Prison Nation Radio w/ Michael B. Jackson  

The following essay was written by a person serving time in NJ State Prison and printed in the NJ Community and Corrections Working Summit Newsletter, on September 20, 2007. The author's name not printed.

There is a debate raging in America about prisons and prisoners. The

government has declared a "war” on drugs. They have mandated "truth in

sentencing" and promulgated various other means to eliminate parole.

The No Early Release Act, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other

laws are designed to mandate 85% of more of a sentence to be served

before release. With both major political parties afraid to appear soft

on crime, with the national debt and state economies faltering, a very

real question is: "What will be sacrificed to pay for prisoners?"

The four most commonly accepted reasons for prisons are: deterrence,

incapacitation, retribution and correction. But as they exist today,

prisons only address one of these: incapacitation. Without effective

programs to help the prisoner, to address the reasons for their

incarceration, and attempt to correct them, what happens when the person

is released? More than two-thirds of prisoners re-offend within three

years.

This country was built on common sense, hard work and innovation.

Helping others when needed, as well as giving others a second chance;

recognizing when problems exist and working to correct them have always

been quintessential American values. As our country has progressed and

evolved economically, the niches filled by the migrant worker, the

harvest hand and the small operator have been eliminated by big

business. Tolerance has been replaced by harsh conformity. Many crimes

that were tolerated years ago as "harmless pranks" or "wild oats" by

society are now being prosecuted and violators sent to prison. Prisons

have been transformed into the newest big business, instead of Society's

last resort.

Prisons have never, to a measurable degree, deterred people from crime.

With few exceptions, from the conception of the modern prison, circa

1790, prison populations have steadily grown. Since the first American

prison, it has been a professed goal to reform prisoners through labor.

This sentiment was legally codified as early as 1808. Both the Auburn

and Philadelphia prison models were based upon prison labor. Prisons

were, and are, so expensive to operate that any financial offset

prisoners could provide is necessary. Until 1929, the industrial work

farm more than paid for itself when Congress passed two laws: the

Hawes-Cooper Act in 1929, and the Ashurst-Sumners Act in 1935, which,

along with the Great Depression, killed the industrial prison.

With the demise of the work farm, education now came to the forefront of

prison reform. Initial programs taught various blue collar skills such

as carpentry, masonry, auto mechanics, landscaping and other skills

needed to get a job upon release. As time progressed, more

sophisticated classes were introduced, such as drafting, offset

printing, high school classes, and college courses. In the 1970s and

80s, sociologists were able to conclusively demonstrate that education

had a definite impact on lowering the prison population. However, many

of the college programs depended upon grants. The most popular was the

federal Pell Grant, which was discontinued in the early 1990s because

the need for college assistance grew in society and prisoners were seen

to be expendable. While educating prisoners is expensive, education

helps pay for itself by reducing recidivism and thus prison costs.

While many may legitimately argue that society shouldn't pay for

prisoners to be educated, here are a few statistics no one can deny:

National Institute on Literary: 70% of all prisoners function at the two

lowest literacy levels.

Bureau of Justice: 47% of State Prisoners have never completed high

school or its equivalent. Less educated prisoners are more likely to be

recidivists.

National Institute of Justice: 60% of former prisoners are not employed

one year after release.

U.S. Dept. of Education: Participation in State correctional education

programs lowers the likelihood of incarceration by 29%.

N.J. Institute for Social Justice: 95% to 97% of those currently

incarcerated in N.J. will eventually be released.

In 2002, more than 2 million people were incarcerated in Federal or

State prisons, or local jails. Nearly 650,000 people are released from

incarceration to communities nationwide each year.

In his 2004 State of the Union address, President Bush said: "We know

from long experience that if former prisoners can't find work, or a

home, or help, they are much more likely to commit more crimes and

return to prison...America is the land of the second chance, and when

the gates of the prison open the path ahead should lead to a better

life."

There are many committees and think tanks that examine the problems of

incarceration and recidivism. Recently several such groups collectively

wrote and published "New Jersey Community & Corrections Working Summit:

Impacting Communities of Color." This collaboration addressed many

different issues and made the following recommendations:

"The participants...believe that rehabilitation services provided to

prisoners during their incarceration are not just cost effective; they

also make good public policy sense...Residents of New Jersey have failed

the recognize the significant costs they absorb, and in reality, the

minimal benefits they receive in turn, when the criminal justice system

does little other than function as a temporary human warehouse called

punishment. It is imperative that the residents of New Jersey be

educated as to the...benefits to instituting increased rehabilitation

efforts in our State's prisons."

A second report, "Coming Home for Good: Meeting the Challenge of Prison

Reentry in New Jersey," published by the New Jersey Institute for Social

Justice, made similar recommendations: "Even within existing budget

constraints, periods of incarceration can be used far more effectively

to maximize successful reentry."

On the other side of the coin, the Corrections Transition Policy Group

(CTPG) generated a Final Report dated January 10, 2006, for Governor

Corzine. While including some of the same members, their report was

markedly different. Their report made ten recommendations. Eight made

by the CTPG involve more money, more staff positions and therefore more

power for prison unions. Consider this: in July of 1999, the prison

population was 31,300. In January 2005 it was 26,911, a reduction of

some 14%. In 1999, prisoners had access to legal libraries, reading

libraries, and educational assistance seven days per week, three times

per day, morning, afternoon and night (barring holidays). In 2006,

prisoners have access five days per week, twice per day, morning and

afternoon (no weekends or holidays) and nighttime access has been all

but eliminated a reduction of 52% (21 time periods to 10 periods). Each

time the reason given for the reduction was staffing shortages. Yet

today there are more guards working for the D.O.C. than there were in

1999.

A second recommendation made by the CTPG was "Focus in-prison

programming on quality education, drug treatment, and work..." Since

around January 2005, the school area has been closed for more than 7 of

16 months for various reasons. The repair shop work detail has been

completely eliminated (50 inmate jobs removed). The State Use (Depcor)

program has lost 22 job positions. The Laundry detail lost more than 10

inmate job positions. Nearly 100 jobs lost in all, in direct

contradiction of the experts' recommendations.

As of January 2006, State Use industries revenues at New Jersey State

Prison (NJSP) were more than $250,000 less than a year previous. This

shortfall can be directly attributed to the current management. Prison

Industries perform an invaluable role. In addition to supplying jobs,

in Fiscal Years 2001/2002 State Use inmates paid more than $650,000

toward court ordered obligations such as fines, child support, traffic

tickets, etc. It also saves the state thousands of dollars every year.

During 2005, the NJSP was locked down three separate times. No one

inmate who worked for State Use Industries received any institutional

infraction during these periods. Not a single one. Yet jobs were cut 25%. You cannot run a successful business when the doorman controls the

business. Inmate literacy has been noted in other reports for more than six years, yet nothing has been done. These same people are still "talking".

While not all the reports are beneficial to prisoners, they are all desperately needed because they show a gradual awakening in society that incarceration alone does not work, that educational opportunity and other programs for prisoners is not being soft on crime, but instead addresses the underlying causes of crime. Instead of more reports and recommendations, what is needed now is a voice-a voice to integrate what has been projected; and propose from these ideas a concrete manifestation.

One thing I have noted time and again: there is no input from current or

former prisoners. I know many inmates are poorly educated or suffering

from various addictions. Others suffer from mental illness. None of us

claim to be wizards, but we are more than baboons waving sticks. We do

have ideas, and who knows, some may actually prove to be good ones.

Prisons in their current incarnation are dinosaurs waiting to die off.

It's ironic that education has never been more available and widespread

worldwide, and yet it is being slowly but surely eliminated from the

prison environment.