L. Todd Masco writes
More to the point, the United States has the highest percentage of its population in prisons (according to Amnesty International statistics). Enough to swing an election.
To put this proper perspective you should remember that the US has the most pleasant prisons in the world. In most of the world, indiscipline and bad behavior in the prison will get you beaten, unofficially in Australia, officially in Japan. (Yes, *corporal punishment*, gasp, oh the horror). In much of Africa they do not feed prisoners. If your relatives know where you are and care about you they feed you. If they do not, you starve. The reason for this strange generosity is creative lawyering with the "cruel and unusual punishment provisions" Remember that every time the prison authorities lose a "cruel and unusual punishment" case, their budget automatically increases. Needless to say they have been industriously losing ever more absurd "cruel and unusual punishment" cases. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we James A. Donald are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. jamesd@netcom.com