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PDF versionThe best way to describe our prison system? 'It's nuts'
by Bill Tammeus on Feb. 08, 2012
Several weeks ago, I saw an exhibit of photos featured in the compelling new book Grace Before Dying, by Lori Waselchuk and Lawrence N. Powell, and I wrote about it on my daily blog, "Faith Matters."
The book is about the hospice care program at the Angola State Prison in Louisiana -- a program in which prisoners help other prisoners who are dying.
Some days later, when I had a chance to meet Lori, we talked about lots of matters related to her moving photos in the book, but I was anxious to see if she had drawn any conclusions about the American prison system itself.
She certainly had, and as we talked about her assessment that the system is based not on justice but on convenience and expediency, I said, "Would you agree with me that our prison system violates major tenets of the great religions?"
"Yes," she said immediately. And then she paused to unpack what she meant.
America's prison system, she said, is formed out of political and economic systems that are fueled by fear. That is to say, "we fear losing wealth. We fear 'the other.' And our political system hasn't been able to respond well."
Prisons, but especially the Angola prison, generally amount to a "legalized plantation culture," she said. As Lori notes in her book, the 18,000 acres on which the Angola facility sits "consolidates the footprints of three former plantations."
The size of the prison population makes the broken nature of America's penal system all the more appalling. At the beginning of last year, 1.6 million Americans were in prison -- and that represented a slight decline from the year before. Indeed, it was the first decline in almost four decades.
As The New York Times reported a few years ago, though the U.S. contains about 5 percent of the world's population, it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.
I'm not suggesting that all prison officials are unfeeling animals or that almost all of the folks behind bars are decent, misunderstood people who should be allowed to wander the streets unsupervised. I know better. I've visited prisons. A few months ago, I even was the speaker to a group of inmates nearing release from a federal prison.
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But much of America's prison system and its treatment -- more accurately, its mistreatment -- of inmates is a rebuke to religions that teach the inestimable value of each human being.
Lori Waselchuk has concluded on the basis of years of work in prisons that the American society that has created this system and continues to tolerate it values wealth over community. What religion teaches that?
Indeed, Lori uses a rather technical academic term to describe America's penal system: "It's nuts."
And yet the astonishingly loving hospice care program that operates within the Angola prison demonstrates what humans are capable of achieving even in terrible circumstances.
Prison should, of course, be a place that not just punishes criminals but also does its best to rehabilitate them. In my experience, however, precious little rehabilitation happens, and when it does, it seems not to impress parole boards.
My friend Jon is a good example. He entered prison at age 19, convicted of robbery and rape. He's now in his early 50s, and I consider him the most rehabilitated prisoner in America, having earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees while behind bars.
But the parole board so far has refused to set him free.
I know it's not possible to draw broad conclusions from one example, but our prisons contain many people who either are ready to re-enter society or who could get to that point if only prisons weren't schools teaching convicts new crime techniques.
And what's the response of faith communities to this abomination? There's some engagement, but mostly there's a telling silence. I think Lori Waselchuk is right. Our prison system shames us. In her piercingly elegant words, it's nuts.
[Bill Tammeus, a Presbyterian elder and former award-winning Faith columnist for The Kansas City Star, writes the daily "Faith Matters" blog for The Star's website and a monthly column for The Presbyterian Outlook. His latest book, co-authored with Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn, is They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. Email him at wtammeus@kc.rr.com.]
I have worked in prisons. You
I have worked in prisons. You want to know the real problem? They are full of people who often have no problem beating, raping, and killing others. Not all of them of course, but they are not there for good citizenship. The first rule you learn is "do not trust a prisoner." Many are excellent cons. They lie. They try it on me if they think it will work. That nice guy who seems so rehabilitated could be back after another rape spree, try explaining that to his victims.
Angola under its current warden has reduced violence and rape significantly. The ACLU is quite annoyed at the fact that religion played a role in this. Rehab takes a back seat to political correctness.
I am all for decent prison conditions, but don't kid yourself. You can't put a bunch of guys together who are remorseless predators and expect them to behave without coercion. It isn't summer camp.
