Behind These Bars

As I have tweeted, this has been an exciting time in Criminal Justice policy reform.  There have been several articles recently about prison conditions, specifically in California.  There is rampant overcrowding, thus causing what litle resources are available to be spread even thinner amongst the incarcerated.  There is one school of thought that says these people are criminals and do not deserve anything.  basically lock them up, throw away the key and the conditions of the prisons should not matter.  As you can probably guess, i am not one of those people.  Committing a crime does not suddenly make a person less human, less deserving of basic necessities.

I recently read an Editorial in the New York Times about the deplorable conditions in many California prisons.  Many incarcerated persons suffer from mental illness and the inability for prisons to address their needs is a major problem not only in California but nationwide.The article also highlights a shift in approaches to crime reduction.  Mass incarceration has done little to reduce crime, in fact it may lead to increased levels of recidivism.  Some believe that housing all criminals together can give the opportunity to hone a person's approach to crime and to in essence become a better criminal.  It is also possible that the stigma of a criminal record will lead to fewer, if any, legitimate opportunities to make money, leading to vicious cycle of crime and incarceration.

With this shift in the coverage of prisons, I am not surprised it was also necessary to show just how bad and undeserving "these people" are.  In my research, I also came across an article about  Walker posting to his facebook account.   Perhaps it is the conspiracy theorist in me, but I believe this story was brought to light to tamper or dampen the coverage of the deplorable conditions.  As if to say, well look what "they" do when given a little freedom within these bars.  

Finally, I also found an article about the language we use to discuss people who commit crime.  As a proponent of the labeling theory, I try to be cognizant of the labels we attach to people and the stigma these labels bring.  However, even in writing this post, my first instinct is to call the people about whom I am writing "prisoners".  

In the back of my mind, i always remember the quote from Sister Helen Prejean "What if we were all defined by the worst thing we had done."