The War on Drugs (The Prison Industrial Complex)

The first few minutes are in dutch, but the rest is in english. This Duch news program was made in 1999.
Today, nearly 500,000 Americans are imprisoned on drug charges. In 1980 the number was 50,000. Last year $40 billion were spent in fighting the war on drugs. As a result of the incarceration obsession, the United States operates the largest prison system on the planet. Offenders under age 18 imprisoned for drug offenses increased twelvefold from 1985 to 1997. The group most affected by this is African-Americans. From 1985 to 1997, the percentage of African-American young people put in prison increased from 53 to 62 percent. Today, 89 percent of police departments have paramilitary units. The most common use of paramilitary units is serving drug-related search warrants, which usually involve no-knock entries into private homes. 92 min. Download here.