Subject: Re: "Pulling the Plug"
From: Lee Bernstein (Lee.Bernstein@Colorado.EDU)
Date: Thu Feb 17 2000 - 09:07:40 CST
I've been asking myself the same question lately. Colorado's judiciary
committee recently approved a task force to study the impact of
incarceration (esp. drug sentencing) on Colorado communities--including an
acknowledgement of disproportionate effect on communities of color. Of
course, they passed it last year too and it got killed in appropriations.
However, this year it was featured on all the TV news shows and was
supported (in part) by all the major newspapers in an overwhelmingly
Republican state. The death penalty might also indicate a similar shift:
Illinois, Nebraska, and the Federal Gov't all considered moratoriums over
the last year. Film and TV also gave us a host of transparently didactic
anti-death penalty films. Again, my more cynical side tells me that public
opinion polls continue in the 70-80% range for approval of capital
punishment. So, this might be a shift but I'm not overly optimistic yet,
Lee
--Lee Bernstein American Studies Program University of Colorado Campus Box 318 Boulder, CO 80309-0318
Office: Old Geology 104 e-mail: Lee.Bernstein@Colorado.edu
---------- >From: Barbara Sims <bas4@psu.edu> >To: Multiple recipients of list <crit-l@sun.soci.niu.edu> >Subject: "Pulling the Plug" >Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2000, 6:44 AM >
> Folks, > > I am reviewing Joel Dyer's book "The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How > America Profits From Crime" in which he outlines an argument for a > prison-industrial complex, not unlike the military-industrial complex, > whose goal it is to profit from "turning prisoners into chattel property." > He goes beyond the usual arguments that fault politicians and the media for > perpetuating a distorted picture of crime, and beyond an argument that > indicts corporate America for gaining huge profits from locking up more and > more people (including Microsoft, Spalding, IBM, Compaq, Texas Instruments, > AT&T, Victoria's Secret, Eddie Bauer, Chevron and TWA, just to name a few - > hiring prisoners and paying them an average of 80 cents an hour). He makes > the point that: "Virtually all people who own stock in any of the more than > 2,000 mutual funds now in operation are deriving at least a small portion > of their profits from crime." > > In the final chapter, Dyer says that we could wait for the prisoner machine > to "consume itself out of existence," or for taxpayers to revolt over the > ever-increasing costs to them, but look at the costs of waiting. Dyer says > that the next plateau will be 4 million mostly low-income minority males, > and to wait any longer to destroy this machine would mean to condone a > "humanitarian and cultural disaster of massive proportion." We have to, > argues Dyer, find out who is at the controls of the prisoner machine, and > it could be as simple as looking in the mirror. After all, heads of > corporations have to answer to their shareholders. > > At the risk of increasing the length of this post, consider the following > newspaper editorial. My question is this, could it be that the pendulum > has started to swing back to some sense of rationality? Could it be that > the plug is beginning to be pulled? Do you think that what is argued in > the following editorial just might catch hold? Or, am I being overly > optimistic? > > Thanks for listening, > Barb Sims > > > NEAL PEIRCE COLUMN >> For Release Sunday, February 13, 2000 >> >> Copyright 2000 Washington Post Writers Group >> >> >> AS NIXON WAS TO CHINA-- >> TOMMY THOMPSON TO PRISONS? >> >> By Neal R. Peirce >> >> It took Nixon to open the door to China. And it may take a > Republican governor to tamp down, perhaps reverse the American > incarceration craze that's pushing our prisoner total past 2 million this > week. >> >> Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin, now in his fourth term, may be that > Republican governor. >> >> A decade ago, Thompson forsook typical anti-welfare rhetoric. He > began to ask welfare mothers about their real-life problems. Result: > Wisconsin Works, the path-breaking program to get recipients working in > exchange for critical transition aid. >> >> Wisconsin's measure set the terms for the federal welfare reform > bill and the nationwide welfare-to-work reform. >> >> Now Thompson has a new cause -- prison reform. >> >> "I'm not getting weak on crime. We've locked up a lot of bad guys," > says this Wisconsin governor, who has presided over more than a tripling of > imprisonment in Wisconsin -- from 6,097 inmates in 1987 to roughly 20,000 > today (including 4,000 parked in out-of-state prisons). >> >> "But," says Thompson -- and here's his vital new twist -- "we need > to turn these bad guys back into good guys. Because we need them to fill > jobs and support their families." >> >> The goal increasing Wisconsin's supply of 21st-century workers fits > a national pattern. Throughout the 80s and 90s, state and local > governments were engaged in a frenetic hunt for any kind of new jobs they > could land. In today's high-demand economy, that's outdated. The new > thrust is to find the people (and skills) the new economy demands. >> >> "Meeting our workforce demands will force us to look at the > sensitive issue of crime and punishment in a different light," says > Thompson. "We need to take advantage of the talent and skills of each and > every person in Wisconsin." >> >> So Thompson is telling his corrections department to target funds > "so that no inmate will leave prison without being able to read and fill > out a job application." >> >> Wisconsin is also setting up work houses for prisoners with less > than 12 months left to serve, working at real private sector jobs. "We > hope employers will then be able to vouch these people are good workers, > that they have skills," Thompson told me. "It's a way to rehabilitate, to > reassimilate them back slowly into society." >> >> What's this? Rehabilitate? Reassimilate? Aren't those detested > "R" words to the law-and-order politicians who've dominated public debate > for 30 years? Prisons, they've told us, exist to punish; convicts are > basically incorrigible; mandatory sentences and "three strikes" laws > (Wisconsin has one) are the way to go. >> >> Thompson believes violent criminals need to be incarcerated; he > credits imprisonment with driving Wisconsin's crime to a 30-year low. >> >> But is prison right for all offenders? No, Thompson argues: "I see > 20,000 human beings locked up, at a public cost of $22,000 a year each. > And I say, this is not working. Too many people are locked up who should > be working and caring for their families." >> >> But how to get offenders into jobs, when they're drug- or > alcohol-addicted? Thompson's willing to support drug rehab programs for > first-time felony drug offenders -- youths 17 to 25 convicted of delivering > or possessing cocaine, crack or marijuana. Under the Milwaukee-based > program he backs, they get treatment, schooling, classes, job training, as > long as they weren't convicted of violence or gun use. >> >> "Then they get into a job with intensive probation to watch over > them and make sure they're working," Thompson adds. "If we can get that > dependency cured, it will be a huge gain for the state." >> >> All this is as rational and sensible as it's rare among the states. > Nationally, close to two-thirds of inmates are doing time for non-violent > offenses-- mostly drug-related. >> >> And we keep throwing up prisons. More than a third of a $370 > million budget expansion just proposed by Michigan's Gov. John Engler, for > example, will go toward prisons, with 5,453 new beds in two years. > Colorado, which has spent $645 million on new prisons, quintupling capacity > since the late 80s, is now being told by officials it needs 1,000 more > high security beds for another $75 million. >> >> From Hawaii to Florida to New England and points intermediate, the > story's the same. And increasingly, women are getting equal treatment. > Their imprisonment rolls doubled in the 90s, even though most are put away > for nonviolent crimes, have children at home, and suffer higher levels of > HIV infection and mental illness than male prisoners. >> >> A fresh study from California shows young blacks and Latinos are > much more likely to be sentenced to prison than whites who commit similar > crimes -- another reminder of the deep racism infecting U.S. corrections > practices today. >> >> Just like welfare before it, excessive incarceration is an ugly > score on our body politic. Reform is right because jobs need filling, > because prisons are expensive, inefficient. >> >> But Thompson adds the ultimate reason: "It's the right thing to do." > >
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