Prison conditions: CMU and SAM

[PetrChelcicky]

"Justice" is an interesting field for critique, but that cannot work without a regular observation and commentation. Which afaik doesn't exist in Anabaptist circles.
One of my particular concerns is the Plea Deal - in my eyes a way to extort confessions by "showing the instruments". This is NOT an Anabaptist concern, but I am glad to see that at least one American blogger - Paul Craig Roberts - shares my concern.
As for "restaurative justice", I deem it a good idea, but it should better be defended against the abuse of the term in public discourse (restaurative justice = not punishing Blacks for shoplifting).
At the moment I have a question about something I do not understand. It refers to the Julian Assange case, perhaps the last case in which the remaining leftwing opposition and the rightwing opposition work hand in hand. Probably better known in Europe because Assange is tried in Britain but over a U.S. appeal to extradite him to th U.S. in order to try and punish him here.
In an actual article I found (https://www.unz.com/article/julian-assa ... al-appeal/)

"He could be placed in one of our other Guantanamo-like facilities in a Communications Management Unit (CMU). CMUs are highly restrictive units that replicate the near total isolation imposed by SAMs."

I do not know what CMUs or SAMs are. Could someone give me a link to more information?

[Ken]

"Justice" is an interesting field for critique, but that cannot work without a regular observation and commentation. Which afaik doesn't exist in Anabaptist circles.
One of my particular concerns is the Plea Deal - in my eyes a way to extort confessions by "showing the instruments". This is NOT an Anabaptist concern, but I am glad to see that at least one American blogger - Paul Craig Roberts - shares my concern.
As for "restaurative justice", I deem it a good idea, but it should better be defended against the abuse of the term in public discourse (restaurative justice = not punishing Blacks for shoplifting).
At the moment I have a question about something I do not understand. It refers to the Julian Assange case, perhaps the last case in which the remaining leftwing opposition and the rightwing opposition work hand in hand. Probably better known in Europe because Assange is tried in Britain but over a U.S. appeal to extradite him to th U.S. in order to try and punish him here.
In an actual article I found (https://www.unz.com/article/julian-assa ... al-appeal/)

"He could be placed in one of our other Guantanamo-like facilities in a Communications Management Unit (CMU). CMUs are highly restrictive units that replicate the near total isolation imposed by SAMs."

I do not know what CMUs or SAMs are. Could someone give me a link to more information?

They are just high security prisons in which contact with the outside world is strictly monitored and controlled. Or more accurately, high-security wings within existing prisons. They are used for people like cartel leaders, organized crime, convicted terrorists, and leaders of other violent extremist groups in order to prevent them from continuing to engage in such activities from within prison. If you put someone like a drug cartel leader in an ordinary prison they would easily continue to manage their drug empire from within the prison walls through all the other prisoners and possibly guards with whom they have daily contact. Making drug deals, ordering assassinations, etc. So you can't have people like that in the general prison population if you want to stop that sort of thing.

Wikipedia provides a description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communica ... ement_unit

[ohio jones]

I do not know what CMUs or SAMs are.

CMU: Concrete Masonry Unit, informally known as concrete block. Often used in prison construction.
SAM: Surface-to-Air Missile. Not a good idea to let prisoners (or the general civilian population, for that matter) have these.

These may not be the definitions you are looking for.

[Szdfan]

They are just high security prisons in which contact with the outside world is strictly monitored and controlled. Or more accurately, high-security wings within existing prisons. They are used for people like cartel leaders, organized crime, convicted terrorists, and leaders of other violent extremist groups in order to prevent them from continuing to engage in such activities from within prison. If you put someone like a drug cartel leader in an ordinary prison they would easily continue to manage their drug empire from within the prison walls through all the other prisoners and possibly guards with whom they have daily contact. Making drug deals, ordering assassinations, etc. So you can't have people like that in the general prison population if you want to stop that sort of thing.

The stridtest and most secure of category these high security prisons is the Supermax. There's only one left in the US and it's located a few hours from me in Florence, CO. H. Rap Brown, Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynksi were kept there. Current inmates include: Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Terry Nichols, Eric Rudolph and El Chapo.

