Get trials what they get is a deal people suggest that anywhere between you know 3 years 10 and 15 percent of people behind bars could be innocent of the crimes for which they were charged Michelle Alexander is a civil rights lawyer stanford law professor and the author of the new jim crow one of the most highly acclaimed studies americas criminal Justice System the reality is that thousands of people. Every year and i had it states wind up pleading guilty to crimes they may not have committed because theyre the theyre railroaded by Police Officers who give them false information or horrors confessions or because theyre afraid of facing you know harsh mandatory minimum sentences and believe that you know the best chance is to just take a plea using average joe you dont know anything about. You know the president the politics in county jail you dont know anything so they put you there with these people in this is how they force you to take deals the u. S. Justice system just like any Justice System in the world a system where 95 percent of the cases are resolved by plea bargain you know its no longer trial system its a plea bargain system the whole purpose of plea bargains from the perspective of a prosecutor raises his conviction rate so prosecutors typically have in the high 90 percentile conviction rates including those plea bargains. Because of course from a legal standpoint we know that nobody would ever plead guilty to something they didnt do and so we agree that i would plead guilty and exchange for a youth already sounds we went back into trial we entered the plea and i went down for a 90 day observation at the youth already in norwalk the challenge is if youre innocent and you plead guilty you better be a good liar you go down there you talk to psychologists and they ask you to do it but you have to say yes because it has to be consistent with everything well how do you do it i mean i didnt have adequate answers for these questions so they didnt they didnt buy it in a sense you know rightly so and they sent a report that was positive and negative report back to the judge. And he said i didnt realize that you thought he would be able to help you and so allow you to take back your guilty plea and go have a trial or ill send you to state prison right now so that began another period of waiting. It would be well over a year before bruce would get another trial day 23 hours a day in a cell in isolation no contact with other juveniles only counselors one hour out for recreation and while they might not be able to introduce an alternate suspect demanded his lawyer knock down every argument the prosecution could make. The pass a kid i said those could not have seen his mothers body through the. Window of the house the suns reflection in the glass and the furniture would have blocked his view his defense was the crime scene pictures were taken on a much sunnier day the prosecution claimed all the bloody footprints in the house matched bruces shoes defense says his fingerprints were not found anywhere in the crime scene there was no evidence that he wiped anything down or made any attempt to cover his tracks because bruce had nothing to hide the prosecution called Robert Hughes who claimed confessed in the 7000 model of county jail and the defense compared Robert Hughes to a used car salesman who wasnt to be trusted. Then one day they wrap their keys on the door and they say listen here its a verdict and my dad was there he was there just every court day he was right there in the front row and we were just you know. I contact but you cant really talk because youre not allowed to its not a visit you know youre not allowed to visit with your. But he was he was there and the jury comes in. One by one you know excruciating the slow sits down. And the judge speaks we reached a verdict yes we have in the matter of people versus bruce willis here. With the jury find the defendant. And they said guilty. And it was just. Read the bottom literally fell out of my world and said its over and. Its my life. When youve been falsely accused your only hope is for your attorney to directly challenge the veracity of the police my attorney seemed unwilling to go that far you never read said isnt it true that youre just lying about all of this heres the investigatory work that i did that proves that youre just a liar and he never did that. And this is part of a larger problem that david sirota calls the authority by asking Authority Bias meaning the government and institutions says somebody did something and they must have done it and whats strange about it is that this is a country that in one way we americans i go says i dont trust the government can do any round on trust anything the government says and yet at another level at the very same time that thats the dominant rhetorical paradigm in our politics there is this Authority Bias where when the government accuses somebody of a crime or says somebody is a a wrongdoer were flexibly millions and millions of americans thing. It must be true for you to go youre not there for your honor thank you very much youre not beholding would you like to be placed under arrest youre not allowed to arrest me. And so if youre innocent and you find yourself in prison its hard to have any hope at all. A year later. Another woman and knifepoint and less sentenced to 6 years for Armed Robbery but other than those his father nobody had connected my client to the murder of other inmates like death deskovic another wrongfully convicted man trying to prove his innocence. Remember reading about. In the magazine justice of night they all allow people who allege theyve been wrongfully convicted who have a plausible story to write about the hope that more public attention will come when i read about bruces case it was reaffirming to me that i was on the right path because even though he hadnt been exonerated he was still looking for how he had given up you cant give up no matter how long it takes. And it could take a long time one of the biggest factors in why the us has the largest prison population