TWO EXTREME SOLUTIONS
The New York Times ran a front page story titled: STATES EXPORT THEIR INMATES AS PRISONS FILL - A subtitle reads: Often Far From Home, Prisoners Are Isolated. (Tuesday, July 31, 2007)
The facts are that the prison peopulation is soaring. States apparently can't keep up with the demand for present space although construction of new prisons is booming. (At least this is one growth industry the United States can brag about.) Many states have turned to private companies to fill in the gaps.
Of course nothing is perfect so there are a few gliches. Nothing major to worry about but a bit troublesome - such as churning - as the following quotation suggests. " Moving inmates from prison to prison disrupts training and rehabilitation programs and puts stress on tenuous family bonds, corrections officials say, making it more difficult [gross understatment] to break the cycle of inmates committing new crimes after their release.] Oh well - don't these criminals deserve to suffer?
The article cites research studies which come to the totally unexpected conclusion that inmates who keep in contact with their families have lower recidivism rates. Now isn't that a startling finding?
Another wrinkle in the system is that frequent churning of prisoners makes it near impossible for them to have meaningful health care to say nothing about rehabilitation.
There is some indication that not all is going well for these predictably unpredictable churns. Some prisoners have the temerity of opening complaining and a few even started a prison revolt to put an end to this pragmiatic practice. How uppidity can prisoners get?
But never fear. Necessity is the mother of invention. Never underestimate the combined power of private prison companies and the state and federal corrections department to rise to the creative occassion. "We statrted to add provisional beds in-state through double-bunking, [and listen to this really super solution] converting several kitchens to bed space - [and the coup de grace] - making preparations to bring additional tents online...." Some prisons are already surrounded by tent cities. {And here I thought only places like the Gaza strip had tent cities for their populations}.
Of course a few people really seem to be unfairly suffering. For example: Prisoner Weier sais;" you lose your family identity, and thats's not good because when we go back into society - and more than 95 percent of us will - the only ones who are going to take care of you are your family."
Statistics indicate that overcrowding of prisons has been a chronic problem for decade and growing as we speak. There has been a 2.8 percent rise in the prison population from JUly 2005 to July 2006 says the Times article reaching a total of 2,245,189 inmates.
And what a break for the state governments to be able to privatize. Says the Times article: ".. State corrections officials and prison industry executives say that prison companies are an attractive alternative when cash-strapped state governments need additional prison space faster than they can build it." [This next rational is a corker] "Private prisions can also provide political cover to elected officials seeking to avoid charges of coddling criminals and spending large sums on prison construction."
I have two alternate extreme proposals for effectively dealing with this epidemic increase in the prison poplulation.
1 - Take the over flow and possibly some of the under flow - ship them off to the North Pole on some melting glaciers. So they won't feel as if they are being abandoned or vixtimized make it appear they are participants in an important research study and if successful will go down in history as scientific heros.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 - The other radical idea is to populate the country with therapeutic communities that are well staffed with well trained, humane, enlightened directors, and counselors. Such proven programs are cost effective, treat the whole person, provide meaningful treatment, and rehabilitation, teaching job skills, and providing educational opportunities.
Isn't it time we some criminalizing the criminal justice system. Isn't it time we stop making warehousing, isolating, scape goating, and being just plain mean. I am no bleeding heart liberal although I do have a heart and I like being referred to as liberal. I am for inflicing punishment when it is deserved. But I am also for meaningful rehabilitation and being humane.
And after reading articles like the won cited above it makes me sick to my stomach and wanting to cry out: STOP THIS BS and FORMULATE AND ADEQUATELY FUND A FAIR AND REASONABLE PRISON SYSTEM!
AMEN
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 20
How about if we get rid of this administration, get rid of the free trade agreements, expand the economy by putting taxes on imports so there will be more jobs and not only drug sales as options in economically deprived areas. And another Amen.
Let me be the first to congratulate you on your response to this problem. I will give you a simple solution to the prison overcrowding problem:
RELEASE ALL THE PEOPLE CONVICTED OF VICTIMLESS CRIMES!
Who are they? They are mostly people who were convicted of using illegal drugs. Particularly, Marijuana. Now let's think about this. Alcohol is a drug, but it is legal. For a fair number of people, alcohol is addictive, much more addictive than Mary Jane. But nobody goes to jail for drinking a few beers. Do the same with MJ and you end up in the slammer.
How does this make sense? To me, it doesn't. If all those people were released, we would not have a prison overcrowding problem.
I'm giving myself a headache.
Is there any area in which we're not in deep trouble? Crumbling infrastructure, failing transportation systems, inadequate prison systems, you name it! So what do we do about this mess? Just continue with the Decline and Fall?
And then I read that Congress is "getting tough" on illegal immigrants...they want to impose mandatory jail time for people who are caught. Oh good! We need more people in our jails.
Another article talked about Homeland Security chief Chertoff's attempts to prosecute employers of illegals...the government sends out several million notices to employers every year informing them that there are problems with their employees' Social Security records...numbers don't match names, etc. He wants to impose fines on employers who don't follow up. By law they are required to verify the SS data and if they cannot, they are supposed to fire the employee(s). Most employers ignore the notices, and they are screaming the the government is trying to get them to enforce immigration laws. To me, it just seems like part of running a business...you make sure your employees provide correct information. What's the big deal? I have long believed that the way to tackle the illegal immigration problem is to prosecute the people who hire them. When they stop hiring illegals, they won't come flooding over the border. They come because there are jobs. When the jobs disappear, so will they, and we won't need any fences on the border manned by hundreds of thousands of troops to keep them out. It seems like such a no-brainer to me. Okay, maybe the government needs to update and upgrade their computer systems so that employers can easily check this out. That should cost a fraction of what is being spent on fences and huge border patrol staff increases.
That's a little off subject, and I apologize for that, but it all ties back to criminalizing people who are not criminals. Whether they are drug users or poverty-stricken people from south of the border.
If I am right the gloves will be taken off by the next few weeks and the country will be manipulated into a frenzy.
To save money maybe they will take all the incarcerated addicts and send them all to Iraq and let them explode the IUDs and be heros. At least they will get some fresh air.
And you think I am being sarcastic.... wait and see what crazy stunts like this will happen in the next few months.
gibbs williams, Aug 3, 2007, 10:37pm EDT d
I have no doubt they will find something...or manufacture it, if they have to.
Any business that imports people from another country to try to pay less money to any American citizen should NOT be closed down! I think they should be forced to have to afford the PROPER immigration papers, and to support the immigrants who they have lied to and imported for a VERY long period of time, to pay competitive wages and provide housing for them. It is cruel to give any human being false hopes and take the risk in a minimal way. If the risk were not financially worth it, and if they have give false hope, they should then have to provide that. To deport illegal immigrants if they did not know better, especially women and children who culturally are expected to follow their husbands. Companies who get caught doing this should have to pay wages to their immigrants, provide housing that is up to the federal sanitary codes, and not be privileged enough to send them to the unemployment lines to just be relieved of the lifelong commitment to wages they have promised. In addition to that they should be required to then hire and pay LEGAL Americans at competitive salary rates. It would probably help if they also must pay for the illegals to take training programs. That's what I think.
BUT: I also think it should be a case-by-case situation. If an illegal immigrant clearly knew that what the company was doing was illegal, then yes, I am not opposed to deportation. In those cases, those immigrants should not fall into the prison system here in THIS country, since in that case our county is still bearing the financial burden...not the business!