State Struck

You hear it all the time in here, the expression "state struck." It's thrown at a guy who tends to follow the rules, shows respect for the COs, won't skirt the "law." You'll hear it like this: "an you is so state struck. You say 'yessum" to these sons of bitches and always follow the rules like they is gonna help you." The term means institutionalized. The other night there was a near fight at midnight in here. Our bathroom cleaning guy was trying to clean the urinal when another man walked in the bathroom. "Can you wait til I finish?" "You are so state struck, cleaning the bathroom like they tell you." Yeah, that's the stupidity I deal with when guys think you're helping the system when you try and do your job and clean a commode.

But, institutionalization is a big problem; the real problem is the guys who talk about being "state struck," they're the real institutionalized ones. They keep coming in and out of here and want to tell everyone "how it used" to be in prison. They break the rules, lose their good time and then say stupid shit like, "They can't take anything away from me." As if staying even an extra 30 days isn't taking something away from you.

And the system thrives on guys like that. See, they make it easy to fall into a coma. Prisons tell you when to do everything. They turn the lights on in the morning for 6:00 a.m. count; they call you to breakfast, and school, and rec, and medical appointments. You can literally set your entire day around the calls they make. They let you change your sheets out every Saturday; there's request forms" for any question--no matter how ridiculous or inane. And it makes guys mentally weak and reliant on the system. No one has to act on their own behalf. It breeds contempt and whining and bitterness. And, I think it's done that way to keep cycling men--and women back in.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with one of the really good counselors here who works the "reentry building." That building is a zoo and everyone knows it--reentry is a failure here and there is no matrix to hold those in charge accountable. Anyway, he told me that the guys act out over in 3 bldg. because "they're scared. They've done nothing with their lives and they're getting ready to go home and they know in their hearts it's easier sitting here and complaining than having to make it out there."

Perhaps that is the biggest failure of the criminal justice system--it breaks you down and institutionalizes you. Then again, maybe it's not a failure; maybe it's a willful plan to destroy lives and keep this whole ugly apparatus afloat. The sad truth is, most who go to prison will get out; but most find their way back. It shouldn't be that way.

This week, President Obama said "America is a nation of second chances." Really? We talk a good game, but when push comes to shove, do we believe that? Are we ready to take an honest look at the failure of this place and say "enough is enough?" In truth, it takes more energy to say, "I will not be institutionalized. I am better than this." In the end, for me at least, it's the only way I can face myself.

"State struck." It's a term I hate because the guys who use it don't understand they are keeping all this going. It's time for a change.

Re-entry Failure … Again

How important is reintegration of a released felon to the community? Politicians and social science researchers will tell you it’s the single most important issue facing the criminal justice system. Over ninety percent of the men and women who end up behind bars find their way back to their communities. Even as crime rates have decreased over the past twenty years, the number imprisoned have steadily risen. The cost to house an inmate in prison continues to dramatically increase as well. Re-entry, the success or failure of a released felon returning to society, matters.

            

Why then is it such a failure in here? The Governor announced his re-entry initiative with much fanfare at the beginning of his term. Millions were set aside for the program. Ten facilities were labeled as “re-entry centers.” Cognitive counselors were employed; “productive citizenship” curricula designed; computer programs installed to test and measure each offender’s risk of recidivism. And the result? Two thumbs down.

            

Like much about the Governor’s term, his re-entry initiative looked a lot better on paper on day one than in reality with less than six months remaining in his term, a term that is now defined by corruption and scandal and a Governor trying to survive the remainder of his term without being indicted.

            The “hole” here is in “7” building. The officers refer to it as “Building 3c.” See, the re-entry building, the one with 180 guys within eight months of release, is in 3 building (both A side and side B). Every week there are brawls in 3 building; drug use – not just weed, but crack, and heroin, and pills, - is rampant. There is wine making and cigarettes, extortion, gang attacks, and female officers being “gunned.”

            

They haul them out four and five at a time, throw them in solitary for ten, twenty, even thirty days. Then, it’s back to “3” building. Why? Because every incarcerated offender (except the college students) must go through the “cognitive community.”

            

The problems with re-entry programming are clear. Unfortunately, DOC like most bureaucracies, is slow to admit problems, and even slower to adapt. Unless change comes and comes quickly this Governor’s re-entry initiative will be added to the pile of failed prison initiatives that has plagued the commonwealth since Governor Allen sold the voters a snake oil called parole abolishment.

