“Why government Is Like Herpes,” June 18, 2026.
Protests recently in a New Jersey ICE detention center are no surprise. Even less of a surprise is the reasoning: deplorable, inhumane conditions being reported, followed by the clear and obvious attempts to prevent any legitimate investigation by the citizens whose taxes pay the cost of ICE and all prisons. This is, of course, followed by the obligatory claims of some, or all prison, administrators that their prisons are completely up to standards. This is followed by the eventual truth: the prison in question is a death trap and staffed by very bad people. This is how it always goes. For those who have not seen the documentary The Alabama Solution, go see it. The same conditions are being reported in New Jersey and almost all prisons, followed by the same old false statements by state and prison officials that everything is just swell. This has been going on for decades, by the way, and it is safe to say that the blind eyes turned away by citizens from the horrors of both state and federal prisons is how we’ve come to this point.
The same can be said, quite frankly, about every single failed aspect of our system: goon squad police and federal agents, corrupt prosecutors and judges, illegitimate courts all feeding death trap prisons that mimic the same model now centuries old. I’d like to point out that in the May issue of Prison Legal News, published by the humanrightsdefensecenter.org, had an updated prison policy initiative report, which was one of the stories that they had. That update debunked every myth about prisons, and in the process exposed most politicians and many media reporters, such as those at NewsNation, as blatantly lying to the public about the value and efficacy of prisons. The short summary, as I previously reported: prisons are bad, they do not work, and they cause most of the problems they claim to solve.
By the way, all data points to those facts, and also shows that prisons make society less safe. One more little tidbit: as I previously reported, the National Crime Commission stated exactly the same data with only minor variances 53 years ago. So, protesting ICE facilities is a start, but it needs to be escalated. It needs to be at every U.S. prison, but especially those in the most problematic states such as Alabama, Texas, Virginia, and a few others. It needs to be with the understanding that government, now more obviously seen as despotic and tyrannical, will do all it can to hide the truth and punish you for discovering the truth.
Historically, isn’t that what governments do best? Governments are like herpes; they show up at the worst, inopportune times, and just the sight of them ruins the mood. Then they itch and burn for a short time longer before sliding back out of sight until the next time they show up to no good purpose. My name is David Annarelli. You can find me at Substack.com at David Annarelli, Instagram @davidannarelli, david_annarelli, pardon me, and you can Google me for tons more. Thank you very much.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