[Ken]

They are just high security prisons in which contact with the outside world is strictly monitored and controlled. Or more accurately, high-security wings within existing prisons. They are used for people like cartel leaders, organized crime, convicted terrorists, and leaders of other violent extremist groups in order to prevent them from continuing to engage in such activities from within prison. If you put someone like a drug cartel leader in an ordinary prison they would easily continue to manage their drug empire from within the prison walls through all the other prisoners and possibly guards with whom they have daily contact. Making drug deals, ordering assassinations, etc. So you can't have people like that in the general prison population if you want to stop that sort of thing.

The strictest and most secure of category these high security prisons is the Supermax. There's only one left in the US and it's located a few hours from me in Florence, CO. H. Rap Brown, Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynksi were kept there. Current inmates include: Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Terry Nichols, Eric Rudolph and El Chapo.

Ordinary prisons are as loose as sieves when it comes to the flow of information. In an average prison with hundreds of inmates there is a constant flow of visitors, attorneys, and inmates coming and going because they served their sentences. So in such a prison where inmates can mix in the general population during meal times, work details, or even in cell blocks, it is trivial for some cartel leader, organized crime leader, or leader of some violent terrorist or extremist group to continue to run such operations from within prison. You just use other people to pass on your messages and orders. Especially groups like cartels who have the resources to buy off other inmates to do their bidding.

So these sorts of ultra secure facilities do serve an obvious purpose. And probably house more organized crime and cartel kingpin types than the famous name terrorists.

There are also supermax state prisons as well. California has one in Pelican Bay on the coast just south of the Oregon border that houses about 1800 ultra-violent or dangerous inmates. They have lots of drug mafia and cartel types there as well as violent street gang leaders (Bloods, Crips, MS-13, etc.). It was also the home of Charles Manson for a period of time until he died in 2017.

[Josh]

Now, why the U.S. government considers Julian Assange such a dangerous person is a very good question...

[Ken]

Now, why the U.S. government considers Julian Assange such a dangerous person is a very good question...

I don't know that they do. All we have is the word of the journalist who wrote that Unz Media article that Assange will be subject to supermax conditions if he is extradited to the US.

Either the US government has a legitimate case against him or the do not. He was indicted in absentia back in 2019 by a Federal Grand jury when he refused to appear. As I recall the indictment was that he materially assisted the leaker Reality Winner in breaking into government computers or some such. And wasn't just an online publisher. But I guess that will all play out.

The justice system of any government is more or less relentless. The charges don't just go away over time if you refuse to appear. They just wait you out. The government doesn't get tired.

[Josh]

Now, why the U.S. government considers Julian Assange such a dangerous person is a very good question...

I don't know that they do. All we have is the word of the journalist who wrote that Unz Media article that Assange will be subject to supermax conditions if he is extradited to the US.

Either the US government has a legitimate case against him or the do not. He was indicted in absentia back in 2019 by a Federal Grand jury when he refused to appear. As I recall the indictment was that he materially assisted the leaker Reality Winner in breaking into government computers or some such. And wasn't just an online publisher. But I guess that will all play out.

The justice system of any government is more or less relentless. The charges don't just go away over time if you refuse to appear. They just wait you out. The government doesn't get tired.

… which explains all the violent offenders who get released on a signature bond and then go carjack, murder, rob, etc again and then get let out *again*. It’s so common it has a name: “catch and release”.

[Ken]

Now, why the U.S. government considers Julian Assange such a dangerous person is a very good question...

I don't know that they do. All we have is the word of the journalist who wrote that Unz Media article that Assange will be subject to supermax conditions if he is extradited to the US.

Either the US government has a legitimate case against him or the do not. He was indicted in absentia back in 2019 by a Federal Grand jury when he refused to appear. As I recall the indictment was that he materially assisted the leaker Reality Winner in breaking into government computers or some such. And wasn't just an online publisher. But I guess that will all play out.

The justice system of any government is more or less relentless. The charges don't just go away over time if you refuse to appear. They just wait you out. The government doesn't get tired.

… which explains all the violent offenders who get released on a signature bond and then go carjack, murder, rob, etc again and then get let out *again*. It’s so common it has a name: “catch and release”.

This case is about the Justice Department pursuing espionage charges. Not about some local county prosecutor with an overloaded docket deciding which petty crime cases to prosecute.

If you think the Justice Department will get tired and give up just because Assange or any other espionage suspect decides to hide out overseas I think you are very much mistaken. These charges aren't going away no matter how long Assange tries to evade them. Some future administration might decide to drop the charges. But the Justice Department won't do it on their own. That pretty much never happens when it comes to cases dealing with national security.