can be, but use them only in circumstances where it seems there is a good chance of talking ones way out of trouble with the law. Otherwise, remain (Hopefully sober!) and above all, silent when intercepted, detained, or arrested. I can't emphasize sufficiently how often people should simply reserve the right to remain SILENT in that cop car. Let ones lawyer do the talking instead, at the proper time. If incarcerated, don't blab to likely jail-house snitches. There are so many strategies intelligent people can wisely implement, if they keep their wits about them. So often they don't, even when there is minimal prospect of the pigs "bringing out the rubber hoses!" There's no guarantee of success even if all these procedures are assiduously adhered to, not even a promise of mitigating damage done. But I can't even begin to count the incidences I am aware of when people facilitated their own imprisonment by ignorance, carelessness or recklessness. As you can easily guess, many of the anonymous individuals I referenced are/were were very, very close to me personally. Others are of either casual acquaintance or extremely remote at this time. Generally speaking, there is a completely understandable reticence on the part of most of the "audience" to get involved with this particular discussion, especially considering the unusual way I broached the subject, not to mention the horrific impact of America's largely indiscriminate penalization process. Importantly, I burned the list last night; I actually felt slightly evil compiling it in the first place; a kind of private intrusion into the affairs of others, even though ultimately, I kept it absolutely secret. But there was simply no way to retain my estimate without committing it to writing. Doubtless I have known at least twice as many jailed and imprisoned folks during my 49 years - but I have lost track of many more, and was unwilling to reference CCAP or other such pernicious databases. In all seriousness, I passionately hope I'll see nobody I thought of, nor anyone on this thread, if/when I'm detained in the new Gulag. But who knows what the future holds in store! http://​www.usconstitution.net/http://www.archives.gov/​exhibits/charters/​bill_of_rights_transcript.h​tml