The Profit in Locking Up Our Kids (Multi Billion Dollar Industry)

17. November 2008 by Rev Young.

In September 2008, Lehman Brothers declared chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This major global investment company held many sub-prime and lower rated mortgages.  As a result of the mortgage and housing crisis, this major company was forced to sell $6 billion dollars in assets.  This effort was not enough to save the failing institution.

There is an even darker side to this company, that effects us.  Lehman Brothers was also the company that tried to pull off the biggest-ever private prison bailout by helping Corrections Corporation of America refinance a $1 billion credit agreement.  Lehman Brothers also helped Cornell Corrections, the number three private prison company set up stock offers and an Enron-esque “special purpose entity” that netted the prison company $217 million in additional capital.  Lehman Brothers is also one of the largest underwriters of private bonds.  Why is that interesting?  When Colorado voters denied the state funds to build another Supermax facility, the government turned to private gold bonds to  finance the new 900 + bed maximum security prison. 

There has been, and I hope continues to be, a grassroots movement that started on college campuses to stand against corporations that promoted prison expansion.  These organizations were quite effective against Sodexho-Marriott and Sodexho’s contracts with CCA.  They actually convinced Sodexho that it was in their best interest to sever their relationship with CCA or the campus activists would drive them off the campus.  Now that is a grass roots movement!  The name of the organization?  Not With Our Money!

These companies are just a small example of the corporations that are involved in prison expansion, prison labor or profiting in other ways from the enormous prison industry.  If you want to read more about this, I suggest (HIGHLY) that you read two books.  “The Perpetual Prisoner Machine” by Joel Dyer and “Prison Nation”. 

Posted in Prison Reform Advocates, Juvenile Reform Advocates | Print | No Comments »

Who Are We?!?!?

3. November 2008 by Rev Young.

I have been sent the following article by Mary Ellen Johnson from the Pendulum Foundation.  I have learned one thing about blogging.  Those who spend time commenting on blogs usually need to “be heard”.  I have to say that the comments on this article and horrendous tragedy break every barrier of human decency that SHOULD be the foundation of our person hood.  But back to the issue……

This young man made some dumb choices.  He chose to take the car keys (no doubt his parents would not have given permission so he took matters in his own hands), go out drinking and had an ACCIDENT.  A car ACCIDENT.  This was not an intentional act of violence.  Yet our DA’s chose to try this young man as an adult and punish him as severely as possible for his mistakes.  No accounting for who he was, what his history was in school or his reputation in his community.  Only over zealous DA’s and mandatory laws and sentences that condemn our children for making a mistake.  Yes it cost another persons life a horror that he would have lived with all of his days…..had he lived. 

The truth is those things happen everyday….and most of the time they do not involve a teenager that has been drinking.  Most of the time it involves adults who for any number of reasons, find themselves in car accidents and ……..sometimes people die.  Horrible, tragic and devastating to all involved.  Maybe that was you or maybe it will be in the future (heaven forbid).   If so, I hope you are shown more mercy than we showed this young man.

Once again we took a child and put him in an environment that was dangerous to his well being in a facility that was unprepared an unable to deal with a juvenile offender.  You see, the law requires that a juvenile held in an adult facility be kept from adult influences.  That means that they can have no contact with adult inmates.  In most circumstances, that requires that those facilities place these juveniles in holding cells or 24 hour lock down.  They are not equipped to meet the requirements of holding juveniles in county facilities.  When my son was held in county jail during the course of the investigation and hearings on his case, he was held in a holding cell with the lights on 24 hours a day, they were to have 1 hour out of their cell a day.  This was for exercise, phone calls and a shower.  There were times that they did not take him out for two and three days at a time.  Wellness checks from me would prompt them to bring him out for a phone call.  You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.  You should be held in an environment that will not cause you harm (mental or physical).  Jails and prisons should not create anti-social behaviors and violent tendencies……they are supposed to “Correct” behaviors. 

Who are we that we have become so heartless, condemning and self-righteous?  Who are we that we have become like those  in history who preyed on the unfortunate  and tortured them?  Read on……..

One wrong led to another

By Susan Greene
Denver Post Columnist

Article Last Updated: 11/01/2008 11:46:38 PM MDT

Richard Stewart cremated his son on Friday.

Jimmy was 17.

Days before he would have started his junior year at Wheat Ridge High School, he drank, drove and killed a man on Colfax Avenue.

He cooperated with police. He wept each time he went to court. And he wrote a six-page letter to the victim’s widow acknowledging that he messed up in the worst kind of way.

Jimmy was sorry. Very sorry. He didn’t dispute that he needed to serve his time.

Denver district attorneys chose to charge him as an adult — a move made possible under a 1993 law backed by Gov. Bill Ritter when he was Denver’s chief prosecutor. Such filings force teens into adult jails and left Jimmy unwatched in a cell long enough to hang himself with a bed sheet.

