Has mass incarceration given us safe streets?

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By Alan Bean

Charles Lane is excited.  Crime rates have been falling across America and, if present trends continue, the safe streets we enjoyed in the 1950s will soon return. 

Lane sees mass incarceration as a curious paradox.  It’s too bad we had to lock up 2.3 million people to “take a bite out of crime”, he seems to say, but that’s the way the corn bread crumbles.

You get the impression that Lane, like most moderate liberals, has formed his conclusions about crime and punishment after reading a single book, in Lane’s case Franklin Zimring’s The City That Became Safe.  How did America solve its crime problem?  We rolled up our sleaves and fixed it, Zimring says.

Fine, but how did we solve the crime problem?  What sort of tough, decisive political decisions did our leaders make?  There can be only one answer: we locked up millions of poor black males.

If Zimring and Lane think that’s a viable solution they need to read Michelle Alexander’s description of the post-prison experience in The New Jim Crow.  Have we solved the crime problem by creating (intentionally or by accident) a new racial caste? 

Lane’s self-congratulatory column explains why William Stuntz finished The Collapse of American Justice on a somber note:

The disaster that is contemporary American criminal justice does not look so disastrous in most places, which is why there has been no sustained political demand for large-scale reform of the justice system. Major changes in the system’s structure . . . require a critical mass of voters (also legislators and appellate judges) to support a program that carries little benefit for them.

Why should Charles Lane worry about problems that are largely invisible from the gentrified and suburban neighborhoods of Washington DC or New York City?  If the streets of the Big Apple are safe again, what’s the problem? (more…)

Out in the cold: arrogant indifference in the federal legal system

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A Texas Monthly story argues that the federal justice system is less responsive to claims of actual innocence than tough on crime states like Texas.  Richard LaFuente, the federal inmate at the center of  Michael Hall’s investigative story, is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Worth, a ten-minute drive from the Friends of Justice office.

I spent four hours at FCI Fort Worth last night, three hours waiting to visit an inmate and one hour actually visiting.  Monty Shelton, the inmate I was visiting, can prove that most of the counts on which he was convicted nine years ago were in error.  He just wants an evidentiary hearing so he can make his case, but the federal appeals system ignores his arguments.  No one has ever refuted his legal logic; they don’t have to. 

I will have much more to say about the Monty Shelton case when our Friends of Justice investigation is complete.  But right now I want to tell you why it took three hours to get into (and out of) FCI Fort Worth last night.  (If you don’t want to hear my plaintive tale, you can just scroll down to the Texas Monthly story below).

I arrived at 5:30, the time visitation was slated to begin.  Noticing that several dozen people were standing in line waiting to enter the building, I took my place at the back of the queue.  “Do you have a paper?” a young woman asked.  “You have to get your paper before you get in this line.”

I entered the building and filled out a one-page form with my name, the name and number of the inmate I wished to visit, the license number of my 2000 Toyota and check marks in the “no” box indicating that I wasn’t smuggling illegal drugs or other nasty stuff into the prison.  Then I returned to the back of the line.

I was soon joined by a man in his early fifties who had traveled to Fort Worth from Oklahoma to visit his son prior to Christmas.  The boy had held up a bank on a dare as a late adolescent and had been sentenced to fifteen years.  His parents were both educators who had taught at Christian schools in China, Japan, Korea and several other exotic places.  They had traveled to four different prisons in Oklahoma, Texas and California over the past twelve years.

“This line doesn’t get you into the visitation room,” the father informed me.  “Once we get inside they will give us a beeper so we can go and wait in our cars where its warmer.”

We had only been waiting in the cold for ten minutes at that point, but I wasn’t adequately dressed and was already getting uncomfortable.  Glancing around at the 100 or so other people in line, I could see that most were even less prepared for the chilly conditions than I was.  The temperature had risen to over 60 F in Fort Worth earlier in the day but a cool front was moving in and the temperature was rapidly plunging toward the freezing mark.  A brisk breeze added to the frigid effect.

The line moved at a crawl.  Half an hour into our wait, I asked my friend to hold my place in line so I could talk to the woman inside.  “Is there any good reason why these good people have to wait in the cold this long just to get a beeper?” I asked.

“We don’t have many beepers,” the harried woman told me.  “People keep stealing them and sometimes they just stop working.”

“How many beepers do you have?” I asked. 

