Prisons are isolated and isolating places and with the exception of only the most egregious human rights violations and violent crimes against inmates that occasionally come to light, the public seldom thinks about what goes on behind the walls. After all, in the eyes of the public, the men and women behind the walls deserve to be there. Local prosecutors generally side with prison employees whose thankless jobs breed brutality and contempt, which the guards and their supervisors allow to continue with impunity. When it comes to institutional crime and civil rights, only the US Department of Justice has the power and the skill to intercede and enforce federal criminal laws and remedial civil rights statutes. It's high time they used them and shed some bright light on a dark and neglected part of our society.
2
the left will always say profit making is the cause of all problems. most prisons are run by government workers. the problems as shown in this editorial are immense. change in government run prisons are stifled by civil servant rules and lack of incentives. it is time for liberals to stop painting a rosy picture of government run prisons or making private prisons the whipping boy for the failure of american prisons.
the same goes for charter schools. both public schools and government run prisons have failed miserably in their missions. it is time the left and liberals accept the reality. stop blaming the private sector for the failure of government. the failure existed long before the private sector got involved (in a small way) in these arenas.
the same goes for charter schools. both public schools and government run prisons have failed miserably in their missions. it is time the left and liberals accept the reality. stop blaming the private sector for the failure of government. the failure existed long before the private sector got involved (in a small way) in these arenas.
2
This is humane and intelligent appraisal of New York's penal system. There are many prisoners who could be 'turned', made aware that a different life and ATTITUDE is out there. More peace and pleasure than the pain and angst they inflict on people for low rewards. As in the police forces of various States there are born sadists among the guards who enjoy destroying egos, and making grown men cower. Something has to be done.
1
The problem with New York's prison system is named Nelson Rockefeller.
3
Dear Michelle & Michael,
I'm sorry my heart doesn't bleed for criminals,they are not in a resort, they are being punished for committing Anti Social acts.Hopefully,when they have served their time, they will think twice before they commit another crime.Do I condone inhuman treatment to any human , of course not, but unfortunately ,those that work in Prisons apparently pick up the anti social traits of those they are guarding, who sometimes throw their own feces at the guards, among other things. Being in an environment, that is dehumanizing will cause you to become inhuman.
Your comment about the police being more transparent because they wear cameras, is why there were 56,000 lfewer arrests last year, of criminals that should of been arrested & imprisoned, & why the Mayor & his flunky Police Commissioner , erroneously claim there has been a decrease in crime.The Police are concerned about using force to subdue the criminals your concerned about, & turn their back rather than taking a chance of being indicted for murder.I hope neither of you are never confronted by a life or death situation, the Police & Prison Guards that you condemned are in that situation each day.
I'm sorry my heart doesn't bleed for criminals,they are not in a resort, they are being punished for committing Anti Social acts.Hopefully,when they have served their time, they will think twice before they commit another crime.Do I condone inhuman treatment to any human , of course not, but unfortunately ,those that work in Prisons apparently pick up the anti social traits of those they are guarding, who sometimes throw their own feces at the guards, among other things. Being in an environment, that is dehumanizing will cause you to become inhuman.
Your comment about the police being more transparent because they wear cameras, is why there were 56,000 lfewer arrests last year, of criminals that should of been arrested & imprisoned, & why the Mayor & his flunky Police Commissioner , erroneously claim there has been a decrease in crime.The Police are concerned about using force to subdue the criminals your concerned about, & turn their back rather than taking a chance of being indicted for murder.I hope neither of you are never confronted by a life or death situation, the Police & Prison Guards that you condemned are in that situation each day.
2
In a “What’s Going On in Our Prisons?” Michele Deitch and Michael B. Mushlin raise anew an idea that I though had come and gone. I don’t usually so shamelessly plug my book, but Ms. Deitch and Mr. Mushlin really ought to read it.
I write more about this on my website; http://www.healingcorrections.org/
I write more about this on my website; http://www.healingcorrections.org/
Professional standards aren't being enforced with regards to staff. This goes all the way to the top, where the buck stops on the governor's desk. Only it doesn't. Leadership is responsible for culture, period.
There are too many non violent criminals in them.
The violent criminals are so evil and dangerous that it is beyond normal people's ability to comprehend. Marginally trained, inadequately paid staff must deal with these people, who are some of the worst humans on the face of the earth. It's hard, dangerous, unforgiving work. Bad things happen.
There are too many non violent criminals in them.
The violent criminals are so evil and dangerous that it is beyond normal people's ability to comprehend. Marginally trained, inadequately paid staff must deal with these people, who are some of the worst humans on the face of the earth. It's hard, dangerous, unforgiving work. Bad things happen.
1
If one carries a hammer, everything, to a person limited by their own warped needs, becomes a nail. Our prisons are holding bins for the mentally ill, the poor, the waiting innocent until proven guilty as well as some serious criminals, who must also be mentally deranged in their violent, asocial behavior.
As a country, as a civilized society, we have gone astray but to admit that would mean changing the way we take care of each other, from the ground up. Perhaps it will take a systemic shift away from the MO of the patriarchy, (which too often see only nails, to be greeted with hammer blows), toward the more compassionate and courageous matriarchal way before the needless violence and suffering stops. Perhaps we will survive each other to see that day.
As a country, as a civilized society, we have gone astray but to admit that would mean changing the way we take care of each other, from the ground up. Perhaps it will take a systemic shift away from the MO of the patriarchy, (which too often see only nails, to be greeted with hammer blows), toward the more compassionate and courageous matriarchal way before the needless violence and suffering stops. Perhaps we will survive each other to see that day.
3
"This is why additional governmental oversight is urgently needed to truly change the culture of a system that holds 53,000 inmates across 54 prisons. What goes on inside these prisons is largely hidden from view, and there is little accountability for wrongdoing."
ADDITIONAL government oversight? Prison is about the strictest form of government oversight there is. If anyone OTHER than the government imprisons a person in this country, they've committed a felony.
ADDITIONAL government oversight? Prison is about the strictest form of government oversight there is. If anyone OTHER than the government imprisons a person in this country, they've committed a felony.
1
Most problems associated with prisons and jails are caused by what is NOT going on.
Repatriation is the ultimate goal for most prisoners and should be the focus of activity by inmates, staff and administration.
Programs must be inserted into the correctional process to provide direction and purpose for prisoners.
When prisoners are involved in effective program material that motivates the development of cognitive processes and involves prisoners in the revaluation of the values and beliefs they have been using which are no longer working for them, the prison environment changes into an enlightenment experience and mitigates the anti social atmosphere that all prisons have.
Information at www.reentry.nyc describes how a program that concentrates on values and humanity enables come genitive self-change for prisoners.
What's going on in our prisons is the question, what should be going on in our prisons is the challenge.
The Values of criminal offenders must agree with the shared values of their communities if repatriation, reentry and reintegration is the goal.
