Talk:Prison Reform

Comment by Chris: I listened to a Radio West show last week regarding prison reform and think it is an issue that needs addressing. The show is available at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=840664

Drug Policy

The bulk of our prison woes revolves around poor drug policy. 70% of the prison population are serving sentences for non-violent drug offenses, and the US jails more of its population per capita than any other country in the world. The drug war doesn't work. It never has, and it never will. It's time to shift our focus from prohibition and incarceration to education, prevention, and harm reduction -- policies that do work. An interview with SLC Mayor, Rocky Anderson, was recently featured on the DPA Website. It gave me hope that people will one day see through the lies and dogma, and adopt policy based on proven results: Audio Interview with Rocky Anderson on drug policy reform.

Fixing our flawed national drug policy will solve a whole lot of our prison problems. It should absolutely be priority number one.

Dilvie 05:58, 23 December 2005 (MST)

Prison and Education

As one who has had some experience in prison, I think I can speak as something of an expert. The idea of putting inmates to work 8 hours a day may sound good, but it misses the mark. The REAL key to rehabilitating many prison inmates is EDUCATING them. Something like 80% of all inmates are functionally illiterate. Unfortunately, something like 80% of prison efforts go toward security (a vital thing, to be sure), while very little effective effort is spent trying to help inmates head toward a level of education that will allow them to be independently productive on the outside.

I taught reading, writing, English skills, and literacy to inmates. The programs at Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison could literally take a man from basically Kindergarten through a master's degree. One could actually SEE a growing difference in men who took advantage of the educational programs there -- and who stuck with it. It was obvious -- and department of corrections statistics around the world testify -- that men who improve their educational level are infinitely less liable to commit new crimes upon release. Unfortunately, I understand that the programs once available at Gunnison have died out because of lack of funding. I hope that's not true, but fear it is.

Not all prisoners will be willing to take advantage of such programs -- and unless they are willing, no program in the world will succeed. But for those who are, it will open a whole new world to them. Work programs also require incredible amounts of efforts aimed at maintaining security and safety not only of guards and prison personnel, but of the inmates themselves. Perhaps a modification of your idea would be better: One that would provide first the opportunity to learn and Two one that would provide work that could develop skills that build upon education.

In my experience, I discovered that there are basically three kinds of inmates: 1 - Those who will not change no matter what. To them, life is a game they are playing, and prison is simply a penalty box like the ones in hockey. 2 - Those who are struggling between old habits and the idea of trying to break away from them. Many of these would have a hard time breaking away because of the lack of education. 3 - Those who are committed to making changes. But here, too, many are hamstrung by lack of education and knowledge.

ldalton

Are university extension and distance learning opportunties (that cover many levels of education) offered to inmates? If they aren't, I don't see why they should not. Universities have these programs up and running, why not apply them to different circumstances?--Anhhung18901 00:42, 14 March 2006 (MST)

No, online programs are NOT used in prisons (at least not in Utah) because internet access by inmates poses a very real security problem. There apparently are other states that allow internet access to their inmates, but it's also not unusual to see news accounts of inmates using the internet to harass witnesses and victims and to create new ones -- prison inmates are a very creative bunch of folks. One of the few things I agree with George W. is his "faith based initiatives." Church programs of all kinds do have tremendously positive effects in prison -- and are usually far more successful than state-run programs. Less bureacracy, less expensive, and more responsive to inmate needs. And in a place as totally negative as most prisons are, anything that offers a glimpse of something uplifting and, yes, spiritual, has great impact upon lives in need of positive changes. ldalton 9:08 p.m. March 18

Not Final

This issue is too important to finalize in its current state. Two paragraphs about making prisoners work shows a remarkable level of ignorance on this topic. I fully support both work and education programs for prisons, but that is not enough.

Prison populations per capita are out of control. We need to reduce the levels of mandatory minimums, non-violent drug offenses, mentally ill prisoners better served elsewhere, and lengthy prison stays for prisoners who are not citizens of the United States (many of whom are not afforded due process, quick trials, lawyers, or any of the other things citizens take for granted).

Putting prisoners to work sounds like a great idea, but prisons should not be for-profit institutions. Prisoners should pay their way, but prison administrators should not command large salaries, and if prisons manage to become a productive industry (as they probably should), the bulk of that money should be reinvested in education programs, help for the mentally ill, and other humanitarian work. The potential for prison corruption should not be taken lightly.

I sincerely hope that this issue is revisited, and fleshed out more, before it becomes official.

• • • • • Who wrote this page -- Pete, was it you or someone else?

ldalton @ 9:10 p.m March 18

It was written initially by me, then built upon. I like your suggestions on the changes. The only thing I question is the issue of adminstrative salaries. Wouldn't you suspect that you get what you pay for?--pashdown 20:47, 19 March 2006 (MST)

Tent Village (Arizona)

I don't remember what area of Arizona but the sherrif made all prisoners, in summary, do the following:

• Wear Pink
• Eat bologna sandwiches every lunch
• Live in tents
• Work on chain gangs every day

He also allows only 2 channels on the cable tv's required by law to be provided by the prisons:

• Disney Channel
• The Weather Channel

When asked why he allowed TWC he said that was so the inmates would know how hot it will be while working the chain gangs.

If someone has the source of this article could they please post the reference. --Projektdotnet 00:05, 18 April 2006 (MDT)

Safeguards

Free (or Nearly Free) labor in a market economy

If no one wants to clean the highways or break rocks into sand, I don't see a problem having prisoners do it. But companies who would otherwise do the work with paid employees should not be expected to compete against such a force. Neither should any company receive the benefit of such free labor. Imagine the lobbying involved in getting a million free workers nationwide.

Administrator Salary

If pay is not kept in check there should be great concern over the temptation to abuse the stewardship of our inmates. Public servants should be paid for their services, and paid well if the performance deserves it, however, no one should expect to enter public service to become rich. Any administrator involved in the work duty decision making process should be subject to increased scrutiny.

Privacy

When people here of chain gangs or prisoners being required to work, the image is typically of hard manual labor. Often this is not the case. Prisoners are currently used in call center environments, and can be exposed to thousands upon thousands of private records and pieces of information.

Dehumanization

The biggest problem I see with prison reform is the intent vs the implementation. If the intent is to give the hope, work habits, and education prisoners need to help them create a better life when they leave the system, the implantation must follow.

I worry when I see references to Maricopa's Tent City. It was not designed to educate and uplift, it was designed to punish and make afraid. Prisoners nearly came to riots over the food (all the food and nutrition you needed for the day was ground up into a fruitcake-like loaf). Prisoners were required to wear pink underwear to humiliate and emasculate the prisoners. (Theft prevention was also listed as a reason, but this was ineffective as they became a hot black market item around town).

Different methods are needed for different inmates, serial killers and non-violent drug users should each be treated appropriately. Still, we must not lose sight of the fact that all inmates are people and deserve the dignity afforded all men.

Incentive to incarcerate

If prisoners become an easy solution to the cost of government projects, there can be an incentive to put more people in jail to do more and more at little cost to the taxpayer.

Institutionalization

Generally, prison sentences are to long in this country. Specifically, federal sentencing is so skewed to the punitive that there is little hope for improvement of prisons without discussing our criminal justice philosophy. Almost any person who, at what ever age, hits a point where at least half of his/her adult life has been spent locked up, will end up "doing life on the installment plan". This means if we take a twenty year old and impose a five year term of incarceration, that person will probably be lost to productive society. Accordingly, we need to thing long and hard about who gets locked up for how long over what. Only after that can we beneficially spend time thinking about ways to make that time better spent.