The "Criminal Justice System"

In supermax prisons, 23 hours a day of solitary confinement is the norm. How our prison system become so cruel?      [3-24-08]

Jessica Pupovac, an adult educator and independent journalist living in Chicago, reports on AlterNet:

Imagine living in an 8-by-12 prison cell, in solitary confinement, for eight years straight. Your entire world consists of a dank, cinder block room with a narrow window only three inches high, opening up to an outdoor cement cage, cynically dubbed, "the yard." If you're lucky, you spend one hour, five days a week in that outdoor cage, where you gaze up through a wire mesh roof and hope for a glimpse of the sun. If you talk back to the guards or act out in any way, you might only venture outside one precious hour per week.

You go eight years without shaking a hand or experiencing any physical human contact. The prison guards bark orders and touch you only while wearing leather gloves, and then it's only to put you in full cuffs and shackles before escorting you to the cold showers, where they watch your every move.

You cannot make phone calls to your friends or family and must "earn" two visits per month, which inevitably take place through a Plexiglass wall. You are kept in full shackles the entire time you visit with your wife and children, and have to strain to hear their voices through speakers that record your every word. With no religious or educational programs to break up the time or elevate your thoughts, it's a daily struggle to keep your mind from unraveling.

This is how Reginald Akeem Berry describes his time in Tamms Correctional Facility, a "Supermax" state prison in southern Illinois, where he was held from March 1998 until July 2006. He now works to draw attention to conditions inside Tamms, where 261 inmates continue to be held in extreme isolation.

A policy alert from the Episcopal Public Policy Network 

"The sad reality is that many children born in minority communities today are ... on a 'cradle to prison pipeline'. When we see how simple it is to get them on a 'cradle to college pipeline', it is tragic, and much more costly to society, economically and socially if we don't do so." – Episcopal Congressman Robert Scott (D-VA)

The United States has the largest prison population in the world – 2.2 million in state and federal prisons and millions more in local jails. Incarceration without effective re-entry programs is inhumane for the prisoner, unsafe for communities, and expensive to the taxpayer. According to recent testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, prison costs are estimated at $200 billion each year.

S. 1060, the Second Chance Act of 2007, which passed the House this Fall by an overwhelming vote of 347-62, would invest in prisoner reentry programs that have helped released prisoners learn how to lead productive lives and reduced the likelihood that they will return to prison. More and more states are trying this approach, but they need federal assistance. Your voice is needed to urge the Senate to take up this important piece of legislation.

650,000 ex-offenders will be released this year. Two-thirds of them will commit new crimes within three years and go back to prison. The Second Chance Act will coordinate federal, local, state and faith-based efforts to help ex-offenders return to their communities. Unfortunately today most ex-offenders do so with few job skills, inadequate drug treatment, insufficient housing, a lack of positive influences and few mental or physical health services.

Investing in re-entry and training programs is a wise use of public funds. The Episcopal Church and other communities of faith have a long history of ministering to prisoners both during and after incarceration, and we have seen the benefit that training and services provide.

CLICK HERE to contact your Senators and urge them to support S. 1060, the Second Chance Act of 2007, when it is brought to the floor.

NOTE: The form letter is worded as coming from an Episcopalian, but you can edit the letter to reflect your own situation.

Harmon Wray, who invested 40 years of his life in prison ministry, teaching, and advocacy for criminal justice, died suddenly on July 24 in Nashville, TN.

An active United Methodist, he was involved in the Southern Prison Ministry and Tennesseans Against the Death Penalty, and served from time to time at the state and national levels of the United Methodist Church, working on various social issues.

Read his obituary in the Nashville Tennessean >>

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Gene TeSelle, who taught with him at Vanderbilt Divinity School, calls him "a major figure, nationwide, in prison and death penalty reform."

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Stacy Rector, Executive Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, issued this statement about his life and witness, just before his death:

In Memory of Harmon Wray

Harmon Wray, a tireless crusader to end the death penalty, suffered a massive stroke yesterday and will be removed from life support this afternoon. Harmon was an organizing member of TCASK and has been relentless in his work to end the death penalty in our state.

Harmon was a champion for prison reform and upholding the dignity of those who are incarcerated. As a teacher and author, he educated countless numbers of people concerning the myriad problems with our current criminal justice system. As adjunct faculty of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Harmon created and coordinated a class at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, comprised of both Vanderbilt students and inmates. Harmon was also a founder of the Restorative Justice Coalition of Tennessee, seeking to transform the current criminal justice system from a system primarily focused on punishment to one which facilitates healing and restoration. Most recently, he authored, Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for our Failed Prison System.

Harmon was formerly with the Tennessee Conference Correctional Ministries staff of the Methodist Church and the General Board of Mission. Harmon continued to be an active member of Edgehill United Methodist Church.

Harmon Wray followed the way of Jesus to the end, still giving of himself, even in death as an organ donor. He took Jesus' call to visit the prisoner to heart and spent his life as a fierce advocate for those who are incarcerated. I count him as a mentor and a friend, and today my heart is very heavy as I cannot imagine the world without him. Still, I know that Harmon's spirit will remain with us and will continue to inspire all of us as we struggle together to end the death penalty in Tennessee.