            

First, there is no incentive for guys in “3” building to pro-actively participate. You get down to eight months and screw up and they yank what little bit of good time they give you and guess what – you spend an extra twenty to thirty days here. Model inmates earn a max of 4.5 days per month (54 days a year). Screw up and you earn none. But, your sentence stills runs and you still get released. You want men and women behind bars to be motivated to participate in re-entry programs? Change Virginia’s good time earning process. Make it possible to substantially shorten your sentence by working, training, and participating in programs from day one. Then when you get to your last eight months you can have a lot to lose: all that accumulated good time.

            

Second, for guys who screw up; ship them off this compound even if they’re in re-entry. Prison sucks, but compared to the violence and filth at higher levels, this is relatively easy time. Guys who aren’t in re-entry and are caught sexually harassing female officers see their security level rise and they soon are moved to a level 3 or level 4 facility. The same rule should apply for re-entry residents. You want to masturbate in front of a female officer; you should get tagged as a “sex offender” and shipped.

            

Third, the folks running the programs have to come from a world outside of DOC. The head of the re-entry program here is an overweight blowhard named “Lewis.” He’ll tell guys anything they want to hear, then he sneaks back to his office and fires off memo after poorly worded memo directly contradicting himself. Prison is an environment where trust is hard to build. It is even worse when the folks tasked with re-integrating offenders to society repeatedly lie.

            

And, why aren’t those staff members held accountable for the nonsense going on under their noses? Lewis and his staff would be let go for the pitiful results resonating out of 3 building if this was a profit or loss operation. Instead, they walk the grounds of this Shangri la without a care in the world.

            

Finally, as I have harped on in a number of blogs, offenders don’t need touchy-feely “cognitive community” programs. They need real treatment programs to address alcohol and drug addiction problems. There has to be real work and life skills training including basic financial literacy training.

            

One billion dollars annually. That’s what the commonwealth spends on corrections. And while the crime rate comes down, the incarceration rate goes up. Worse, the recidivism rate doesn’t change.

            

Governor McDonnell correctly saw the need for change in this broken, life-destroying system. He lacked the political courage needed to radically transform the process. His is just another in a series of failed attempts at breaking the cycle of recidivism.

            

When will it finally be fixed? Only when enough politicians are willing to speak the truth to voters. Things inside the walls must change.

Thoreau in a Week

American philosopher and essayist Henry David Thoreau said, “Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is prison.”  I don’t profess to be the man Thoreau was talking about, though I do know the American Criminal Justice System is broken.  What passes for justice these days is not what our national myths about justice look like.  And prisons are too full of too many people.  America is a land of 47,000,000 convicts.  That is the number, roughly fifteen percent of the country, who have criminal convictions on their records.  Two million are behind bars with over half of those doing time for nonviolent crimes.  Another six million are on probation or parole supervision.

The “Land of the Free” is now the “Land of the Convicted”.  The cost in real dollars, not to mention lives lost, families broken, and communities damaged, exceeds $60 billion annually.  And that’s just the prison/incarceration costs.  Add to that the cost to prosecute (from arrest, arraignment, bail, hearing, preliminary hearing, etc.) and the real costs exceed $250 billion.  That’s a quarter of a trillion spent annually to arrest, convict, and lock up over one million Americans each year.

The system breeds corruption, graft and incompetence.  One need only read one chapter of Conrad Black’s memoir, “A Matter of Principle”, to see that the issues I raise in this blog are not unique to this Southside Virginia prison.  Every day, in every state and in the Federal system, the mismanaged, unjust, failed corrections paradigm is repeated. 

Each day this week, from Monday through Saturday, an incident occurred here which reinforced everything wrong with prison.  As I write this recap of my week on a crisp winter Sunday morning shortly after completing my run and workout, I can’t help but think of the Psalmist’s words of comfort:  “The Lord hears the groaning of prisoners….”  I have no hope in the elected officials of this state or this nation to do the right thing, the just thing, as it relates to the epidemic of unchecked incarceration.  I have the utmost hope in God.

Monday:  At dinner Monday night an old inmate was unable to stand up after eating.  His legs buckled, his head sagged.  He shook, almost as though he had Parkinson’s disease.  “Do you want to go to medical old timer?”  Two different officers asked him.  “No”, he mumbled.  What did the officers do?  They got a wheelchair and had another inmate wheel him back to our building.

College student, you ask?  No.  The “old timer” is a 67 year old man brought in here directly from the local jail to do his last eight months and go through “re-entry”.  He lacks a high school diploma (education level is 4^th grade).  He is hepatitis B and C positive and uses a cane.

