From: "Wahome, Kimamo" <WAHOMEK@uwec.edu> Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:04:54 -0600 Subject: 'Child Poverty & How to Stem America's Prison Madness' Message-ID: <E3F0E607B3CF71418CE725F002B5F604415A56CEF7@CHERRYPEPSI.uwec.edu>
Published on Friday, February 29, 2008 by The Huffington Post<http://www.hu
ffingtonpost.com/dan-brown/child-poverty-and-how-to-_b_89103.html>
Child Poverty and How to Stem America's Prison Madness
by Dan Brown
Criminals, especially violent criminals, must be punished appropriately for
their actions. Many deserve to go to jail.America has followed this simpli
stic rationale for decades, and our prison population has ballooned to an a
ll-time high. A jarring New York Times story<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02
/28/us/28cnd-prison.html> reports that 1 in 99.1 Americans is currently beh
ind bars. The cost for keeping them there last year was $44 billion, and th
at price is expected to rise to nearly $70 billion by 2011.
These out-of-control statistics are a national disgrace.
America's disproportionate investment in corrections rather than prevention
maintains what the Children's Defense Fund aptly calls the "Cradle to Pris
on Pipeline<http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=c2pp
>." This system is a terrible short-term and long-term investment, both fis
cally and in lives.
In the short-term, corrections expenses eat up a massive portion of state b
udgets. The Times reported, "On average, states spend almost 7 percent on t
heir budgets on corrections, trailing only healthcare, education and transp
ortation." States are forced not to fund other, critical programs because o
f the inflexible expenses of keeping the prison system running as is. For e
xample, programs to strengthen schools or improve neighborhoods - programs
that would help to steer kids away from crime - are scuttled to fund jails.
In the long-term, more and more people will go to jail (as many as 1 in 3 A
frican American males at some point in their lives), destroying an untold n
umber of families. Expenses on corrections will continue to soar, nudging o
ut of the budget more and more of other possible programs.
Without a substantive national effort to help at-risk kids find a path to h
ope and achievement (No Child Left Behind pays farcical lip service to this
), many are falling needlessly into lives of crime and incarceration. Maria
n Wright Edelman wrote<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/
from-school-yard-to-priso_b_73079.html>, "High school dropouts are almost t
hree times as likely to be incarcerated as youths who have graduated from h
igh school." We need to address the root cause of why many people commit cr
imes-that they feel as though they have no better options.
Many poor black or Latino men commit crimes years after they give up on sch
ool and themselves. This tragedy does not have to persist for future genera
tions. We can make changes to provide support and better options for childr
en before they are sucked onto the criminal path.
We can do more to make those better options available at the critical, earl
y stages of life. Let's invest as much in vaccines as in hospital beds, so
to speak, so that the future can hold promise for everyone. As a double bon
us, we'll also have less crime and a lower tab on corrections costs.
The Children's Defense Fund assembled a thorough and important report on th
e Cradle to Prison Pipeline and how to dismantle it. Here are their top rec
ommendations<http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=c2p
p_report2007>:
* Ensure every child and pregnant woman in America health insurance for all
medically necessary services now.* Lift every child from poverty by 2015;
half by 2010.
* Get every child ready for school through full funding of quality Early He
ad Start and Head Start, child care and new investments in quality preschoo
l education for all.
* Protect all children from neglect, abuse and other violence and ensure th
em the permanent families they need when their families break down.
* Make sure every child can read by fourth grade and can graduate from scho
ol able to succeed at work and in life.
* Provide every child safe, quality after-school and summer programs so the
y can learn, serve, work and stay out of trouble.
* End child hunger through adequate child and family nutrition investments.
* Ensure every child a place called home and every family decent affordable
housing.
* Ensure families the supports needed to be successful in the workplace, in
cluding health care, child care, education and training.
* Create jobs with a living wage.
It's hard to argue with the final lines of the report's recommendations:
"Repealing and not extending the tax cuts for the top one percent of the we
althiest taxpayers could provide $57 billion of the entire estimated $75 bi
llion policy agenda listed above. The war in Iraq already has cost over $45
0 billion through 2007."
