PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
  1. Signatures
    196 out of 200
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States
  2. Created By
    PRESS PASS TV
About this Petition Petition Letter

1 out of every 32 of us is either in prison or on parole from prison. This means that 6.7 million adult men and women 60% of which are minorities. Slavery as per the 13th Amendment was left LEGAL as form of punishment (in the prisons). Prisons have become the main SOURCE of crime rather than a solution. They are breeding hate, racism and anger that is then released on our streets. To learn more about this movement visit obamaanswerthis.com

What It’s About:

1. Alienation

By ignoring the problem, we create refugees among our own people. Inmates return to society without a positive sense of community. They have lost the meaning of “we the people.”

2. Family

Unreasonable prison policies and a socially oppressive culture divide families and communities. Why doesn’t our system support fathers, husbands, and sons after they have already taken responsibility?

3.  Transparency

There is no accountability in the prisons.

4.   Leadership

We are in need of a shift in focus. How can our President visit Guantanamo Bay but fail to closely monitor our domestic prisons where 2.3 million Americans are held?

5. Accountability

In coordination with the president, each state must be held accountable for rehabilitation efforts. What is coming out is a danger to public safety.

The video below is based on a letter written by an inmate calling for an answer. Sign this petition if you think our President should address what is happening behind bars and speak to the men and women locked away in distant woods and those responsible for holding them. We have to go to President Obama and ask him to address what is happening in the prisons and on our inner city streets because for the people on the bottom there is no “agenda.”  There is nothing telling the prisons they have a responsibility to be part of the rehabilitation that needs to happen. Even if you chose to punish people in prison- you can only go so far before they turn to animals.  But you can do something about their “minds.”

Recent Signatures

Obama, answer this!

Dear President Obama,

As you know 1 out of every 32 of us is either in prison or on parole from prison. This means that 6.7 million adult men and women 60% of which are minorities. Prisons have become the main SOURCE of crime rather than a solution. They are breeding hate, racism and anger that is then released on our streets.

President Obama, please address what is happening behind bars and speak to the men and women locked away in distant woods and those responsible for holding them. I ask you to address what is happening in the prisons and on our inner city streets because for the people on the bottom there is no “agenda.” There is nothing telling the prisons they have a responsibility to be part of the rehabilitation that needs to happen. Even if you chose to punish people in prison- you can only go so far before they turn to animals. But you can do something about their “minds.”

Mr. President, it is my belief that you have created a “culture of obligation.” But, at this level of government the problem may be the issue of our “cultural gate keepers.” Those who are now responsible for the lives of over a million and a half young Black, Latino and poor white lives behind bars, of whom you did not mention in your inaugural address. I’m only asking that you also take “Presidency” over this often times hidden society (Because the spirit of death is behind these walls, and on our inner city streets.)

Mr. President, Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “all I’m asking of America is to be true to what you said on paper”. I am now asking you to ensure this country, its government and yourself will be “true to what you said on paper”—so that even those incarcerated (and those responsible for holding them) can get on the “right side of history” and leave here and come home with hope and the feeling of nation.

[Your name]

Press Inquiries