“I don’t know,” she said.  “Not many.”

“How much does a beeper cost?” I asked incredulously.  “Because some of these people aren’t dressed for this weather and a lot of them will wake up with a cold tomorrow morning.”

“You need to talk to somebody above my pay grade,” the woman informed me.

“And who do you suggest I talk to?”

“The warden.”

“I’ll do that,” I replied.  It was clear my beef wasn’t with a low-level employee.

“And when you do,” she continued, “tell her that we’re so understaffed down here I can’t keep up–especially at this time of the year.”

I wondered why FCI Fort Worth, unlike most prisons, lacked a waiting room.  I knew in advance that the warden would blame the situation on inadequate funding and that she might well be right.  Still, I doubt anyone in the Department of Justice is particularly concerned about the plight of the men, women and children who drive long distances to visit their loved ones in federal prisons.  In my experience, the families of inmates are generally treated like criminals who have dodged their just desserts.  Prison and jail officials are typically harsh, rude, inconsiderate and unresponsive.  They are also overworked, underpaid and underappreciated.

By the time I returned to my place in line we had been waiting forty-five minutes.  “This is bad,” my friend told me, “but I’ve seen far worse.  When my son was in the Big Spring prison, we had to get in line at four in the morning and we didn’t get into the visiting room until after 10:00.”

“You waited six hours to get into the prison?” I asked in disbelief.

“Twice,” he replied with a weary shrug.  “Once it was really, really hot, and the other time it was bitterly cold.  It was miserable.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m miserable right now,” I responded, “but I’m getting uncomfortable.”

“I think I’ve made it to miserable,” he said. (more…)

The Advent Challenge to Wealth

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This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

The Advent Challenge to Wealth

by Mark Osler

I write this from the breakfast room of my comfortable home in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. People from other communities call Edina residents “cake-eaters,” because of the relative wealth of its residents (other towns, they say, get the crumbs). Right now, Edina is blanketed in snow, and on my block the trees and bushes are decorated with beautiful, twinkling white lights. That classic tableau is what I see out the window — a Christmas card come to life.

In a way, it is a wonderful place for Advent, that Christian season before Christmas dedicated to reflection and waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The snow quiets everything, and one can walk through Edina’s streets and parks in that wonderful hush of winter. Nor is the peace broken by police sirens; that is a sound I have never heard from my home. There are no people yelling in the street, and even the cars are quiet, as they slowly traverse the winding streets. There is calm, above all, because that is part of what money can buy, and does. It is where I have put my treasure. (more…)

Gingrich would bend the judiciary to his will

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By Alan Bean

Over at Talk To Action, Rob Boston gives Newt Gingrich a stern caning for wanting to make the judiciary the lap dog of Congress.  It is hard for all of us to live with judicial opinions that vary considerably from our vision of the good; but that’s just part of living in a constitutional democracy.  It is also hard to abide presidential priorities different from our own, and, if we support the sitting president, it’s tough to watch a recalcitrant Congress derail good policy.  But again, that’s part of the American experience.  The only alternative, as Mr. Boston suggests, is to scuttle our entire system of government.

Friends of Justice wants to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of mass incarceration, but the criminal justice reform movement won’t succeed until we change the climate of opinion.  Only when the electorate is clearly on the side of change will politicians opt for sane alternatives to the wholesale warehousing of humankind.  No one can undo the errors of others (real or imagined) by executive fiat; we must work within the system we have inherited, warts and all. 

American style democracy ain’t perfect, Lord knows, but true conservatives like Winston Churchill appreciate the miracle of an abiding political consensus to which all parties willingly submit even when they hate the results the system is producing.

Judicial Constraint: The Far Right Pushes For Rubber-Stamp Courts

By Rob Boston

It is my sad duty today to give yet another basic civics lesson to the far right. (more…)

Is Ron Paul a racist?

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By Alan Bean

James Kirchick’s article in the Weekly Standard throws fuel on the “is Ron Paul a racist?” fire.  In the 1980s, Paul sponsored a newsletter that regularly spewed racist and anti-semitic venom while endorsing every conspiracy theory coming down the pike.  Paul says he didn’t write the articles and never edited the newsletter.  He also claims that the racist views that were a regular feature of the publication he financed never reflected his true feelings

An extended version of Kirchick’s take on Ron Paul has been published in the New Republic and now appears on the CBS site.  In this piece, Kirchick argues that Paul’s racism is consistent with his libertarianism.   

