Free Republic

A top Senate Republican is warning that the federal Bureau of Prisons could be letting Muslim groups with terror ties vet chaplains and religious instructors, increasing the risk of indoctrination and radicalism behind bars. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, in a letter to the agency, flagged "recent revelations that the bureau enlisted an organization previously found to have ties to terrorist organizations" to screen potential Islamic chaplains. "It is imperative that the BOP take every measure possible to ensure the safety of its personnel within federal prisons and take all reasonable measures to ensure that Islamic extremism is...

One pill. I lost my son over one pill. On the first Saturday in January this year, my son arrived at the Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania. On Monday – not long after midnight – he was declared dead by Mercy Hospital. If the guards and the Corizon staff (a for-profit correctional healthcare company) at the hospital had been willing to provide him with the medicine that he needed to stay alive, he would not have died. You see, my son had seizures. The last major seizure he had was so bad that he bit off a piece of his...

A general dissolution of principals and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. Samuel Adams The sanctioned backwards display of the U.S. flag is a perfect example of the backwards thinking of our federal and State governments, as well as our laughable policy-makers in general within the United States. The sad examples of what we call leaders, do much...

"WE may have difficulty meeting the January date" for closing Gitmo, Attorney General Eric Holder said recently. "Opposition from lawmakers to the idea of bringing detainees to US prisons could hurt the effort to close the prison at Guantanamo." No kidding. It's a fair question if Team Obama will ever be able to close the Guantanamo Bay facility. The first problem is finding a domestic site to move the detainees to, when the mere floating of a name generates enough local protests to derail the idea. In Leavenworth, Kan., for example, bipartisan political and citizen opposition was sufficient to force...

PRESIDENT Obama is attacking a red herring when he defends his decision to send the worst terrorists at Guantanamo to United States prisons by saying the likelihood of escape from secure federal facilities is very low. Of course it is. No rope ladder or prison laundry truck is likely to do the trick. But when it comes to federal judges, we can't be so sure. The reason we sent the terrorists to Guantanamo in the first place, rather than bring them onto US soil, was never really connected to worries that they might escape. The Bush administration feared, quite correctly,...

www.samjohnson.house.govJohnsonContact: McCall Avery 202-225-4201 Keep suspected terrorists out of America by Congressman Sam Johnson Washington, May 22 - Two days after taking the oath of office, President Obama signed an executive order closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in one year.  His recent speech sparked more questions than answers.  I have grave concerns about shutting down the prison without a future plan for where these jihadists will go.  I believe this could directly threaten the security of the American people.  The shroud of secrecy and lack of information four months after this announcement are big red warning flags in my...