It took the city 15 hours to notify the family that their boy was dead.

And now, 11 weeks after the accident, not just one life, but two have been wasted.

“He took my husband’s life, and I’m just battling every day to keep on going,” says Iman Woods, the 28-year-old widow of accident victim Nathan Woods. “But he was in pain and needed help as a teenager, a kid. He was worthy of love, of a second chance eventually. And I keep thinking if I only could have hugged him, maybe it would have helped.”

Dead kids — even ones who commit vehicular homicide — are remembered in superlatives.

The kid whose dad wouldn’t allow him a driver’s license until he raised his grades made his family proud of his good humor and great looks.

“Weird, but he had the face of an angel,” Woods says.

The kid who had swiped his dad’s car keys, went on a drinking spree, crossed the center line and crashed into Nathan Woods’ car still dreamed of his own future beyond bars.

“I’m looking forward to spending all my time with you and to eat a lot of spaggeitte (sic) I’ll cook to stay healthy and eat right,” Jimmy wrote his dad from jail two weeks ago. “Me and you will have the best time of our lives and I’m going to help us get a two bedroom apartment and we’ll go do things that we haven’t got to do for a while like play catch . . .

“I promise, but stay strong.”

Even a kid who killed had people who adored him.

“Not for one second did we ever think of giving up on him,” Richard said after Thursday’s memorial service.

That notion was lost on DA Mitch Morrissey’s office when it chose to prosecute Jimmy as an adult, even though he had no criminal history.

Juvenile advocates persuaded lawmakers this year to pass a measure allowing teenage defendants to remain in juvenile centers rather than jails for adults. Ritter killed the bill with a veto.

So Jimmy was yanked out of a youth center and into the county jail, where visits with family consisted of brief talks on TV monitors. He told his sisters that sheriffs kept switching his antidepressants and shuffling him from cell to cell.

“Daddy,” he would say, “I’m scared to be alone.”

Denver sheriffs hadn’t put Jimmy on suicide watch. And, for whatever reason, they weren’t watching closely enough to protect a kid the system hadn’t yet convicted from his own despair.

“It makes no sense. My heart hurts over this,” says Maureen Cain of the Colorado Defense Bar.

There’s no telling what would have happened had sheriffs watched Jimmy more closely, prosecutors shown better judgment or Ritter signed the bill.

Maybe nothing could have saved him.

But a little mercy couldn’t have hurt.

Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.

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• Switching his meds may have contributed to his suicide. I know from experience that a sudden major disruption in antidepressant use can cause suicidal thoughts. My deepest sympathies, another example of our grossly dysfunctional justice system.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 6:14 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• And when will legislators start using some common sense? Why put non-violent, first-offense kids in with adult murderers and rapists? Flies in the face of reason.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 6:22 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• My gosh, fire up the “waww-bulance.” Find someone a fiddle. Give me a band-aid for this bleeding heart. Wawww wawww wawww.

  17 years old and he already had a dead man in his past. Yet, we are supposed to grab the hanky and wipe away our tears for his self payment on this subject? I think not.

  Just be thankful he won’t be getting out to start all over again…and the next time it is your family member he might have killed.

  And to Socol, who thinks this is a misdemeanor or something:

  Umm…how non-violent does it have to be before someone dies? I mean, someone died because of this “precious angel.” What did you want to do to him? Take away his playstation? His Wii? It is people like you that scream for the early release of criminals and then cry about the deaths and mayhem the cause when released, calling for the head of the prosecutor, the judge, the jailer, and the governor. Hypocrite.
  john w
  Joined: Aug 10
  Points: 372 Permanent link to this commentjohn w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 6:35 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

• That’s your governor for you folks. Throw away the key for a kid, but don’t prosecute a cop who kills an innocent unarmed citizen.
  Roberta K
  Joined: Aug 4
  Points: 831 Permanent link to this commentRoberta K (aka Lazy R) | 6:35 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 7:05 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

socol wrote:Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.

I see what you’re saying, and despite his remorse, it is classified as a violent crime. “Violent” crime by statute doesn’t necessarily mean he went after someone with a gun or a knife. What we think of as violent culturally and what violent means statutorily are different.

His remorse and taking responsibility would certainly have been taken into account during his sentencing, I’m sure. And it sounds as if his meds and psychiatric issues were also an issue. But the fact remains that he did take a life, and that he did make the adult choice of getting behind a very lethal piece of machinery while drunk. And nobody said he was disputing that, but the law is the law.

It’s something that we all have to think about - that our lives can change that quickly. Think before you get behind the wheel.