The pathway to success is paved with programs that focus on changing offender values, thinking and behaviors.
Recidivism can be reduced if effective, value oriented programs are going on in prisons.
The Values Re-Entry program is an excellent starting point.
www.recidivism.nyc
Repatriation is the ultimate goal for most prisoners and should be the focus of activity by inmates, staff and administration.
Programs must be inserted into the correctional process to provide direction and purpose for prisoners.
When prisoners are involved in effective program material that motivates the development of cognitive processes and involves prisoners in the revaluation of the values and beliefs they have been using which are no longer working for them, the prison environment changes into an enlightenment experience and mitigates the anti social atmosphere that all prisons have.
Information at www.reentry.nyc describes how a program that concentrates on values and humanity enables come genitive self-change for prisoners.
What's going on in our prisons is the question, what should be going on in our prisons is the challenge.
The Values of criminal offenders must agree with the shared values of their communities if repatriation, reentry and reintegration is the goal.
The pathway to success is paved with programs that focus on changing offender values, thinking and behaviors.
Recidivism can be reduced if effective, value oriented programs are going on in prisons.
The Values Re-Entry program is an excellent starting point.
www.recidivism.nyc
1
Oversight should be by a medical/psychiatric ethics expert panel, not some other body of correctional or law enforcement. It's time we addressed crime as a social health problem, not just retributive system where we lock up people and leave them to mercy of people ill equipped to deal with them, and therefore, who lose their own humanity in dealing with these people.
2
The United States imprisons more people per capita than any other so-called modern civilized society. In NYS prison, inmates are kept in solitary confinement for minor infractions and according prison reform advocacy groups, if the inmates protest, they are punished by being fed a diet of something called nutraloaf, an unappetizing brick of food purported to provide a balanced but difficult to digest diet. Of course, to learn, to think properly in any environment, sentient beings need proper neurotransmission and brain function and proper brain function requires nutritious, digestible food, exercise, and access to safe social situations and educational opportunities. Socio-economic inequities in our nation deny many people these things to begin with. We have too many prisoners in too many prisons and too few high school graduates with the emotional control good social skills. I would like to see all citizens and voters read “Burning Down the House,” by Nell Bernstein and “Chasing the Scream” by Johan Hari. Will another layer of oversight help make every square foot of New York State safer? Not if the oversight is paid to maintain the status quo, our leaders continue to allow our nation to ship jobs off shore, and not if our schools keep promoting students who cannot read or write well enough to read a pop-psyche book that might help them understand how they themselves function.
3
Bring in outside monitors . . . And then what?
If the monitors aren't empowered to impose solutions, which would invariably include shutting down prisons regardless of the location, disciplining COs regardless of the union contract, and increasing the correction budget regardless of its impact on the rest of the state budget, then the exercise is pointless.
The legislature is presently able to do all of the oversight suggested, but chooses not to mostly likely because there is no constituency for making the kind of changes required. The constituency to shutter unnecessary upstate prisons, to revamp the union agreements and remove the arbitrators who, as reported by the NYT, overturn CO discipline imposed by DOCCS management, or to increase spending on programs that have shown to decrease recidivism, consists of DOCCS management and the several thousand people involved in groups like The Fortune Society, The Osborne Association, Hudson Link, and the like. The largest, most active constituencies have rejected past attempts to address the most necessary changes to the corrections system in NY.
The apathy is overwhelming -- evidenced to some, perhaps, by the fact that as I write there are only 51 comments to this Op Ed piece, as compared to the hundreds of comments to Paul Krugman's piece and the one about Trump.
If the monitors aren't empowered to impose solutions, which would invariably include shutting down prisons regardless of the location, disciplining COs regardless of the union contract, and increasing the correction budget regardless of its impact on the rest of the state budget, then the exercise is pointless.
The legislature is presently able to do all of the oversight suggested, but chooses not to mostly likely because there is no constituency for making the kind of changes required. The constituency to shutter unnecessary upstate prisons, to revamp the union agreements and remove the arbitrators who, as reported by the NYT, overturn CO discipline imposed by DOCCS management, or to increase spending on programs that have shown to decrease recidivism, consists of DOCCS management and the several thousand people involved in groups like The Fortune Society, The Osborne Association, Hudson Link, and the like. The largest, most active constituencies have rejected past attempts to address the most necessary changes to the corrections system in NY.
The apathy is overwhelming -- evidenced to some, perhaps, by the fact that as I write there are only 51 comments to this Op Ed piece, as compared to the hundreds of comments to Paul Krugman's piece and the one about Trump.
5
When are our criminals going to start showing concern for the health and safety of the people they victimize?
2
The problem with New York's prison system is named, "Andrew Cuomo."
2
Our prisons are places to harden criminals, to break those who are not strong enough to stand up for themselves, to warehouse people we have no intention of rehabilitating enough to be productive. Prisons are the places we throw people into when we convict them of crimes whether they are horrible or not. It's our way of letting people know that they are worthless, beyond redemption, and definitely not human. It's where we put people to teach them that being the biggest predator is more important than justice. And after that, when we have to release them, we complain that they haven't learned anything. We complain that they don't want to work, don't deserve housing, or a chance to have a decent life, no matter what their crime was.
However, if you are a rich criminal, you get special privileges. You get to go to the medical ward. You may even be released but that's only if your last name is Astor or you are related to an Astor or some other famous person. If you are a white collar criminal you may be able to write a book or come out of prison and be a consultant. But if you are a run of the mill criminal you get nothing but disgust. You are eternally condemned to be a criminal with no way to get over it, do better, or escape being brutalized by the people who guard you. Prisons have replaced mental institutions as snake pits.
However, if you are a rich criminal, you get special privileges. You get to go to the medical ward. You may even be released but that's only if your last name is Astor or you are related to an Astor or some other famous person. If you are a white collar criminal you may be able to write a book or come out of prison and be a consultant. But if you are a run of the mill criminal you get nothing but disgust. You are eternally condemned to be a criminal with no way to get over it, do better, or escape being brutalized by the people who guard you. Prisons have replaced mental institutions as snake pits.
1
Have you ever been in a prison, either as an inmate or as a guard? Based on your comment, I suspect you have not.
What you are describing is a mash up of viewpoints from TV shows and editorials, and takes no account of the differences between maximum security facilities and middle or low security ones. There are certainly areas where improvements could and should be made, but when you are dealing with a catch all system that has to defend society against a range of lawbreakers from mass murderers to accountants who misallocated funds, there are going to be cases that get miscatorgized.
Further, everyone in the system as a prisoner is there because they have been convicted of violating rules that we, the people of the city, state, or nation have decided upon.
What you are describing is a mash up of viewpoints from TV shows and editorials, and takes no account of the differences between maximum security facilities and middle or low security ones. There are certainly areas where improvements could and should be made, but when you are dealing with a catch all system that has to defend society against a range of lawbreakers from mass murderers to accountants who misallocated funds, there are going to be cases that get miscatorgized.
