Consider This

Last week the Virginia General Assembly once again failed to act on prison reform. A bill before it granting ten additional earned good time days for those inmates participating in educational, vocational or treatment programs failed in committee. Under the guise of being “tough on crime”, the legislature again failed the citizens of the Commonwealth.



Consider the following from Justice Fellowship (www.justicefellowship.org):


“We seek to change our criminal justice system at every level so that it reflects the principles of restorative justice found in the Bible . . .


Sentencing practices that rely excessively or exclusively on incarceration harm our communities and sap government funds. Prisons are appropriate for many violent offenders. However, prison is not always the best way to make us safe . . . there is only a limited and diminishing relationship between incarceration and reduced crime rates. Rather than encouraging criminals to become peaceful, productive citizens, prison culture often has the opposite effect, operating as a graduate school for crime. . .


Good time credit opportunities should be increased and truth in sentencing laws should be reformed to reduce the time an offender must be in prison before he or she is eligible for parole.”


Makes a lot of sense. It’s a shame that Virginia’s elected representatives don’t.


Then, these statistics from the recent symposium on Mass Incarceration held at George Mason University:


Between 1987 and 2007 correction spending increased 127%. In the same time period higher education spending only increased 21%. The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, 756 per 100,000. Three fifths of the world has rates below 150 per 100,000.


The combined inmate population of the top 35 European countries is a million less than the inmate population here:


1:100 Adults are incarcerated


1:25 18-65 year olds are on probation or parole


1:5 American adults have a criminal record


3.5:100 Juveniles 11-17 years old are in the juvenile justice system.


According to a study by Cullen, Nagin and Johnston (2009), “Incarceration has no impact on recidivism rates, but may in fact cause future criminal behavior.”


What does it all mean? As one “on the inside” I can tell you incarceration is necessary. However, the length of sentences and the disparity in sentences must be changed.


I don’t disagree that I should have been incarcerated. But, what number of years is a reasonable sentence for the crime of embezzlement? I keep a file full of embezzlement cases. Not one sentence handed down was as severe as mine. The closest, former Virginia Finance Director John W. Forbes, embezzled $4.1 million from a state commission. He made no restitution at trial. His sentence: 10 years, well below my sentence.


In prison, I am a drag on society. I pay neither taxes nor my remaining restitution. It costs $25,000 per year to keep me here.


It didn’t take long in here to realize I didn’t want this. Nothing is worth my loss of freedom. The price I paid was high.


It is painfully clear Virginia needs to restore parole and give inmates an opportunity to rehabilitate and earn early release.


The system is neither economically viable nor morally justifiable. It’s worth considering.