ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:
Prison Reform
There are now over 2,000,000 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%
pf 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.
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, they
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 the dark 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 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 lack
of social support systems for released prioners 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, Australia, could
achieve an 80% success 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 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, 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. 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.
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Designed by Imad-ad-Dean,
Inc.