Holton Hears a Who

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN DECEMBER, 2014.

            My apologies to Dr. Seuss, but sometimes things just show up in my mail and I read them and realize “this says it all!” Such was my reaction when I read Walter Holton’s op ed on prison reform, “Changing the Priorities of a ‘Prison-Happy Country.’” Who is Walter Holton? He’s the former United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina. He was chief federal prosecutor in his district and he handled more than his own share of criminal prosecutions. He understands the “system.” So, his insights, his critiques, should carry weight. Funny thing is, he sees prisons – and this nation’s love affair with incarceration – as in dire need of change.

            “We are a prison-happy country with five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Our prisons are overrun with non-violent offenders hit with mandatory minimum sentences or longer sentences than were previously imposed for the same crimes.”

            How about this from the former federal prosecutor:

            “Research now shows conclusively that longer prison sentences do not reduce crime …

            Prison punishes – that’s it. Prisons take people out of work. Prisons remove parents from children and from child support obligations. Prisons almost certainly guarantee that the prisoner returns home less educated, less trained, and less employable. As a result, crime goes up, not down. The numbers don’t lie.”

            Harsh critique from one who was on the inside. Holton understands what one day in here proves – prisons fail. They don’t make society safer, they don’t reduce crime, and they don’t deter future criminal wrongdoing. Holton isn’t saying there should be no prisons. But, prisons, historically used for the violent; are now overrun with most non-violent offenders serving abnormally long sentences.

            How did we get to this place?

            “We made mistakes,” Holton writes. “One big one is promising states money to build prisons if they agree to lengthen prison sentences. They did. Prisons sprang forth and have filled. We have incarcerated prisoners at a world-record pace, taking in the violent and the non-violent. Oops. (Don’t you just love it when a federal prosecutor uses the term “oops.”) …

            Federal and state prison budgets now eat one-third of the money available for the public good. The United States Department of Justice … now feeds one-third of its total budget to the prisons.”

            Feeling safer American? Prisons bleed money and lives. Prisons – for all but the most violent and unrepentant – serve no positive societal purpose. Prisons destroy human dignity, hopes, lives.

            The real tragedy behind America’s love affair with incarceration is that people just don’t know. They don’t know:

1. Almost 900,000 behind bars are there for nonviolent offenses;
2. 330,000 + are behind bars for drug offenses
3. 125,000 + are over the age of 55 (studies show that inmates over 30 have a 3% recidivism rate);
4. 40% of the incarcerated suffer from a diagnosed mental disease or disorder. Prisons have taken the place of mental hospitals
5. Over 50% of those incarcerated had a monthly income of less than $2000 in the month prior to their arrest
6. On any given day one in ten African-American males below age 30 will be behind bars.
7. 2.7 million children under the age of 18 have a parent behind bars
8. There are more African-American men behind bars or on probation/parole than were enslaved in 1850 before the Civil War
9. 65 million Americans have passed through the adult or juvenile criminal justice system (that’s almost one out of every five citizens)
10. There are more mental health patients in prisons than in all hospitals combined.

  

Mr. Holton understands all that. “I once was blind but now I see.” I get his conversion. See, its easy being “tough on crime” when you don’t know the truth, when you’re comfortable in your perfect American life. That was me. Then, everything came crashing down. I stood before a judge, remorseful (not just my opinion, but a state-employed forensic psychiatrist). The judge sentenced me to fifteen years of active time, more than most second degree murderers, more than most child pornographers and sex abusers. It was, pure and simple, a sentence built on punishment. There is no “rehabilitative” program available for me; no job retraining or education. It certainly won’t help with the restitution owed to my former employer. It has cost Virginia’s taxpayers over $200,000 to keep me behind bars these past six years. Is the Commonwealth safer? Were there alternatives? Will I leave here a “better” man?

            Holton writes what I see daily. Prisons are refuse centers. They are dumping grounds. For most of the pathetic men I’ve seen in my time in here, their incarceration was a forgone conclusion. The proverbial deck – with poor schools, dysfunctional families, economic inequality – was stacked against them. And their trip – or trips – here makes them even less likely to become productive citizens. And those who work here? They spend their time “minding” – watching over men, performing rote, perfunctory tasks. This isn’t skilled labor; it isn’t meaningful work. It just is … a check.

            Mr. Holton didn’t suddenly come to his epiphany. No, it was his years in the system that told him something just didn’t seem quite right. It took a while, but Mr. Holton finally heard the “who.” Do you hear it?