“The Parchman prison, which dates to 1904, has a long and infamous history of violence and abuse. It also has a history of reform. But no amount of change has been able to break the cycle of brutality. And why would it? The history of Parchman is a prime example of how dehumanization and neglect are intrinsic to separating people from their freedom.”
— “12 Deaths in Mississippi Tell a Grim Story,” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times
More:
“People Keep Dying In Mississippi Prisons but the Governor Wants to Move On,” Liliana Segura, The Intercept
The US needs to liquidate this sunny surplus property now, while the demand for Cuban real estate is high, and provide the returns to the U.S. Treasury, which has spent $6 billion on Gitmo since G.W. Bush established it in 2002. And who knows, maybe American resort developers will be the successful bidders. Is it too early to make reservations for the Trump Tropical Gitmo Palace?
A long-anticipated real estate deal is about to put eight prime parcels of tropical paradise on the market. White House press secretary Josh Earnest blabbed that the Obama Administration is finally ready to close down the Guantánamo Bayconcentration camps detention centers on the sunny island of Cuba.
The canny Mr. Obama teased the deal back in 2009, but waited for the Cuban real estate market to take off, and it’s muy caliente after US normalization of relations with the island nation. There are already deals in the works for a dozen new luxury golf courses, and tourists from as far away as China are waiting for tee times.
The “Gitmo” detention centers now hold 116 inmates guests at a cost of more than $100 million (possibly $454 million) a year, so it’s plainly time to cash out and recoup costs during Cuba’s current resort development boom. The deal would look better without sitting tenants and since 106 of those 116 guests have never been charged or convicted of anything, it’s time to find them other accommodations. And why host the remaining 10 guests at an annual cost of at least $10 million each when the Government Accountability Office has found many alternatives?
Wealthy private investor Joaquin Guzmán has bankrolled a new tunnel in the Santa Juana neighborhood of Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico, 16 miles from Toluca. The tunnel, 5 1/2 feet in diameter, stretches about a mile from the Centro Federal de Readaptación Social No. 1 “Altiplano,” a government facility, to an unfinished house surrounded by cornfields, perhaps slated for future development. It is estimated that the sophisticated underground structure cost $5 million to complete.
More information:
“Mexico drug lord Guzman’s escape tunnel is a minor engineering masterpiece,” Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times
“How Mexico’s Most-Wanted Drug Lord Escaped From Prison (Again),” Larry Buchanan, Josh Keller, and Derek Watkins, New York Times
“Undermining Mexico: How ‘El Chapo’ built a criminal empire — and escaped prison — by digging deep.” Nick Miroff, Washington Post
“How a Mexican drug kingpin’s daring prison escape made him a hip-hop icon & an outlaw hero,” Matthew Pulver, Salon
Update:
“Underworld: How the Sinaloa drug cartel digs its tunnels,” Monte Reel, The New Yorker
Mr. McDonnell, the first Virginia governor convicted of committing a felony while in office, has been sentenced to 2 years in prison and 2 years of federally supervised release for convictions on 11 counts of political corruption. Mr. & Mrs. McD are both on the loose while appealing their convictions, and the ex-Governor is bunking with his parish priest.
Disgraced former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, convicted of 11 counts of political corruption, was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 2 years of federally supervised release today. Prior to his arrest, many Republicans had proposed Mr. McDonnell for federal office, not a federal prison cell. In December the U.S. probation office had recommended at least 10 years in prison, and Pat Robertson’s charity had tried to wangle a no-prison-time community service deal.
Mr. McDonnell will enter the pokey on February 9th. His estranged wife, former NFL Cheerleader Maureen McDonnell, who was ultimately convicted on 8 federal counts, will be sentenced on January 20th. In another big Republican crime story today, Rep. John Boehner was sentenced to 2 years as House Majority Leader.
Related:
“Unforgivable: The Governor and the Teen-ager,” Evan Osnos, The New Yorker
Updates:
“Court: Ex-Virginia Gov. McDonnell will be free during appeal,” Michael Felberbaum, Associated Press
_______________
Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-kKm
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
“Christmas In Prison,” written and performed by John Prine. Like many of Prine’s songs, it’s touching yet wry. the video is by Fred Hedgecoth. There’s a recent solo version of the song by Amos Lee:
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look for alternative USA housing for the uncharged inmates our government has been holding for over a decade at Guantanamo Bay. The GAO found 104 sites, 98 Justice Department and 6 military prisons suitable for holding terrorism convicts. Mind you, those guys haven’t been convicted of anything, but you get the idea.
Shocking revelations today regarding disgraced ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich. Mr. Blagojevich was removed from office in Illinois, convicted of corruption, and is serving a 16 year sentence in Federal prison, but this news is really cutting. It’s about his hair.
The news does not come from Wikileaks; it comes from his barber who, breaking his solemn tonsorial oath, revealed that Mr. Blagojevich dyes his hair.
NotionsCapital 