Facts Matter. Paula, Atticus, and Me.

A lot was made in here over Chef Paula Deen’s disclosure that “once…thirty years ago…” she’d used the dreaded “N” word.  As with most things that happen on the outside, I am constantly amazed at the direction conversations take after news stories – if you consider some obese Southern chef’s use of a derogatory word newsworthy – break.

Guys in here have skewed ways of looking at things.  What with the prevalence of quasi-religions formed on racial myths, there is a huge distortion of fact from fiction.  Conspiracy theories abound on every subject under the sun.  History revisions occurs more frequently than my ex rewriting our twenty-eight years together.  So, I take most of what I hear in stride, chalking up the ridiculous points being made to sheer ignorance.

But, anything involving race gets magnified in here (can’t wait to see how the George Zimmerman murder trial plays out!).  And, Paula Deen’s idiotic handling of an embarrassing remark is no different.  As the news made major hay out of her ignorant behavior (have you noticed how everyday we have to have “breaking news”?), the guy in the bunk next to me asked me if I thought she deserved to be fired.  “That’s not the question”, I told him.  My prior “legal life” taught me that you can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason, or even no reason, just not an illegal reason (i.e.:  because of race, creed, sex, religion, national origin or sexual orientation).

The real question is, in a free society what’s off limits anymore?  If the “N” word is offensive, then it should be held as such regardless of the user.  And, at that precise moment, my next door neighbor had B.E.T. on showing yet another rap video built around drugs, drinking, scantily clad women, and dropping the “N” word.

“You glorify this stuff and these performers who cause much more damage in the black community than anything some overweight redneck cook from Savannah could say.”  He looked at me for a second, said that there’s a difference between a black artist using the term and a white southerner.  Fair enough, I responded.  And just then, it happened.   One of his buddies walked up to us and said, “Hey Dom, my main Ni—a from home just got here.  He’s a bad M—f—n—a!”  I looked at Dom and said, “Case closed”. 

People say and do stupid things.  Or as Atticus Finch told his young daughter “Scout” in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “you never know what someone’s going through ‘til you walk around in his shoes.”  It is important to remember that Atticus told his daughter that after she asked him if he was a “n---- lover” for defending a black man accused of raping a white woman in a small, 1932 Mississippi town.

“Don’t say n---- Scout.”  And then, he proceeded to explain to his daughter that he took that case because if he hadn’t, “I couldn’t hold my head up and look you and your brother in the eyes.”  It was that book and Gregory Peck’s portrayal in the movie that led me to want to be an attorney.  I learned early in my legal career, however, that no matter how gifted I was as a trial attorney, I was no Gregory Peck.  Life, outside of celluloid, is much more nuanced.  Clients, case decisions, aren’t as black and white as Atticus Finch confronted.

This blog is not in defense of Paula Deen.  She said numerous stupid things and followed them up with a defense that only reinforced the public’s opinion that she is ignorant.  What this is about is seeing the big picture, the human frailty in all of us to be the next Paula Deen.

There has been a heavy concentration of blog responses recently about my “right” to describe life in here.  I accept and welcome that discussion.  But, discussions must be based on facts.  As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it, “Every one is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”  Paula Deen has an opinion; it just doesn’t match with reality.  Just like the ignorant men in here with their conspiracy theories and arguments, their opinions don’t align with the facts. 

Here are the facts:

The United States has the highest percentage of its population incarcerated.  The number of citizens in the U.S. under some form of correctional control is now 1 in 33.  When Ronald Reagan was President it was 1 in 78.  We have 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s inmates.  About 65 million Americans have a criminal record.  The U.S. prison system costs nearly $60 billion a year.  In 1985, that cost was slightly less than $9 billion.

The risk of going to prison does not act as a deterrent to the commission of most crimes.  Fact is, most people misidentify the risk of being caught and the resulting punishment. 

There is no correlation between length of sentence and re-offending.  In fact, the studies done on nonviolent offenders sentenced to prison actually conclude that exposure to violent prison conditions leads to increased recidivism.

