Republican Governors Get Paid To Keep Men In Jail (Kyle Kulinski)

As most on this sub know, prison is an issue that overwhelmingly affects men. Kyle Kulinski details how the private prison industry is funding Republican governors who are resisting President Biden's lead when it comes to pardoning those convicted of marijuana possession. It's a good reminder to always remain extremely skeptical of claims that the right wing is either 'pro-men' or 'pro-freedom.'

I had some difficulty in trying to quickly find sources showing the gender breakdown of prisoners affected by the (lack of) marijuana possession pardons. I was particularly curious because I figured the ratio of men to women might be slightly less lopsided than with violent offenses, and I wondered by how much. Unfortunately, I didn't get close to that particular number. I did find this 2004 paper from the U.S. Dept. of Justice which shows that over 90% of prisoners convicted of non-violent offenses and then being released from state prisons were men. This data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons indicates that men comprise over 93% of the current overall federal inmate population (no news there).

One disappointing aspect of President Biden's federal pardon is that it affects only a small percentage of those incarcerated, according to this recent HuffPost article. (Yeah, I know, HuffPost, but it's actually a good article.)