I’m sorry for both families. This was an unnecessary, heartbreaking tragedy.
donnybrook
Joined: Jun 21
Points: 56555 Permanent link to this commentdonnybrook (aka gardengirl) | 8:15 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

Lazy R wrote:That’s your governor for you folks. Throw away the key for a kid, but don’t prosecute a cop who kills an innocent unarmed citizen.

So he’s tough on crime, and he’s a bad governor? If he had let it pass, you’d tell him he was too soft on crime, no? Would he have been able to win with you?
donnybrook
Joined: Jun 21
Points: 56555 Permanent link to this commentdonnybrook (aka gardengirl) | 8:20 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

• Thanks for the clarification, donnybrook-
  The point that I want to make is that putting a kid in with an adult population of violent, sociopathic recitivists (I assume after sentencing he would have gone to prison rather that juvy) is probably going to turn that kid into a societal problem when he’s eventually released. The psychological, mental and physical abuse he’d receive in adult prison would probably turn him into a disfunctional part of society when released and he’d most likely end up back in prison. Aside from being unjust and unnecessary, it’s also a further burden on our overcrowded prison system and us, the taxpayers. I’m all for putting teenage gang-bangers, murderers, rapists, etc., in with the adults, they made a premeditated choice to kill, hurt, rape, etc. This kid’s act, while statutorily classified as violent, was not premeditated or intentional. Let him do his time in juvy, he stands a better chance of being a productive member of society upon release, which is better for all of us.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 8:43 AM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• Although I feel horrible for the family, there are some things that aren’t being fairly portrayed here. First of all, Sheriffs have no authority to “switch” anyone’s meds. If this kid’s meds were being changed, then it was the medical staff (not the Sheriffs) who switched them. These Doctors and nurses are the only ones who determine what meds (and what doses) inmates receive. Although they work at the jail, these medical personnel are NOT Sheriffs. They are employeed by Denver and do not answer to the Sheriffs.

  As far as them switching this kid’s cell repeatedly, there are many reasons for this. Mainly the fact that the Denver Jail is well over capacity at any and all times and they’re constantly shuffling inmates about to make room. Certain inmates must be kept in certain areas. You cant just throw inmates into the first open cell.

  I dont have any way of knowing what his behavior record was, but this could be another reason he was moved about the jail. Individual Sheriffs cannot just move inmates because they feel like it. All moves have to be approved.

  Finally, with well over 2000 inmates in a facility designed for 1500, how anyone expects the Sheriffs to have a permanent person assigned to watching just one inmate is beyond me. There aren’t enough Sheriffs to do this and the layout of the (ancient) facility makes it impossible to have a clear view of everyone at all times. If someone is determined to kill themselves, they will.

  If the Sheriffs weren’t doing their rounds, it will show. (They’ve got electronic measures in place to track this) If this is the case, heads will roll. The Sheriffs dont have the same teflon coating that DPD does. (Compare their disciplinary reports to DPD’s at the Independant Monitor’s website if you doubt me) Knowing that their movements can be tracked, these Sheriffs would be idiots to NOT do their walk throughs. If that is the case, someone will answer for that.

  Ultimately though, this kid made several bad personal choices. He chose to swipe the car keys and to go on a drinking spree. This resulted in an innocent person dying. He also chose to commit suicide. I do feel bad for the family… but these were all choices he made. When its all said and done, all of the tragedy associated with this story can be traced directly to him and his decisions.
  Chad K
  Joined: Nov 2
  Points: 0 Permanent link to this commentChad K (aka WatchingU) | 12:01 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

socol wrote:Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.

Well, to answer your questions: How many times did I get behind the wheel drunk? Never. Ever. Never ever ever. Never.
How many times have I ever drove after having a single drink? Never. Ever. Never ever ever. Never.

I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. My worst vices are porn and smoking, sometimes together. I have smoked while driving, but never surfed porn while driving. So my vices are not endangering anyone (as far as I know).

Now…let us look at this “act of violence.” If he had shoplifted a candy bar, I probably would have called that a non-violent act. But…if during the act of shoplifting, he runs outside, knocks over a little old lady getting out of her car, and she dies, he would have been charged with murder, even though the original crime is fairly nonviolent, and he didn’t intend for anyone to die.

So, we are supposed to give a person a second chance in this country? Not so. How many sex offenders were given a second chance and just killed some little kid? John W. Gacy was busted in Iowa (i think) and when he got his second chance, moved back to Chicago and killed 27 young men or so.
I guess we should give Charlie Manson another chance, eh? Aww, heck, lets go ahead and just forgive Osama bin Laden, too. Let’s give him a second chance.