Paul’s indulgence of bigotry . . . isn’t an incidental departure from his libertarianism, but a tidy expression of its priorities: First principles of market economics gain credence over all considerations of social empathy and historical acuity. His fans are guilty of donning the same ideological blinders, giving their support to a political candidate on account of the theories he declaims, rather than the judgment he shows in applying those theories, or the character he has evinced in living them. Voters for Ron Paul are privileging logical consistency at the expense of moral fitness.

As proof that he can’t be a racist, Paul notes that “the blacks” are beginning to rally to his libertarian banner.

Kirchick can’t understand why Paul’s racist associations haven’t attracted public scrutiny.  The lack of interest is probably explained by the simple fact that, until very recently, Paul wasn’t viewed as a serious candidate.  If, like Newt Gingrich, Paul suddenly roared to the front of the pack, his background would get a lot more attention.

Is Ron Paul a hater?

Let’s begin with what we know for sure: the Republican candidate had a lot of racist and anti-semitic friends back in the day.   And as Kirchick points out below, Paul’s regular appearances on the Alex Jones program suggests he is comfortable with nutty conspiracy theorists. 

Full disclosure: I once appeared on the Jones program in connection with the ill-starred Tulia drug sting.  (But Paul is a regular guest who appears to have endorsed, for instance, the idea that 9-11 was produced and directed by the American government.)  I have also been the victim of a Weekly Standard hatchet job, so I am willing to cut a little slack.

I like Ron Paul.  He is generally right about drugs and militarism, although I find his Austrian school economics hard to stomach.  It is refreshing to hear a presidential candidate espousing unpopular opinions–something you rarely hear from Democrats or Republicans these days. (more…)

A Reversal of Fortune

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Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Broadway Baptist Church
Third Sunday of Advent
December 11, 2011
Brent Beasley

“We know that not to believe it would be to live in that cold, joyless place where it is always winter but never Christmas.”

Young William—or “Trey” as his family called him—was a bit of an under-achiever. He enjoyed being the class clown in school and being a bit of a goof-off.

It got to a point where eventually Trey’s parents felt it necessary to send him off to a private school that would provide a more strict and structured environment for him. They sent him to a psychiatrist for a while to help him better understand how to focus his concentration so that he would work harder.

When Trey was 13 he met a friend who had similar interests. As these two kind of “nerdy” guys grew older, they went off to college but quit after a couple of years to form their own company.

They had some interesting ideas and a little money—about $15,000. But Trey made the right business decisions with his first simple product, and received the attention of a business giant, which paid him to develop something they needed.

He did so successfully and then continued to build on his successes. About 10 years later at the age of 35, he became the youngest person in America ever to reach billionaire status. Now in his mid 50’s, he is the richest individual in the entire world with a net worth of 56 billion dollars.

For young Trey (or William H. Gates III or BGIII or Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft) it didn’t start off so promising. And yet, his story is one of a reversal of fortune.

Just the kind of story we enjoy hearing, isn’t it? We like to read books and watch movies about people who in some way or another, either through hard work or just dumb luck, have their lives turned around. We love these rags to riches tales, and countless rags to riches books and movies have been big sellers. Cinderella stories, we sometimes call them. We like stories about a reversal of fortune. (more…)

NPR: Death sentences drop to historic lows in 2011

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by Melanie Wilmoth

On several occasions in recent months, the death penalty debate has made its way into the public spotlight.

In September, Rick Perry made headlines at a Republican debate when the fact that he presided over 234 executions in Texas was met with cheerful applause. Later that month, media coverage of death penalty issues surged again when the State of Georgia executed Troy Davis despite significant doubts surrounding his guilt. Moreover, recent stories of death row exonerations served to increase concerns about the use of capital punishment in the U.S.

A Gallup poll conducted in October indicated that U.S. support for the death penalty dropped to a 39-year low. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber halted the death penalty stating, “I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong.”

Today, Laura Sullivan from NPR reported that for the first time in over 30 years, fewer than 100 people were sent to death row in 2011. “Just 78 offenders were handed capital sentences,” Sullivan says,  “And only 43 inmates were executed — almost half as many as 10 years ago.”

