Al Jazeera examines the impact of America's high incarceration rate on its penal system and on poor and minority communities. There are more prisoners in the US than any other nation in the world, with the U.S. making up five percent of the world's population, but accounts for 25 percent of its prison population. In just the last three decades, the number held in U.S. federal prisons has spiked by nearly 80 percent.

"There has been in this country over the last 30 years a relentless upward climb in the incarcerated population and disturbing as the situation is with the federal prison system, that is really only the tip of the iceberg because the federal prison system is only about 10 percent of the total number of people incarcerated in this country. On any given day, we have about 2.3 million people behind bars in federal, state and local facilities."

- David Fathi, ACLU National Prison Project

The number of inmates in U.S. federal prisons has increased from about 25,000 in 1980 to 219,000 in 2012, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service.

The report says the federal prison system was 39 percent over its capacity back in 2011...and the situation is worse for high and medium security male facilities.

High-security prisons were overcrowded by 51 percent, while medium security prisons were overcrowded by 55 percent in 2011.

A report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), states that overcrowding has contributed to worse safety and security conditions for both inmates and staff.

The overcrowded facilities have contributed to a multibillion dollar demand for private prisons. The industry claims it is helping the government save money. But others argue that for-profit prisons only increase the incentive to incarcerate more people.

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In a previous report about the couple accused of manufacturing explosives in their West Village apartment, I referred to Aaron Greene as "Harvard educated" based on earlier reports. The original report was by five New York Post reporters, and that information was also cited by the Associated Press, Reuters, and other outlets carrying the story.

But reached by telephone today, a spokeswoman from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government tells the Gothamist, "Aaron Greene did not attend Harvard Kennedy School, or Harvard undergrad."

The Harvard citation is the second detail from that New York Post report that has proven false, the first being the couple's connection to Occupy Wall Street. That detail was disproved in comments made by NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne to the New York Times. Kelly McBride, a senior ethics faculty member at the Poynter Institute, told The Village Voice:

"In a case like this, the best practices would suggest that The Post is definitely obligated to correct their mistake, both by updating the online version of the story and noting the error, as well as printing a correction in the paper to inform people who saw the mistake there."

It has also been reported that Aaron Greene previously stabbed a bouncer in 2005 with an eleven-inch butcher knife and served eight months in jail. The man he stabbed says that the altercation began after Greene stole his slice of pizza and stalked him through the Lower East Side—and soon after the stabbing he predicted Greene was more dangerous than authorities believed at the time. "I told the District Attorney that one of these days, he's gonna shoot up a schoolyard or blow up a federal building," the bouncer says. "But watch—he's gonna skate on these new charges, he's gonna get off because of his family."

Add "new parents" to the list of things the hippie couple has been called in the last few days. After being arrested on suspicion of terrorism when seven grams of highly explosive HMTD were found in their Greenwich Village apartment over the weekend, New York native Morgan Gliedman's arraignment was postponed on Monday so she could give birth to baby daughter Melody.

“Why are we killing kids that don’t need to die?”

That’s the question Florida Congressman Bill Young was moved to ask after reading a letter written to him by Matthew Sitton, a young soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in August. In this powerful broadcast essay, Bill talks about the congressman’s surprising change in perspective, the soldier who inspired him, and how that question needs to be posed to the two men now vying to be our Commander-in-Chief.

Full transcript:

BILL MOYERS: Matt Sitton knew the war in Afghanistan was going badly. He knew because he was fighting it. 26 years old, with a wife and child back home, Staff Sergeant Sitton was on his third combat tour there. His third.

Time and again, he and his men were sent through what he called “A minefield on a daily basis.” His comrades were being blown apart. At least one amputee a day, he said, “Because we are walking around aimlessly through grape rows and compounds that are littered with explosives.”

Morale was low. The men struggled to remain alert. Sitton said he asked his officers to give them a break but was told to stop complaining. “I am all for getting on the ground and fighting for my country when there is a desired end state and we have clear guidance of what needs to be done,” he wrote. “but when we are told basically to just walk around for a certain amount of time…not sitting well with me.”

At home in Florida, Matt Sitton had attended a Christian school run by the Baptist church attended by Congressman Bill Young. He wrote Congressman Young and told him what was happening. “I’m concerned about the well-being of my soldiers,” he said. “… I just want to return my guys home to their families healthy.” He ended, “If anything, please pray for us over here. God bless.”

[Via]

A 14-year-old suicide bomber attacked NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, killing six civilians and wounding five, including children. No soldiers were struck. The teenage attacker was wearing a vest packed with explosives, and rode up to the building on a bike before detonating. Although the Taliban claimed initial responsibility for the attack, they say the bomber was a 28-year-old and the target was the CIA's Kabul offices. The latest attack highlights militants' abilities to strike even the most secure parts of the Afghan capital, worrying officials.

Hashmat Stanikzai, a police spokesperson, said the dead and wounded were all street sellers aged between 12 and 17.

Street children routinely gather outside NATO headquarters to peddle small trinkets and sweets, looking out for soldiers leaving or getting into the base.

Pieces of flesh and splattered blood lay on the street near the base, where small bodies were seen being lifted into ambulances, witnesses said.

"I was here when the blast occurred. I saw some wounded children on the ground. The wounded [were] transferred to emergency hospital for treatment and I heard that three of the injured children have died," said Ahmad Sameer, a witness.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) condemned the use of children. "Forcing underage youth to do their dirty work again proves the insurgency's despicable tactics," said spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul said in a statement that using "the most impressionable and vulnerable", such as a teenager, to carry out such attacks revealed the true nature of the insurgents.

