High Incarceration Rate Leads to Increased Troubled Children and Welfare

Excess Incarceration Rate Leads to More Troubled Children and More Welfare

The huge incarceration rate in Illinois, where we send non-violent drug abusers and thieves to prison at a rate 40 times greater than any civilized country means that we are breaking our economy. The children of the prisoners are a great social burden when parents don’t earn an income or care for them. Tax dollars are also lost when prisoners do not work.

It is a much better solution to sentence non-violent offenders to curfews when not at work and community service to pay back what they took from society. Restorative justice is more appropriate. In prison less than 15% of addicts get treatment and there are five times more mentally ill in prison, without appropriate treatment than in all the mental health facilities in the country combined.

It is a much better solution to pay for daily drug addiction treatment, home monitoring, and mental health treatment than to pay $30,000 per year to incarcerate a prisoner, not treat them, and then send them back to a life of crime or untreated mental illness.

We are FOOLS in Illinois and the rest of the country! What a waste of dollars and human potential! Talk to your legislators. Elect only those that pledge to change this disaster. Our phony war of being “tough on crime” is a joke and has not worked. These prisoners, are usually released. If we don’t rehabilitate them, we deserve what we get.

For discussion and solutions to the problems see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/us/05prison.html?_r=1

http://drlindashelton.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/help-save-economy-by-saving-billions-with-judicialprison-reform-stop-torture/

http://drlindashelton.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/re-integrating-600000-ex-cons-per-year-and-growing-give-your-suggestions/

http://drlindashelton.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/punishment-and-fairness-comparative-nature-of-punishment/

Resignation Requested of Chief Judge Timothy Evans of the Circuit Court of Cook County

STOP ILLINOIS CORRUPTION

Linda Lorincz Shelton, Ph.D., M.D.

Founder and Director

708 952-0040

 

April 19, 2009

 

Chief Judge Timothy Evans

Circuit Court of Cook County

50 W. Washington, Rm 2600

Chicago, IL 60602

             Dear Judge Evans:

            Thank you for your response letter of April 20, 2009. I understand your concerns not to involve yourself in judicial decisions concerning other judges. However, decisions on indigency petitions are not judicial decisions. They are administrative decisions. As chief administrator of the courts you are responsible for the employees under you including the judges, the clerk, and the court reporters. As you have now willfully refused to do your job and actually are condoning many criminal acts committed by judges under you, the Sheriff’s staff, the Court Clerk, and the Court Reporters, I MUST NOW ASK ON BEHALF OF THE CITIZENS OF COOK COUNTY FOR YOUR RESIGNATION. It is not acceptable for the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County to engage in willful denial of due process on such a large scale, and at the same time to abdicate his responsibility as an administrator. The net result of your crimes is that you are participating in running the Circuit Court of Cook County as a criminal enterprise.

            It is clear from your previous responses to my concerns that you have no intention of doing your job as an administrator. Your court reporters have defied and still are defying court orders to prepare and file transcripts in 05 CR 29530 [correction - 05 CR 12718]. The Illinois Appellate Court has also violated their oaths of office and the law by failing to enforce Judge Kazmierski’s order to prepare free transcripts and file them.  Therefore, Federal Judge Coar has ruled in 09 C 105, a habeas corpus petition on this case, that the Appellate Court through their actions has waived the right of the State of Illinois to insist I exhaust State remedies with direct appeals and a petition for habeas before the Illinois Supreme Court. He is hearing my habeas petition on this [wrongful] conviction where a Cook County Correctional Officer, Sgt. Anthony Salemi, attacked me, falsified his records, perjured himself in court, and the Judge, Kazmierski, committed gross judicial misconduct and the prosecutors, Andrew Dalkin and John Maher committed gross prosecutorial misconduct resulting in an unfair trial denying me due process. Then Judge Kazmierski illegally sentenced me to two years in IDOC, refused to stay sentence pending appeal, in violation of U.S. Supreme Court Holding in Cunningham v. California, 127 S. Ct. 856 (2007). I fully expect to be vindicated and for the Sgt. to be arrested and convicted of official misconduct and other crimes and for the prosecutors to be charged with prosecutorial misconduct and punished appropriately.  Judge Kazmierski should be disciplined and I intend to find a way to hold him accountable in a court of law or before the JIB and press.

            Judge Maddux is running a criminal enterprise called the Law Division, which denies pro se litigants in particularly the constitutional rights to redress of grievances and due process. He does this by running an illegal and unconstitutional operation called the “Black Line Trial System” of which you are fully aware and condone.  He also illegally denies indigent petition and then violates law by ordering his clerks not to promptly give the litigant a copy of their petition and his order concerning the petition.  I have now publicized this misconduct and criminal RICO violation on the Internet. As you know Sheila Mannix has also documented and publicized the RICO operation run by the Family Court Division and its judges, which you apparently also condone. See:

Judge William D Maddux, in collusion with Sheriff Dart and Clerk Dorothy Brown, as well as with approval of Chief Judge Timothy Evans runs the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook Count as a Criminal Enterprise in violation of RICO. The following has been provided to the FBI and posted on my blogs:

 http://cookcountyjudges.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/judge-maddux-dismisses-torts-with-dual-court-assignments-for-same-case-hidden-black-line-trial-call-rico-violation/

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/05/judge-maddux-runs-law-division-cook.html

 Circuit Court of Cook County Family Division is Criminal Enterprise and committing RICO violations. See federal RICO suit brought by Dr. Sheila Mannix:

 1:09-cv-00103

 Dorothy Brown’s Clerk’s Office has violated Supreme Court Rules and failed to transmit a notice of appeal in a criminal case, as well as has refused to pepare a record of appeal in that case, along with permitting and condoning her staff in stealing court files from pro se litigants, extorting money from indigent litigants, and causing false arrest of indigent llitigants, as noted in above Internet blogs. As you are fully aware of these crimes and have failed to act to stop further crimes and remedy the above, you are aiding and abetting in such criminal acts, as well as attempting to cover them up.