in the world is the length of our prison sentences. Average sentence for burglary in canada and in england is around 6 months in the us its around a year and a half. In other developed countries a drug offense might land you a year a year and a half in jail in the us its 5 to 10 years or more if youre a black man in america your sentence will be 20 percent longer and if youre a white man for the exact same crime i met a woman that had a 1st offense nothing more than filed. Worth of crack cocaine and was sentenced to jail in 1979 and didnt come until 2014 and she said to me i dont know how to use the phone. I dont know how to send a text. I dont know i have an email. People particularly black people were defined as the enemy in the war on drugs they were defined that way politically but also through media imagery crack cocaine epidemic is taking a new and dangerous turn white people brown people black people all use drugs and sell drugs at the same rate but if we look at whos serving time in americas prisons the Law Enforcement apparatus is deployed disproportionately against people of color look at them in the war on drugs also bears a major responsibility for racial bias in our prison system is africanamericans are rested for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites and serve longest sentences although people of color make up only 30 percent of the laces the make up 60 percent of the prison by the most conservative estimates if we keep going the way were one in 4 a black man born today will go to jail at some point in their lifetime. 5. 3000000 americans of the rights of vote based on a felony conviction and that impacts man of color more than anyone else just has to change. You know with any. Damage and although white people may not have been the original target they may not have been the inspiration for the war. Many people particularly poor working class white folks have found themselves. As a u. S. Army veteran who served in the gulf war. 3 weeks. So that he wasnt given to me for free if you want to call that trafficking trafficker. Personally use we would just fry play frisbee english and rock n roll during a visit or another major reason for americas overflowing prison population the u. S. Locks up more people for drugs than any other country on the planet there are over half a 1000000 americans locked up for drugs on any given day and paul was one of them he was facing a lot of time facing 10 year mandatory minimum but they offered him a deal for not forcing the government to go through the time expensive trial all he had to do was plead guilty and after some painful consideration. And after all those years in prison one thing bothered paul the most you know here we are in this modern society where were melting pot and nobodys getting along for the most part and then in prison you know its completely opposite you know whos going there if you were a racist when you went and they require you to be one soon as you get in every single jail in prison in america everyone ive ever been to its all divided by race everything segregated and there you have the white phone you have the mexican phone you have the black phone you have the asian phone. Well the demick no certainly no borders and just bought into nationalities. So much we dont have a turkey we dont have the facts in the whole world needs to be the chief. Judge of. Commentary crisis what is the sentence to my times we can do better we should. Everyone is contributing each in our own way but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever the challenges create the response has been masked so many good people are helping us. It makes us feel very proud that we are in it together. For the few good but so. Far good. Of it is that its. Just a City Commission did. Manage to move. Them in a few fish oh my gosh because. They are the house of. God since we. Dont heed. The warning. System definition. Of. Join me every thursday on the alex simon show and ill be speaking to guest on the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. It seems the racism that helped spark the explosion of americas prison system still burns like a raging fire with hats waltzing shamefully head from the public eye. It was a very strict code of pentagon erase this is what we do. Even the Prison Guards promote this. Some people theorize that its a way for the guards to keep control over us because if we all got along then who would really be running the prison. Us or the guards one guard for every 100 guys Prison Society is further divided from race into gangs so it helps to either be in one or be from the right neighborhood or ride to prison the guy that was next to me was just a regular dove lone beach he played basketball in pa the high school he was a regular who had a flat top you know me you know he was going to prison for he had took a deal for i believe it was like a spousal abuse images grow it was a terrorist threat in the United States a terrorist threat covers any statement that contains the threat of violence against another person in this case reggie is talking about an argument a man was having with his girlfriend where he threatened her he was going beat or whatever it was it was a terrorist threat it was no physical violence or anything but he took a deal for 18 months and he was only supposed to like take a deal for 18 months youre going to do it 5 or 10 or whatever so he failed. The 1st night we got the ax who from South Central from South Central where you from explains when one of your homeboys over here said recession theyre going to direct you where you supposed to go this guy he didnt have anybody he was just from long beach no he just was a regular do no end that night. And im listening to was going on and on ever as i thought they were played because thats what he started off was this is the whole gamut they everything is that is is. A poor way to lead to Something Else thats what id say you dont let anybody touch you in jail and he didnt know is he to understand it youre not supposed to rouse it was somebody in the