[Caution: Contains graphic images.]

Via:

A Sardinian miner has slashed his wrist in a live TV address, in protest against the closing of a local facility. Some 100 workers barricaded themselves in front of the mine, which is packed with almost 700 kilograms of explosives.

­The incident took place during a press conference held underground.

"If someone here has decided to the kill miners' families, ladies and gentlemen, we'll cut ourselves, we'll cut ourselves," 49-year-old Stefano Meletti said as he slashed his wrist in front of reporters.

"We cannot take it anymore. We cannot! We cannot! It’s what we have to do," Reuters quoted him as saying.

The miners have staged an underground protest of government funding for the coal industry, which has cost them their jobs amid the deep recession in the region.

Government officials are scheduled to meet in the coming week to discuss the Sardinia's plight.

Via:

Specialists set off a small, controlled detonation inside the apartment of mass shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes on Saturday after earlier disarming a trip wire and incendiary device set to kill, police said.

A siren and shouts of "Fire in the hole" preceded the blast, and a two-man team on a fire truck ladder later peered inside the third-story apartment. Live video showed the blast blowing out part of a window, but no smoke or fire resulted.

"The controlled detonation was successful," the Aurora Police Department said in a statement. "Still more work to be done in the apartment to include dealing with other devices. There is a possibility of more controlled detonations."

After the past weekend in Chicago at the NATO summit where nearly 100 protesters were arrested, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks to National Lawyers Guild attorney Sarah Gelsomino who is representing on of the five activists charged with terror-related crimes. Two are accused of attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices, and three more are accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives.

While many have been impressed by what is viewed as restraint on the part of the Chicago police department as far as violence towards occupy protesters goes, the #NoNATO protests may well be unparalleled in the abuse of legal authority and flagrant disregard for constitutional rights by law enforcement.

Gelsomino says the so-called "NATO Three" were set up by government informants who planted the explosives. "Our clients who are facing the most serious charges of terrorism are actually in solitary confinement right now, we just learned," Gelsomino says. "A very top priority this week is to get them out of that extremely punitive and extremely dangerous condition that they’re in right now."

Rush Transcript:

AMY GOODMAN: We turn to the protesters detained during the NATO summit. According to the Chicago Police Department, nearly a hundred people were arrested over the course of the week. Five of them stand accused of terrorism-related offenses. Two men were arrested over the weekend for allegedly engaging in threatening behavior before the NATO summit. Sebastian Senakiewicz was charged with falsely making a terrorist threat, and Mark Neiweem was accused of attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices.

Before the weekend began, three activists were arrested on terror charges for an alleged plot to attack President Obama’s campaign headquarters and other sites around Chicago during the NATO summit. Jared Chase, Brent Betterly and Brian Jacob Church are accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives. Police say they recovered materials for making Molotov cocktails in a raid last week. But attorneys for the so-called "NATO Three" say they were set up by government informants who planted the explosives. Supporters also say police seized equipment that was used for brewing homemade beer.

Michael Deutsch, an attorney for the protesters with the National Lawyers Guild, accused Chicago police of entrapment.

MICHAEL DEUTSCH: Obviously, we don’t have access to all the information that the state has. But what we do know is, is that there were police—undercover police officers that ingratiated themselves with people who come from out of town. And from our information, these so-called incendiary devices and the plans to attack police stations, attack the mayor’s office, is all coming from the mind of the police informants and are not coming from our clients, who are nonviolent protesters. They are not anarchists. They don’t belong to a Black Bloc organization. They’re involved with nonviolent protest. And what we believe is, is that this is a way to stir up prejudice against the people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

AMY GOODMAN: To discuss the implications of these charges, we’re going to Chicago to speak with Sarah Gelsomino, an attorney with the People’s Law Office and the National Lawyers Guild. She’s representing one of the protesters facing terror charges from the summit.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Sarah.

SARAH GELSOMINO: Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about exactly what happened.

SARAH GELSOMINO: Well, last Wednesday night at around 11:30 at night, the Chicago police executed a midnight raid on a house in the Bridgeport area in the Near South Side in Chicago, and they entered three different—excuse me, four apartment buildings in that house. In one of those apartments, they arrested nine people. In the other three, they, without warrant or consent, detained the individuals who lived in those building—in those apartments, interrogated them about their political beliefs and about their knowledge of the people who lived in that apartment where they arrested the nine people and searched their apartments. They also entered that fourth apartment, again without showing a warrant and without any consent. And there is where they eventually arrested the nine people. They arrested two additional people down the street. Six of those people have since been released without charges. As you know, the NATO Three are facing very serious terrorism threats—or terrorism charges. And the other two are who we now believe to be police informants.

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A breaking news story from Cleveland, Ohio today. Occupy Cleveland's May Day festivities have been cancelled today after an announcement from the FBI that 5 members of Occupy Cleveland had been arrested after an attempt to blow up an area bridge, as well as targets at other locations.

From Cleveland's News channel 5:

The Cleveland office of the FBI announced Tuesday the arrests of five people who allegedly tried to blow up a bridge in northeast Ohio.

The FBI displayed a photo of the Route 82 bridge in Brecksville, just east of Riverview Road and referred to it as the "Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge" during a 10 a.m. news conference, and confirmed that was the target. The bridge crosses the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and connects Brecksville to Sagamore Hills.

According to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office, these five were arrested Monday evening and charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive material to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce:

- Douglas Wright, 26
- Brandon Baxter, 20
- Anthony Hayne, 35
- Connor Stevens, 20
- Joshua Stafford, 23

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