That's why we have a prison abolition movement today.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2019 11:27 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Does Every Felony Sentence Need to Be a Death
Sentence?
For many years I would drop into lectures at the University Unitarian Church,
near the University of Washington. These lectures were mostly secular and
mostly Progressive. While my fuzzy aging brain has misplaced names of these
speakers, without spending time researching them, I clearly recall many of the
topics. One that has stuck with me was a discussion on whether we destroyed or
reformed people through our Penal System.
The speaker contended that we deceived ourselves by proclaiming that in
addition to denying a person's freedom as punishment, our goal in imprisoning
people would also provide opportunity for rehabilitation.
According to this man, a criminology professor, what really drove the penal
system was revenge. It was not enough to remove a person's freedom as
punishment for their misdeeds, but they were placed in a system that was
brutal. If they survived the time they were sentenced to, they were turned out
of prison a marked man(I never heard him mention female prisoners).
The speaker held out hope for true reform. He believed that we were learning
that by sending people to be punished and then turning them back into society
was counterproductive That was 64 years ago. I can say with confidence that
the good professor was dead wrong.
But we know that what we are doing with our prisoners and how we treat those
who are returned to society is not productive. In fact, we are underwriting a
system that is assisting in the destruction of our American Dream.
If we are to survive as a culture, we must replace some of our basic
institutions. Our Penial System is one. But in order to change it, we must
stop denying that it is not effective. We need to take apart the current
System along with its courts, laws, enforcement methods and release programs.
Today we have a System that is moving toward privatization, paid for by our tax
dollars. Our prison system now incarcerates the largest percentage of
prisoners than any other nation. Furthermore, the System is becoming a cheap
labor force...a slave system, but still costing American taxpayers somewhere in
the neighborhood of $60 thousand per year, per prisoner. But until we analyze
the current System and why it is the way it is, and come to an agreement on
what we expect out of our Penal System, we will continue to create more and
more disruptive behavior in our Working Class population, especially among the
unemployed, the under employed, the People of Color and the growing numbers of
released prisoners.
Carl Jarvis
On 3/9/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Does Every Felony Sentence Need to Be a Death Sentence?
By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
08 March 19
I thought that when I was released from prison in early 2015, after
blowing the whistle on the CIA's illegal torture program, I could step
right back into my life and live happily ever after. Nothing could
have been further from the truth. Four years have passed since I got
home and things still aren't back to "normal." With that said, I'm one
of the lucky ones. I have bachelor's and master's degrees. I have 20
years of government experience with the CIA and the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. I was an on-camera commentator for ABC News. But
now daily life is a struggle. I work three different jobs to put food
on the table. I'm not at all unique. That's the rule, not the exception.
Imagine, then what life is like for someone who has been convicted of
a violent crime. Imagine what it's like even if that crime was
committed decades ago, as a juvenile who has since done his time,
"reformed," and gone on to try to lead a productive life. It's just
not possible. That impossibility - the roadblocks that ex-felons face
trying to reintegrate into society - are what lead to recidivism. If
this administration or any other is serious about prison reform and
sentencing reform, reintegration, coupled with education and job
training, has to be at the top of the agenda.
I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. James Watson did
something stupid when he was 17 years old. He robbed a man at gunpoint
after taking him to an ATM machine to withdraw money. Armed robbery
is, of course, considered to be a violent crime. Taking the man to an
ATM was deemed to be kidnapping. As a result of those crimes and a
subsequent gun charge, James was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served
15 years.
During those 15 years, the teenage James became the adult James. He
took classes in prison, made restitution to his victim, and did his
time without incident. And when he got out, there was nothing waiting
for him. James tried - hard - to get a job. He was willing to take any
job. But there were none. James has a lot of friends who wanted to
help, but were not in a position to do so. He decided to travel to
Greece, and later the Philippines, to look for work. He even spent
time as a mercenary, fighting courageously alongside Syria's Kurds against
the terrorist group ISIS.
That's not a career, however.
James returned to Montana and has been on the verge of homelessness
and bankruptcy ever since. What company would hire a "violent" felon?
What apartment complex would rent an apartment to one? James thought
that he had done his time, only to realize that a felon never really
does all of his time. The punishment, the ostracism, follows you for the rest
of your life.
And in the meantime, he's getting older. His body is beginning to
break down from years trying to earn a living as a professional mixed
martial arts fighter, so hard labor is not possible. It seems that
only clemency would help him.
What does a person do? For many ex-felons, literally the only
alternative to homelessness and unemployment is a return to crime.
Don't forget that, reformed or not, ex-felons have spent years around
other felons. People in prison love to talk about their crimes and
their cases. A person can learn a lot. (In my book "Doing Time Like a
Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison," I detail
how, in 23 short months of incarceration, I learned how to manufacture
meth, how to set up a Ponzi scheme, and how to defraud the Department
of Housing and Urban Development, among other
things.) It's not the kind of education most people would want.
The bottom line is twofold: Jobs and forgiveness. There is an active
campaign across the country to "ban the box," whereby employers would
be prohibited from asking on a job application whether the applicant
has any felony convictions. That's a great idea in theory, but all an
employer has to do is to google an applicant. They don't need boxes on
applications anymore. What ex-felons need is job training and an
apprenticeship program.
Employers could receive tax credits for hiring newly-released
prisoners, training them, and giving them a job. The government,
whether state or federal, could bond them. They'd likely be on parole
or probation anyway, so the prospect of returning to prison would
probably ensure good behavior.
The tougher of the two is forgiveness. How long does society hold a
grudge against a person who has been convicted of a crime? How long
does a person have to be punished? How do people like James support
themselves without having to return to a life of crime? These are
questions that we should be asking of our elected officials. In the
meantime, if you have a job available in the state of Montana, let me know.
Email This Page
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former
senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John
became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration
under the Espionage Act - a law designed to punish spies. He served 23
months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush
administration's torture program.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work.
Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
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