This past Sunday night at a dinner, Harry and Karan Simpson took this picture of Harmon. It is a beautiful picture that captures the grace and good will that he emanated every day of his life.

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For a review of his book:

Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System, co-authored with Laura Magnani, reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, click here.
(Fortress Press Paperback, $13.00; ISBN: 0800638328)

October 2002

As crime rates fall, prison populations rise

Proportion of black men imprisoned continues to rise

[10-30-02]

As did many major newspapers across the country, The New York Times and The Washington Times each reported the results of a study recently released by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) about the prison population in the United States. The August 28,2002 headline in The New York Times reads: "Study Finds Big Increase in Black Men as Inmates since 1980." The August 27, 2002 headline from The Washington Times stated simply: "Population Increases in Corrections System."

The study confirms what we have been hearing over recent years: there are more black men behind bars than there are in colleges and universities across the nation. According to the conclusions of the JPI Study, there were 791,600 black men in jail or prison and 603,032 enrolled in colleges or universities.

The numbers from 1980 indicate that at that time there were 143,000 black men in either jail or prison, while there were 463,700 enrolled in higher education institutions. Overall, the number of men and women in U.S. prisons and jails was 2.1 million in the year 2000. It was just a quarter of that number (502,000) in 1980.

Some justice advocates attribute the increased numbers partially to the growth of the prison industry; a kind of 'if you build it, they will come' conclusion.

Others have said that it is due to the increase in drugs. But the figures from the Department of Justice show that only 20 percent of those incarcerated are there because of a drug crime. Additionally, 50 percent of the state prison population is incarcerated because of a violent crime.

The overall growth in the prison industry is seen as far out-pacing any further developments or enhancements in the education system. Often the jail or prison structure is in better physical shape than is the school facility. We are more likely to hear our elected officials debate in favor of increasing spending on institutions of incarceration than we are to hear a debate about increasing spending on education.

This is one of those issues where advocates for justice in sentencing may want to watch both their state level budgets as well as the federal budgets. Jails are generally pre-trial institutions and are usually funded out of county-designated funds. Prisons are state or federal institutions after sentencing, and are funded from state or federal funds.

Currently, there are approximately 6.6 million people in the U.S. correctional system. This means that one of every 32 adults is either behind bars or on probation. Of this number nearly four million people were on probation in the year 2000. Even though crime rates are down, incarceration rates are up.

The U.S. Department of Justice maintains a Bureau of Justice Statistics. By going to its web page, advocates will find statistical information that can be used in letter writing. (See http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs)

A sampling of such information follows:
* Serious violent crime levels continued to decline in 2000.
* Property crime rates continue to decline.
* Violent crime rates declined for both males and females since 1994. Rates for men and women are getting closer in recent years.
* The number of arrests for drug abuse violations increased from 1999 to 2000 for both juveniles and adults.

The number of adults in the correctional population has been increasing. In 2001, nearly 6.6 million people were under some form of correctional supervision, including:
Probation - court ordered community supervision of convicted offenders by a probation agency.
Prison - confinement in a State or Federal correctional facility to serve a sentence of more than one year.
Jail - confinement in a local jail while pending trial, awaiting sentencing, serving a sentence that is usually less than one year, or awaiting transfer.
Parole - community supervision after a period of incarceration. Only adults who are on parole supervision or other form of conditional release.

More than half of the increase in State prison population since 1990 is due to an increase in the prisoners convicted of violent offenses.
* Violent offenses include murder, negligent and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, robbery, assault, extortion, intimidation, criminal endangerment, and other violent offenses.
* Property offenses include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud, possession and selling of stolen property, destruction of property, trespassing, vandalism, criminal tampering, and other property offenses.
* Drug offenses include possession, manufacturing, trafficking, and other drug offenses.
* Public-order offenses include weapons, drunk driving, escape/flight to avoid prosecution, court offenses, obstruction, commercialized vice, morals and decency charges, liquor law violations, and other public-order offenses.

Trends in Federal Investigations/Prosecutions
* The proportion of those convicted in Federal court that is sentenced to prison has been increasing.
* Of cases concluded in Federal district court in every year since 1989, there have been more drug cases than other types of cases.

Trends in Felony Convictions in State Courts
* Almost 928,000 adults were convicted of a felony in State courts in 1998.
* Of the felons convicted in State court, more than two-thirds were sentenced to prison or jail in 1998.

Correctional Trends
* The number of adults in the correctional population has been increasing.
* More than half of the increase in the prison population since 1990 is due to an increase in the prisoners convicted of violent offenses.
* After dramatic increases in the 1980s and 1990s, the incarceration rate has recently leveled off.
* The number of prisoners on death row has been increasing.
Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, white inmates have made up the majority of those under sentence of death.
* In 2001, 66 inmates were executed, 19 fewer than in 2000.

Expenditure Trends
* Direct expenditure for each of the major criminal justice functions (police, corrections, judicial) has been increasing.
* The number of prisoners on death row has been increasing.
States spend more on criminal justice than municipalities, counties, or the Federal government.

