Imprisoning Our Own: 8 Shocking Facts about American Incarceration
The United States calls itself the land of the free, but you’d never know it from looking at our justice system. In fact, even a cursory review of the direction of our dollars will make any reasonable person wonder what this nation’s goals are for incarceration.
To resolve our great economic, environmental, and psychological woes – to shake out systemic ecological ills – will take an empowered, educated nation. I don’t know if the question is “Can Obama do it?” so much as “Will we remember that we can?” Like many of you, I’m very hopeful that we can draw upon our strengths and work together to implement meaningful changes in the coming months and years – before it’s too late. The prison system is yet another illustrative example of why we must rethink our priorities.
For every U.S. dollar spent on higher education, 60 cents are spent on corrections.
We have the highest number of prisoners per capita (1 in 140), and the absolute highest number of people behind bars in the world (over 2 million people).
With over 2 million Americans in jail or prison, we’re half a million ahead of China, whose population is quadruple ours. Supersize it!
Not exactly #1. For being the most prosperous country in the world, education spending in the United States ranks a paltry #38 in the entire world, lagging far behind Jamaica, Denmark and Cuba…which holds the top spot. Yes, Cuba.
And who are these heinous criminals anyway? One fifth of prisoners are locked up for non-violent personal drug charges. Incarceration is frequently for marijuana or painkiller use; if that seems arbitrary, you’re not alone in being confused. (We don’t seem to learn from our mistakes, however. Remember Prohibition?)
It costs between $20,000 and $30,000 per person, per year to keep someone behind bars, and about $65,000 for senior citizens. You could easily send a few deserving kids to state college for that much money.
You can bet someone is making money off of this: our government contracts management of prisons to private corporations. Corporations need to turn a profit, and the more prisoners they have, the more money they’ll get. It’s big business.
It only makes sense that prisoners receiving education behind bars are less likely to return to a life of crime upon release. Why not spend more on education in the first place? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
We have some big choices to make as a country: it’s clear that education can help to prevent an individual from entering a life of crime. It’s also clear that non-violent drug charges have imprisoned a great many Americans at high taxpayer cost, and the War On Drugs has long been considered a failure. What is the real purpose of prisons anyway: containment, rehabilitation or profit?
Editor’s note: What are your thoughts regarding this information? What changes would you like to see enacted?
At EcoSalon, we believe that living green is part and parcel of a larger cause: one that champions ecological wellness in its full meaning, seeking to integrate all the different aspects of life into a sustainable, thriving whole. Last weekend’s shopping trip, tomorrow’s dinner, today’s interactions with others – “going green” is just one function of being in balance. Ecological sustainability requires that we always seek to examine purpose. And that’s why, when we learn information like this, we believe it is vital to bring it into the conversation.
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19 Comments
December 29th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I’d like to see prisoners start earning their food and clothing in chain gangs and prison factories. Tax payers should NOT be paying for their room and board when they’re perfectly capable of doing hard, manual labor.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Obviously you know little about what actually goes on in prison Gabe. For your information prisoners do have jobs, often times they work for corporations that take advantage of the fact that they are not required to pay prisoners a valid wage. While I myself was inside we did a tremendous amount for work for KOHLS and made a measly wage (about 40 bucks a month) Which you do use to buy shoes, food and clothing. Its a sad fact that most Americans really have no idea how corrupt the prison system actually is. Do some research next time before you go spouting off things you know nothing about..
December 29th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
My shocking fact, which really only affects me, is that I touched the deathbed here in Texas. It’s located in Huntsville, where I went to college. On a whim, I took a tour of the prison, and they took us into the execution chamber… small, turquoise room with a white bed in it. I touched where the head goes. It sent chills up my spine.
I hope I never enter that room again.
Jeff F.’s last blog post..Early Voting in Texas
December 29th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Well, I hope that the United States was #1 at imprisoning American citizens rather than another country. >_>
December 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
We have to
get out of this
two party
land lock
Many don’t
understand how true
progress will be made
and that’s by passing
the
national
initiative
for
democracy
and by
petitioning
for progressive
initiatives
to show up
on the ballots
when will progressives learn the lessons?
the regressives
already know
all about
it
they’ve taken away
gay rights
in
just
this
same way
but we don’t react
we don’t fight
back
it’s sad we’re so crippled
we seem
unable to act
http://ni4d.us/
December 29th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
How about a ‘tax’ card on pot? Charge fifty bucks for three months, put the money into social security or lsimilar institution (95 million smokers per month in US = near 19 billion dollars…dang! Is that right?) boost social security, lighten the load off prisons, not to mention the nine to twelve billion dollars a year spent on a losing drug war.
berry connell’s last blog post..
December 29th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
But berry, that would make sense!
