One quick pointer today: an article in the Village Voice talks about the prison system in the US, Rikers Island in New York in particular. The most interesting bit of information (I think):

Three-quarters of the detainees in New York City's jails are locked up solely because they cannot afford bail. Perhaps the most revealing indicator of these prisoners' poverty is the fact that 42 percent have bails of $1000 or less. For many thousands of them, a few extra hundred dollars is enough to determine if they live at home as their case goes through the courts—a process that can last anywhere from two days to occasionally more than two years—or wait, whether innocent or guilty, in a concrete cage.

Thanks to CD for the pointer.