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From the Editor
This months cover story highlights abuse in the Maine prison system which consists mostly of one prison. While a lot of PLNs news and legal coverage focuses on states such as Texas and California and the federal Bureau of Prisons, in large part because their sheer size and number of prisoners means that there is more news happening, that is not to say that all is well in the smaller prison systems. In some respects the smaller systems have larger problems because they enjoy even less critical scrutiny than the larger prison systems do.
One thing that can pretty much be said of all prison systems in the United States, as well as the concentration camps operated by the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency overseas, is that they routinely rely on abuse and force as essential management tools and that medical neglect is an inherent part of how prisons and jails are run.
Upcoming issues of PLN will have more coverage of systemic issues involving the abuse and neglect of prisoners in prisons and jails around the country. One thing we have been trying to do with our news coverage is to be able to do longer, in depth pieces that can focus on overall, systemic conditions. All too often media coverage of prison and jail issues refers to them as mere isolated incidents, a few bad apples, etc. Yet all too often this ignores the fact that these isolated incidents occur on a daily basis, that the whole apple orchard is rotten to the core, etc.
We welcome story ideas and suggestions from our readers on these topics. While we receive more mail than we can respond to all reader letters are read. When writing PLN it is a huge help to be brief and to the point and try to stick to one topic per letter. We get a huge volume of mail and it is very difficult when we get ten page letters covering everything from a change of address, to story suggestions and more. I would like to thank those readers who send us news and information about the cases they won or settled, news clips on prison and jail issues they have won, etc. please keep sending it even though we cant acknowledge every piece of mail we receive.
We are continuing with our subscription drive. If you have a group or criminal justice event that can use bulk issues of PLN for distribution to attendees or members please contact us and let us know how many copies you can use and we will send them along. Our subscription madness campaign is also in full swing so consider getting gift subscriptions of PLN for potential subscribers!
PLNs expansion has historically been underwritten by advertising. We are committed to maintaining a ratio of 75% news content to 25% ad content. Which means that every full page of ads allows us to add three pages of editorial content. If you patronize or know of any businesses who deal with prisoners or people in the criminal justice system who might be interested in advertising in PLN please let them know about PLN and how they can both help their business and help us bring people still more news and information. And more importantly, send PLN the name and address of these businesses and we can send them sample copies, ad rates and more information about us. One of our goals for the next year is to expand to 52 pages.
PLNs website has received more than 100,000 subscribers in the past year since we revamped it. We are continuing to add new information, cases and updates on an almost daily basis. We also have a free PLN e mail list where we send out news about court cases, litigation, news and PLN on a daily basis. Let folks know about this and encourage them to sign up for it on PLNs website at www.prisonlegalnews.org, it is absolutely free.
Enjoy this issue of PLN and encourage others to subscribe.
One thing that can pretty much be said of all prison systems in the United States, as well as the concentration camps operated by the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency overseas, is that they routinely rely on abuse and force as essential management tools and that medical neglect is an inherent part of how prisons and jails are run.
Upcoming issues of PLN will have more coverage of systemic issues involving the abuse and neglect of prisoners in prisons and jails around the country. One thing we have been trying to do with our news coverage is to be able to do longer, in depth pieces that can focus on overall, systemic conditions. All too often media coverage of prison and jail issues refers to them as mere isolated incidents, a few bad apples, etc. Yet all too often this ignores the fact that these isolated incidents occur on a daily basis, that the whole apple orchard is rotten to the core, etc.
We welcome story ideas and suggestions from our readers on these topics. While we receive more mail than we can respond to all reader letters are read. When writing PLN it is a huge help to be brief and to the point and try to stick to one topic per letter. We get a huge volume of mail and it is very difficult when we get ten page letters covering everything from a change of address, to story suggestions and more. I would like to thank those readers who send us news and information about the cases they won or settled, news clips on prison and jail issues they have won, etc. please keep sending it even though we cant acknowledge every piece of mail we receive.
We are continuing with our subscription drive. If you have a group or criminal justice event that can use bulk issues of PLN for distribution to attendees or members please contact us and let us know how many copies you can use and we will send them along. Our subscription madness campaign is also in full swing so consider getting gift subscriptions of PLN for potential subscribers!
PLNs expansion has historically been underwritten by advertising. We are committed to maintaining a ratio of 75% news content to 25% ad content. Which means that every full page of ads allows us to add three pages of editorial content. If you patronize or know of any businesses who deal with prisoners or people in the criminal justice system who might be interested in advertising in PLN please let them know about PLN and how they can both help their business and help us bring people still more news and information. And more importantly, send PLN the name and address of these businesses and we can send them sample copies, ad rates and more information about us. One of our goals for the next year is to expand to 52 pages.
PLNs website has received more than 100,000 subscribers in the past year since we revamped it. We are continuing to add new information, cases and updates on an almost daily basis. We also have a free PLN e mail list where we send out news about court cases, litigation, news and PLN on a daily basis. Let folks know about this and encourage them to sign up for it on PLNs website at www.prisonlegalnews.org, it is absolutely free.
Enjoy this issue of PLN and encourage others to subscribe.
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