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Juveniles in jail...never to be released

The American justice "system" is quite astonishing.....

AlterNet, in a piece "Hard to Believe: 73 U.S. Kids Sentenced to Life Without Parole at 14 or Younger, and All Are Black" lays out some difficult facts to accept - in a country which prides itself as civilised.

"Today, Sullivan is one of some 109 prisoners in the country whose non-homicide crimes have condemned them to leave prison only in a coffin. No fewer than 76 of those prisoners are behind bars in Florida. (Until last month there were 77, but 29-year-old Travis Underhill, sentenced to life in 1999 for armed robbery, "collapsed while playing basketball at a Palm Beach County prison on Oct. 8 and died," according to the Miami Herald.) The vast majority -- 84 percent, in Florida -- are African American. On a national level, according to Human Rights Watch, African American youths are serving life without parole at a rate of about 10 times that of white youths."

Read the complete piece here - especially the facts surrounding the jailed Sullivan referred to above.

Comments

big merv said…
Travis was a good guy that made a dump mistake , rip my dude
July 24, 2011 12:36 pm
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