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June 13, 2006
A Hard Look At Hard Time
Just a few days ago, a distinguished and diverse blue ribbon commission issued a unanimous report on the state of prisons in America today -- Confronting Confinement. The findings are troubling, to put it mildly.
Some 2.2 million Americans are currently incarcerated in 5,000 prisons and jails across the country -- the highest percentage of a nation's population in the world. As state governments continue to enact "tough on crime" legislation, incarceration rates rise accordingly. We build more prisons and lock up more people, stretching resources so that prisoners are increasingly warehoused in hugely overcrowded facilities.
On a positive note, the report cites a significant decrease in deadly prison violence from decades ago, and lauds individual successes in current American correctional work. Clearly, there are bright spots which should be highlighted and replicated wherever possible.
Non-lethal violence, however, remains an enormous problem in American prisons, as do the spread of infectious diseases, poor overall health care and lack of constructive, rehabilitative activities for inmates.
The report stresses that while most Americans have little to no perception of what actually happens inside U.S. prisons, the goings-on have a profound effect on public health and safety, and society on the outside.
The bipartisan committee also found that too many people are being incarcerated today (many for non-violent drug possession crimes), a disproportionate number of them African American and Latino.
The report paints a unflattering overall picture of the state of American corrections today, and challenges us to take a hard look at hard time in this country, and how we can improve things.
Posted by houtopia at June 13, 2006 10:11 PM