25. January 2010 by Rev Young.

There have been many articles released recently on the laws that condemn youth to prison, the conditions and abuse in prison and the practice of solitary confinement in the United States.  If we take all of these articles (links below) and fit the pieces together to create a picture of prison in America…..we violate all standards of a civilized nation.  In addition, if we look at the impact that these institutions have on our communities, states and nation we are creating a cesspool of decay. 

I, along with many other concerned citizens, will be attending a conference on prison cost and the impact on our state.  I do not think we have stopped to realize the far-reaching impact that prisons will have on our nation for the next twenty years IF WE INCACERATE NO ONE ELSE IN THAT TIME.  The tough on crime laws, the mandatory sentencing movement and the long prison sentences that have been handed out over the last 10 to 20 years will impact our state budgets for many years to come.

We have been filled with propaganda from our legislators and district attorney’s concerning the severity of punishment that was needed to stop crime in America.  There policies, laws and incarceration practices have not stopped crime and have created a new community of citizenship in this country.  The “forever” criminal.  Those who have served time in prison will never have that information erased from their life history.  This is not implying that it would be erased from memory.  That will never happen.  What I am talking about is the large number of citizens that will carry the label of felon or inmate for the rest of their lives.  This means that they are not eligible for work in most companies.  This mean that they cannot provide for themselves and their families.  This means that we are creating a large sector of our society that will always be at risk of failure. 

The prison system itself does not teach the person they are holding how to become a better citizen.  The system does not create more stable people.  The system does not give people better coping skills, education, job skills or relationship skills.  Instead the system further breaks down the person they are holding.  Now I must be fair and state that some facilities in this country have begun looking for better prison practices and have incorporated successful programs in their facilities that assist people in becoming successful in the future. 

As a citizen of this country, I no longer want to pay for a system that does not produce positive results.  As a citizen of this country, I do not want to continue supporting laws, practices or institutions that threaten the ability of my community to be healthy and vibrant.  As a citizen of this country, I do not want to continue building prisons that destroy humanity while being unable to fund education, rehabilitation or elder care.  I want a better solution. 

I do not see the benefit of long prison sentences in prison that do not rehabilitate their charges.  I do not see the benefit of tough on crime laws that have not impacted crime rates and have only created a portion of society that has little or no chance of leading a successful life.  As a citizen of this country, I do not want to be responsible for the torture, abuse or death of people who are in the care of the state and therefore in my care. 

Sometime ago, I announced that Senator Webb had introduced a bill that called for the investigation and reporting on the condition of the criminal justice system in America.  We are poised and ready for change.  We need change. 

Senate Committee Passes
National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009

The bi-partisan National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 (S. 714) was passed out of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary today by voice vote. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) would create a commission to conduct a thorough evaluation of the nation’s justice system and offer recommendations for reform at every stage of the criminal justice system.

The establishment of such a commission could not come at a more critical time. With 2.3 million people in prisons and jails, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Federal and state governments spend more than $50 billion each year on corrections, and the population behind bars continues to grow.

ADULT TIME FOR STEALING A PACK OF GUM FROM ANOTHER TEEN
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/15/connecticut.juvenile.ages/

WHEN LIFE IS CRUEL http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-lwop14-2010jan14,0,4639361.story

JUVENILE SEXUAL ASSAULT IN PRISON  http://www.justicefellowship.org/what-is-restorative-justice/justice-fellowship-resources/14157-twelve-percent-of-juveniles-in-custody-are-assaulted-sexually

BATTLING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT  http://solitarywatch.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/americas-most-isolated-man-sues-the-bureau-of-prisoners/

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16. January 2010 by Rev Young.

As reports and strategies for 2010 on issues that concern our communities continue to come forth, I want to try and help us connect the dots.  Most of the time we tend to focus on our particular area of interest and passion when we should be stepping back to look at the landscape around us. 

This week a conference was held to release numbers concerning the deaths of children as a result of abuse or neglect in the state of Colorado over the past seven years.  The article was titled “Colorado’s Number of Shame” 179 children killed from abuse and neglect over the past seven years http://www.denverpost.com/billjohnson/ci_14162798source=rsshomecol#ixzz0cMQm0uMW  This was an editorial written by Bill Johnson who attended this conference.  Thank you for your report.  I want to add that you may be able to find statistics for your state by accessing the report from Every Child Matters http://www.everychildmatters.org/images/stories/pdf/wcdb_report.pdf.