We can do this if we want to. Both Democrat presidential candidates have sp
oken of the need to make the American Dream reachable for everyone. They mu
st continue to speak to these points directly. All we need to make this hap
pen is the will from our electorate and our leaders.
Dan Brown is the author of the Bronx teacher memoir, "The Great Expectation
s School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle<http://www.amazon.com/
dp/1559708352?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&cr
eativeASIN=1559708352&adid=17PXFGWK0T1SXQKQC3C8&>."
From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu [mailto: [mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.e
du] On Behalf Of Drumm, Daniel L.
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 3:11 PM
To: sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu
Cc: 'Mary Weil'; 'Ken@Fulgione.net'
Subject: Incarceration Nation
Something about this recent jail discussion bothers me.
I understand and completely agree that placing criminal justice facilities
along the river does not fit into our comprehensive plan, or any sane notio
n of zoning for our city's future. It seems an obvious blunder to highlight
our downtown with a detention facility, no mater what the façade.
Is this NIMBY or criminal justice reform?
I have to wonder how many opposed to the riverfront site were actively work
ing on or even concerned about our detained population before this issue. I
repeatedly hear "it's clear that we need a new facility." It's clear to me
that if we need the new facilities, it is due to our lack of action on cri
minal justice issues in the past. I understand the 11th hour concerns and t
he need for immediate action. I do not want to hinder that effort in any wa
y, but I have to question if we really do need this jail anywhere. In my op
inion, the only people we need locked up are those who present a danger to
themselves or others. If we do not have the space for pot smokers, then we
shouldn't be holding them. The U.S. nonviolent prisoner population is large
r than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska. Anecdotal reports he
ard by county board members are that 80% of our jail inmates are there for
alcohol/other drug/mental health issues. 80%!
Is a jail really what we need?
If we care less about the people in our jail than where we put it, I say pu
t it in the most conspicuous place possible - along the river front, in pho
enix park, in the mall, wherever it will be seen - hiding the problem is ju
st another façade.
Alternatives:
There are any number of possible early intervention programs, sentencing al
ternatives, electronic monitoring devices, counseling and educational progr
ams, and treatment programs available to us. Unfortunately there is little
money for these alternatives. This is reminiscent of the "need" to build di
rty coal fired power plants because, even though we should invest in clean
alternatives, "we need electricity now". When the dirty coal plant or the
jail is built, the alternatives are forgotten, or marginalized for lack of
funds. For example, last year the Sherriff was allocated $50,000 to put to
ward electronic monitoring - a program he apparently doesn't like. Nothing
was done for eight months, and then he requested to roll the money over int
o the jail meals budget! Only when that request was denied did the electro
nic monitoring program increase. I understand Eau Claire County now only av
erages 14 people with electronic monitoring devices. We currently have an e
xtremely under funded drug court which has the capacity of little more than
a dozen people a year.
Uninformed Consent:
The County Board approved the jail expansion without information they reque
sted on the jail population. The study finally completed shows jail popula
tion demographics, recidivism, etc. The study by some branch of the Nation
al Institute of Corrections was recently completed and a presentation was g
iven to those who were notified and able to fit it into their calendar give
n the three days notice. I understand there was only a small number of 'the
public' present. Apparently we are not interested. (or once again, did not
get notice) I'll try to have this study up on a website soon, and I'll em
ail the link. It might be on the county website sometime next week also.
Stats, Further Reading
The US has one-quarter of all prisoners on the planet (now over 2,300,000).
Only Communist China, with its immense population, comes close with about
1.5million. (world prison population list<http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds
/pdfs2/r188.pdf>)
One in 100 Americans in Prison: Study<http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022
808R.shtml>
Wisconsin leads the nation in the percentage of its black inhabitants under
lock and key.<http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/Black-In-America14jul05
.htm>
WI's Shame: Highest Youth Minority Incarceration Rate in US<http://crawford
stake.blogspot.com/2007/01/wis-shame-highest-youth-minority.html>
Dan Drumm