The Prisoner's Dilemma
Tuesday April 8, 2008
See also: The Eighth Amendment
It's easy to go to prison, especially if you're poor, young, careless, and/or just plain unlucky.
That's one of the messages I took away from the final panel discussion at this weekend's ACLU criminal justice conference here in Jackson, Mississippi. The panel, focusing on recidivism, was made up largely of ex-convicts who had successfully turned their lives around, secured long-term employment, and now run successful programs to help new ex-convicts reenter the workforce. Several were ordained ministers. My recollection is that all said that they had been exceptionally fortunate to have support systems and employment prospects in place when they left prison.
In the United States, we have the world's largest prison population and one of the world's most permanent definitions of criminal status. Ex-felons are denied access to college financial aid, job prospects, loans, and other vehicles for social mobility that most of us take for granted. And while we tend to think of felonies in terms of violent crime, it isn't as difficult to become a felon as one might think--numerous drug and property offenses qualify as felonies. There are times when simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people when you're 19 is enough for a felony accessory charge that will still haunt you when you're 50.
Congress has passed new legislation, the Second Chance Act of 2008, that--once it is signed by President Bush tomorrow--may represent the most substantial piece of civil liberties reform enacted by the Democratic Congress to date. It would institute new initiatives to help ex-convicts adjust to life outside of prison, a goal that is both humanitarian and, as a means of reducing the obscenely high 67% three-year recidivism rate, practical.
To leave ex-convicts with no support network may appeal to some policymakers' alleged sense of rugged American individualism, but in real-world terms all it does is violate the rights of ex-convicts, encourage recidivism, and diminish the possibility of rehabilitation. We should remember that our nation's prisons began, under the Walnut Street model, as penitentiaries--institutions that are meant to bring about penitence. It's hard to repent when there's no promise of a better life on the other side, particularly when one has just spent an entire prison term with other, often more hardened, prisoners.
The Second Chance Act is a solid piece of legislation. In this case I have no criticism, no action alert, no cynical spin. Congress did its job by passing this necessary piece of bipartisan legislation, and President Bush will do his by signing it. More work needs to be done vis-a-vis prisoner reentry, primarily on the state and local level, but this piece of federal legislation will help protect the rights of ex-convicts while simultaneously laying down the groundwork for a lower recidivism rate. It's good, sensible policy, and good, sensible policy seldom makes it this far. Let's take a deep breath and enjoy it.
See also:
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That's one of the messages I took away from the final panel discussion at this weekend's ACLU criminal justice conference here in Jackson, Mississippi. The panel, focusing on recidivism, was made up largely of ex-convicts who had successfully turned their lives around, secured long-term employment, and now run successful programs to help new ex-convicts reenter the workforce. Several were ordained ministers. My recollection is that all said that they had been exceptionally fortunate to have support systems and employment prospects in place when they left prison.
In the United States, we have the world's largest prison population and one of the world's most permanent definitions of criminal status. Ex-felons are denied access to college financial aid, job prospects, loans, and other vehicles for social mobility that most of us take for granted. And while we tend to think of felonies in terms of violent crime, it isn't as difficult to become a felon as one might think--numerous drug and property offenses qualify as felonies. There are times when simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people when you're 19 is enough for a felony accessory charge that will still haunt you when you're 50.
Congress has passed new legislation, the Second Chance Act of 2008, that--once it is signed by President Bush tomorrow--may represent the most substantial piece of civil liberties reform enacted by the Democratic Congress to date. It would institute new initiatives to help ex-convicts adjust to life outside of prison, a goal that is both humanitarian and, as a means of reducing the obscenely high 67% three-year recidivism rate, practical.
To leave ex-convicts with no support network may appeal to some policymakers' alleged sense of rugged American individualism, but in real-world terms all it does is violate the rights of ex-convicts, encourage recidivism, and diminish the possibility of rehabilitation. We should remember that our nation's prisons began, under the Walnut Street model, as penitentiaries--institutions that are meant to bring about penitence. It's hard to repent when there's no promise of a better life on the other side, particularly when one has just spent an entire prison term with other, often more hardened, prisoners.
The Second Chance Act is a solid piece of legislation. In this case I have no criticism, no action alert, no cynical spin. Congress did its job by passing this necessary piece of bipartisan legislation, and President Bush will do his by signing it. More work needs to be done vis-a-vis prisoner reentry, primarily on the state and local level, but this piece of federal legislation will help protect the rights of ex-convicts while simultaneously laying down the groundwork for a lower recidivism rate. It's good, sensible policy, and good, sensible policy seldom makes it this far. Let's take a deep breath and enjoy it.
See also:
- Go to Jail! Go Back to Jail! (Robert Longley / About.com: U.S. Government Info)
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