Who Would Jesus Jail?

Who Would Jesus Jail?

Opinion and Political Commentary by Jonathan P. Glassel

The Scriptures are largely silent, but one can deduce from Jesus’ Ministry to the poor, the weak, the powerless and the infirmed, that the lower classes would probably not have been His first choice to throw in jail.

In Chisago County, these dregs of society are collectively known as “Poor White Trash” or PWT’s of which I am proud to be a card carrying member.

Nationwide, Blacks are the most jailed class of American. One out of every three black males born today will spend time in jail or prison and currently one out of eight black men in their twenties are in jail.

Can’t really say what Jesus may have thought about this, but when I pass this statistic to most folks in these parts, the answer is the same, “Is that all? I figured there would be a lot more than that!” As if to say, “We would be somehow safer with more non-violent people in jail.”

Having lived in the Deep South for 25 years or so, I have probably become acquainted with more Black men than most Minnesotans will, say 40 or 50 guys.

Statistically, according to the Prison Industrial Complex, five of these guys should have been evil. I have not found that to be the case. Blacks are just normal folks like the rest of us.

A social worker friend brings up an interesting point. Blacks are more likely to be poor and since poor people occupy most jail space, it may not be racial at all.

Kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that poverty keeps our jails full. Which raises the logical questions? Who wants these poor muthas in jail and is it really cost effective to jail non-violent poor people?

Minnesota has traditionally passed the cost of jailing to the individual counties, preferring that poor people be held locally, at the expense of local property owners rather than wealthy individuals and corporations as is done by most states.

The State of Minnesota, passing unfunded mandates and criminal law, uses incarceration rates and quotas established by the Prison Industrial Complex to jail Blacks and poor people while passing the financial burden to local property owners.

Nationwide, most states spend an average of 6.89% of the state budget on prisons and jails. The State of Minnesota spends only 2.70%. However, when the cost to the Counties is factored in, the total cost exceeds 9% of the State Budget, more than most states.

In other words, most states pay their dues to the Prison Industrial Complex from State Income and/or Sales Taxes. In Minnesota, we pay for these excesses with Levy dollars assessed to your home and property.

This maneuver has been quite popular with former Governor Pawlenty. Every time the state budget needed balancing, unfundated mandates were established to pass the financial burden of state operation to local government.

This tactic could be quite beneficial if Pawlenty becomes President. With one stroke of his pen, he could eliminate the National Debt by assigning that debt (about $30,000) to each man, woman and child in the country and simply say, “Hey, it’s your problem, now. Not mine.”

Throughout history, governments and unscrupulous business persons have profited from the misery of others. For centuries, European traders amassed great fortunes in the African slave trade. When the British finally abolished slavery in 1840, these traders turned to the lucrative Opium Trade. Britain and America actually went to war with China to insure wealthy Opium traders could profit from the addiction of millions of Chinese.

This Anglo American induced drug epidemic did not end until the Communist Revolution a hundred years later when the drug addicts were simply executed, taken out and shot.

In today’s world, The Prison Industrial Complex profits from the misery and forced incarceration of millions of non violent Americans.

The Criminal Justice System is big business, not only in this country, but right here in Chisago County.

While most people know the story of Jesus and his execution, not by the Jews, but by the State sponsored Prison Industrial Complex of the day, few know the story of Chisago County’s County Attorney, Janet Reiter’s rise to power.

Like many lawyers, Janet was lured into the Prison Industrial Complex at an early age. Her naïve and giddy thoughts of punishing bad guys was an inspiring force. Trouble was there weren’t enough bad guys to go around, so she settled for the only job she could find, working as an assistant county attorney.

Despite the drawbacks of working in small rural community with little crime and fewer blacks, Janet was able to exploit the weaknesses of poor people. In time, she was able to get a better job in a larger county where she honed her strengths by prosecuting poor people who could not defend themselves.

Life moved on in Chisago County without Janet.

Through a fluke in the electoral process, Janet’s predecessor, Katherine Johnson, having no practical experience prosecuting poor white trash was elected as County Attorney.

The jails quickly emptied. Though Katherine’s ineptitude saved the County several hundred thousand dollars, the Prison Industrial Complex became quite alarmed.

The empty jails had not resulted in the predicted crime wave.

Katherine was in a real bind. She needed to come up with some criminals’ real quick. Our Judges didn’t have anything to do and staff was facing layoffs. It was decided to make criminals out of ordinary citizens. Code enforcement officers were dispatched throughout the County to issue citations for lawns not cut to County specs and other minor infractions.

Unfortunately for Katherine, a Code Enforcement Officer issued a citation to retired Judge Clifford. Judge Clifford is a card carrying member of the Prison Industrial Complex who had been jailing PWT’s when Janet was still in diapers. He was pissed.

But Katherine was desperate for a conviction and decided to prosecute. Judge Clifford flipped out and went about North County pointing out code violations of other residents, forcing Katherine to proscecute all perceived violators.

All was well, the courts filled up. PWT’s were returning to jail and the taxpayers were being fleeced again. However Judge Clifford was still pissed.

He recruited and reportedly funded Janet’s campaign, leading to Katherine’s defeat in the 2006 Election.

If Janet can jail enough PWT's, Minnesota's Inbred Judicial Selection Process (MIJSP) will probably tap her to be judge one day, allowing her to follow in the footsteps of her mentor, Judge Clifford.

And the cycle will continue.

A select group of lawyers getting rich jailing non violent poor people at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

Jesus was known for His compassion toward the poor. I wonder if He would have compassion for the taxpayers, as well?

Denise Martin Chisago County Press, Mary Helen Swanson North Branch ECM Post Review, Johanna Puelston Isanti Chisago County Star fiefdompolitics written in cowardly anonymity Tim Okeefe or his wife FishLakeKarpa