Now, now, if we're going to
Now, now, if we're going to introduce reality into discussions here, only God knows what will happen.
Wow, they try conning a
Wow, they try conning a priest. Shock.
I think you missed the whole point of the article.
Thank you, Fr. J., for
Thank you, Fr. J., for visiting prisons. Your experience there may have led you to overlook a question raised in the original posting: How come the USA, with 5 percent of the world population, has 25 percent of the world's prison population?
"Remorseless predators"?
"Remorseless predators"? Really?
Only a small percentage of our brothers and sisters in prison are held there for violent crimes and a tiny minority could be legitimately classified as "predators." A majority are incarcerated for drug offenses, most often for simple possession. And if you "worked in prisons" I trust you know the heartbreaking stories of poverty, abuse, neglect and racism that led most of them down the path to the prison door.
If only our church hierarchy would quit catterwalling about contraceptives and get some Christ-like indignation about how God's children are being herded into cages like animals.......
Nel, thanks, one of the costs
Nel, thanks, one of the costs of freedom is that some will misuse it.
JH, I know all the stories, but sorry that doesn't cut it. They chose to commit the crime. Some of them are just caught in the system, but they are not innocents. I asked some of them why they were really there. They said that crime was easier then working. Those cages are to protect us and even some of them from each other. Nice to see how you work contraception into this, sort of. Of course it has nothing to do with the topic and the Church does good work in prison ministry.
Right on, Fr. J. I too worked
Right on, Fr. J. I too worked in prisons but I thought it a process for me of separating the chaff from the wheat, the latter of which was the lesser in number but all of it to be "sifted" nevertheless..Fr. R.
When prison rape is a staple
When prison rape is a staple of jails everywhere you know something must be wrong.
I am reminded of the famous
I am reminded of the famous quote by by then Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, who after being briefed about the awful conditions of Georgia prisons, responded to the effect that "we need a better class of prisoners."
The so called "war on drugs" resulted in a large number of non violent drug users, often caught with small amounts of Marijauna, being sent to prison for years. Not only was this an injustice, but it cost the taxpayers huge amounts of money to imprison non violent drug offenders. But of course, it allowed politicians to act tough on crime.
There is no American prison
There is no American prison system : it is an amalgam of local jails, state prison systems and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are not all equal. I knew the most senior administrators of the US Bureau of Prisons over many years, through the eighties and nineties and they were some of the most talented people I've encountered. We were personal friends with the former chief chaplain of the New York State system, Fr. Jim Hayes, for years. Fr. Jim led our 10-day tour of Ireland and my husband saw him again as chief chaplain during an ACA audit of the NYS system.
And the answer to the "nutty"
And the answer to the "nutty" prison system is...?
Oh, right. I forgot that liberals never need to provide answers. All they have to do is demonstrate how much they care by raising the questions. Let somebody else deal with reality, all a liberal wants to do is to show how much they care...
I'm a liberal with
I'm a liberal with solutions.
1. Admit that the "War on Drugs" has been nothing but a front to support pliable Latin American dictators who will give U.S. corporations cheap raw materials. Review the cases of people with minor possession charges and determine who can be released early. Provide career, (not just "job") training so they have a reason not to go back.
2. Institute a two-path prison system. One path is for rehabilitation. In this system prisoners are taught marketable skills so they can get careers and start businesses when they are released. This should include training for high-paying jobs so they can compete against wealthy people and not be a de facto underclass. Giver anyone a shot at a good life and the vast majority will gladly choose to be productive taxpayers.
The second path is for those who we cannot currently rehabilitate. These people need to be segregated from others for the protection of society.
3. Change the way we handle bullies in primary and secondary school. The attitude that power, (money, physical strength, beauty) can be used to circumvent civilized society must be broken and replaced with mutual respect, dignity, and self-restraint. This will raise a generation of Americans that act more like,...well...Canadians.