Socol, why don’t we just get together, we’ll urge the governor to just open up the jails and let everyone out. They deserve another chance. And it will alleviate the overcrowding problem in our jails. Yeah. lets do that. Let’s just open up the doors, make the guys pinkie swear that they will be good, and then let them go. That would be great.
john w
Joined: Aug 10
Points: 372 Permanent link to this commentjohn w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 12:21 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

• GG–you probably weren’t here yet, but when Ritter was Denver DA he exonerated cops no matter what they did and there were some pretty high-profile shootings that certainly sounded like an abuse of power. The cops cost the city quite a lot in settling lawsuits as well. These are the facts, madem, they have nothing to do whether I’m pleased or displeased.
  Roberta K
  Joined: Aug 4
  Points: 831 Permanent link to this commentRoberta K (aka Lazy R) | 12:53 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• hillbillyvan- Wow, I can’t believe you don’t think he deserved another shot at life. You really think he should have spend the rest of his life behind bars? There’s something drastically wrong with you. Do you honestly believe he was as likely to repeat in the same way that a sex offender is likely to repeat? Ever heard the saying “follow your bliss”? Congratulations, you’re already there. Enjoy your ignorance.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 2:15 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• The point is that the system is broken! People are going to make bad choices occasionally. There will be consequences. Those consequences are established by law and are generally just to fit the offense. I’m not asking the folks who are perfect to understand those of us who are not.

  As a former officer of DOC I have seen the short comings of the system first-hand. It is called corrections but should rightfully be called human warehousing. We are not giving these individuals the tools necessary to correct their decision making skills. We lock up murderers with someone who commited check fraud. We warehouse violent offenders with folks who were just plain dumb in their actions but not intentionally “violent”.

  The reality is that all of these people then do what is necessary in this prison culture (and it is a culture unto itself) to survive. They join gangs, assault other inmates, participate in riots, abuse drugs to mentally escape, etc. After seeing this happen time and time again, I firmly believe that it is this environment that contributes to recitivism. Check out our rate of recitivism in this state. It’s deplorable!

  We really need to look at how we are dealing with crime, criminals, the distinctions between offenses, and how we deal with offenders. There are far too many incidents like this that we do not hear about in the current system. In order to truly be a civilization we must try to maintain civility.

  My deepest condolences for the families that are grieving.
  Colorado N
  Joined: Sep 19
  Points: 1114 Permanent link to this commentColorado N (aka American Girl) | 2:50 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

• American Girl -Well said.
  ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 Permanent link to this commentben s (aka socol) | 3:04 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse
• If he had killed my family member, I wouldn’t worry about him getting out to repeat the crime. The only way for him to pay back society for his deed was exactly what he did–a sheet noose. I am sure this was not his first time drinking, nor his first time driving, nor his first time to combine the two.

  My grandfather happened to be a victim of a drunk driver. He was going down the road, and a car driven by a drunk teen-ager (from my school) and 3 of his buddies were in my grandpa’s lane. Gramps nailed them head on. 4 drunk teens died that night, and my grandfather had trouble walking for the rest of his shortened life. The good news, though, is that those 4 teens never drank again.
  john w
  Joined: Aug 10
  Points: 372 Permanent link to this commentjohn w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 3:35 PM on Sunday Nov 2    (must be logged in to vote)   Report Abuse

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Posted in Prison Reform Advocates, Juvenile Reform Advocates | Print | No Comments »

From Junior High to Life In Prison-Cruel and Unusual Punishment

19. October 2008 by Rev Young.

 I have been holding this article for the “right time” to publish this information.  It seems that now is the time.  When I first read the article, my attention immediately went to the picture of the boy.  In this article, and the articles that I have found published on the web, there was very little mentioned about the boy.  There is no mention about his family, about motive, about intention, about other suspects that were investigated.  Nothing.  Only the stark statement about his arrest and the charge against him. 

Read the article, watch the video that follows which was released by the Equal Justice Initiative and I will be back with you after the video.

Sunday, September 28, 2008 Teen charged with killing father Updated: 09/26/2008 06:55 AMBy: Jim Gibbons

ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. — Back in January, Joseph J. Giacona Jr. was murdered in his home in Vernon. Now, after an eight month long investigation, police have made an arrest and it is someone very close to home.

Thirteen-year-old Joseph Giacona III was arrested Thursday morning and charged in the murdering of his father.

In January, Joseph J. Giacona Jr. was found shot in the head in his Vernon home. Police say he was asleep on a couch at the time he was killed.  ‘State Police investigation at the scene revealed no indication of a struggle in the residence, no signs of forced entry and nothing missing from the home. The only weapons located in the home were found in a gun cabinet,’ said Major Donald DePass, Troop D Commander. The investigation was turned over to an Oneida County grand jury earlier this month after nearly eight months of examination. Because there were no eyewitnesses, the information for the case is based off a collection of facts, which is why it took such a long time to process.

‘It was imperative that the state police conduct and exhaustive and intensive investigation following up every possible lead and every possible theory with respect to this case,’ said Kurt Hameline, Oneida County Assistant District Attorney.