Further, everyone in the system as a prisoner is there because they have been convicted of violating rules that we, the people of the city, state, or nation have decided upon.
1
Supposedly, on his visit to Clinton Correctional Gov. Cuomo accused an inmate housed next to the cell occupied by Sweat and Matt of knowing their plans. "You knew ...", he said, in the presence of a phalanx of guards. Not long afterwards that inmate was rushed to a nearby hospital nearly beaten to death.
Perhaps New York State might start its long-overdue cleanup with the guards who nearly murdered him and New York's governor, who incited it.
Perhaps New York State might start its long-overdue cleanup with the guards who nearly murdered him and New York's governor, who incited it.
6
It made me feel sick when I read some of the recent articles about the fatal or near-fatal beatings of prisoners in New York prisons. What bothered me the most was that these men were not "tough guys" who had attacked the guards, but instead seemed to be smaller, weaker, men who were being singled out as an example to the "tough" inmates, or people with mental illness or developmental disabilities. And then you have many of these prisons in rural areas, where they are probably the best paying jobs, so the culture of abuse gets embedded in the community. This is so shameful; I agree that we need the prisons opened to outside inspection, and accountability for abusers.
2
Minnesota has a much better system than what we hear from NY and other states. The reform minded could take the Cliff notes version and just emulate Minnesota's system, process, and focus on training
1
What prison culture and American "justice" teaches us is that human beings are dispensable. To reform and put in "humane" practices in a system already built on infringing on the human rights of people is a poor waste of time and resources. Which independent monitoring body is up to the task of challenging powerful police and security unions inextricably tied to the politicians and power? From what I've seen such monitoring bodies are created to quell discontent and create a façade of "things are getting done." The problem is that we have people in prison that simply cannot thrive or change in that kind of environment. Most importantly, that environment is not meant to heal, change, and improve prisoners; it's to break people in submission.
4
If this is the best we can do with our jails, we need to stop sentencing criminals until we can do better. This is the very definition of cruel or unusual punishment. I imagine that if I came out of such a system, I would in no way be rehabilitated, only angry and planning to get even.
3
Given that the Constitution prohibits "Cruel and Unusual punishments", the fact that this is as commonplace as you believe it to be means that it is not unusual, and therefore not prohibited. Having been incarcerated and coming out of the system, I will state that I was neither angry nor planning to get even, but simply glad to be out and greatly incentivized not to go back in.
2
The old adage "out of sight out of mind" is very evident here. Political will is a nonstarter on this subject, as the public does not understand that all people have rights. The tough on crime political message just fortifies the public's indifference.
The bottom line is more of the same for a long time to come, and the political answer now is to stay out of jail.
The bottom line is more of the same for a long time to come, and the political answer now is to stay out of jail.
1
The measure of a society is how it treats the people the least able to defend themselves.
Our prisons are our mirror.
They are vicious, nasty, and without accountability. If that doesn't sound familiar, then you missed the whole business about kidnapping people off the streets, taking them to dungeons in far corners of the world, torturing them, and refusing to let them contact their families or a lawyer or see a judge -- a real judge.
We need to restructure. Bernie Sanders is right. Any other vote is a vote for more of the same, which the evidence proves is not working.
Our prisons are our mirror.
They are vicious, nasty, and without accountability. If that doesn't sound familiar, then you missed the whole business about kidnapping people off the streets, taking them to dungeons in far corners of the world, torturing them, and refusing to let them contact their families or a lawyer or see a judge -- a real judge.
We need to restructure. Bernie Sanders is right. Any other vote is a vote for more of the same, which the evidence proves is not working.
1
This is another one of the problems you get when you privatize prisons - no accountability.
Oh, wait. New York doesn't have any private prisons.
Oh, wait. New York doesn't have any private prisons.
3
The public has little interest in what goes on in prisons. They are much more concerned about the newest iPhone and how many likes they have on Facebook.
1
True, even worse, some believe that prisons are too luxurious. But the blame should also be directed to the politicians and the judicial system we have: more put away, more the public feels we did our job, more votes we get. Prosecutors follow suit, police goes along, judges are not willing to look into appeals with a neutral mind as they also are subjected to political pressure, hence the Innocence Project was born. All the while the Europeans are laughing at us for still having the capital punishment. A little big mess.
1
The NYT exposing these human rights abuses and stains on American morality, along with the shooting deaths of unarmed American citizens like the child Tamir Rice, is laudable. It's encouraging when America's most read newspaper acts as a watchdog on those who'd trample American rights in particular and human rights in general. Please keep fighting this good fight on behalf of the American people.
1
We have thrown the outcomes of poverty, mental illness and abuse onto our teachers and police and prison system. Those broken individuals who pass through our education system without impact, hit the justice system where there is little if any chance of being "rehabilitated" or made whole. Small wonder they emerge more broken or with honed criminal survival skills-- not constructive behavior, civil society skills, or any way of fitting in to our complex world. Most have difficulty functioning outside of prison where they at least get fed and have a place to sleep, and return quickly. How can this be a surprise? Then we blame prison violence and recidivism on police and prison guards/officials. Some of the blamed are perhaps guilty-of lack of training, frustration, fear or even violent tendencies of their own. Some criminals need to be confined long term or forever. But wouldn't it be far more effective, and probably cheaper, to develop mental health, community support, and educational resources to help those who do not? We do see programs that HELP those who struggle to become constructive and functioning community members. Let's try to scale these programs, rather than foist the problems where they don't belong.
The press has been a big part of the problem, because they have unquestioningly pushed government War on Drugs propaganda for about forty years, unquestioningly repeating false statements by politicians which have driven our mass incarceration policy.
3
Is it any wonder that the Quakers, who started the first "penitentiary," as a reform measure to cruel punishments, are now in the forefront of prison abolition (not reform). The barbaric prisons are an example of "if something doesn't work, do more of it!" With the exception of a small minority of dangerous people, prisons are counter-productive. Take an "offender," and put him/her in a brutal environment. Away from family ties (does anyone care about the kids who suffer?) Practically insure that no one will hire him/her. Then, release the person and naively expect a "reformed" law-abiding citizen! Many people in prison are there because of racism, poverty, mental illness. A wise and humane society will use alternatives, such as restitution, rather than punishment. I was in charge of a women's jail in a big city. Before I took over, there were riots, assaults. Inmates responded to respect, fairness, kindness. There was a dramatic change. Human nature is the same everywhere. Long prison terms give the general public the illusion that they are safer.
22
No one is in American prison today "because of racism, poverty, mental illness". They are there because they are convicted of crimes, mostly (but not entirely) violent crimes. A few are innocent, probably not many, but no trial system does a perfect job of acquitting them.
So let's release the nonviolent offenders---drug crimes (not accompanied by violence), Madoff and his ilk who would never harm a hair on anyone's head, etc. But the violent ones have to stay inside.
