California Prisons Will Still Churn Out Failure

Yesterday I heard a news report that the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the California prison system to reduce its population by tens of thousands. That's a big deal for all residents in the state of California. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about its prospects for meaningful prison reform.

I expect the powerful lobbyists who represent the prison system will manipulate the ruling in ways that threaten public safety. Doing so would be in their best interest. I know that sounds illogical to people who have not been trapped within this system. But America's prison system has deteriorated into a gulag that thrives by perpetuating failure.

Instead of releasing prisoners who have worked hard to earn their freedom through merit, those with an agenda of securing high prison budgets at the expense of taxpayers will use a different approach in determining who gets out. I expect them to implement changes that will release those who have played the game of corrections, feigning their way through ridiculous programs that don't have any relationship to success upon release.

Prisoners who have worked toward earning meaningful academic credentials, built strong networks of support with law-abiding citizens, and demonstrated their commitment to leading law-abiding lives should expect resistance rather than encouragement. The system doesn't perpetuate itself by releasing such men. It makes its argument for growth by releasing prisoners who revert to criminal activity.

When thousands of prisoners return to prey upon society, then the lobbyists can bring the argument back to legislators. They'll argue that they need bigger budgets to lock more people in cages for longer periods of time. By manipulating the news, they will scare voters into sacrificing more resources from health care, from education, from other social services in order to feed the prison beast. And the cycle of failure will resume.

I'd like to see things with less cynicism. But 24 years of continuous imprisonment convinces me that no one wants the flood of public funds pouring into prison budgets to stop. The Supreme Court decision may have been a temporary setback, but the diabolical minds behind the prison machine will engineer mechanisms that ensure the failure factories continue.

 

 

 

Follow Michael Santos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/prisonreform

Comments

[politicky]

09:36 PM on 05/27/2011

Our. Whole. System. Is. Broken.

[Mark Anthony Given]

09:45 AM on 05/27/2011

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while. -Albert Einstein
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[richmck]

06:49 PM on 05/25/2011

The Supremes did Governor Brown a real favor. His re-alignment will just shift low-level offenders occupying 48,500 expensive prison beds back to the counties, saving a billion annualy even after the State reimburses the counties for housing costs. The low-level offenders are in prison only because of the county jail shortages. The counties will have to use contract beds, something the unions have always oppossed. It is a great move.

[Pray4Peace]

11:32 PM on 05/24/2011

With this ruling California can once again become the great state and land of opportunity we once admired. We can use our votes and be vigilant to ensure this opportunity for real change is not surrendered to fear mongering politicians and those out to make a buck off tax payers and prisoners.

FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Who profits from failed criminal justice and horrifically overcrowded prisons that are bankruptiing states across the nation?

District attorneys and prosecutors who are promoted for winning cases and harsh sentences at any cost;

Tough-on-crime scare tactic politicians hoping for votes;

Guard employee unions;

For-profit-contract-bed-privatized-corporation prisons that profit NOT from reforming people, but when the recidivism rate goes up;

Parole department in California where everyone released is on parole;

Three strikes law that sends people to prison for 25+ years over petty crimes like stealing a pizza;

The bail bond industry that benefits from unnecessary criminal justice practices that increase incarceration;

Rigged line-ups that get faulty convictions and promotions for law enforcement;

Requirement to check prior-arrest/conviction boxes on employment, government, and rental applications for those who have been crime-free for years;

The list goes on.....

[dbrett480]

10:54 AM on 05/25/2011

The law-abiding citizens have benefited due to surprisingly low crime rates in an era of high unemployment.

[Scott Zwartz]

07:26 PM on 05/25/2011

No, not really. You've been drinking the Kool Aide and don't know it.

[dbrett480]

08:55 PM on 05/24/2011

Is it a shocker that prisons turn out failures when that is the only thing that goes into prisons?

[FearlessFreep]

04:33 PM on 05/24/2011

Sadly, "get tough" policies don't HAVE to work.