What do these changing trends mean for capital punishment in the U.S? (more…)

“Both sides are us”: Stuntz and Kennedy unpack the spirituality of criminal justice reform

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By Alan Bean

In 2010, Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness, rocked the civil rights community back on its heels.  Alexander accused the criminal justice reform movement of seeking legal solutions to a moral problem, of fighting for affirmative action while abandoning the victims of a brutal and counter-productive drug war, of telling pretty stories about wrongfully convicted poster-boys while ignoring the social nightmares unfolding in poor communities of color.

 If the way we pursue reforms does not contribute to the building of a movement to dismantle the system of mass incarceration, and if our advocacy does not upset the prevailing public consensus that supports the new caste system, none of the reforms, even if won, will successfully disrupt the nation’s racial equilibrium.  Challenges to the system will be easily absorbed or deflected, and the accommodations made will serve primarily to legitimate the system, not undermine it.  We run the risk of winning isolated battles but losing the larger war.

In 2011, two books by white males revealed that Michelle Alexander is not the only American scholar in search of a new moral consensus for ending mass incarceration.   The Collapse of American Criminal Justice by William J. Stuntz, and Don’t Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America by David M. Kennedy are not books written in response to Alexander’s The New Jim Crow.  Stuntz and Kennedy are white male academics who see mass incarceration and the war on drugs as unmitigated disasters.  These authors tackle America’s racial history head on.  Most importantly, they agree with Alexander that a movement to end mass incarceration must begin with a new moral consensus.    (more…)

Advocates protest immigrant detention center in Waco,TX

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In honor of International Human Rights Day, advocates gathered last weekend to protest the Jack Harwell Detention Center. Reports from the detention center, located in Waco, TX,  indicated poor conditions and human rights abuses within the facility. In addition to focusing on the issue of immigrant detention, protestors shed light on the negative impact of the private prison industry. Check out the Texas Independent article below for a full report on the event. MW

Vigil in Waco protests immigration detention system, private prisons

By 

In Waco, a group of activists from around the state gathered to hold a vigil in honor of International Human Rights Day. Those gathered said they were there to shed light on “the devastating impact of detention and deportation on immigrants and their families,” as well as protest the for-profit private prison system that houses many of the detained undocumented immigrants.

According to a press release by Grassroots Leadership, which works with community, labor, faith, and campus organizations throughout the South and Southwest, the vigil took place in Waco to raise awareness of the Jack Harwell Detention Center in Waco, a private jail operated by Community Education Centers, a for-profit private prison corporation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained immigrant women at the Jack Harwell Detention Center until ICE transferred the women from Jack Harwell to other privately operated detention centers in Taylor and Laredo. The press release stated that “reports from inside the facility included complaints of lack of access to medical care, including for pregnant women, spoiled food, no contact visits, and virtually non-existent access to attorneys.” (more…)

Budget cuts affect access to prison education in Texas

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When state legislators slashed education funding this session, the Windham School District’s (WSD) annual budget decreased from $130.6 million to $95 million. WSD, which provides education to prisoners in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, lost one-fourth of its budget. According to district spokeswoman Bambi Kiser, 16,750 fewer prisoners will have access to education as a result of these dramatic cuts.

Considering that research suggests that participation in prison education programs reduces the likelihood that individuals will return to prison after release, these cuts to prison education are especially concerning. The Amarillo Globe-News article below, which details the district’s budget cuts, gives a great overview of the issue. MW

Prison education struggles amid cuts

By AZIZA MUSA 

Ex-convict Jorge Renaud discovered philosophy and psychology in classes taught behind the razor-wire fences and cinder-block walls of Texas prisons.

It changed his life.

Renaud’s family traveled constantly when he was a child, following the crops to such southwestern farming hubs as Dimmitt and Cactus, he said. At 17, he joined the U.S. Army and spent three years in the service. When he got out in 1977, Renaud turned to making quick money from quick crimes, after he committed burglary of a habitation. It landed him in the state penitentiary.

“Why does anybody commit a crime? Stupidity, ignorance, irresponsibility,” he said. “I thought I needed material possessions.”

After he was released in 1980, he committed two aggravated robberies within the next decade and went back to prison.

That’s when Renaud turned to post-secondary education, with help from the prison education system. He said the classes helped him find his way out of the prison stint.

“Prison has to offer a hope, a rope to those who are drowning,” he said. “To some people, it’s religion. But even then, you will want to have some critical thinking skills. Where are you going to get that?” (more…)