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“... the War on Drugs, the War on Crime, and even the War on Terror, stem from a society hooked on war. Whenever war is declared, Truth, as it is said, is always the first casualty.
“On this level of life, the holy trinity is property, privacy, and material success. Six and a half million mostly poor people are under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system today. The cost of prison construction per year in the United States is more than 2.5 billion dollars for state-of-the-art penitentiaries, with almost 70 billion dollars spent annually on prison operations. Who can resist the smell of all that money?
“That's why much of the system has been privatized. American justice is an oxymoron. It's big business. …. Now, I know there are those who want to believe in the justice system or may believe that the system is working to bring about a more just society or that nothing is perfect and so on. They may continue to believe, in the face of all evidence to the contrary ….”
Dr. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter
In the past few weeks in particular, I have posted information here about some related topics, including unjust convictions of innocent people, the death penalty, the “Great writ” of habeas corpus, and a few books I think others might enjoy. These are general issues that I have wrote about over the years on this forum. A couple of years back, for example, I detailed the convictions of two judges from Pennsylvania, who took millions in kick-backs for incarcerating youths for their first minor brushes with the law. Or, last year, a review of a book that details the dynamics which create “false confessions.”
I have also noted that a trend that is infecting our culture is at times found here on this forum – and that is the strange combination of a coldness of heart combined with a fiery demand for severe punishment and retribution. Although the overall statistics on violent crime in America shows a general decrease since the 1970s, the media continues to report crime on the front page; on the 24/7 cable news, when even a car chase becomes national news; and in “documentary-style” shows about the inside of American prisons, which tend to use the “Halloween/Nightmare on Elm Street” approach to scaring the audience.
As a result, the general public has tended to be okay with a justice system that is incarcerating a growing number of people, too often for non-violent, drug-related offenses. The rise in the percentage of females being incarcerated today has passed that of males. I'm from New York State, where the infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws helped propel prisons to the number one growth industry in the state.
About a decade ago, my oldest brother, who worked in a factory that produced “parts” for the defense industry, told me that business was being sent to state prisons. This allowed union jobs to be done at a tiny fraction of the cost by way of inmate labor. Although I didn't question my brother's honesty in this instance, I wanted to make sure that what he was telling me was accurate. As he worked in the large factory's stockroom, he was able to photocopy paperwork that documented this.
In more recent years, my younger son – unable to find a job that has anything to do with his college degree – has worked in a couple “youth facilities.” I told him that in my opinion, many of these facilities are nothing more than prep schools which prepare young people for on-going incarceration. The first one he worked at was near Ithaca, NY, a small “city” that a person his age would find more fun than the rural community he relocated from. However, once he started work in the facility, he found that his supervisors were interested in having him inflict the type of physical discipline that his training had made clear was not allowed. My son left as a result. Neither he nor I were surprised to learn that the staff there killed a kid during a “restraint” this summer.
One last story – one that took place about a decade ago: a group of young people approached me to ask my help, if possible, for one of their friends. At 18, with his entire previous criminal record being having been caught with alcohol at a party a year before, he was given a life sentence in county court. He had had sex with a girl a couple of weeks before it would have been “legal” to do so. And although it was the girl who initiated their encounter, by law she could not consent to the act.
Of course, I needed to determine if this version of events was accurate and true. Long story short, the court records showed that it was. His court-appointed attorney told me outright that he had not had the resources to even attempt to help the young man. He was frustrated that the defendant, who was mildly retarded and who spoke English as a second language, seemed incapable of assisting in his own defense.
This fellow spent over six months in county jail, and a year in Attica, before we were able to get the NYS Appellate Court to release him on time served. Meanwhile, the same county judge had given 90-day jail sentences to repeat sex offenders. The difference was that this 18 year old was black. In the more than ten years this guy has been out of jail, he hasn't had any legal issues at all. None.
Now, there are people who should be incarcerated. There are dangerous, violent thugs who pose a serious threat to society. The Charlie Mansons and Dick Cheneys of the world. Likewise, there are individuals who should face serious consequences for serious crimes, such as torturing defenseless beings or Wall Street robberies. These are important issues. But they are surely not the only issues that we should be considering when we look at the criminal justice system.
Unless we believe, for example, that certain “racial”/ethnic groups are genetically predisposed to crime, then it is undeniable that there are social factors that contribute to the much higher rates of incarceration among some groups than others. Recognizing these social factors does not mean ignoring the personal responsibility of those who commit crimes. Rather, it is placing it in a larger context that includes those social dynamics.
When we do this in a rational manner, it seems obvious that, as Malcolm X often said, society would better benefit by concentrating its efforts on the high chair rather than the electric chair. It would require that more efforts be made in the areas of preventing child neglect and abuse; improving the quality of pre-school, community-based programs; and making a serious study of what does and does not work in terms of both public schools and social services.
Yet, when we confront a multi-billion dollar industry, which requires the incarceration of an ever-increasing number of human beings in order to make profit for the owners of the prison-industrial complex, we must also be fully awake and aware of all attempts to inject fear into our discussions. We need to understand that much of our country's economy is based upon the values of those who prefer to hire prison guards than school teachers. And an enemy who would rather render you and I unconscious with the social novocaine of “legal” prescription drugs, which incarcerating others for using or abusing other illegal substances.
Finally, I would like to remind people that not only are many of those who are incarcerated going to be released – at least for some periods of time – into a society that places stumbling blocks into the pathways of “ex-cons,” but more: our society is wasting not only much of the money invested in the failed prison system ….. but also the potential, the talents, and the humanity of so many human beings who are incarcerated. Hence, I placed the “mug shot” of one of my favorite hoodlum-convicts at the top of this essay.
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