Giacona III had placed the 911 call the day of his father’s death. He has now been indicted on murder in the second degree and he will be tried as an adult in Oneida County Court.  ‘If convicted of murder in the second degree, a maximum sentence would be life imprisonment. The court would have to set a minimum of no less than five, no greater than nine,’ said Hameline.  Giacona III did plead not guilty in Oneida County Court Thursday morning. A pretrial conference has been set for Friday, October 3rd.
(Latest information:  Pre-trial has been moved to Movember1,2008).

“>

The only saving grace in this young man’s story is that in the state of New York he cannot receive a sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole.  In my home state, he would. 

It is Cruel and Unusual Punishment to sentence a 13 or 14 year old to life (death) in prison.  More to the point, it is Cruel and Unusual Punishment for us to sentence ANY of our young people to Life in Prison.  While we can catch your attention and arouse your righteousness over this boy and the children in the video, we should be able to do the same concerning all the boys and girls serving life in prison. 

13, 14, 15, 16, 17………they are all kids.  They all have the same look of innocence.  They all deserve a chance.  I urge you to advocate against mandatory sentencing laws, laws that allow children to be prosecuted and sentenced as adults and laws that cause children to serve adult time in adult prisons.  I urge you to support HR 4300 (www.hr4300.com), which gives US a chance to undo the harm that has been done and give these kids a chance at LIFE. 

Thank you, Equal Justice Initiative (www.eji.org) , for battling on behalf of these children and for delivering such a stark message.

Posted in Prison Reform Advocates, Juvenile Reform Advocates | Print | No Comments »

Safer Community or Prison Expansion Program? The rest of the story.

15. October 2008 by Rev Young.

While Lupe clearly outlined the problems with Proposition 6 in California, I am going to present a piece of local legislation for Colorado that we need to carefully examine as voters and I ask you to look at your own proposed legislation before voting this year.  I am sure that you will find similar pieces of legislation on your local ballots.  I ASK YOU TO READ YOUR BALLOTS AND FIND OUT THE ISSUE BEFORE VOTING IN YOUR STATE.

In Colorado, and specifically El Paso County, we are being confronted with a piece of legislation called 1 A labeled “for a Safer Community”.  While there are pieces of this county question that I personally would approve of, they are tied with other measures that I do not approve of.  The county question would address the ability of the county to protect portions of the population (specifically number 8):  Regional Child and Adult protection programs which shall be used to investigate prosecute, treat and prevent abuse and neglect of children and /or adults who are elderly and/or disabled in El Paso County.  However, the rest of the county question is directed to the building, expanding and strengthening of the office of the District Attorney, county corrections facilities, judicial offices and sheriff and police departments. 

This all sounds good in theory, because we want those facilities to be in good repair.  We would also like to see another work release facility in this county.  The problem comes when we tie those needs to the expansion of prison beds and the expansion of the prosecutors office.  If we are to enforce change in our current laws, causing law makers to re-examine the tough on crime policies that have caused the explosion in prison populations, we are going to have to send a clear message.  “NOT WITH OUR MONEY.”  We have to let them know, through our voting process, that we are tired of funding prison expansion programs and tough on crime policies.  We have to let them know that we are holding them to account to find real solutions to drug and alcohol offences, recidivism rates and juvenile crime policies that cause our young people to be incarcerated rather than reformed.  We have to let them know that we are no longer willing to fund a $734,000,000 Department of Corrections budget (Colorado proposed) without a clear plan on how to break the cycle of crime, educate and reform offenders and return them to a productive life that benefits our communities. 

In Colorado Springs, the county corrections community started a campaign for funding early in the year by enlisting local media to report on the potential danger that over crowding was causing in our county jail.  They interviewed guards, corrections officials and showed the current conditions while they labeled them a “time bomb”.  This put the issue of safety into the mind of voters.  

The real issue is the fact that we have very little in the way of community corrections, supervised sentences, house arrest or restorative justice practices in this community.  Our answer, as with most other municipalities, was put them in jail.  This has created a whole list of new problems.  Loss of job for the offender, economic hardship for the families, the effect of finding new jobs once released and the horrible conditions and treatment that has impacted the offender during his stay at the county facility.

I recently sat and talked with a 77 year old man that was given a jail term for violating a restraining order that was issued because he continually spoke out against the local school district.  While he was incarcerated he told me that he witnessed some of the worst conditions he had ever seen.  He related to me that one night at the change of shift (around midnight) the new sargent came on duty and announced over the loud speaker “  I am ____ and I am now in charge and I am not going to take any of your sh–!” 

