Prison Politics

This blog shares and creates commentary about mass incarceration in the United States. While my focus is the incarceration experience of immigrants in the US, I also post general information about prisons to elucidate the historical context that enabled the imprisonment of immigrants. I will also discuss what's already being done to combat mass incarceration and suggest an original action plan.

[thepeoplesrecord]

Solitary confinement torture by the numbers:

81,622: Number of prisoners in solitary confinement across the United States in 2005, the last year for which the federal government released data

11,730: Number of inmates held in isolation in California prisons today

7: Percentage of California inmates who are in isolation

39: Percentage of inmate suicides that happen in isolation units

78: Percentage of Security Housing Unit (SHU) inmates not classified as gang “leaders” or “members”

$12,317: Extra annual cost to taxpayers for each prisoner in the Pelican Bay SHU

11’7” x 7’7”: Dimensions of a SHU cell at Pelican Bay

6’ x 8’: Dimensions of the average American home’s walk-in closet

51: Percentage of Pelican Bay SHU inmates who have spent at least five years in isolation

89: Number who have been in solitary for at least 20 years

1: Number who have been there for 42 years

[austinmeowdodge]

Ferguson protestors in Boston chanting “Black Lives Matter” & “We See You” outside the local prison. (11/25/2014)

[childofzami]

…Slavery was a system of “corrective violence.” Colonialism was a system of “corrective violence.” Apartheid was a system of “corrective violence.” Jim Crow was a system of “corrective violence.” Reservations are a system of “corrective violence.” Deportation and detention centers are “corrective violence.” Correctional violence is violence performed by individuals who are representatives of the state (read white men); it is used to correct the non-state sanctioned violence performed by deviant bodies. The U.S. leads the world in number of prisons in operation and of citizens incarcerated. The U.S. legal, policing, and prison systems—justice systems—are systems of “correctional violence.” Black, Brown and Native men, and oftentimes Black, Brown and Native women are always deemed the deviant bodies in need of policing and correcting… The history of racial violence in this country necessitates attention. It requires that we connect each gunned down Black man with each—raped woman of color, beaten and harassed Trans person, Muslim person called a terrorist and stripped of their civil rights, and every U.S. deportee. Race is a thing and an issue because it has been made that way by systems of corrective violence.”

Vanessa Lynn Lovelace, On Ferguson’s Protests and It’s Occupation (via daughterofzami)

[prisonreformmovement]

LOCKED UP IN AMERICA

LOCKED UP IN AMERICA

Two hard hitting, raw and real documentaries by PBS/Frontline.

Solitary Nation aired April 22nd – it can be viewed  online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/locked-up-in-america/#solitary-nation

Prison State airs April 29th on your local PBS station or online at the link above. 10pm est. Check your local listings.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/locked-up-in-america/#prison-…

View On WordPress

[globalprisonpol]

Panel Discussion: Mass Incarceration in the US

Preview and download the podcast University General Academic Lectures on iTunes. Read episode descriptions and customer reviews.

Two weeks ago, I organized a panel discussion about mass incarceration and immigration detention in the United States. The discussion took place at Pace University and featured the following panelists: Farrin Anello, Christopher Malone, and Michael Mushlin. If you click on their names, you can read about each panelist's experience within the field. I was able to get the video uploaded on Pace University's iTunes page, where people can view it for free. Enjoy!

[globalprisonpol]

[globalprisonpol]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) immigrants held in immigration detention facilities are 15 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than their heterosexual counterparts, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP).

-Taken from this article

The article also refers to "instances of transgender detainees being referred to as 'he-she' by immigration officials, not receiving proper medical treatment and LGBT detainees being kept in solitary confinement as a protective measure by ICE to attempt to keep the detainees from being sexually assaulted."

Something else: "HIV-positive detainees are at very high risk of not getting the right treatment, the study notes. Victoria Arellano, an HIV positive female transgender detainee, died in 2007 in a men’s mass detention cell because she was refused medical attention and treatment. Transgender detainees are also frequently denied hormone treatment while detained."

I selected these three quotes because they highlight the importance of identity and perception, specifically how identity is perceived.

[globalprisonpol]

ACLU: Women in Solitary Face 'Unique Harms'

A new American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) policy brief calls for solitary confinement policies in women’s prisons to account for key differences between males and females. The brief notes that a higher percentage of women than men face prison for non-violent crimes and imprisoned women a...

[globalprisonpol]

In Wyoming as well as around the country, jails and prisons operate as de facto mental health facilities, treating a disproportionately high number of offenders with mental illnesses, substance abuse issues and often both. That reliance on the criminal justice system means Overfield and others with mental health problems often find themselves in a revolving door of incarceration and hospitalization, a harrowing experience for individuals and a costly burden on communities and justice facilities.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/the-revolving-door-wyoming-reliance-on-jails-for-mental-health/article_b5792c78-2613-5417-a77d-b3ae8ee10c97.html

[factecards]

1 in every 25 people sentenced to death are innocent. From 1973 to 2004 out of 7,482 people sentenced to death 317 were innocent and would have been exonerated. - http://factecards.com/1-every-25-people-sentenced/ - see more factE Cards at - http://factECards.com

[eyelaa]

[sandandglass]

Jon Stewart and Matt Taibbi discuss the different treatment afforded to ‘street’ and white-collar criminals. 