For more information, charts, and statistics, go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs. Also, you can view the yearly compendia.

Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 2000, 8/02. Describes all aspects of processing in the Federal justice system, including numbers of persons prosecuted, convicted, incarcerated, sentenced to probation, released pretrial, and under parole or other supervision. NCJ 194067
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1999, 4/01. NCJ 186179
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1998, 5/00. NCJ 180258
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1997, 10/99. NCJ 176328
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1996, 1/99. NCJ 172849
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1995, 3/98. NCJ 164259
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1994, 3/98. NCJ 163063
Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1993, 10/96. NCJ 160089

GENERAL ASSEMBLY POLICIES

For more information, contact:
Elenora Giddings Ivory,
PC(U.S.A.)Washington Office,
110 Maryland Avenue, NE, #104,
Washington, DC 20002.
202-543-1126, fax 202-543-7755.
Email eivory@ctr.pcusa.org.

The Justice Policy Institute comments on their new report on the growing American prison system: "State Spending on Prisons Grows at 6 Times the Rate of Higher Education".

The Washington Office adds: As federal and state budgets are debated, you may want to contact your elected representatives at all levels of government to register your opinion on this issue. Before you go to the polls this November, you also may want to see what your candidates have said regarding spending on education and spending on prisons.

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More African American Men Incarcerated Than Enrolled in College; African American Imprisonment Worsened During the "Good Times"

Washington, DC - A new report shows that during the 1980s and 1990s, state spending on corrections grew at 6 times the rate of state spending on higher education, and by the close of the millennium, there were nearly a third more African American men in prison and jail than in universities or colleges.

The report, Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men, provides state by state analysis of corrections and higher education spending, and is the latest in a series of reports by the Justice Policy Institute to show the fiscal impact of the nation's overuse of prison as a solution to social problems. Between 1985 and 2000, the increase in state spending on corrections was nearly double that of the increase to higher education ($20 billion versus $10.7 billion), and the total increase in spending on higher education by states was 24%, compared with 166% for corrections. Cellblocks or Classrooms? also reports that in 2000, there were an estimated 791,600 African American men in prison and jail, and 603,000 in higher education.

"This report underlines the sad reality that the nation's colleges and universities have lost budget battles to the growing prison system," states Vincent Schiraldi, JPI President and report co-author. "With harder economic times ahead, we need to find a way to responsibly reduce this country's reliance on expensive prisons so that we don't bankrupt our institutions of higher learning."

Drawing upon data from the National Association of State Budget Officers and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Cellblocks or Classrooms? shows that as corrections expenditures have grown, state spending on higher education has not kept pace with increased spending on prisons. Between 1985 and 2000, spending on corrections doubled or tripled in most states, while only one state doubled its higher education spending in real dollars.

As corrections assumed a larger share of state spending, the burden for paying for college has shifted to students. From 1980 to 1998, tuition and fees support for higher education have risen at 8 times the rate of state support. For low-income families, the cost of paying for tuition at a four-year institution increased from 13% of their income to 25%. Pell Grants cover far less of the total cost of tuition than they did in the 1980s.

"The dramatic tradeoff between growing prisons and shrinking classrooms is outrageous," said United States Students Association President Jo'ie Taylor. "American students will not tolerate the prioritizing of unnecessary prisons over our education. The United States Students Association opposes budget policies that hurt students and African Americans, and demands that states give schools the resources they need to provide fair access to education."

The progress made in improving African American access to college has been eclipsed by the growth of the nation's African American male incarcerated population. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, Cellblocks or Classrooms estimates that between 1980 and 2000, 3 times as many African American men were added to the nation's prison systems than were added to colleges during the last two decades. In 2000, there were at least 13 states where there were more African American men incarcerated than in college. From 1980 to 2000, JPI estimates that 38 states and the federal system added more African American men to their prison systems than they added to their respective higher education systems.

"It is sad that our states are finding it easier to contribute more to incarcerating our men and women and creating a downward spiral of poverty and destitution rather than investing through our educational system to create an upward spiral of accomplishment and achievement," said Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. "The NAACP sees a direct link between the spending trends of the states and the plight of African American men today, and we are committed to correcting these misplaced priorities."

The report suggests that states could lift some of the fiscal strain of enlarged corrections systems by choosing new policies that would reduce the expensive emphasis on incarceration. In the last year, a diverse group of states in all regions and with governors and legislatures of all parties have enacted legislation to end mandatory minimum sentencing, reform the nation's drug laws, reduce probation and parole violations, and defund the construction of planned prison expansion.

Cellblocks or Classrooms? will be released on August 28^th.

A summary of the report, plus the full text and statistics by states, are on the web site of the Justice Policy Institute, http://www.justicepolicy.org/coc1/main.htm

The principal authors of the report were Jason Ziedenberg, Associate Director and Vincent Schiraldi, President, Justice Policy Institute. This report was funded by a generous grant from the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute. 

The Justice Policy Institute is a project of the Tides Center. For more information on the Justice Policy Institute, please visit our website at www.justicepolicy.org.

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