Not into it myself, but I’d sure love to see it legalized, regulated, and taxed to the hilt. It would reduce crime, increase tax revenues, and help the environment, among many other benefits.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
What we need isn’t reform… Prison “reform” is an oxymoron. Modern prisons have served an important purpose for certain interests since the 1960s — when economic crises and lobbying forced the government to drastically reduce/abandon corporate taxation, there was no longer a tax base for Great Society and New Deal programs used to support/co-opt marginalized impoverished groups like minority single mothers. Historically, however, these groups are prone to cause problems and revolt, and this also became an issue in the 1960s (the Watts riots were the first BLACK-instigated race riot). So what does the United States do with its surplus humans? This increasingly becomes a problem as globalization forces jobs oversees and creates more people with no place in US society? Solution: Lock em up — you can even boost local economies with prison-building contracts and by hiring guards and other contractors. Two birds with one stone! The US will never seriously tackle the prison issue. I believe in prison abolitionism — incarceration has NOT always been the way society has dealt with marginalized groups and ‘criminals’… Prison abolitionism is about finding alternatives (better education, [mental] healthcare, decriminalization of drugs) to vastly reduce the number of incarcerated and actually challenge the government and corporate interests that make up what many call the contemporary ‘prison industrial complex.’
For a great summary of the critique of the contemporary US prison system and an outline of prison abolitionism, check out Angela Davis’ 100-page “Are Prisons Obsolete?” http://www.amazon.com/Are-Pris.....amp;sr=8-1
December 30th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Do your homework Gabe.
Most prisons in the US fully utilize low to medium security prisoners for a lot of labor, in most cases there is a minimum of 8 hours per day six days a week. It is not possible in most circumstances for them to “earn” their food or housing because it is expensive for the supervision and extra security needed while they work.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Prohibition doesn’t work, so legalize all drugs. Then set up monopoly where the government is the only legal seller of these drugs – keep the price of them low, manufacturing them is dirt cheap after all. Spend the income on social services and medical care for whoever gets addicted.
That will allow that fifth of people who are incarcerated to be released, it will further reduce the number needing incarceration as the whole drug dealer slice of criminals would vanish overnight, and it will free up all those cops currently working on maintaining the prohibition to deal with actual violent crime and similar things.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Legalize! Legalize! Legalize! Being reminded that our country is wasting so many resources makes me both sad and angry. Pot smokers are sitting in jail for smoking pot?! It’s just weird. I don’t smoke pot but I don’t care a kadoodle if you do. I don’t care if you do meth or crack, although I prefer that you not have kids if you do meth or crack. But the fact is that there are all kinds of situations — growing up with an addict of alcohol is no fun either.
The point is: if we are a free country we need to allow people the freedom to make their own mistakes. We can help them be educated about their choices and recover from their choices by doing exactly what crOft suggests and that is legalizing all of it and then taxing the heck out of it while still underselling the illegal distributors. When we put the drug cartels out of business by using simple capitalistic principles (the same way China took away the US ability to manufacture little things) we will be striking a blow for freedom and putting our country on the road to recovery itself.
SPREAD MORE OF THIS INFO. Ask the question: Why are drugs illegal? Why. Let people make mistakes. Drugs don’t kill people. People kill themselves with drugs sometimes. Oh well. They also slip and fall when they run around the edge or a swimming pool. We don’t outlaw pools because some people drown — we just hope people will be good swimmers.
Keep on with this!
I’m ready for action. I’m ready for candlelight vigils or even torches in the streets.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Right now, in Canada, crimes are committed to get into prison for the winter months by many. During the (GRD) great republican depression, many will find street life and Anarchy out there too hard to bear, and will commit smaller crimes in order to gain the warmth, security, shelter and regular food of prison life. Until the prison system is made less bearable, large hoards of would be street people will invade prisons and perhaps even reform them from within! the GRD has a few surprises for the general, middle class American citizen, hunger and lack of security among them! See ya in the slammer folks!
December 30th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Guess Gabe never heard of Sherrif Joe and his Tent City. Some people just yap without backup.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
We need a justice system and not a vengence system. We throw people’s lives away for 5, 10, 20+ years for crimes of morality. Using drugs is a moral, social and economic issue. Locking up the supposed victums of drug use is the rediculous. It burdens the tax system, it marks the user for life with a record that will keep them in fast food quality jobs, and it institutionalizes the behavior of these people. We need to put drug use under other moral behavior. If you do it, you suffer the natural consequences of use.
When one considers the problems of marijuana use for instance, it is clear that the most dangerous aspect of it’s use is getting caught by law enforcement. If you died from marijuana, you would be the first human to die from THC in it’s 5000+ years of recorded use. There is no lethal dose of this substance. Yet there are many that died from law enforcement of prohibition of marijuana. Bullets are far more dangerous than pot.