We have continued to give them money without accountability, we have continued to give them the power to make laws without questioning their motives or the facts.  We have continued to fund things that we should not fund and neglect the things we should be attending to.  We are responsible.  In El Paso County we have a severe budget crisis as we do in the state of Colorado.  Could it be that we should have paid more attention?  Yes. 

This year……..think, ask, question and review…..BEFORE you vote.

Posted in Legal News, Prison Reform Advocates | Print | No Comments »

Safer Community or Prison Expansion Program?

15. October 2008 by Rev Young.

I am currently working on the next segment of “The Profit in Locking Up Our Kids” series.  It is taking quite a bit of research as a try to follow the paper trail for a multi billion dollar industry. 

In the mean time, this article came across my e-mail and I find it very timely.  We are all trying to prepare ourselves to vote responsibly in the upcoming election ( I assume you all are voting RIGHT?).  I believe that in every state in the United States, voters are being presented a proposition, amendment or ballot initiative that would lend some kind of support to expanding police departments, build court houses, build county jails, change criminal justice laws or all of the above.  I caution you to really think these pieces of legislation through.  I am going to publish this article which is written by Guadalupe Garcia.  Lupe has worked as a juvenile counselor in California but does not write this article on behalf of her facility or position.  Rather she writes this article from her observations over the course of her career and the impact that our laws have had on our children.  Thank you for your work Lupe.

Proposition 6 or The Safe Neighborhood Act Is Not the Answer!In November Californians will vote on an anti-crime measure sponsored by State Senator George Runner called Proposition 6 or The Safe Neighborhood Act which proposes to bring gang activity under control and punish individual gang members severely. It is the opinion of this writer that the new proposition is more of the same “tough on crime” policies that have burdened California’s budget and contributed to the socio-economic disparities represented in the prison industrial system. In short it represents a step back in juvenile justice because it facilitates the channeling of youth into the adult system. This adult system has proven defected and non-rehabilitative with recidivism rates as high as 70% despite ever-increasing monetary investments. Prop. 6 was written by Mike Reynolds, the same author of the “3 Strikes and Your Out” passed by voters back in 1994. With strong financial backing from special interest groups including real estate developers, bail agents, manufacturers of GPS monitoring devices and surveillance services, Prop 6 promises to make our neighborhoods safer and carries specific implications for youths entering the juvenile system.Under the proposed measure:• Any 14 year old who is convicted of a “gang-related” felony would be found unfit for Juvenile court and thus be prosecuted as an adult. • Removing or disabling a monitoring device that was issued as part of sentencing will become a criminal act. • Recipients of subsidized housing must submit an annual criminal background check for every member of the household, including youths. If anyone in the home is found to have a recent drug or violent criminal conviction the housing subsidies would be withdrawn and the entire family loses their housing.   Cristina Gomez of the Burns Institute/The Community Justice Network for Youth calls the initiative “predatory legislation” because it applies specifically to the young and lower income communities of color. “We feel like this is just one more initiative that is going to put the state into a state of bankruptcy…[and] it isn’t a move in a positive way to provide our communities or our youth who need intervention and prevention programs… We know that the implications of this will result in more youth being funneled into the prison industrial complex system.”Youths as young as 14 may already be found unfit for Juvenile court and prosecuted as adults under Prop. 21 which California voters passed in 2000. A youth must fit a five point criteria before he/she is found unfit for juvenile court. Some of the criteria are the degree of criminal sophistication, previous delinquent history and the circumstances and gravity of the offense.   In the event that Prop. 6 passes a youth as young as 14 need not fit the five criteria of Prop 21 but need only be found guilty of a “gang-related” felony. Once in the adult system the youth is now subjected to the harsh gang enhancement laws that were put into affect during the late 1980’s. Michael Kresser, executive director of the 6th District Appellate Program, says, “Prosecutors are bringing in gang experts who say that any criminal activity increases the reputation of the gang, thus meeting the ‘benefit’ standard. This turns any crime done by someone labeled as a gang member into a 186.22 (CA penal code defining longer sentences due to the gang nature of the charge) even if the crime had nothing to do with a gang.”The ease in which offenders could be labeled as gang members provides unfair increases in sentences which in turn creates unfair burdens on Californian’s who must pay more for the rising costs housing prisoners for longer periods of time.By passing Prop. 6 a younger crop of offenders will be funneled into a legal system already categorizing them as career criminals due to their “gang participation” despite being as young as 14. Plus since the majority of the labeled gang members come almost exclusively from lower income communities of color, further lowering the standard for being found unfit for juvenile court the newer crop will only increase the documented racial disparities in the prison industrial system. Prop. 6 has further implications in that if a youth is found guilty of a drug or violent crime his/her family may lose their subsidized housing. Presently if the youth in the household does not attend school or gets in trouble, per Section 8 the rent is raised. If the youth is incarcerated but is attending school in juvenile hall then the family’s housing is not necessarily threatened but if the youth is found to be an adult and convicted of a drug or violent crime then per Prop 6 the entire family lose their housing. The family of the youth offender will now find themselves in further economic strife. If the youth serves his sentence and after release attempts to return home, his return may not be convenient due to his criminal background. There is  then the possibility of the youth becoming homeless.If the socio-economic disparities do not manage to raise concern with the voters of California then perhaps the economical projections of the proposal will raise a red flag. The nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office has determined that the net state cost for implementing the initiative is a half billion dollars annually for increased costs of criminal justice programs, prison and parole operations. Can Californian’s realistically pay such a high price tag especially when previous investments in “tough on crime” laws have proven to yield such poor results in a rehabilitative sense? What’s more early intervention programs risk being put on the back burner as monetary priority is allotted to incarceration. We can all concur that the gang’s within are communities present a problem we need to address. The choice in November is whether Californians choose to continue with heavy-handed policies and pass Prop 6 or opt for a more restorative justice approach. Under the restorative justice model the emphasis on punishment does not exceed the needs and concerns of the victims, the wrongdoer and the community at large. The “tough on crime” approach carries an expensive price tag while failing to rehabilitate our young people. It also harms our lower income communities by continuing to drain resources for preventative programs and carries on the practice of labeling our young offenders as violent and unredeemable beings.                                      

