Conrad Black: My prison education
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Conrad Black: My prison education
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Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#2It's not earth shattering, but it's an interesting look at the broken criminal system (can't call it a justice system...) from the type of guy who is rarely in a position to really see it.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#3A couple great quotes:
"I had seen at close range the injustice of sentences one hundred times more severe for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine, a straight act of discrimination against African-Americans, that even the first black president and attorney general have only ameliorated with tepid support for a measure, still being debated, to reduce the disparity of sentence from 100 to one to 18 to one."
I'm honestly surprised (& pleased) he would say that outright. I'm not particularly familiar with the workings of the U.S. justice system but a disparity of 100 to one sounds fairly unjust.
"America’s 2.4 million prisoners, and millions more awaiting trial or on supervised release, are an ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead; they are no one’s constituency."
This quote makes loads of sense when you consider that in the American justice system, prosecutors win over 90% of their cases (a point mentioned by Black).
In summary, I love that Conrad Black wrote this article. Most in his position wouldn't have.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#4I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article.
At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event.
Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the interesting things that happened to him in prison (hence the title of the article), it just ends.
Really disappointing. I want my ten minutes back.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#5I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article. At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event. Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the int…
Black founded the National Post and his trial was extensively covered in Canada (and even in the US). He's quite right to presume that his audience know who he is and (roughly) why he was in prison. As for how the article's written, your objection is really to the headline, which is scoped somewhat inaccurately. The article itself is written fine. (And I would have said one of its main points is that he didn't really suffer a lot.)
It's interesting that this prominent arch-conservative is, through personal experience, now citing facts and making arguments that are unfortunately nearly exclusively those of the left. It's like the old line, "a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged", in reverse. I wonder if he will do anything about it in the future.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#6A couple great quotes: "I had seen at close range the injustice of sentences one hundred times more severe for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine, a straight act of discrimination against African-Americans, that even the first black president and attorney general have only ameliorated with tepid support for a measure, still being debated, to reduce the disparity of sentence from 100 to one to 18 to one." I'm hones…
Prosecutors win over 99% (99.2% in 2007 [1]) cases in Russia.
[1]: http://www.forbesrussia.ru/forbes/issue/2008-11/7199-nevinov...
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#7I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article. At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event. Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the int…
Black founded the National Post and his trial was extensively covered in Canada (and even in the US). He's quite right to presume that his audience know who he is and (roughly) why he was in prison. As for how the article's written, your objection is really to the headline, which is scoped somewhat inaccurately. The article itself is written fine. (And I would have said one of its main points is that he didn't really…
I'd always heard it as "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged; a liberal is a conservative who's been arrested.'
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#8I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article. At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event. Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the int…
Indeed, as the above mentioned, he founded the Post.
Followers of the story (largely, Canada and UK) have seen quite a drama over the last few years. It's helpful to understand he is, in fact, a British Lord - after renouncing Canadian citizenship under a Prime Minister blocking the appointment due to a personal vendetta - and was convicted of defrauding shareholders under a law recently deemed by SCOTUS as open-ended and unconstitutional.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#9I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article. At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event. Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the int…
Black founded the National Post and his trial was extensively covered in Canada (and even in the US). He's quite right to presume that his audience know who he is and (roughly) why he was in prison. As for how the article's written, your objection is really to the headline, which is scoped somewhat inaccurately. The article itself is written fine. (And I would have said one of its main points is that he didn't really…
Why should the reader of a newspaper (or is it a magazine?) be expected to know who founded it?
I hadn't realized that this was a newspaper article, but if so that actually makes it worse. A journalist should know how to write in such a way that people don't require external context to process a story.
Re: Conrad Black: My prison education
#10I hate to say it, since this guy clearly must have suffered a lot, but this is just not a very well written article. At no point does he try to explain who he is or why he was in prison. You get the idea that he was falsely accused, and you learn (at excruciating length) that he's been released, but no details as to the how and why of either event. Then, 1000 words in, just when he's ready to tell you some of the int…
Black founded the National Post and his trial was extensively covered in Canada (and even in the US). He's quite right to presume that his audience know who he is and (roughly) why he was in prison. As for how the article's written, your objection is really to the headline, which is scoped somewhat inaccurately. The article itself is written fine. (And I would have said one of its main points is that he didn't really…
Prisons are a dark corner of American politics where everyone's uninformed preferences produced a system that's bloated, expensive, inefficient and doesn't meet its stated goals.
California's prisons are a good example: law and order on the right; tax and spend on the left; public sector unions throughout; massive waste, individual and systemic injustice the result.