The Denver Post article goes on to report that in fiscal 2008-9 there were 76,000 reports of child abuse and neglect.  The state investigated 1 in 3 of these reported cases and of those investigated only 22% received child services.  The report goes on to give statistics concerning the future outcome for those children that suffer in a place of neglect and abuse.  The article lists high school drop out rates, teen pregnancy rates and the instance of homelessness.  However, the impact and devastation is further reaching and continues to impact and burden our state.  More on this in a minute.

The other facts that are very evident to many who deal with children, is that the risk for failure in a child can be spotted at an early age.  There are education professionals that will tell you they can discern as early as the first grade whether or not a child will complete high school.  The will tell you that they can spot the evidence of neglect in a home.  They can tell you which children come from a home where there is a lack of parental supervision or interaction. 

We also know, from extensive case study and reports, that children who come from a home where there is drug and alcohol abuse are at risk of becoming addicted themselves at an early age.  We know the things  experienced in the home become the social patterns of these young children for the future. 

The next step on this path of failure for these young children is often through prison doors.  Those who come from addicted or neglectful homes often turn to drugs and alcohol.  This leads to addiction and securing ways to feed their addiction.  In the state of Colorado, 66% of our prison population is there because of drug related crimes.  If you are dealt with in a violent manner in your home, you learn to deal with stressful situations with violence.  If you grow up in a home where rules are broken, where the things that are not supposed to happen to you DO happen, you do not learn right from wrong.  Let me emphasize that statement because it is very important for us to hear and understand.  There has been much discussion and controversy over the ability of a young person to make adult decisions and be held accountable as an adult for their actions.  First and foremost kids are not adults.  They do not have the mental capacity to live past, or see past, the events that are right in front of them.  This is true of a “normal” adolescent that has been raised in a positive environment.  Now add to that immaturity, the impact of being raised in an environment where violation of right and wrong is an every day occurrence.  They are not taught nor have the ever experienced the difference between right and wrong.  They are told that abuse is wrong (from outside sources) but it happens in their home.  They are taught (in school) that drugs are bad and can lead to a life of destruction but it is an everyday occurrence in their home.  They are told and disciplined for the use of violence to solve problems but that is how problems are solved at home. 

The lack of focus on juvenile reform issues, addiction treatment and child protection has resulted in a bulging prison system.  We take those who have been neglected, abused and unprepared for successful futures and confirm their lack of worth by condemning them to prison.  Our focus has been on “tough on crime” policies.  We may be better served by focusing on the health and welfare of the members of our community. 

The problem we face now is how to stop this destructive cycle and make positive changes.   The Department of Human Services will tell you that the reason they cannot investigate and care for all of these children, is because of a lack of funds.  The educators will tell you the reason they cannot have more influence in a child’s future, is because of a lack of funds.  The juvenile delinquency professionals will tell you that the reason they cannot serve all the children in need, is because of a lack of funds.  Addiction treatment centers will tell you that the reason they cannot treat those with an addiction problem, is because of a lack of funds. The prison system will tell you that the reason they cannot focus on reform and re-entry is because of a lack of funds.  Our state is broke.  Most states are broke and most states could not afford to increase the funding to these organizations to meet the needs of their population. 

We need renewed social responsibility.  Not in the form of government programs but in community based centers that create new revenue streams.  I will give you an example.  I know of a man who opened a florist shop.  He, himself, only took a salary from the business.  He employed people who had served time in prison and helped with re-entry for these individuals.  He took the profit from his business to fund an organization that helps offenders transition from prison to their communities.  I know of people who have created businesses that created jobs for homeless people, single mothers and former offenders and the profit from these businesses purchased affordable housing that was also available to those in need. 

If we are going to find solutions to the problems we are faced with and the budget crisis in our states, we are going to have to be creative and innovative.  We have the skills, the knowledge and the resources.  Do we have the tenacity, the strength and the heart?

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8. January 2010 by Rev Young.