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The Profit in Locking Up Our Kids (Final on Media)

24. September 2008 by Rev Young.

Let me continue with a few more pieces of research and information and end it with a personal testimony.  I want to take you directly to the school shooting incidents that forever changed the landscape of juvenile justice, the impact it had on us and the resulting carnage. 

In 1996 we have the first widely publicized school shooting when a young man in Springfield, Oregon shot his parents and then opened fire on class mates.  Not only did the network affiliates milk this for every rating point they could get, the cable channels picked up this news story and gave it as much as 6 hours of air time with replays of the incident and updates on the situation for several days after the event.  The result of this?  Polls indicated that parental concern over the safety of their children had risen dramatically. Then came the Columbine incident which received  much air time and the networks competing heavily for viewership so that regular programming was interrupted and special reports were inserted.  As a nation we were horrified to know that young people could be so violent.  Reporters got as close to victims and their families as they possibly could.  We viewed the trauma, fear and pain up close and we ingested it into our own lives.  We mourned with them.  Polls taken after this event, which were to determine the mind set of voters for up-coming elections, revealed that we were disturbed, disheartened and alarmed at the condition of our country and for our own safety.  This shaped the political platforms for the 2000 election year and for a few years after.  While we felt this way as a result of the bombardment of the single incidents of these troubled young people, the statistics did not support our fears.  In the 1990’s the incidence of violent street crime had dropped.  Robbery was down 17 percent, forcible rape was down 30 percent, murder was unchanged (for 20 years!).  Violent crime was actually below what it had been in the 1970’s! 

So while we were believing that were living in an increasingly violent world, because of the media experiences we were having through violent programming, the truth was…..we were safer than 20 years before.  While we believed that we could step out the door and come face to face with a  deranged person wielding a semi-automatic weapon, the truth was…..we never saw anything like that.  But we were fearful, anxious, and depressed. 

From The National Television Violence Profile Scientific Papers 1994-1995:  There is a general consensus in the scientific and public health fields that there are three primary harmful effects of viewing media violence:  1) learning aggressive attitudes and behaviors 2) Emotional desensitization toward real world violence 3) Increased fear of being victimized by violence, resulting in self-protective behaviors and mistrust of others.

Now for the personal testimony.  My son was a party to a high profile case.  The crime had been committed 3 months earlier with a few articles published in the paper concerning the mystery of these deaths.  March 8, 2001 my life was never the same.  My son was arrested that night and charged with 3 counts of first degree murder….at the age of seventeen……and the crimes supposedly happened at a time of day when I could testify giving my son an alibi.  I was terrified!  What was I going to do?  My son was arrested and charged with horrific crimes that he did not commit and I had to save him.  My body shook and trembled for hours after I returned home.  The next day was quiet.  No newspapers, only a couple of calls from reporters.  March 10th I awoke to reporters, with their filming crews, taking up residence in my back yard.  TV news trucks were surrounding my house, my phone was ringing and they were heading for my door.  I have a special needs daughter who was 16 at the time.  I had to protect her.  So I made a daring dash out the front door with her, her father and a few things thrown in a suitcase.  I hid them for a few weeks, while everything calmed down. 