So let's release the nonviolent offenders---drug crimes (not accompanied by violence), Madoff and his ilk who would never harm a hair on anyone's head, etc. But the violent ones have to stay inside.
1
Let's be honest, once someone is labelled a "criminal," the rather limited amount of empathy we humans can spare for ANY stranger virtually evaporates. So, for many, shoulders shrug and they move on to issues which affect them and theirs.
You can be sure that if the massive number of people this country incarcerates weren't primarily limited to minorities and the poor, then our "criminal justice" system (now there's an oxymoronic word combo) would undergo massive change' And for some recent proof of that statement all one has to do is see how "treatment" rather than the "punishment" is becoming more and more common for those addicted to opioids because those addicts are coming more and more from the whiter and wealthier population.
Yep, human nature at its most noble.
You can be sure that if the massive number of people this country incarcerates weren't primarily limited to minorities and the poor, then our "criminal justice" system (now there's an oxymoronic word combo) would undergo massive change' And for some recent proof of that statement all one has to do is see how "treatment" rather than the "punishment" is becoming more and more common for those addicted to opioids because those addicts are coming more and more from the whiter and wealthier population.
Yep, human nature at its most noble.
10
Just because Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King were also labeled criminals doesn't mean they were criminals. Paul Revere, George Washington, Nathan Hale, Thoreau, Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko also come to mind, there are countless more. I'd say, seeing that tens of millions of Americans have some sort of infraction on the books in perpetuity that this suggests that those who are quick to dismiss anyone with a criminal record of any kind are doing American citizens a disservice and giving in to a form of officially sanctioned injustice.
1
I agree that the doors of prisons and jails need to be thrown wide open so people can see what is happening inside. The efforts of many correctional institutions, including those in New York, to create safer and more humane conditions are truly admirable. Outside groups can applaud the positive effects of those changes as well as note areas that may benefit from further efforts.
Outside observers will also ensure that we are all accurately understanding the same situation. If the working environment for correctional officers is overburdened and dangerous, observers can recommend increased staffing or increased paid time off to prevent burnout. They can also recommend humane changes to help people in prison. We all want to make sure that people in prison are treated humanely. They deserve this as human beings. Humane treatment will also help them be productive and inspiring members of our community once they are released.
Correctional officers need to have a very strong voice in these discussions. Their ideas, experiences and wisdom will be of great benefit for everyone. When the doors are open and we all see the same situation, then we can learn from and help each other. We can work together to make prisons safer and more humane for both correctional staff and people living in prisons.
It is wonderful how much everyone is talking about this since this is creating tremendous positive change.
Outside observers will also ensure that we are all accurately understanding the same situation. If the working environment for correctional officers is overburdened and dangerous, observers can recommend increased staffing or increased paid time off to prevent burnout. They can also recommend humane changes to help people in prison. We all want to make sure that people in prison are treated humanely. They deserve this as human beings. Humane treatment will also help them be productive and inspiring members of our community once they are released.
Correctional officers need to have a very strong voice in these discussions. Their ideas, experiences and wisdom will be of great benefit for everyone. When the doors are open and we all see the same situation, then we can learn from and help each other. We can work together to make prisons safer and more humane for both correctional staff and people living in prisons.
It is wonderful how much everyone is talking about this since this is creating tremendous positive change.
1
The violence endemic to our prison system stems from the harsher aspects of our individualism. We depict our society as a paradise of individual opportunity, but, by the same token, we attribute any failures to personal shortcomings. Those who break the law have violated the social compact, so we expel them from the community into the limbo of prison. Their treatment there attracts little popular attention, because their actions have demonstrated their unsuitability for life in a society based on individual rights.
The guards and prison administrators, being a part of that society, share its contempt for those outside it. Inmates may still technically enjoy the protection of the laws, which do not recognize any limbo status for citizens, but popular attitudes govern the actual behavior of prison authorities.
Independent oversight can improve treatment of prisoners, but only a transformation of values can address the underlying problem. So long as Americans tend to regard lawbreakers as aliens in their midst, they will never wholeheartedly demand a legal system that protects their rights and a prison system that treats them humanely. A police officer once informed my students that prosecutors never indicted any innocent people. Many people would agree.
We must temper our commitment to individualism with a recognition that no one can prosper without community support. Those who violate the law deserve punishment, but they do not merit expulsion from our community.
The guards and prison administrators, being a part of that society, share its contempt for those outside it. Inmates may still technically enjoy the protection of the laws, which do not recognize any limbo status for citizens, but popular attitudes govern the actual behavior of prison authorities.
Independent oversight can improve treatment of prisoners, but only a transformation of values can address the underlying problem. So long as Americans tend to regard lawbreakers as aliens in their midst, they will never wholeheartedly demand a legal system that protects their rights and a prison system that treats them humanely. A police officer once informed my students that prosecutors never indicted any innocent people. Many people would agree.
We must temper our commitment to individualism with a recognition that no one can prosper without community support. Those who violate the law deserve punishment, but they do not merit expulsion from our community.
16
What do people EXPECT prison to be like? Confining people against their will necessarily entails violence.
I don't mean this to say that all is well, just that we should think carefully before we do that to people - or enact more laws that will result in that.
I don't mean this to say that all is well, just that we should think carefully before we do that to people - or enact more laws that will result in that.
2
"Thousands of prisoners have been held in extreme isolation, in some cases for years, and often for minor rule violations, at great cost to their mental health and potential for rehabilitation."
Prisons are where the largest number of chronic mental patients reside. I have worked in MO prisons for ten years, as a part-time psychiatrist. It's not just cruelty on the part of prison guards that keep many in isolation, it is their mental illness with substantially diminished self-restraint that leads them into solitary confinement. The treatment they receive in confinement is just primitive. Many new medicines are not available to prescribe to prisoners, because of their high cost.
The majority, if not most of them would have spent their time in large state mental hospitals prior to 1990s. The deinstitutionalization program started in 1970s was about completed by early 2000s. Some mental hospitals were converted into prisons as well!
The patients felt at home in state mental hospitals, which provided free satisfactory care to chronic mental patients. The (female) employees who were paid low have been dedicated and caring, unlike (male) prison guards who are also paid low & trained to be disciplinarians, to consider them as ill-behaved "normal" humans.
A rational solution to this problem is to bring back taxpayer paid large mental hospital system to house people with mental illnesses.
Prisons are where the largest number of chronic mental patients reside. I have worked in MO prisons for ten years, as a part-time psychiatrist. It's not just cruelty on the part of prison guards that keep many in isolation, it is their mental illness with substantially diminished self-restraint that leads them into solitary confinement. The treatment they receive in confinement is just primitive. Many new medicines are not available to prescribe to prisoners, because of their high cost.
