Example, out of trenton, where an in mate by the name of sean washington in 2013 he was a clerk at the library and he wanted to leave the library to go bring some legal papers to one of the other inmates but a corrections officer said you cannot leave and the facts are disputed but the worst facts, the facts that the state claims, is that mr. Washington then said mother fer, dont tell me what to do. What was his punishment . 90 days in solitary confinement. That is a real example we see all across the nation. So just for time. So we know that people are being sent to solitary for many Different Reasons and some of them have to do with administrative issues and the like. Right. Does it work in terms of somehow effecting the behavior of prison str any is there any productive value in the bureau of prisons. Im going to push back on the language they use and some people are sent to solitary for administrative reasons and that is a loaded term because the bureau of prisons commonly call sol
Good morning. This hearing will come to order. Let me just say im really looking forward to this one. I was telling the witnesses, i have read all the testimony. And i generally do that as best of my ability. Sometimes the testimony before this committee can be a little dry. And as im reading late at night it will put me to sleep. Not so in this case whatsoever. I think the testimony was fascinating partly because i am somewhat new to this issue. Im going to keep my Opening Statements somewhat brief because i know senator booker would like to make a statement. Im pretty data driven. The data, statistics on this particular problem, the bureau of prisons and our high levels of incarceration rates are pretty stark. In 1980, for example, there were 25,000 people in the federal prison system. Today there is 209,000. Thats 736 increase. Our population only increased 40 . In total, back in 1980, about 500,000 people in prison. Today theres 2. 3 million. We in america have the highest level of
In a real sense. First, it is great to be here. Thank you. Thank you for still being in this audience after this. Louder voice louder voice i think resilience is another word for success under stress. Success under stress, that is, there are stressors of various kinds that our nation and our whole world faces and being able to whether those stresses and being able to succeed on a variety of measures is a good definition of the r word. I mean, three or four years ago, people didnt use of the r word, and now, we have probably set a world record today for the number of times of this word has been said. And in the shifting towards resilience [laughter] i think they mean different things. I think sustainability means achieving some balance between equity, economy, and environment, and there are like six or seven other e,s that people have worked out es that people have worked out. And oh, do you drink after governance . [laughter] no, i was just taking a drink. It just kind of slits in ther
Neighbors or friends or strangers in need, came to help. And people who today still spend their time every day helping others, rolling up their sleeves, doing the hard work of changing this country without the need for credit or glory. Dont get their name in the papers, dont see their day in the sun. They do it because its right. Live the basic values that define this country, a value that we have been reminded of in these past 10 years as we come back from a crisis to change this city had an economic crisis that spread throughout the nation, the basic notion that i am my brothers keeper and my sisters keeper and we look out for each other and we are all in this together. That is the story of new orleans at also the story of america, city that for almost 300 years has been the gateway to american soil. Where the jazz makes you cry, the funerals make you dance [laughter] the volume makes you believe all ayou makeshings b you believe all kinds of things. It has brought together people co
How much of that goes past this room and is penetrated the city, that remains to be seen. St. Bernard parish twice voted down a tax to pay for the Operations Maintenance of the brandnew levee system. If they can do that in st. Bernard parish, and everybody here probably knows every single home in st. Bernard parish was underwater. Everyone of them. If they can do it in st. Bernard, and expect taxpayers around the country or in shreveport come on. St. Bernard had a special problem. Because of the local parish government. Those not from new orleans may not know that the parish president has been indicted on several charges. The whole thing is a mess. They may have just lumped all taxes and government together. It may not reflect their view. I dont know what the future is going to be. Gwen lets talk about opportunity and challenge. Just for fun. I want to start with you benny, talking about what you would identify as the most hopeful things that have happened in the last 10 years in your