[globalprisonpol]

Like other welfare institutions, the prison was conceived to rescue the citizenship of the unfortunate, the poor, and the deviant.

-Bruce Western, Punishment and Inequality in America

In the introduction to his book, Bruce Western discusses the origins of the prison system in America as a tool of moral rehabilitation. Prisons were places for offenders to become morally correct and ultimately re-enter society as reformed citizens. He goes on to explain that in the 1960s American politicians adapted a "tough on crime" stance that hooked working-class whites who were unnerved by the civil rights movement. The prison system has therefore always targeted the marginalized to appease the least "deviant," whether it be racially or behaviorally. It's not much different now, as evidenced in part by the high percentage of people imprisoned for drug-related offenses: 55% of federal prisoners are serving time for drug offenses versus the 13% serving for violence offenses (found here). There's also the racial disparity that supports some peoples' views that imprisonment is a tool of racialized social control. As one illustration of racial disparity: "5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites" (found here). There is clearly inequality and racism at play in the American prison system that aims to, as Bruce Western writes, "rescue" the privileged population of those perceived deviant. 

[prisonreformmovement]

A Call for October 2014 – A MONTH OF RESISTANCE TO MASS INCARCERATION, POLICE TERROR, REPRESSION AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF A GENERATION!

Click to Endorse this Call

WE SAY NO MORE!

A Call for October 2014 -A MONTH OF RESISTANCE TO

MASS INCARCERATION, POLICE TERROR, REPRESSION

[globalprisonpol]

"Alongside this has risen a massive program of criminally prosecuting undocumented immigrants, essentially hidden from public view." 

[universalequalityisinevitable]

Dr. James Gilligan on crime, revenge, and punishment, from this video.

[globalprisonpol]

Guantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's been dubbed the most expensive prison on Earth and President Barack Obama cited the cost this week as one of many reasons to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay,

In the conversation about prisons, Guantanamo seems to be the point where national and international meet. The camp belongs to the US (national) but detains people from around the globe (international). This Reuters article reports on the cost of maintaining the camp--around $150 million each year. Although Guantanamo is its own topic and can be discussed independently from incarceration rates in the US, it involves certain factors that pertain to my topic of mass incarceration: discriminatory detainment, dehumanizing treatment of prisoners, and unbearable conditions. A huge difference is that the conditions and treatment in Guantanamo are torturous; therefore, I can't completely compare the two. The similarity I want to highlight, though, is the US government's role in both of the prison systems.

I find it telling that the focus of the article is the financial implications of maintaining the camp--there wasn't any mention of closing down the camp because it represents extreme human rights violations. The article reminded me of this editorial from the Houston Chronicle. The editorial is about Texas's prison reform; the state introduced alternative treatment centers and programs that ultimately cut down the prison population.  I think it's great that Texas reduced its prison population, but I'm disappointed that the state's motivation was financial.

[globalprisonpol]

The United States has a clear interest in regulating the entry and stay of migrants in its territory, but the mass immigration prosecutions of illegal entry and reentry often infringe upon other rights. Human Rights Watch urged the US government to impose only civil penalties on people caught crossing the border illegally and to include in comprehensive immigration reform clear avenues for people who have been deported to apply to return to the US legally. “If the Obama administration and Congress are serious about reforming immigration to protect families, they should give all people who have been deported and separated from their families a chance to prove they can contribute to society,” Meng said. “Otherwise, the government is doomed to continue spending millions prosecuting and incarcerating people with strong ties to the US.”

The quoted material is from the press release about the Human Rights Watch report “Turning Migrants Into Criminals: The Harmful Impact of US Border Prosecutions,”

Migrants caught entering or reentering the US illegally are prosecuted and imprisoned--one migrant was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for carrying false papers and returning to the US after being deported, despite not having a criminal record.

While I was reading the press release, two things came to mind:

The association some make between criminality and immigrants

xenophobia/nativism

Historically, the US has enacted legislation that restricts immigration from certain countries: the Chinese Exclusion Act, various quota laws, the USA Patriot Act, and more. Supporters argued that immigrants from certain countries were more likely to be criminals, but it seems like the primary reason behind the restrictions and quotas was to maintain an "American" America. I think that the same motivation is at play today, as is the same cover-up. Research has shown that natives are more likely than immigrants to commit crimes, so the fear of criminal immigrants isn't validated by evidence. It seems that the US subscribes to nativism, or the stance that a country should maintain its "native" population (which is hypocritical, given that the true natives of the US were relegated to second class citizenship). In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander discusses the theory that the US is disproportionately incarcerating minorities as a way to filter out of mainstream society people who are poor or of color. I think some might say that the xenophobia present in immigration laws achieves the same result.

In the conference that I organize for my action plan, I will ask speakers to discuss the history of American immigration legislation and to suggest ways of challenging entrenched xenophobia.