He’s brought back to the building where he promptly rolls out of the wheelchair and into his bed.  Shaking violently, he is unable to stand for count.  The officer waits until count “clears” (twenty minutes) before calling for a wheelchair.  They pack his personal belongings up at 3:00 am.

Tuesday:  At 7:30 am we lose water pressure.  The water intermittently returns through 3:00 pm.  When the pressure fails, ninety-two men are denied access to toilets.  When the water returns it is chocolate brown with sediment.  The officers are instructed to turn off the washers and ice maker; “Don’t want to ruin the filters.”  Inmates are told the water is fit to drink yet carts are wheeled around the compound with bottled water for the staff.  After the night shift arrives – 6:00 pm – a memo from the warden mysteriously appears worded as though notice was given about the water problem in the a.m.  By Wednesday, the water has cleared.

Wednesday:  As we are walking up to the school building we notice all the yard men in line on the boulevard while two “drug” dogs swoop around them.  Looking to our left, we see another team of drug dogs with about ten officers heading into building 6A.  Rumors are all over the compound that the dog team “sat” on two guys in 6A.  Drug use, evidenced by dirty urines, is rampant.  The amount and choice of drugs available on the compound right now isn’t from visitors sneaking them in.  Quantities such as these require CO assistance.

Thursday:  “Adaptor Check.  Adaptor Check.”  It’s 8:00 am and the building intercom suddenly announces that everyone need return to their bunks and show their electronic adaptors.  A dozen officers and counselors swoop in.  I show my Sony CD adaptor to a building counselor and intern from the college nearby.  She asks my name.  When I give it she looks up.  A very pretty college junior, I can’t help but think my ex is her intern advisor and she recognized my name.  Tattooing – with homemade guns – is everywhere on the compound.  And, with the weekly turnover of inmates (fifty each week into and out of re-entry) there is a huge black market in electronics.

Friday:  The four academic aides are two weeks into keeping the lid on DVD porn smuggled into the compound.  Guys are getting laptops and then covering them with towels to take into the bathroom.  I wonder if we should spray the computers with luminal and use a black light to see what body fluids we’re being exposed to.  At the least, we are getting disposable gloves.  It is a moral dilemma.  You don’t rat out another inmate.  But, these guys could be jeopardizing the program.  We do what we can and make arrangements to disable the “D” drive eliminating DVD and CD use.

Saturday:  I have my monthly visit with my parents who drive ninety miles to see me.  My father will be 80 this year.  My mother will turn 78.  They are in excellent health and enjoy an active life.  My mother said to me, “I hate coming here to visit you; the pat downs, the loss of privacy….”  Her chin quivered and her voice trailed off.  I understand.  I hate that they have to see me in here.  But, I appreciate their visits and support.

My father is a Korean War veteran.  He and my mother have been married since 1955.  They have paid their taxes, voted in every election, and represent what this country stood for.  They sat silently in the courtroom when I admitted my wrongdoing.  They listened as the judge handed down a sentence harsher than most get for murder, rape or child sex abuse.  For the first time in their lives they saw that their nation’s criminal justice system isn’t fair.  It’s driven by politics and revenge.  Most importantly, my parents visit because they love me and know I am not the sum total of my conviction.  I think that’s why my close friends and other family continue to stay by my side throughout this sentence.

Just a typical week inside this place.  But, it gave me insight into Mr. Thoreau’s remark.  He didn’t say a perfect man.  He said a just man.  Perhaps there is a reason for all this.  Perhaps one small thing I write will make a difference.  Perhaps Mr. Thoreau will be vindicated and justice will prevail.

Sentencing (or “The Turd in the Punchbowl” Part 1)

I’ve written numerous times in this blog about sentencing in Virginia and about the systematic failure of “truth in sentencing” as implemented in the Commonwealth. But, people are slow to notice it and even slower to admit it and do something about it.  Perhaps that’s just human nature.  We want to believe our laws are fair.  We want to have easy, rational explanations for everything.  So, politicians tell us truth in sentencing reform was long overdue and has directly led to lower crime rates and more uniform (albeit substantially longer) sentences.  “Great!” You say.  All is right with the world.  “You go over to the punchbowl to lift a celebratory toast to the power of our way of life, good old representative democracy, and you run face first into reality:  someone spiked the punch with a turd and it’s floating in the bowl for all the world to see.