Naive? No, realistic. You will have more success persuading people not to commit crimes than trying to use force. Real opportunity is more persuasive than platitudes and half measures. Don't worry, we'll still have cages for those few who cannot be persuaded.
My question is: Who is going
My question is: Who is going to pay for all this? Budgets are being cut, police and fire fighters and teachers laid off, libraries closing, towns shutting off street lights to save money, and you propose spending billions for a new prison system? This is a solution? Is it more important to us than feeding the unemployed and homeless? Helping the elderly through cold winters with a fuel allocation? Teaching and capturing the interest and time of the young to get them into useful and rewarding jobs and not into violent gangs? Better think that one through one more time.
I'm glad to see you mention
I'm glad to see you mention the important work of feeding the unemployed, helping the elderly, and other social justice efforts championed by progressives and liberals. Please vote social justice.
Is your argument that you like the current prison system? I don't find it that effective.
Actually, I said nothing about spending billions on a new prison system. I was proposing reforming our current system. With shorter stays and less repeat offenders we would save money. But in the end it is not about the money. Each person in prison is not just a person, but s/he is Jesus. If we can blow over a billion dollars on a presidential campaign, we can find the money to teach and capture the interest of prisoners as well to get them into rewarding jobs.
The difference, of course, is
The difference, of course, is that the vast majority of the billion dollars spent on Presidential elections is donated by individuals, corporations and/or other entities who voluntarily make those donations to candidates. Therefore, it is not the government's money that is being spent, but rather private funds.
Unless you propose to confiscate everyone's money, I find it most difficult to ever believe that people will voluntarily contribute funds to prison reform. I would not. There are far more worthy charities and causes to support that do real good for people. I for one contribute most to organizations that either fight cancer or that support and educate children. I find that those organizations have far more good to offer.
And, I refuse to vote "social justice" and vote for progressives and liberals. I oppose them with every breath in my body. This nation became great by relying on rugged individualism and by keeping government out of people's lives. It will return to its previous greatness by reverting to those values.
I have just retired after 20
I have just retired after 20 years in a state prison system, working in both max. and min. security institutions . That is 20 years- talking to inmates, asking questions, hearing their stories. Yes, our system has faults,and yes, the inmates play the staff and volunteers likes a well tuned musical instrument-what else do they have to do all day except study us and compare notes.
Our system is not working, we can see that by the numbers. We have created a system that encourages individuals to try to get in and stay---just talk to an inmate thats out and get a picture of their life inside---it couldn't have been too bad -- look at the numbers of 2nd, 3rd etc etc offenders.
There maybe an answer, other countries inmate population,is so much smaller than ours, maybe they have a secret that we don't know. We send billions of dollars each year to these countries for aid, why not tell them in exchange for our aid money you can care for our inmate population---we send you our money and our prisoners and when their time is up they are sent back to this country. It will be interestiong to see how many repeat offenders we have then.
do i remember correctly a
do i remember correctly a statement by General, then President Eisenhower???
"If all you want is security, go to prison."...ummmm, dncrowley
I dont think rewarding
I dont think rewarding criminals with free scholarships and intensive training for the best paying jobs is a just solution - not when there are millions of people who do not commit and crimes and must pay for these things with teir own limited funds.
I do agree with ending the war on drugs. There are tens of thousands of non violent drug users serving lengthy sentences who simply do not need to be in prison. These people whould be given treatment and freed immediately. I would even advocate freeing low end, non violent dealers (user to user type dealers). The only drug dealers who need to be in prison are the commercial level dealers.
The solution here simple: 1.
The solution here simple:
1. Admit that the present prison system disaster is the result of policies of liberals that have failed completely in this situation and in every other in which they have been implemented.
2. Because crowding is the obvious result of these misguided policies, empty the prisons by a) increasing the use of the death penalty for capital crimes so that death rows will be sparsely populated (this is rehabilitation with a 100% success rate since no one who has ever been executed has been known to kill again) and b) turn the prisons into places where people don't want to be rather than the country clubs that they seem to be now with color TV, internet access, degree programs, and on and on and on.
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