I just finished an online meeting for people involved in prison work. It had people from Prison Fellowship, a warden whom I will not name, Americans for Prosperity, etc. In other words, it was a broad-based group that ranged from libertarian to conservative to liberal to religious, etc. All the presenters agreed that prison reform is needed in the USA. As the ex-law enforcement officer commented, sending people to prison is the punishment. Prison itself should not be the punishment. The warden commented at how surprised we would be by the number of “civilian” people she meets who support deliberately making prison into a place of deprivation and frequent punishments.
The discussion was wide-ranging, and included interesting factoids like the State of Texas, which is known for a ferocious enforcement of its laws, has been working on prison reform and has been able to lower the prison population while the crime rate continues to drop. Texas was given as one example of successful prison reform that does not endanger the populace. They have done it, in part, by concentrating on the entire package. What is the entire package?
At the front end, it means reasonable enforcement of the laws. One participant told the story of a 17-year-old with a child. Obviously, she had made a mistake and now had a child. She lost her temper in a store, threw a pot on the floor and it shattered. The police were called. The participant emphasized that it was appropriate that the 17-year-old suffer a consequence for that bit of temper.
However, the story spiraled out-of-control. The police and prosecutors went after her child, despite no evidence of mistreatment, and had it taken away from her. She did not go to jail for a misdemeanor. But, she lost her child and was left shattered. She has now become a candidate for drug abuse and further law-breaking because of the mishandling of the breaking of the pot. The participant assured us that there were no other circumstances. There was no yelling. There were no threats. She simply lifted up the pot and threw it on the floor then stopped and cried. And, she lost her child. The retired (and self-avowedly political conservative) law enforcement presenter commented that there is reform needed at the front end of the process. Both law enforcement and prosecutors can all-too-easily misuse their investigatory and prosecutorial powers inappropriately and without effective oversight.
During the incarceration, prison reform also means giving inmates hope. The warden commented that there are few things more likely to foster good behavior than the “good time” reward system that is so common in so many correction facilities in the USA. Programs such as GED and even college course availability are not coddling. It is giving hope to the inmate. It is the true lifer that has the least hope and the least incentive to behave. Give the inmate hope and one can see the behavioral change in many of them.
After incarceration, hope means trying to ensure that the now-released parolee can return to life and have some hope of a future. It is not true that most parolees return to prison, although TV crime shows will try to convince you of that. Here are the Alabama facts. The recidivism rate in Alabama (the return to prison rate) after three years from their release is 21% for women and 31% for men. More than one presenter pointed out that the rates of recidivism in the USA would be lower if parolees were able to work reasonably good jobs, even if at the lower-paying end of the scale. But, they have trouble being hired because of the misconceptions about parolees.
Here is some food-for-thought. How many of you have watched a crime show on TV in which the law enforcement officers go to a parolee, pull him or her out of their job, and begin to press him or her for information? Because it is TV, miraculously the parolee always has information. Law enforcement never makes a mistake. In real life, while law enforcement does have the power in most states to stop a parolee and search-and-question them without having to show cause, such tactics can lead to a parolee quickly being fired. That is the real threat, and it is shown in the TV shows. If they are fired, their chances of getting another job are slim. It is a short path back to prison, and the parolee need not have committed any crime at all. Now, how many of you have watched that TV show and fully approved of the pressure tactics used by law enforcement, including the threat of putting you back in prison even if you have committed no crime?
The reality is that the recidivism percentage would be even lower if status offenses were not an almost automatic trip back to prison. What is a status offense? A status offense is an action that is prohibited only to a certain class of people. In Europe, they are mostly called regulatory offenses. Because we are the USA, the definition above does not apply in a small number of states. For instance, truancy for a minor is a status offense. Truancy for an adult in college simply gets them flunked out. But, a minor can be hauled before a juvenile judge and even sent to “juvie.”
A parolee is given a set of rules by which he or she must live while on parole. They mostly go away after parole is done. But, during parole, depending on your parole officer or your local law enforcement they may be unevenly enforced. For instance, in most areas, failing to arrive timely to a meeting with your parole officer is a status violation. Technically, the first time that happens, you have already violated your parole and can be remanded immediately to jail pending a hearing as to whether to return you to prison. Some states impose no drinking rules, no sex-outside-marriage rules, etc. While various of these rules are appropriate, nevertheless there are various of the rules that are either unneeded or may be capriciously enforced.
What a free citizen, what an inmate, what a parolee need is a hope. If the law and/or status offenses remove hope, then we will end up with an increased prison population and an increased recidivism rate. If we are too quick to pile up the offenses and exact penal retribution when someone is detained by law enforcement, then our prison population will go up. If we use our prisons as places of deprivation and punishment, then we will breed the monsters we most fear. If we refuse to give our parolees any reason to hope, then we will increase our recidivism rate.
The latest statistics show that the USA has about 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners. That is, about 1 out of 4 prisoners in the world are incarcerated in the USA. Our emphasis on law and order has become an emphasis on a hopeless legalism. In Michigan, fully 25% of its budget goes to the prison system. Various other states have similar budget challenges. The online meeting I just attended is an acknowledgment that we cannot continue the way we have. The system needs adjustment and the public must stop calling for everyone to be jailed for the slightest offense. Hope is needed and some good reform.
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