“Conventional wisdom” – lovely term isn’t it – tries to correlate lower crime rates with tougher sentencing.  However, study after study (both university and Department of Justice) find there is no such correlation.  No one ever avoided committing a crime because of the perceived risk of lengthy incarceration.  In fact, what all this “get tough” approach may have done is make us a nation of convicts.

It was recently reported that over 23% of all young people between the ages of 18 and 24 will have arrest records.  The United States currently has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world (number behind bars per 100,000) and the largest prison population.  We exceed even China and the combined totals of North Korea, Iran, Syria and all the other “terror states”.  Combining federal and state prisons and jails there are approximately 2.5 million people behind bars.  That’s almost one percent of the nation’s population.  Add to that the eight million plus who have felony convictions (a sizeable number of whom are under “community corrections”, i.e. probation or parole).  That’s three percent of America.  Not since England figured out shipping all their convicts to Australia would solve their prison problem, has one nation had such a large percentage of felons.

“Truth in Sentencing” reform was supposed to take away disparity in sentences.  It didn’t matter where in Virginia (or any state for that matter; they all adopted the “truth in sentencing” commission recommendations) you committed your offense, penalties would be the same.  Great concept, only it didn’t work.

This week the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on a 72 year old Richmond attorney who was sentenced to three years for embezzling in excess of $1 million from individuals during his handling of real estate transactions since 2005.  He made no restitution.  His attorney – coincidentally the same lawyer who handled my case – had asked for a suspended sentence.  The paper reported the defendant “cooperated fully” and “expressed deep regret”.  The Henrico County Circuit Judge presiding over his case (coincidentally, I was held in the Henrico county Jail after being denied bond.  I was deemed a flight risk.  He wasn’t.) gave the three year term as a “fair punishment” for his wrongdoing.

My case was heard less than twenty miles west.  I embezzled slightly over $2 million and made immediate restitution of almost $600,000.  The Commonwealth Attorney noted my “complete cooperation” (his words at my sentencing) and the state’s own forensic psychiatrist, in a report to the court, indicated I was profoundly remorseful and that prison time would serve neither a punitive nor rehabilitative purpose.  So what did the Judge in my case do?  He gave me fifteen years.

I don’t begrudge the Henrico defendant getting three years.  I don’t begrudge the Norfolk bookkeeper being sentenced to four years in a $2.1 million embezzlement case.  I do question the integrity of the system and I do submit that my sentence was excessive and unjust and shows the hypocrisy of “truth in sentencing”.  You will never hear me say I didn’t deserve to be incarcerated.  In fact, I will freely admit sending me to prison was justified – not given other similarly situated embezzlement defendants or the average sentence for child sex abusers.

And then there is GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul.  Paul reminds me of the old, cranky guy in my neighborhood when I was growing up. He was regimented and serious about everything.  He’d give stern warnings about things and we’d laugh and tell ourselves he was crazy.  As we aged we all realized he was wiser than any of us hoped to be.

On the eve of last week’s New Hampshire primary, Paul – during a candidates’ debate – was asked by Moderator George Stephanopoulos about questions that had recently surfaced concerning alleged racist comments in a 1980’s newsletter that bore his name.
As USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham noted in an op-ed piece last Wednesday (1/11/2012), Paul said questions about what he wrote or knew about that long ago diverts attention away from the “true racism” in the nation’s judicial system that “disproportionately imprisons blacks for their involvement in crimes…”  The questioner, the other candidates, the audience itself sat in numbed silence.  Congressman Paul had pointed out the turd in the punch bowl.

In 2010, 69% of all people arrested in the United States were white.  Blacks accounted for 28% of the arrests.  These percentages were relatively constant the entire decade.  During the same ten year period, approximately twice as many whites as blacks were arrested each year for drug crimes.  Despite this, Virginia’s inmate population is disproportionately black and poor.  I learned early on I was in the minority in more ways than one.  I’m white, which means I make up only about 35% of the inmate population.  And of the white men locked up, most are in for sex offenses, primarily child sex crimes and child pornography (and almost all are serving substantially shorter sentences than me).

That disparity in incarceration rates shows a lack of justice in the criminal justice system.  As I’ve written over and over in this blog, America’s criminal justice system, Virginia’s criminal justice system, is badly flawed and in need of dramatic overhaul.

You want real justice; begin with admitting there’s a problem.  Don’t just silently stand by while the turd floats in the punchbowl.  It’s time for change, real systematic change:  colorblind sentences that actually bring about restorative justices, and prisons – when needed – where actual rehabilitation and restoration takes place.