The majority, if not most of them would have spent their time in large state mental hospitals prior to 1990s. The deinstitutionalization program started in 1970s was about completed by early 2000s. Some mental hospitals were converted into prisons as well!
The patients felt at home in state mental hospitals, which provided free satisfactory care to chronic mental patients. The (female) employees who were paid low have been dedicated and caring, unlike (male) prison guards who are also paid low & trained to be disciplinarians, to consider them as ill-behaved "normal" humans.
A rational solution to this problem is to bring back taxpayer paid large mental hospital system to house people with mental illnesses.
40
Couldn't agree more. The fact that the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the "developed" world is directly proportional to its lack of mental-health services for the long-term mentally impaired. People who should have been treated and aren't become criminals, who are then further abused and disabled by their treatment while incarcerated.
1
Most prisoners are poor and black/Hispanic. Racism and classisim need to be addressed. I am a retired Psychologist from the Michigan Prison system. The same holds true for the Michigan system.
5
The word "union" appears only once in this piece, and then only in the context of an organization that is seeking to reform our abusive prisons, the American Civil Liberties Union.
The fact is that prison reform, like police reform, will never happen until and unless the unions that represent prison workers are made fully accountable to independent civilian oversight. As it is, union contracts stymie reform at every turn.
This would not be the case but for an unholy alliance between prison unions and elected officials who are at the unions' beck and call. As a consequence, it's impossible to make progress on prison reform without dislodging or neutralizing the politicians who provide prison unions with political cover. Independent monitoring bodies are toothless tigers when union rules undermine their investigative and enforcement powers.
What to do? For one thing, advocates of prison reform could expose the unions. This column, which sidestepped the pernicious role of prison unions (a topic that has been previously covered on this page) was a lost opportunity on that front.
Perhaps it is time for the United States Department of Justice to intervene in state prison systems as it has in out-of-control local police departments.
The fact is that prison reform, like police reform, will never happen until and unless the unions that represent prison workers are made fully accountable to independent civilian oversight. As it is, union contracts stymie reform at every turn.
This would not be the case but for an unholy alliance between prison unions and elected officials who are at the unions' beck and call. As a consequence, it's impossible to make progress on prison reform without dislodging or neutralizing the politicians who provide prison unions with political cover. Independent monitoring bodies are toothless tigers when union rules undermine their investigative and enforcement powers.
What to do? For one thing, advocates of prison reform could expose the unions. This column, which sidestepped the pernicious role of prison unions (a topic that has been previously covered on this page) was a lost opportunity on that front.
Perhaps it is time for the United States Department of Justice to intervene in state prison systems as it has in out-of-control local police departments.
6
I was a Youth Correctional Counselor for the Department of Juvenile Justice in California.and the problem with columns like this is while this focuses on New York, if you take the time to read them you will see a complete indictment of all correctional staff.
First, I would like to see a column about what inmates do to staff. I was assaulted 8 times during riots. It didn't bother me, part of the guys we had. to deal with. But whaI I found offensive is the 8 guys who assaulted me? They got nothing No time add, no restriction, nothing. Basically that meant it was "open season" on me. Do what you want because they won't do anything.
.For those who say we abuse wards I have this to say. You'd better have documentation..on me
Bellieve it or not there are people who try to work with these guys. But some guys cannot be reached. They simply do not care.To be honest I cut my losses and focus on those who want to change
I taught me guys life skills.I did mock job interviews, mock boards. I helped them get jobs and meet their personal and educational goals.I prepared them as best I could to go home and succeed There are guys who are on the street because of my work.
And for those of you who think you have all the answers? We have a saying. Don't let your alligator mouth overload your parakeet *** In other words, don't run your mouth if you can't back your play.And most of you could not cut it. You'd stress out and go home and you it. Real easy to demonize. Let's see what you've got
First, I would like to see a column about what inmates do to staff. I was assaulted 8 times during riots. It didn't bother me, part of the guys we had. to deal with. But whaI I found offensive is the 8 guys who assaulted me? They got nothing No time add, no restriction, nothing. Basically that meant it was "open season" on me. Do what you want because they won't do anything.
.For those who say we abuse wards I have this to say. You'd better have documentation..on me
Bellieve it or not there are people who try to work with these guys. But some guys cannot be reached. They simply do not care.To be honest I cut my losses and focus on those who want to change
I taught me guys life skills.I did mock job interviews, mock boards. I helped them get jobs and meet their personal and educational goals.I prepared them as best I could to go home and succeed There are guys who are on the street because of my work.
And for those of you who think you have all the answers? We have a saying. Don't let your alligator mouth overload your parakeet *** In other words, don't run your mouth if you can't back your play.And most of you could not cut it. You'd stress out and go home and you it. Real easy to demonize. Let's see what you've got
6
Independent oversight and transparency would help with conditions and maybe help improve outcomes. I definitely support it. But a lot of the problems that need oversight stem from the astonishing volume of humanity running through modern US prisons in the era of mass incarceration. So ideally this strategy would be coupled with statutory sentence reductions and boosted parole rates at the state level, with savings invested in reentry services and community supervision. If you don't also reduce volume, then either you'd just have transparency about a terrible situation or the "solutions" implied would involve throwing huge sums of money at a practically untenable and morally questionable mass imprisonment strategy.
5
Independent external oversight is of the essence, given that we, humans, tend to abuse a position of power if we can get away with it (shown experimentally with college volunteers). Short of permanent audiovisual monitoring of all prison facilities, and prompt action (like firing or disciplining the culprit), nothing will change. Sad but true. So, are we really willing to change our prison system...or are we bluffing, content with ignoring it? Time will tell.
6
Tweaking the system won't cut it. We have to tear it down and start from scratch. And the reason why actually contains good news if we're willing to welcome our inevitable future.
The United States is on the brink of becoming something unprecedented in human history: a major world power without one dominant ethnicity or culture, united only by the rights and principles enshrined in the Constitution. All of our major institutions - especially our criminal justice system - have discrimination built into their foundations, because every powerful society since the city-states of antiquity have protected a privileged (upper) class by brutalizing an undesirable (lower) class. And when that lower class gets more powerful, the brutalization gets more intense, and the ruling class stops even pretending to follow its own rules as they cling desperately to power.
THAT is what is going on in our prisons, and it'll keep going on until we face up to the full horror of our "justice" system. We can't fix it; the attitudes that make incidents like Leonard Strickland's death possible are built into the system. It's not enough to retrain guards or fire wardens. We need to re-invent law enforcement for a society in which no class is privileged. This will take the kind of imagination, intelligence and foresight that it took to found this country, since it's never been done before. That may sound unrealistic, but until we do that the horrors will continue, no matter who's in the ruling class.
The United States is on the brink of becoming something unprecedented in human history: a major world power without one dominant ethnicity or culture, united only by the rights and principles enshrined in the Constitution. All of our major institutions - especially our criminal justice system - have discrimination built into their foundations, because every powerful society since the city-states of antiquity have protected a privileged (upper) class by brutalizing an undesirable (lower) class. And when that lower class gets more powerful, the brutalization gets more intense, and the ruling class stops even pretending to follow its own rules as they cling desperately to power.