Those are the facts.  Economically, prisons fail at their mission.  Rehabilitatively, they likewise fail.  Philosophically, what does it say about this country – and the ethic of the citizenry that we will accept a failed system that destroys lives in the name of corrections?

Prison reform is coming.  And, surprisingly, it is being pushed by Conservative Republicans who see corrections as a gar hole that accomplishes no redeeming social policy, as well as Evangelical Christians who ask, “What would Jesus do?”  Jesus, I am confident, would be (and is) ministering to those behind bars.

As for me, my life is an open book.  As the one commenter who knows me already knows, my life is on the blog.  And while the writer’s opinion of me isn’t very flattering, neither is it factually accurate.

For one thing, DOC in Virginia does not allow inmates access to the internet (some states do).  I provide my observations to a person’s blog for free and handwritten.  Those blogs are then typeset.

Second, my guilt was never in doubt.  At no time did I seek a plea deal or offer any medical or addiction cause for my actions. In a seven minute address to the court on the day of my sentencing, I acknowledged sole responsibility for my actions.  I apologized to my family, my employer, friends and the community.  I told the judge I deserved incarceration.  I then asked him to temper his sentence to give me an opportunity to correct the wrongs I committed.

I have never once “whined” about being sent to prison.  I broke the law and knew there was the likelihood of my arrest and incarceration.  In fact, I consider my arrest a turning point in my life.  For too long I lived with guilt knowing I was living a lie.

And my Atticus moment – I’ve learned that most people are decent.  There are some who are evil and need to be separated from society and prison – safe, secure, well-maintained prisons – are needed for them.

But for the vast majority of men and women put in prison, the experience leads to a life of despair and failure.  Surely, a nation with the intellect, character, and fortitude of this one can do better.  “Walk in another man’s shoes”, urged Atticus. 

People don’t know why I did what I did.  And, that’s ok.  But, I ask you to consider:  Consider being desperate to get your spouse back from sadness and depression.  You make the decision, you violate your own moral code and you feel like hell.  But, it works.  And, you always come back to that approach whenever things are tough because it works.

I won’t go into detail and if I had to do it over I would have made different decisions all the way back to college.  And, whether you think that warrants my behavior doesn’t change the fact that prisons fail and America can, and must, do better.

Rethinking Justice

As I sit here this week, one week from the college graduation for our first class of IT certification students, during the same week this nation celebrated a national holiday to honor an icon of the civil rights movement, I thought of Dr. King’s prescient words, “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”  Powerful words; words that should give every American, every Virginian pause, and decide “is it time we rethink our view of justice?”

Early last week former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour was viciously berated in the media and by political opponents for issuing executive pardons to “murderers and rapists” on his last day in office.  The fact that the U.S. Constitution gives the president and the Mississippi Constitution (and Virginia’s as well) gives the governor the power to modify, amend, or commute any sentence, any conviction, was lost on the critics.  The fact that 189 of the 215 felons pardoned were already out of prison and living in their communities was also lost on the critics.

News pundits blathered on and on misstating facts to suit their ratings drive.

Barbour refused to be baited into the debate.  Instead, he released a statement.  In part, it said the following:

“I am very comfortable with the decisions I made…All this is consistent with the powers given the governor by our constitution…

 My wife and I are evangelical Christians.  Most Mississippians profess to be Christian of some type.  Christianity teaches us forgiveness and second chances.  I believe in second chances and I try hard to be forgiving.   The historic power of gubernatorial clemency is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances.  I’m not saying I’ll be perfect, that no one who received clemency will ever do anything wrong.  I’m not infallible, and no one else is.  But I’m very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons.”

Haley Barbour, a conservative Republican Governor from the heart of the old South made such a simple yet profound case for justice, real justice.  Governor McDonnell would do well to heed the words of Dr. King and Mr. Barbour.  Unfortunately, Virginia’s Governor appears either incapable or unwilling to do what is right.

