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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Photos of maximum-security prisons in Norway and the US reveal the extremes of prison life

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US Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado.
US Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado.
Inside the walls of the toughest prison in the US, a fork is a deadly weapon. Inside the walls of Norway's toughest prison, a fork is, well ... a fork.

The differences extend far past silverware. In just about every way, the approaches that the US and Norway take to criminal justice fall on opposite ends of the spectrum.

While the US uses isolation to punish offenders and keep them away from civil society, Norway prefers to rehabilitate its inmates so they can return to the outside world — there are no life sentences.

No two prisons make that difference more clear than the super-max Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado and Halden Prison, in Halden, Norway.

Not all US prisons are as strict as ADX, and while Halden is technically maximum-security, it's still closer to the rule than the exception in Norway. Here's what life is like at both extremes.



Exercise cages, ADX Florence, Colorado
Exercise cages, ADX Florence, Colorado


Solitary Housing Unit (SHU), ADX Florence. No contact with other inmates.
Solitary Housing Unit (SHU), ADX Florence.
No contact with other inmates.


Solitary Housing Unit (SHU), ADX Florence. Inmates spend 23 hours a day locked up, alone.
Solitary Housing Unit (SHU), ADX Florence.
Inmates spend 23 hours a day locked up, alone.


Halden Prison, Norway. Cells look like College dorm bedrooms.
Halden Prison, Norway. Cells look like College dorm bedrooms.


Halden Prison, Norway. A rec room allows inmates to socialize
Halden Prison, Norway. A recreation room allows inmates to socialize.


Click here to read the full article (+ photos)

Source: Business Insider, Chris Weller, February 5, 2017

➤ Recommended resource: Where to Invade Next, a documentary by Michael Moore, 2015. To learn what the USA can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer...

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

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