THAT is what is going on in our prisons, and it'll keep going on until we face up to the full horror of our "justice" system. We can't fix it; the attitudes that make incidents like Leonard Strickland's death possible are built into the system. It's not enough to retrain guards or fire wardens. We need to re-invent law enforcement for a society in which no class is privileged. This will take the kind of imagination, intelligence and foresight that it took to found this country, since it's never been done before. That may sound unrealistic, but until we do that the horrors will continue, no matter who's in the ruling class.
Bear in mind when making prison policies, that most prisoners will be released.
1
The story of prison system abuses becomes even more horrifying when one takes into account the fact that at least some percentage of our prison population has been wrongly convicted and an additional portion has not been convicted at all, but are simply awaiting trial because they could not make bail.
The Times' Sunday magazine story last summer highlighted the problem of impoverished men arrested and sent to Riker's for months because their bail was set unreasonably high -- in a systemic effort to coerce guilty pleas. The whole system needs overhaul.
The Times' Sunday magazine story last summer highlighted the problem of impoverished men arrested and sent to Riker's for months because their bail was set unreasonably high -- in a systemic effort to coerce guilty pleas. The whole system needs overhaul.
38
I was born and raised in the same parish in Louisiana where a man was convicted of rape, and served about 20 years in the LARGEST (and most brutal) maximum security PRISON in the United States: Angola STATE Penitentiary in Louisiana (talk about disproportionate!). He was released after DNA evidence proved his innocence. He received no financial compensation, other than the pennies per hour he made cutting sugar cane. Louisiana doesn't believe a wrongfully convicted person is entitled to compensation. What stunned me was the local DA thought he was treated "fairly". Back to Angola, it has over 5000 inmates serving the longest sentences in this country. In fact, 85% of the inmates will die there. I learned these figures from a documentary titled "The Farm". Definitely watch this (Netflix). They focus on 6 men. You will see New York's prison system in a different light. I know from first hand experience how bad the prison system is there. In the mid 1970's, I was arrested for a marijuana charge (small amount). I plead guilty & was sentenced to 3 years hard labor, suspended; 3 years probation & 90 days in parish prison. I had no prior record! I was in a dorm with 26 black & 4 white men. This was in a city of 55% white & 45% black people then. They had guards on horseback with shotguns, while we did HARD labor (think "Cool Hand Luke"). Speaking of non-sentenced men, I saw a guy who'd been raped run to try to escape, & shot in the back. I got a first offenders pardon a year early.
1
Question is, are the NY prisons the only ones hellish? No, we know it.
Looking at the "big picture" misses the point and responsibility right here. This is the New York Times, and the city's Riker's Island is rated as one of the 10 worst in the US. The New York state system has multiple horrors and imposes undeserved sentences on the families of those imprisoned, by sending prisoners far away.
The situation at Riker's Island is particularly egregious, because many of the victims haven't been convicted, or are convicted of relatively minor crimes.
The situation at Riker's Island is particularly egregious, because many of the victims haven't been convicted, or are convicted of relatively minor crimes.
29
I worked in adult corrections for 27 years. In that time I became quite familiar with the terms, NMBY, short for "not in my backyard" in reference to siting new facilities, as well as the comment, "well, I suppose, someone has to do it" in reference to those working in adult corrections when trying to explain what they do to others. Overall, the public turned their backs on adult corrections hiring practices, jail administration and siting years ago. As long as long as it got done and wasn't in their backyard the public was happy. So, it should come as no surprise that hiring standards were and remain, at best, haphazard. Some places require high school degrees, very few college degrees, and in most some form of military experience is all that is needed. People rise through the employment ranks with the goal of getting as far from the inmates as possible and into administration. Jail and prison siting is relegated to geographical areas farther and farther away from urban hubs where there is less resistance and costs are cheaper but farther away from inmates friends and family. Government oversight of operations is lax, usually if at all. This can lead to abuse of inmates and violations of their civil rights. Oversight must be strengthened at all levels from hiring to training to operations to insure our prisons are safe and humane places.
12
What we’ve seen lately is a related set of consequences. We’ve seen a hair-trigger response to perceived danger to policemen’s lives in violent altercations by the very rapid resort to deadly force; and in prisons to an attempt to impose order in an increasingly violent environment by draconian punishments for relatively small infractions.
Go back two hundred years and find that murder was practically unknown in America. Today it’s commonplace. The level of violence in our society, whether on the streets of impoverished urban enclaves or within our bursting prisons, has exploded – small wonder that we see it among our police authorities just as we see it within society generally.
The causes of this increased and increasing violence can’t be parsed properly in 1500 characters (including spaces). But what’s going on in our prisons may not be a dramatically more intense brutalization of correction officers but the natural if exaggerated reaction to the violence that surrounds them. We’ll see what results are obtained by holding fewer prisoners in solitary confinement and for less prolonged durations; but if the general level of violence increases, expect a backlash.
Undoubtedly, better hiring and training practices would have some impact. However, the real programmatic solution to police excess in our communities and harsh corrections practices in our prisons is to better address the reality of increasing violence in our society and in our prisons.
Go back two hundred years and find that murder was practically unknown in America. Today it’s commonplace. The level of violence in our society, whether on the streets of impoverished urban enclaves or within our bursting prisons, has exploded – small wonder that we see it among our police authorities just as we see it within society generally.
The causes of this increased and increasing violence can’t be parsed properly in 1500 characters (including spaces). But what’s going on in our prisons may not be a dramatically more intense brutalization of correction officers but the natural if exaggerated reaction to the violence that surrounds them. We’ll see what results are obtained by holding fewer prisoners in solitary confinement and for less prolonged durations; but if the general level of violence increases, expect a backlash.
Undoubtedly, better hiring and training practices would have some impact. However, the real programmatic solution to police excess in our communities and harsh corrections practices in our prisons is to better address the reality of increasing violence in our society and in our prisons.
7
Richard Luettgen - I understand that in some of our prisons there are extremely violent inmates. Perhaps it's the use of this extreme violence by inmates toward everyone that results in an abnormal level of violence among the prison's officers.
What was the murder rate 200 years ago?
You don't know, because statistics were not kept. But there are plenty of literary anecdotes to suggest is was not "practically unknown".
You don't know, because statistics were not kept. But there are plenty of literary anecdotes to suggest is was not "practically unknown".
1
Tired:
Think, in part, that's what I said.
Jonathan:
Practically nil. It was a major league spectacle for a murder to occur, an even bigger one for a trial to take place, There are plenty of statistics kept -- you can Google them or, for instance, write to NY State to get the numbers. And they bear me out, not you -- I have NO idea where you get your "anecdotes".
