At first glance, it looks like America’s incarceration epidemic is winding down.
In California, for example, inmates are being released from over-crowded state prisons and non-violent drug offenders are receiving the equivalent of a speeding ticket. Police chiefs in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and other cities, claiming long sentences do not effectively deter crime, are calling for alternatives to jail time.
And, in Washington, where we are witnessing one of the largest discharges from federal prisons in American history, the Justice Department is in the process of releasing up to 6,000 inmates serving unduly harsh sentences for drug-related offenses.
But wait. Releasing a few thousand inmates to cut skyrocketing prison costs and to fix court-ordered inhumane prison conditions does not exactly represent a sea change in America’s shameful prison culture—nor does it dismantle the network of special interests that has filled our prisons and jails with more than two million persons.
Until our fragmented, out-of-control criminal justice system adopts viable alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders, prison-mania will remain a serious threat and the recent good news may be short lived.
Let’s take a closer look at the entrenched prison culture that makes it is so easy to put non-violent people behind bars.
•Lawmakers Call the Shots. For decades, in response to popular calls for harsh penalties, elected law makers, not judges or professional criminal justice officials, have dictated who goes to prison and for how long.
•Election Politics. Fear among voters can sway prison policies.Studies show that legislatures are more prone to pass stiff mandatory minimum laws in the weeks before lawmakers face an election. In addition, elected judges in competitive districts tend to favor harsher sentences.
•Employment Politics. According to Bureau of Labor, in 2014 prisons and jails in America employed 434,000 correctional officers and jailers.And prison guard unions skillfully work the halls of state legislatures lobbying for laws that will keep their members on the job.
The combined justice systems employment at all levels of government — including police officers, court workers, probation and correctional staffers — topped more than 2.4 million in 2012 or about one person for every inmate.
•Business Politics. Private prison companies, companies that build and supply prisons with food, furniture and other equipment items, including Taser stun guns, also benefit from punitive laws that fill prisons.
•Local Politics. Public officials representing high unemployment rural areas consider prisons a prime employment opportunity for their citizens.
A recent report by Maura Ewing in the Pacific-Standard magazine tells us that a great many of the 700,000-plus people detained in 3,000 local jails are behind bars because they can’t afford to pay bail. One study found that 54 percent, or over one-half of the jail inmates in New York City, were held until their trial because they could not pay a bail of $2,500 or less. Those people are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
For decades these political and economic factors have fueled America’s prison-mania. But, since the economic wellbeing of millions of persons is at stake, ending prison-mania will not be quick or easy.
While even a large part of the law enforcement community is now convinced we can’t solve crimes by warehousing people, finding effective alternatives is not easy. About a year ago, California voters passed Proposition 47 to reduce crowding in state prisons and to treat small-time, non-violent criminals with compassion, not prison.
But, what happens when alternative programs to treat offenders with mental illnesses, homelessness and joblessness, don’t exist?
Speaking about her experiences with the aftermath of Proposition 47, San Diego police chief Shelly Zimmerman recently told the Union-Tribune, “It’s a slap on the wrist the first time and the 30th time, so we’re catching and releasing the same people over and over.”
What many of those people need is help, not prison. What is needed is a fundamental rethinking of the role of prisons in America, of who belongs in them and who does not. It is time to stop using prisons as a retributive response to all manner of crimes great and small without regard for the harm done to non-violent inmates who need help, not punishment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization. Write him at fraserr@erols.com.