Almost fifteen years ago, I walked into a prison for the first time, and since then, the current state of our prison system had been of great and heartbreaking interest to me. I wrote a little about my thoughts, feelings, and experiences with all this in locked down light back in 2010.
And recently, I have had a new surge of energy in this area. I've been job searching on and off for the last couple years, looking for a meaningful and interesting new start to my career. In the process, I've opened up and explored a huge variety of possibilities, and a couple months ago, I applied for and accepted a position as a case manager in a local jail. Although the pay wasn't great, it had the stability and benefits I wanted, and it felt like an opportunity to do meaningful work that would channel my compassion for incarcerated people into something productive.
I lasted two days.
The PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) talk and the prison tour culminated into a stomach turning reality check. I could not possibly handle being in this environment day after day. The smells, the overcrowding, the human beings caged up for huge parts of the day with one or two other people in rooms the size of a typical bathroom...I wanted to cry or just scream "how can we call this humane!"
I was in a facility holding mostly people who had not even been convicted. Any one of us, no matter the legality of our actions, could be accused of a crime. And the unfortunate reality of our criminal justice system is that convicted isn't really synonymous with guilt; just take a look at all the exonerations of people after decades of serving time. Guilty or innocent, this is no way to treat other human beings.
Although I felt moved to action, I chose my mental well being and walked away from the job. But I started researching and thinking about possibilities for shifting the horrid direction of mass incarceration and inhumane conditions in our prisons. In this, something occurred to me.
I started here: Why Scandinavian Prisons Have Less Recidivism. For me, this article was heartening and opened up some optimism that at least somewhere in the world a different approach is taken. Then, I came across this: Prison Firm CCA Seeks to Reduce Number of Repeat Offenders, and an idea started coming together.
What if one of our for-profit prison companies could be convinced to build a prison much more like one of these Scandinavian prisons? What if it was built to compete with the overcrowded and violent facilities throughout our nation? What if this company used the project to study the recidivism rates in different types of facilities? What if judges across the country were moved to send offenders here for a more rehabilitative period of incarceration? What if this started to shift the cycles of recidivism and the ever-increasing prison population?
Many states (19, I think) outlaw the use of private prisons, and just a few minutes searching the topic of private prisons reveals the skepticism and disgust in the public perception of these facilities. I don't know whether this public opinion reflects reality because of the lack of studies on whether the conditions in the private prisons are really worse than in the publically run facilities. My own gut says that there isn't much of a difference, and the distaste comes from the fact that these prisons are making a profit.
But lately, I've started challenging that assumption that the profit motive only instigates greed and corruption. (A book that started opening me to this view is Be The Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems.) Either private or public, there's a ridiculous amount of our tax dollars perpetuating this cycle. Could the for-profit motive lead to greater efficiency in the spending of those dollars? Could it lead to more creative solutions, more creative ways of connecting the greater good with a profit? Could this bottom line motivation actually be helpful in instigating change? Is it possible to start a revolution here in the for-profit sector that stagnant government bureaucracy couldn't possibly accomplish?
I'm inclined to say, yes.
Thoughts? I invite any and all ideas, by email, message, or comment below.
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