In the mean time we had to appear at Jon’s arraignment hearing.  As we pulled into the parking lot at the court house we noticed the snipers on the roof with their guns trained on all who entered.  We were greeted by officers wearing flack jackets and carrying bullet proof shields and weapons to usher us inside the court house.  Television crews were on all sides with their cameras trained on the attendees as they entered the court house.  Words cannot express the terror that I felt and the terror of every member of my family that had come to show support for my son.  At the jail the officers were preparing my son for transport to the court house.  They bound his ankles with chains.  They put a bullet proof vest on him and bound his arms to his waist with chains.  The officers commented that they were going to make him look like Hannibal Lector (see “Who’s Afraid of The Kid” at Free-Jonny http://s246427087.onlinehome.us/2008/06/12/entry-2-june-12-2008/).

The next few weeks were a blur of images on television screens, newspaper articles and a relentless attack on my son…..before all evidence was in…..before he had a chance to present his case in court.  This media attack, which was done to promote ratings for television stations, tried my son before he ever went to court.  If the District Attorney found that there was not just cause to try my son for the crimes he was charged, he had no recourse, unless he was willing to publicly state that he was wrong.  Because of this, I believe that it would have been impossible for my son to ever walk away with any justice.  If you do not want to believe this then I ask you to research the case of Tim Masters.  He was charged for a crime that he did not commit.  Despite the fact that DNA evidence proved he was not the perpetrator, the DA’s office refused him a new trial.  Why?  Because someone would have to admit they were wrong, after a very public prosecution.  Only after public outcry was justice granted.

The power of media sways our opinion and causes us to believe or perceive things that are not true.  The cost?  Freedom, truth and justice.  You may want to pacify yourself with the belief that this was an isolated incident.  I assure you that you are wrong.  Story after story has been told to me by mothers who experienced the same thing I did. 

The effects on our laws concerning juvenile crime significantly changed following the tragedies at Springfield and Columbine.  Every juvenile that committed a crime was viewed as a monster.  We treated them as monsters with exaggerated charges, exaggerated sentences and adult prison facilities.  We forgot about rehabilitation, restoration, transformation. 

Now……turn off your TV, ask questions, walk out the door and view the world as it really is, make rational educated decisions.  Stop the buy-in to media sensationalism, violent programming and ask for truth.

The carnage?  Bulging prisons with unprecedented prison growth.  Corrections budgets that swallow up funding for education and social services.  A generation lost to a hopeless world behind bars.  The opportunity for a life.  The opportunity for grandchildren.  My son.

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The Profit in Locking Up Our Kids II (Media) Cont.

10. September 2008 by Rev Young.

I turned my television off a long time ago.  Yes I watch PBS occasionally or I will watch “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” but I do not watch television.  Why?  Because I do not want to view all of the violence and drama. 

Everyday the television programing revolves around sex, violence and dysfunctional relationships.  Studies have shown that people who watch more than 3 hours of television per day are depressed, anxious and have elevated stress levels as indicated by physical changes in their bodies.  The other danger from this is that you come to believe that is the reality of the world you live in.

Behavioral scientists know that if you view something or are told something repeatedly, you begin to believe it…..whether or not it is true.  For example:  If a newscaster stands in front of you every night for a week, showing you the same images of a crime scene, uses words like “war zone” or “devastating”to describe the scene and along with the title “Violence in Our Streets”; you will believe that we have violent streets.  You will become anxious, fearful and hope that someone does something to make your streets safe again. 

This one incident, played over and over in front of you, causes you to believe that you live in a violent society.  Even though it was one incident, with one victim, suddenly your perception of your whole world changes because your mind has been overloaded with the images of the crime.  And we do this to ourselves night after night. 

If you don’t believe that this has any effect on you think about this, it is no different than the psychology that advertisers use to promote their products and ultimately get you to buy.  They put images of a beautiful car in front of you, you jump in and drive…right past the traffic jam, right past the office and out onto the open road with the stereo blasting and a look of confident control on your face.  After seeing this several times, you begin to fantasize about taking a day and hitting the road.  You become dissatisfied with your car, your job, your life.  This causes you to look for a way to buy a new car which, hopefully, will change your life.  Don’t laugh.  We all have our buttons.  The advertisers know this.  For some it is cars, others it is electronic equipment and others it is shoes or handbags.  We run out and buy these things, believing that we need them and it will make our lives better.  Then we can’t figure out why we are still depressed.

Turn off the TV!  TURN OFF THE TV!  Stop buying into the make believe world portrayed on the television and go outside, experience it for yourself.  Read a book, talk to your kids or your spouse, mow the yard, paint but turn off the TV.  If you do this for 2 weeks, I assure you, you will see a difference in yourself……and a difference the next time you turn on the television.  You won’t find the television programing as entertaining as you did previously. 

The worst part?  We give politicians and other authorities the right to change laws and make decisions based on the unreal world they feed us through media.  We don’t question it, we don’t research it, we don’t make them prove their point or justify their plans.  We say to them “Just Do It”. 

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