The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

• Profit motive— the profit motive that permeates society affects the punishment sector as well. The State and counties contract out for medical services, provision of meals, clothing, canteens, and so forth. In order to please shareholders, corporations must achieve growth. Empty cells do not generate profits.

• Mass round ups of immigrants and non-citizens— who in 2003 made up 40 percent of federal prisoners. The state and counties receive $75-100 per day per detainee from the federal government.

• Dragnets in low income communities— in which dozens of poor people and people of color are arrested. For example, when the new Chicopee women's jail was proposed, sweeps of sex workers in the Springfield increased.

The majority of these arrests are for low level offenses or outstanding warrants and impact the taxpayer far more than the offense. For example, a $300 robbery resulting in a 5 year sentence, at the Massachusetts average of $43,000 per year, will cost $215,000. That doesn’t even include law enforcement and court costs.

• The “War on Drugs”— In 1975 the U.S. prison population was a quarter of what it is today. Before that, the prison population had been level for over 5 decades. Today 70 to 75 percent of people in prison are drug war prisoners. Drug use, arrest and incarceration rates, along with data on sentence length, show that people of color bear the brunt of this “war.”

• Severe cuts in public health funded detox beds and treatment programs— In the last three years the State’s detox beds have been cut by over 60 percent. Western Massachusetts is particularly impacted. There are now no detox beds at all in Hampshire or Franklin counties. Lack of facilities forces individuals to travel far from their communities and support systems to receive treatment. Treatment programs that allow for mothers to bring their children are few and far between.

• Transfer of funds from social services and infrastructure into prison budgets— Over the last three decades budgets for social services have been slashed, while Department of Corrections and County Sheriffs’ budgets have continued to swell. When new prisons and jails are built the money to run them must come from somewhere. Social service funding is a big source. People are incarcerated for “crimes of poverty.” Here we can see the direct link between cuts in social services and increasing prison and jail populations.
CORI’s vicious circle

• Criminal Offender Record Indicator (CORI) Laws— Though CORI’s original stated intent was to protect the privacy of those with criminal records, today it has the opposite purpose. Businesses, landlords, educational institutions and others have access to a person's criminal record. Nearly 1/3 of all individuals in the State are thus marked for life. With a criminal record it is now nearly impossible to obtain legal employment or subsidized housing. People are forced into illegal or underground employment— perhaps the same that gave them a record in the first place—just to provide for themselves and their families.

• Mandatory Minimum Sentencing—This was supposed to eliminate racial and other bias in sentencing. Studies show that racial disparities remain and may even have worsened as a result. These laws ensure that jails and prisons will be overcrowded, as judges and administrators have no leeway to release inmates to lower the prison census.

• Raising classification of offenses—Longer sentences for the same offenses means larger prison populations.
Parole and bail abuses

• “Policing” of parole and probation—Many people are sent back for very minor, technical violations of parole or probation. Parole officers frequently impede successful reentry rather than support it.

• Denial of Parole— Parole reduces the prison population; each prisoner who is denied parole occupies a cell.

• Unaffordable bails —Many in prison and jail are low-income, and often unable to afford bail. Time spent awaiting trial can exceed the sentence if found guilty. So some people will plead guilty with a sentence of time served and a criminal record (CORI) in order to be released.

• Overburdened court systems— Public defenders are over-worked, underpaid and therefore unable or unwilling to mount a vigorous defense.

• Poverty— Elimination of programs, funding cuts and policy changes in social services. With no access to resources people turn to the underground economy to feed themselves and their families, thereby creating prisoners. Examples are:

* Elimination of Massachusetts' 200-year-old General Relief Program for poverty-stricken single men and women
* Severe cuts in Assistance to Families with Dependent Children, AFDC
* Slashing of welfare rolls

• Cuts in services to those diagnosed with “mental illness” — Massive de-institutionalization closed down the State’s “mental hospitals,” but the State budgeted inadequate resources to assist those it had abused for decades. Few resources exist to help people deemed mentally ill to find employment and housing. These folks are now experiencing re-instutionalization—this time in prisons and jails.

• Increasing Homelessness— There is less public housing and fewer housing vouchers, while CORI excludes those with criminal records.

• Job flight and outsourcing— Without concurrent job replacement, “globalization” means fewer legitimate job opportunities for everyone.

• Para-militarization of local law enforcement— Local police operate more and more like occupation armies rather than community peacekeepers.

• Criminalization of trivial acts — People are now busted for behaviors and conduct that a generation ago were not deemed appropriate for arrest.

• Criminalization of youth by “zero tolerance” policies— Young people in our state are being refused a public education because of “zero tolerance” policies. In the past a student might have been given an after school detention or an in-school suspension. Now students are suspended from school for long periods of time or expelled altogether. The most accurate predictor of who goes to jail or prison is the lack of a high school diploma.

• MCAS— Due to the cost of out-of- school assistance to increase the likelihood of passing this mandatory test, many low-income students, mainly people of color, do not finish high school. Many students drop out when they fail to pass in 8th or 10th grade because they believe they are unlikely to get a diploma.

• Closing of minimum security prisons and building of more and higher security prisons— The worst of these are the new “SuperMax” prisons, where prisoners are held in isolation for long periods of time, under conditions which are considered to be torture under international law.

• Cutbacks or elimination of programs and policies proven to reduce recidivism —Out-of-cell time, family visiting hours, educational, vocational and peer programs, furlough, GED teachers, library and gym access, elimination of good time for all but two of the remaining programs.

• Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) - “...there is growing evidence that the Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a contributing factor to high rates of recidivism,” says a recent report. The cruelty of guards and staff is a big problem. Besides physical violence, those in prison are subjected to verbal abuse and ridicule for anything from participation in programs, to sexual preference and gender identity.

PIC is a reality for as many as 70 percent of prisoners. It is a cluster of symptoms caused by incarceration. Impacts are learned helplessness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, development of anti-social personality traits “as a coping response to institutional abuse,” as well as severe harms due to use of sensory deprivation.

We must also point out that Massachusetts ranks second in the U.S. in the ratio of staff to prisoners— 1 to 2. Because of the good salaries and benefits available—like $60,000 to 71,000 excluding overtime pay and 52 paid days off per year—pressure to have more of these destructive jobs, and therefore prisoners, will continue.

The examples above demonstrate a negative use of law and policy. Law and policy should be an instrument for the people, promoting social, political and economic justice rather than state repression and violation of civil and human rights.

http://bridgenews.org/news/082006/crowdjail