We hang on to this destructive policy for many reasons; entrenched beurocracy, religious self-richeousness, and established industry that does not wish to compete with such a versatile product. It can be made into more paper per acre than trees and it grows in 3 months. The paper lasts longer and taxes no toxic chemicals, unlike tree paper. It can be made into boards, extremely durable clothes (the original canvas genes were made with cannibis plants), biodiesel, various household soaps and other chemicals. It can do much of what petroleum can do, but we can’t grow the crop because it is illegal.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:44 am
Legalize all drugs, but call it decriminalization, a more acceptable term to those people who have been brainwashed by Republicans (reelection) and others who gain some benefit from having higher prison populations. I am an addictions counselor/mental health professional and I know that about 50% of drug addicts have mental illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, etc., etc.). Treatment would better serve these people and society as well, than incarceration, which only exacerbates mental illnesses. Another fact that most people don’t know, but that should be in the fund of general knowledge: Most addicts suffer from PTSD caused by horrific physical, emotional, or sexual child abuse.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Chain gangs? Geesh Gabe what are you 100? Way to prove once again “think before you talk”. Prisoners do earn their wage in fact some prisoners only make $0.25 an hour working 8 hour days 6 days a week. I assume you can do the math. Figure that into having to buy food, clothes, stamps, envelopes, shoes, and still pay their restitution. Some of the jobs are mechanical or being a welder or some kind of shop so again you are wrong. Keep in mind some of the people in there are just trying to get back on the right track because they know it’ll be that much harder for them to get a job with someone like you around.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I have read these posts and I am smiling about them now. Some of you are well intended and others don’t have a clue about today’s prisons. The biggest problem with regard to why the prisoners go back, is the same reasons that got them in there in the first place.
Drugs & Intelligence, or lack of it. The world that they are released into today is not a very friendly place for those that are considered “blue collar” type. This past spring I spent six weeks in MS trying to help my youngest son find a job. He had just been released from the MS DOC after serving four years. He had a previous four years in an IN. prison.
When you speak about training while in prison, he spent more time behind bars than a lawyer spends in college. The website for the MSDOC looked good as to classes he could take while inside. So how many did he take? None. He was not allowed because he had a gun charge 20 years ago when he was 18. When I asked him did he learn anything inside? He thought about it a while and turned his head like the RCA dog, and answered, “I learned close to 300 ways to cook Meth”. So now he is trained. You will learn while inside, I like to call prison as the “College of Crime”.
During the six weeks I was there we had at our disposal, cell phones, my laptop, fax & mail in for applications. We went to job fairs, the MS state Employment Office, Headhunters that I paid $180.00, & Free Temp services. He applied to 134 different places before getting a job that paid $7.50 hr. When I said applied for I mean that we called, went to, faxed a resume to, and went in person. Every one of these he did a follow up within the following seven days.
I left there on 3/30/08 and he quit the job and left there the next day. He is now “In the wind” as they say he violated his parole and he will have to keep looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. When they catch him, he will have to go back and do the rest of his sentence which is18 more years.
In today’s world, and in MS, you need to get a drug test, criminal background search, and I think a full body cavity search in order to get to the $7.50 rate. I met some of his friends and they all worked for the same temp service at $5.50 per hour. This is the same temp service that my son worked for when he first got out. He operated a Bulldozer, a Backhoe, welded and ran a boring machine to tunnel under Interstate 55. He made $5.50 while the temp service charged $17.00 to the contractor for him. The temp service charged my son $5.00 a day for transportation to work.
I don’t think that we should throw open the doors and let all prisoners out of prison. There was a reason they got put in there in the first place. If nothing else, they didn’t play well with others out here. Should they be punished for their behavior? I think so, but just don’t punish them for life for their sins. Don’t punish their families along with them. If your family member calls you from prison it has to be collect, and the charges were in my son’s case $21.00 for a 15 minute collect call. Why so much? The prison gets a kick back from the contractor who does the phone service.
Senator James Webb VA will be starting a bill in the next Senate session to improve prisons. I wish him well, or should I say, I wish him luck. It is hard to make any changes when we are governed by 50 states doing things 50 different ways.
I will be contacting Sen. Webb soon to see if I can help him, or if he can help me as I start a new website to address the conditions in prison. I do not know at this time if I will make it just a blog or a full website. I purchased the domain name yesterday (InsidePrisonWalls) and it was my New Year resolution to get it started.
I have researched and set up a database with the necessary information to contact all 50 of the state DOCs in the US. I will ask them what their goals are in regard to how they handle their prison populations and how do they think they are doing in reaching these goals? I will start that in the next couple of weeks.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Good luck to you, Richard. What your son needs, I think, as an outsider, other than a humane justice system, is a kind of ‘de-prisonification’ to help him get his head on straight; a sort of detox to wash all of the indoctrination out of his system. People should have the right to work in this country. We live in a deterministic world, and we have to burn and destroy the our almost religious allegiance to ‘personal responsibility’. We are *all* to blame for your son’s misfortune. They say that he got released from prison, but he really didn’t, if you know what I mean…
Good luck with your website and always remember: the tide is rising…
February 1st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
This nation has been waging a war on itself for over a hundred years, starting back when the Chinese where banned from importing opium in the late 19th century. An estimated 6.2 billion dollars in revenue could be made from the legalization and taxation of Marijuana alone. This country spends huge anounts of money to punish the sick. It’s sad to say, but the term correctional facilitie is an oxymoron.
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