Before the beginning of every year, organizational presidents, vice presidents and board members sit around the table trying to develop a winning strategy for the coming year.  It is the same in the world of advocacy.  We review the past season’s accomplishments and the items that we could not check off our list.  We look at the current political climate, the agendas of other organizations, we toss around the general feelings of the public, count the opposition and start a new plan. 

The story is always the same, the debate is always the same and it is always based around the current political climate.  We feed off of each others catch phrases, we hire experts to help us frame our message appropriately so that we reach a wider audience and we try to ascertain who our allies are.  These are all good strategies if we are trying to work within the constraints of the political process. 

As the course is set for the coming year, there are statistics to consider.  These are not figures reported in the countless documents that are generated concerning the size of our problem.  The consideration should be the individuals that become the statistics in these reports.  As we develop strategy’s and confer with each other concerning the politically correct message that will cause change, our prison population ages.  As we agonize over words, pictures and messages, 14 year old kids are being sent to adult prisons.  As we divide the lists of politicians into “friend or foe” people are abused, mistreated, abandoned and condemned to a life in prison.

If we are to have any impact I believe we need a new language and a new level of awareness.  This is not about political process, government agencies or any of the old rhetoric we have become so accustomed to using.  This is about people, reality, honesty and justice.  We need to be prepared to speak truth and accept truth. 

In October of this past year, a 14 year old boy was arrested and charged with killing his parents.  In Colorado the District Attorney has the sole authority and right to decide whether or not this young man should be charged as an adult.  He was.  Then the court was left with the problem of where this kid would be housed.  The arguments were heated and loud as the judge tried to decide whether or not to send this young man to county jail where he would be held in solitary confinement during the course of his proceedings and trial.  We are a country that declares you are innocent until proven guilty yet we are willing to subject a possibly innocent person to cruel and unusual punishment.  Even if this child is guilty of the crimes he is charged with, did it ever occur to anyone that he was in need of serious help?  14 year old kids do not kill out of evil malice, only adults with an agenda do that.

Because we, as advocates, have been met with hostility and vehement opposition from victims advocacy organizations and District Attorney’s, we have softened our stance, our language and learned to re-present the truth in a more palatable manner.  It has not worked.

We need to start by stating the facts.  Our current criminal justice practices have not worked in preventing crime, it has only increased crime.  We have 7.3 million people under the authority of the department of corrections in the United States.  A system full of, and fraught with, criminals and instances of continuing criminal acts.  These acts are acts of violence between inmates, abuse inside of facilities, drug use and corruption inside of facilities as well as the crime against the human spirit which causes a break down of social skills.  If you take the current rates of crime, add our current prison population and then add the population of people who will carry the label of criminalfor the rest of their lives, we are creating a large population of criminals through our laws and practices.  Instead of allowing individuals to serve penance for their wrongs, helping them to find healing for themselves and those they have wronged and restoring our communities from destruction into prosperity, we are choosing to live in brokenness…..forever.

In order to see change come, we must become bold in our statements.  We must confront our authorities with the truth of the consequences of the laws in place.  If we believe that we are innocent until proven guilty and that is the law of the land, then we need to hold our authorities accountable to those laws.  If we believe that these are broken children who are in need of intervention and that we are judged by the treatment of our children then we must hold our law makers accountable for their protection.  We can no longer afford to be cautious and calculating and we must be prepared for opposition.  The cost is too great….destruction of our nation…..poverty and brokenness….human life. 

  Instead of “tough on crime” or “soft on crime” rhetoric we need to confront our policy makers with the human cost of incarceration practices to the citizens of this country.  Instead of juvenile justice reform policies we need to speak of child protection policies, rehabilitation policies and the future of our nation.  Instead of emphasizing crime rate statistics we need to emphasize criminal reform statistics.  We need new language new bench marks and new strength.  When confronted with victims advocacy organizations we need to be prepared to speak of the pain and loss that our current policies hold them captive to and that healing is for everyone…even them if they choose it. 

I challenge all of us to look again at the challenges we face as advocates and see those challenges from a new perspective.  Look at them with fresh eyes and maybe this year we will leave a legacy behind instead of a wish list for next year.

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7. January 2010 by Rev Young.