sale because this is what theyre doing theyre trying to see if they can get your name on a position in thats it right there more than im listening to and im they give them a somebody will come help this dough. And me and they did in that night in the say oh they were raping. According to the department of justice nearly one in 10 prisoners suffer sexual abuse while in american jails prisons. So lets keep that in mind the next time a talk show host a Government Official or anybody makes a joke about prison rape the fact that we find these jokes acceptable shows just how far weve gone to normalizing rape as a just punishment for any offense as long as we keep imagining that people in prison are subhuman and theyre predatory and cordial and nothing like you and me why would we lose any sleep about what their lives are like whats happening to them there are now over 5000 jails and prisons in the United States more than we have colleges and universities in many parts of america are simply this out there are more people who are living in prisons there on College Campuses and they molds i dollar business has emerged. Brace yourself this is going to sound too barbaric to be real like Medieval Times a Science Fiction horror film or a french historical musical the 13th amendment of the constitution outlawed slavery but it still allows for forced labor if you are in prison today there are roughly 1000000. 00 american prisoners working for corporations and Government Industries there is no minimum wage so you could make as little as a few cents an hour bruce worked in the kitchen for years when in clerical jobs making a maximum of 0. 32 an hour it sounds like another time work on brothers movie but its happening right now there are no benefits no organizing and no strikes this is big business for state and for profit prisons to sell inmate labor to fortune 500. 00 like chevron bank of america to 18 n. T. And the u. S. Military to nearly half the population in prison make military uniforms body armor helmets and provide labor as subcontractors for fortune 500. 00. They make Office Furniture man call centers take Hotel Reservations or can slaughter houses for manufacture textiles shoes and clothing for pennies prison labor part of why some state and private prisons a multibillion dollar profit. Not only are prisoners used to make products prisoners themselves are sold this products since the 1980 s. The prison population is boomed now 150 private prisons are paid billions by state governments to house prisoners private prisons do so well some of their biggest investors are banks like Wells Fargo Bank of america many private prisons demand 90 or even 100 percent occupancy meaning the taxpayer foots the bill for every bed even the empty. For profit prisons are incentivized to incarcerate more people and for longer periods of time to shoulder. To make sure that happens they spend. Tough on crime. Today nearly 10 percent of americas prisoners are held in private prisons and they also spend millions influencing immigration with detained immigrants are held in private prisons for indefinite periods of time often years exposed to brutal conditions because theyre not americans the government gives them no right to even the most basic legal representation or medical care 3 housing facilities were set on fire and apparently all started over inmate frustration over the quality of medical care perhaps needless to say being treated like cattle and used as forced labor for pennies an hour is not that popular on the inside but thats not the worst of. The socks if youre using the underwear that is you is used you got to buy things like shaving. Food sweats socks underwear. The canteen or commissary is more expensive than any Convenience Store on the outside its definitely advisable to have money so that you can get started if you dont have 50 to 100 bucks coming into your books or your account every month then youre going to need to hustle. This is philip he was convicted of robbery is crook it is as we are out here. Crooked insider to whether its drugs whether its alcohol youve got people that they dont drink but they manufacture prune a wall dave is saying quit in the in the in the boiler room they found a still friends that i knew had actually gotten so far as to likes the cover to bring tremendous trees over and so we had copper tubing they were making motion and staying quit. Mainly they drag it to the hostel. Sold drugs through our business through a correctional officer is like a networking college for criminals of the month jordy of the guys in prison are there trying to learn how to do crime better this is just a school for criminals to learn more criminals and thats not an exaggeration 2011 study from Ohio University showed that after spending time in prison those continuing to engage in crime see their criminal earns increase on an average by a 1000. 00 a year jodie lewin is the executive director of the Prison University project there are thousands and thousands of people in the system all they want is the opportunity to get a good education and to be hired by somebody where they can have a job where they have a meaningful work and in a livable wage in the late eightys early ninetys there were python 350 programs in the prison system nationwide took my dads advice been saying for a long time look for some computer training is there any computer training in there because he knows you know i finally when i got to san quentin i said do you have any any computer training so it was great because i mean. Those who know the least obey the best you know and theres this rebellious kind of spirit in their stand still a big class myself all right now so theres this rebelliousness you know i could actually size my brain they cant stop you from doing that so we really got this cried about our education particularly in that particular program in class and it was an honor to be able to fight the system as you might say by educating each other and then see me graduate that 8 years later my dad was really proud of me and our relationshi