Think, in part, that's what I said.
Jonathan:
Practically nil. It was a major league spectacle for a murder to occur, an even bigger one for a trial to take place, There are plenty of statistics kept -- you can Google them or, for instance, write to NY State to get the numbers. And they bear me out, not you -- I have NO idea where you get your "anecdotes".
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Prison guards have absolute power over prisoners.
Some guards become guards because they enjoy having that authority over someone else and they abuse that authority.
How much do we pay prison guards.
Can we attract as guards for the salary we pay them, people who believe their role is to rehabilitate rather than to punish and make life miserable for prisoners.
Do we reduce recidivism [most prisoners will one day be released] if we reduce violence and abuse in prisons.
Compare the cost of recidivism with the cost of paying guards more.
There is no excuse for allowing a prisoner to commit suicide.
There must be adequate and frequent enough surveillance to prevent this.
Many crimes are horrible. But it is up to the trial judge to determine the punishment. It is not the role of guards [or other prisoners] to punish prisoners who have committed horrible crimes.
There must be zero tolerance for this abuse by guards and other prisoners.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Prison guards have absolute power over prisoners.
Some guards become guards because they enjoy having that authority over someone else and they abuse that authority.
How much do we pay prison guards.
Can we attract as guards for the salary we pay them, people who believe their role is to rehabilitate rather than to punish and make life miserable for prisoners.
Do we reduce recidivism [most prisoners will one day be released] if we reduce violence and abuse in prisons.
Compare the cost of recidivism with the cost of paying guards more.
There is no excuse for allowing a prisoner to commit suicide.
There must be adequate and frequent enough surveillance to prevent this.
Many crimes are horrible. But it is up to the trial judge to determine the punishment. It is not the role of guards [or other prisoners] to punish prisoners who have committed horrible crimes.
There must be zero tolerance for this abuse by guards and other prisoners.
14
Rather than setting up another oversight body, let's stop indemnifying correctional and public officials -- including the governor -- for the unconstitutional acts that are taking place in our prisons. If they are held personally accountable for prison conditions, they are much more likely to honor their sworn obligation to uphold the constitution of the United States.
54
So if you don't indemnify C/Os does that mean they could go on strike for better conditions? What happens then? What if they all resign simultaneously? Call out the National Guard?
1
Absolutely. All those who are complicit in committing or in enabling acts of violence are criminals and should be treated as such.
The easy solutions to the extreme prison population , a quarter of earth's jailed in the joke of 'the land of the free' are to end the unconstitutional drug war requires an amendment like that other great success, Prohibition, to curtail our chosen pursuits of happiness...and in the absence of a clear victim, no crime has in fact been committed. If a person commits an act of violence on alcohol or cocaine, it is the violence alone should be charged. And if crimes of property are handled by the rational making of amends to the one wronged, not the state. As just 18% of those in our jails are in there for a crime of violence, the savings would be around $100 billion a year...
Prisons should be missions to truly rehabilitate the violent, when possible. All inmates should have constant access to the internet, television on the computer monitor, access to real education.
We need a complete reevaluation of who are the violent? Consider that the schemed crash of 2008, according to the UN, killed at least nine million of the world's poorest people, a holocaust...but none of those responsible, in government or corporations, has or will be punished for the mass death they caused without a care, without a heart, cold blooded. How about all those involved in government-backed torture of thousands of mostly innocent persons never did a thing to us...
The easy solutions to the extreme prison population , a quarter of earth's jailed in the joke of 'the land of the free' are to end the unconstitutional drug war requires an amendment like that other great success, Prohibition, to curtail our chosen pursuits of happiness...and in the absence of a clear victim, no crime has in fact been committed. If a person commits an act of violence on alcohol or cocaine, it is the violence alone should be charged. And if crimes of property are handled by the rational making of amends to the one wronged, not the state. As just 18% of those in our jails are in there for a crime of violence, the savings would be around $100 billion a year...
Prisons should be missions to truly rehabilitate the violent, when possible. All inmates should have constant access to the internet, television on the computer monitor, access to real education.
We need a complete reevaluation of who are the violent? Consider that the schemed crash of 2008, according to the UN, killed at least nine million of the world's poorest people, a holocaust...but none of those responsible, in government or corporations, has or will be punished for the mass death they caused without a care, without a heart, cold blooded. How about all those involved in government-backed torture of thousands of mostly innocent persons never did a thing to us...
Profit trumps most everything in the United States, including the welfare of human life. Our nation is all about exploitation and entertainment (deception), namely capitalism. A failed experiment continually bailed out by using scapegoats and warfare under a veil of lies. As Henry Kissinger once stated; "It isn't important what is real. It's important what people believe to be real." If, and when the house of cards collapses, the masses will find themselves in internment camps, theoretically speaking.
1
The authors propose steps that could (in some ways) improve prison conditions. While those steps are appreciated, they do not go far enough.
Until we are willing to hire people who truly care about other human beings (and fire people who don't) America's prison problems will remain. The system is not the only problem. The PEOPLE that operate the system are the MAIN problem.
People who abuse other people have no business managing other people. In the case of prisons, people who abuse other human beings should be in prison (as inmates) themselves.
America needs to stop half-stepping and leaving people at the "mercy" of unGodly inhumane predators. We need to MAKE America's prisons humane (and we need to do it now).
Until we are willing to hire people who truly care about other human beings (and fire people who don't) America's prison problems will remain. The system is not the only problem. The PEOPLE that operate the system are the MAIN problem.
People who abuse other people have no business managing other people. In the case of prisons, people who abuse other human beings should be in prison (as inmates) themselves.
America needs to stop half-stepping and leaving people at the "mercy" of unGodly inhumane predators. We need to MAKE America's prisons humane (and we need to do it now).
3
Instead of trying to make prisons "nicer", why not focus on NOT putting people in prison?
2
In several cities in Mexico, as I witnessed firsthand, the prisoners go home at night to be with their families, and return the next morning to serve their sentences in jail.
Now I ask you: Which society is more advanced? Theirs or ours??
Now I ask you: Which society is more advanced? Theirs or ours??
23
in a way, it is like hospitals in parts of South America. the family can stay with the patient which leads to faster healing.
2
So, we stoop as low as those we are attempting to rehabilitate. Fine example!!!!
Recently, I read an article that implied that now that slavery, on a large scale, has almost vanished; we now have prisons instead!
Recently, I read an article that implied that now that slavery, on a large scale, has almost vanished; we now have prisons instead!
3
I have two suggestions.
Serious prison time for district attorneys when it is discovered that prisoners in their county have been abused and they have failed to prosecute. That would significantly raise their consciousness.
Second, in areas such as NYC where police receive similar pay to "correction" officers, rotate police through the prison system -- at all levels. While not perfect, the police NYPD) have a far better management and discipline system than the jails. And outsiders, responsible to a different management, are more likely to blow the whistle.