At the beginning of 2009 there was much optimism in the juvenile justice reform arena.  There was much to anticipate with a brand new president and a new focus in our country which was to reform the nation and get us back to something reasonable. 

This past year gave us small victories and more frustration.  With the needs of the entire nation reaching crisis stage, we did not make the headway that we desired.  I want to tell you that many of the answers and changes we need lie in criminal and juvenile justice reform.  The reason for this statement is this:  If we can begin to look at the people of this nation as individuals, with needs that can be answered, to make our nation stronger as a whole, we will get back on course. 

Our leaders, for several decades, have worked to divide this nation.  The right against the left.  The good against the bad.  The wealthy against the poor.  We have become a nation divided and we have lost our focus.  The strength, value and contribution of each citizen creates a strong community.  The strength, value and contribution of a community creates a strong state and so on.  We have lost the value of each member of this nation. 

I met with a young lady just before the new year celebration.  I went to visit her in a large women’s prison facility.  She was nervous as this was our first meeting and she wanted to leave me with a good impression and the understanding that she truly wanted to change the course of her life.  I traded small talk with her to ease her countenance and slowly she began to tell her story.  It began with the loss of her mother to cancer at the age of 13.  Her mother literally died in her arms.  Her father found solace in a bottle and this young girl would have to track down her father in bars to get money for food for the children in the house.  No time and no person to help her process her own grief, anger or loss, there were her siblings to consider.  By the time she reached 18 she was off and running to find her own “medication” and comfort.  This course of therapy brought her to prison and left her own very young daughters without a mother. 

This young woman is now faced with the future and how she will find the resources she needs to become a strong and contributing member of our community as well as the mother her daughters need her to be.  She has the heart for it.  She has the desire to make things right in her life and she realizes the mistakes she made.  Yet her success is limited by many factors, the first being the grief, loss and anger she has walled away for so many years.  In prison, you don’t get to be real.  In prison you don’t have the opportunity or the safety that allows you to be vulnerable enough to deal with the issues that caused the infractions in the first place. 

Will she make it?  In addition to the personal issues, she must also face the fact that her record will follow her all the days of her life and that our current employment practices will count her undesirable in the workplace.  She will be faced with the rigors of probation, the barriers of finding suitable housing as many apartment complexes and landlords will deny her for her record.  She will have to find her way through the paperwork necessary to re-establish her identity and her ability to find transportation.  The challenges are huge and the help close to non-existent. 

You might think that this is not your problem.  You might wonder how this effects the well being of our community and the strength of this state and the nation.  The PEW charitable trust released a report last year entitled “1 in 31″.  The number of people currently accountable to our Department of Corrections system in this nation has reached critical mass.  We are at the point of no return unless we change the way we look at crime and punishment.  “Adding up all probationers and parolees, prisoners and jail inmates, you’ll find America now has more than 7.3 million adults under some form of correctional control. That whopping figure is more than the populations of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego and Dallas put together, and larger than the populations of 38 states and the District of Columbia. During Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, 1 in every 77 adults was under the control of the correctional system in the United States. Now, 25 years later, it is 1 in 31, or 3.2 percent of all adults.”  http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=49694&category=74

That number, 7.3 million, is staggering, but when you multiply that by the number of people impacted as the result of the incarceration of one person, it is even more staggering.  On average the incarceration of one person directly effects the lives of at least 6 other people.  That is 43,800,000 people affected.  It impacts their finances, their responsibilities, their futures and their well being.  Now do you see the problem? 

The state of Colorado, where I reside, has the dubious honor of reporting that 1 in 29 people are currently under the authority of the department of corrections.  Our recidivism rate hovers around 51 to 53 percent.  Why do they fail and return to prison?  Many reasons but mostly, because we set them up to fail. 

This cycle of brokenness, debilitation and weakness has to stop if we are going to strengthen our communities.  The question is, how do we get out of this squirrel cage?  How do you break this cycle?  How do we stop pouring so much money into a system that has proven itself to be inadequate, at best, and destructive, at worst? 

That will come in future articles.  First, in order for you to get a clear picture of the challenges we face, I suggest you read this article from the Colorado Springs Independent titled “From Freedom To Failure” http://www.csindy.com/colorado/from-freedom-to-failure/Content?oid=1574332  Thank you and Nice Work Guys.

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