ENGLISH
FOR
CONGRESS POSITION PAPER (Revised January 2012)
There
are now over 2,200,000 persons incarcerated in the United
States, a number which has doubled in the past 25 years.
The United States has 25% of the world's prison population and
only 6% of the world's inhabitants. Almost half of the nation's
prison population consists of black males. The cost of
incarceration can run from $15,000 to over $40,000 per prisoner
annually. For every inmate in state prisons, at
least one potential student is denied the opportunity to attend
state colleges or universities because of declining state
support for higher education programs. About half are
incarcerated for non-violent crimes: about one-third of the
total have mental illness or other psychological
conditions. A substantial number of non-violent prisoners
are incarcerated for drug use or drug-related offenses.
Judges in Ohio and possible elsewhere have deliberately
incarcerated mentally ill offenders because there are no
adequate government treatment programs outside of prisons for
treatment of their illnesses. Unfortunately, many of the
mentally ill offenders return again and again to prison after
they are released because of the lack of outpatient mental
health and other services where they live.
Many states now spend substantially more for their prisons than
for their colleges and universities. Furthermore, many
prisoners initially incarcerated for non-violent crimes are
transformed into violent repeat criminals as the result of the
brutal treatment experienced during their first prison
terms. The simple facts are that prisons are not achieving
correction and rehabilitation, require extraordinary levels of
funding to the detriment of other state programs, and often
produce more violent criminals than were initially admitted into
the prison environment. They have become universities of crime,
not correction. Supermax prisons are horrors of
bestiality, where prisoners are confined in their cells for 23
hours daily with little or no human contact except during the
daily hour exercise period. If not mentally ill before
confinement, such treatment in Supermax and maximum security
prisons is likely to make its victims permanently mentally ill
as its consequence.
As a nominally mostly Christian nation, the failure to address
and rectify the problems with the criminal justice,
incarceration, and social support systems for released prisoners
in the United States is our most heinous national
disgrace. Not only is it immoral, it is just plain stupid:
if the prisons in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, could
achieve an 80% success (non-recidivism) rate 200 years ago, why
can't this nation do as well now? We know what works:
rehabilitation, job training, guaranteed employment,
support during reentry into society, etc are not new concepts.
Work camps for non-violent offenders such as described for
illegal entrants in the Border Security issue should be
seriously considered as an alternative to prison confinement and
exposure to violent criminals. Post-release employment,
social, and health support programs are critical to the
successful reentry of released prisoners and must be given the
same level of attention and funding as incarceration. For
Supermax and other prisoners with life sentences, voluntary
permanent exile to designated islands in the Pacific Ocean under
U. S. jurisdiction should be considered where they could live
their lives until reaching age 80 in an open air environment
secluded from mainland society. Finally, decriminalization
and legalization of small quantities of marijuana under strict
control such as alcohol and cigarettes are now regulated will
greatly reduce prosecution and incarceration of users. A joint Congressional
commission to investigate, identify, and recommend major changes
to our criminal justice system is urgently needed to consider
these ideas and other proposals for prison reform.
Return to home page
________________________
Designed by Imad-ad-Dean,
Inc.