 You are also fully informed that Judge Schultz, Gainer, Alonso, Pantle, Beibel have blatantly violated law, including Illinois Supreme Court Rules and United States Supreme Court Holdings. I also have evidence of misconduct of at least a half dozen other judges including Judges Kuriakos Ciecil, Brosnahan, Petrone, and Donnelly.

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/04/presiding-criminal-court-judge-paul-p.html

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/02/judge-jorge-alonso-overturns-federal.html

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/01/criminal-acts-il-attorney-general-lisa.html

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2008/12/save-life-dr-maisha-hamilton-bennett.html

 http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2008/12/lawless-corrupt-incompetent-wacko-cook_04.html

As Chief Judge of the Circuit Court you are responsible for referring judicial misconduct to the JIB and you have failed to do so. You are also responsible for judicial assignments, yet you leave judges who blatantly violate the law in positions of authority and supervision over other judges. Your failure to do you job is not only irresponsible, but I believe purposeful.

             I have also fully informed the FBI about the above schemes and crimes, as well as your refusal to do your job. I believe these acts amount to felony theft of honest services, felony conspiracy to violate rights under color of law, felony violation of rights under color of law, obstruction of justice, extortion, fraud, official misconduct, and wire fraud, as well as other crimes including felony RICO violations.

             I respectfully therefore, as a citizen on behalf of the people of Cook County ask for your resignation as Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Sincerely,

Linda Lorincz Shelton, Ph.D., M.D.

Help Save Economy by Saving Billions with Judicial/Prison Reform – Stop Torture

In Illinois, a hotbed of government corruption, billions could be saved with judicial, prison, and jail reforms. More could be saved by eliminating the 10% kick-backs to political funds expected of all those who contract with the state and counties.

If we cut the 40,000 daily Illinois prison population in half I estimate Illinois could save 1.2 billion dollars per year. We would still be incarcerating 20 X more people per capita than any other civilized country.

For every decrease in 1000 inmates from its historic high of 10,000 daily inmates, Cook County Jail could save the county 18 million dollars. What purpose does it serve to incarcerate thousands of people for minimal non-violent crimes pre-trial who can’t afford to pay a $100 dollar bail bond? How do lengthy prison terms without rehabilitation help decrease crime and make productive citizens out of those with drug addiction and alcoholism? How does using prisons as mental health treatment facilities make our State safer? Do prisons and jails provide so much better mental health care than hospitals and clinics? Perhaps mental health care is simply NOT AVAILABLE in Illinois to those on Medicaid! See:

http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/02/judge-jorge-alonso-overturns-federal.html

Also the grotesque torture, medical neglect, and brutality in Illinois jails and prisons could be reduced and true rehabilitation, along with better parole supervision, mental health treatment and drug addiction and alcoholism treatment provided with even a quarter of the resulting savings. I would estimate this would also have a MAJOR impact on reducing crime and increasing tax revenues from a larger number of productive citizens.

For more details see:

http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2009/03/vastly-undertrained-and-abusive-cook.html

Fixing America’s [In] Justice System

The Myth of American Justice:

There is no way that we can have anything but injustice if the office of the prosecutor is given 10 times the budget of the office of public defender. Defendants are subjected to the situation of the defenders of the Alamo – the odds are overwhelmingly against them. In this dysfunctional system, a defendant is guilty until proven innocent to the hilt, despite the theoretical innocence until proven guilty. There are far too many innocent people in prison, mentally ill people in prison, and non-violent criminals guilty but sentenced excessively with no rehabilitation available for them or help in re-introducing themselves to society when they get out.

We can solve this problem in several ways:

1-Parity in terms of budget for both prosecutors and public defenders;
2-Mandate that all attorneys must provide a specified amount of pro bono services – they won’t do it without a mandate as in the federal court system;
3-Raise the level of required training for the police so that they stop abusing laws such as trespass laws, disorderly conduct laws, and resisting arrest, laws – now often used for harassment and to retaliate against whistle blowers and activists, as well as for judges – who often violate the Bill of Rights out of ignorance of the law;
4-Revise grand jury rules so that the jurors are told that they can call witnesses and so that it is more likely that defense witnesses will be called to prove there is no probable cause;
5-Increase penalties for prosecutors who commit fraud upon the grand jury by mistating the law and withholding exculpatory evidence including witnesses;
6-Revise our criminal statutes so that non-violent crimes may be dealt with more by mediators and not all “crimes” are automatically forced to trial so that judges are freed up to deal with more significant crimes;
7-Increase funding for mental health services including drug addiction treatment and offer more diversion for first time offenders and non-violent drug offenders to remove their cases from the trial schedules.

Most importantly we need to have civilian oversight over judges and prosecutors. There will have to be creative thinking as how to accomplish this task. The fox cannot guard the hen house!

I am sure that there are a lot more who through creative thinking can come up with the solutions that I am too ignorant to figure out.