Serious prison time for district attorneys when it is discovered that prisoners in their county have been abused and they have failed to prosecute. That would significantly raise their consciousness.
Second, in areas such as NYC where police receive similar pay to "correction" officers, rotate police through the prison system -- at all levels. While not perfect, the police NYPD) have a far better management and discipline system than the jails. And outsiders, responsible to a different management, are more likely to blow the whistle.
12
"Prison rape is widespread across the country."
Statistics about prison rape are few and far between. The Bureau of Justice is trying to remedy that. Among its findings is that almost half of reported incidents of sex in prison involve consensual sex between prisoners and female guards. No one anticipated that.
Isolated incidents of flagrant prisoner abuse have gotten a lot of attention lately. They fall far short of revealing overall treatment of prisoners by correctional officers. Reform can backfire when the reformers do not understand the extent and reasons for the problems they are reforming. Prison reform has been a cause celebre several times in U.S. history. The reform has gotten us to where we are today. The present reform is not based on in-depth studies of prison violence. It is a knee-jerk reaction to several prisoner deaths. This effort seems to be motivated more by a desire to appease the public than to initiate widespread, constructive reform.
Statistics about prison rape are few and far between. The Bureau of Justice is trying to remedy that. Among its findings is that almost half of reported incidents of sex in prison involve consensual sex between prisoners and female guards. No one anticipated that.
Isolated incidents of flagrant prisoner abuse have gotten a lot of attention lately. They fall far short of revealing overall treatment of prisoners by correctional officers. Reform can backfire when the reformers do not understand the extent and reasons for the problems they are reforming. Prison reform has been a cause celebre several times in U.S. history. The reform has gotten us to where we are today. The present reform is not based on in-depth studies of prison violence. It is a knee-jerk reaction to several prisoner deaths. This effort seems to be motivated more by a desire to appease the public than to initiate widespread, constructive reform.
2
Did you know that ancient Israel had few prisons?
They had few of the problems prisons have today.
It was unheard of to pen human beings in like animals in a cage.
Prisoners were held for a short period of time only until they were judged and either set free, fined, or given stripes or corporeal punishment (for murder).
If they stole money they were given in servitude for a maximum of six years—no matter how much they stole—to the person they stole from to pay off their theft. When it was paid off (or if someone paid else paid the money) they were freed.
By working for the person they stole from they came to know them as human beings like themselves and realize that they had a family to support and feed as well. And they did it legitimately.
And contrary to popular misconceptions "eye for an eye" meant monetary damages or where would the justice be if a person with one eye took out the eye of another person—the other person would be blind if you literally took out his eye.
BTW If the Sanhedrin (Jewish Supreme Court) of 71 sages executed one murderer in 70 years it was called "a killer court."
4
The NYS DOCCS treats anyone not directly employed by them as a community 'volunteer" and puts them through an extensive vetting process before allowing them into a prison, regardless of their professional affiliation. Once allowed in, their access and movement are strictly limited. This is done under the guise of security, but the fact is DOCCS has much more to worry about in that regard from their own staff than outside professionals. Anyone given the task of oversight would have to be given authority that supersedes that of the superintendent of the prison to have any meaningful affect.
16
A nation can best be judged by the way it treats its most deprived - its prisoners. Since a significant fraction of prisoners are innocent of the crimes of which they are convicted, we should ensure that all prisoners are treated fairly and humanely, and the only way to ensure this is strong, independent oversight. Those responsible for this should spend at least a week in prison themselves, so they really understand what goes on.
22
In India, a person equivalent to the district judge has to additionally discharge duties as independent inspector of a prison in his district. He goes inside the jail cells , talk individually to inmates as much as possible, look into grievances and prepares report. Thereafter jail superintendent has to prepare compliance report to that inspection report. Same system may be adopted in US to stop brutalities by officials. CCTV cameras need to be installed to monitor harassment.
18
Yes, I would definitely recommend that we model our prison system after india's. I am sure that will work just great.
2
JUSTICE & CORRECTIONS The original intent of prisons was to provide a place for calm reflection so that the individual who had committed a crime could repay his/her debt to society in quiet contemplation, through reading, I believe, religious texts (i.e., the Bible). I recall seeing an interview with GOP members of Congress several years ago who were talking about sending a "powerful message" to wrongdoers by mandating severe sentences. What happened, in this case, according to the law of Intended Consequences, was that persons found guilty of nonviolent crimes, including the possession of small amounts of marijuana--now legal in many states--were sent away for prolonged prison terms, often to privatized "prisons" where the focus was on the bottom line of the stockholders, not the reform & correction of prisoners. As might be expected, persons of color were over-represented, especially males, a population where 1 it 3 has spent time in prison. The emphasis I've seen in TV documentaries, among poorly trained and supervised guards, is submission. Whether warranted or not. In many cases, prisoners could have succeeded in less restrictive alternative settings, saving the taxpayers money. But that was not meant to be, because the bottom line of the private owners was tantamount. As we've seen with videos of unarmed persons being slain by police & of brutality in prisons, the emphasis is on brutality & violence, not on reformation & correction. You get what you pay for.
26
Anger is the only response. Why do we keep reading year after year of this barbaric situation in US prisons, more apt for a dictatorship than a modern democracy? There are so many organizations, public officials, advocates and academics who are all over the media trying to influence reform. The Times runs editorials and op eds. Cspan TV shows many discussions of this by experts and lawmakers.
Yet it goes on. In a country that denigrates unions, it seems the most powerful unions are those of police and prison guards, who defend the crimes against humanity committed by some of their members, no matter what. These unions make sure records of past brutality are not available to govt or media. Now that’s a damned powerful union.
The US has human rights violations record that puts us to shame among civilized nations. Yet we seem to be powerless to stop it. See past NYT editorials on more humane and rational prison systems in other advanced countries, visited by US prison officials. What was the result??
And taxpayers across the nation pay out multi millions in lawsuit compensation for a range of horrible crimes by our criminal Injustice system in America the Beautiful. Where are the cries of ‘waste of taxpayer money’? It makes a mockery of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Yet it goes on. In a country that denigrates unions, it seems the most powerful unions are those of police and prison guards, who defend the crimes against humanity committed by some of their members, no matter what. These unions make sure records of past brutality are not available to govt or media. Now that’s a damned powerful union.
The US has human rights violations record that puts us to shame among civilized nations. Yet we seem to be powerless to stop it. See past NYT editorials on more humane and rational prison systems in other advanced countries, visited by US prison officials. What was the result??
And taxpayers across the nation pay out multi millions in lawsuit compensation for a range of horrible crimes by our criminal Injustice system in America the Beautiful. Where are the cries of ‘waste of taxpayer money’? It makes a mockery of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
54
I agree - it is beyond tolerable that citizens should be sentenced to time in a dangerous situation - it is shocking that the basic physical safety of prisoners is not assured.
1