In a recent story in the Washington Post, Virginia DOC came under scrutiny for its use of solitary confinement.  The Post reported that 44 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons use solitary confinement yet Virginia – holding almost 2,000 inmates of its 40,000 prisoner population in isolation – accounts for a “sizeable share of the estimated 25,000 people in solitary” around the nation (almost 10%).

And what was Governor McDonnell’s response when this issue was brought to his attention during a recent interview?  He said he was unaware of the complaints.

He then went further, stating “People behind bars have civil rights…”  That’s true, Governor McDonnell.  Yet the prison system you oversee daily violates the rights of those behind bars.  Justice is not an eye for an eye.  Justice does not mean giving the state the power to put an offender in a gladiatorial nightmare with rape, extortion, murder and mayhem circulating around.

As I have noted numerous times in this blog, Virginia’s prison system is a cataclysmic failure.  Justice demands something better. 

Justice it seems is coming to Georgia where its current Governor has proposed sweeping prison reform.

Governor Deal, another Republican, noted that Georgia now spends more than $1 billion a year on state prisons and has seen its inmate population double in the past 20 years (sound familiar, Virginia?).  The state, he argues simply cannot afford to keep the current sentencing regime.  “We’re at a point in time where the necessity for doing something has gotten so big that to turn our head and pretend the problem does not exist is not responsible government.”  I wonder if Governor McDonnell is listening.

In a commission study conducted on behalf of Governor Deal it was found that in Georgia, 60% of the prison admissions represented drug and property offenders; not murderers, rapists or armed robbers.  Simply put, public safety isn’t being enhanced by current sentencing.

The Georgia legislature will vote on changes to save money by using alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders.  Make non-violent offenders accountable but allow them to remain out of prison, taking care of their kids and paying their taxes.  Justice, it appears, is coming to Georgia.

All around the South – South and North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Mississippi and Georgia – conservatives, many who are evangelical Christians, are leading the push for a new justice paradigm.  And these politicians’ ranks are growing with GOP candidate Newt Gingrich and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush supporting massive prison overhaul.  And where is Governor McDonnell?  Where is Virginia in this debate?

President Obama recently made news with his last official act in 2011 – signing the National Defense Authorization Act.  This law contains a highly controversial, and suspect, clause which allows the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects, including American citizens arrested in the United States, without charge.

Two retired four-star Marine generals joined GOP Candidate Ron Paul and numerous civil rights organizations to denounce the law, deeming it “misguided and unnecessary” and a threat to America’s constitutionally protected right to due process.  Justice.  The founding fathers included terms such as due process having survived a tyrannical regime who used arrest and detention to stifle dissent.  Protections against unreasonable searches, cruel and inhumane punishment, and the right to trial with counsel, all arose because these men lived, bled and died under the thumb of a corrupt, unjust government.

That some 225 years later this nation must still debate issues of basic, fundamental justice is indeed astounding.  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  Dr. King knew well.  The time for rethinking justice is upon us.  Justice – mercy, forgiveness – must flow.

Bob Dylan was right.  The times, they are a changin.  Virginia and Governor McDonnell can lead like Governors Barbour and Deal and states like Georgia and Mississippi.  Justice is not mere enforcement of harsh laws.

"58"

I read a fascinating essay about a recently launched evangelical campaign called “58”.  It’s built around the words of Isaiah 58:

“You will call, and the Lord will answer,

You will cry, and He will say ‘Here I am’.
If you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.”

As mainline churches see their numbers dwindling, evangelical Christians have found a voice and an enthusiastic following among young people who desire to make a difference, yet see church as full of self-promoting hypocrites.  Poverty, homelessness, you name it can be ended, these 58ers believe, because the power of God is greater than any social problem.

And what of the passage where Jesus remarks “the poor will always be with you?”  He said that to Judas – pre-betrayal knowing Judas was already stealing from the money bags.  It was a sarcastic rebuke.  “Of course the poor, the homeless, the imprisoned, will always be with you.  Because your hearts are closed to doing what God requires.”

I’m turned off right now by the moralism of the church I was raised in and attended every week.  Oh, we said “we’re all God’s children”, we shook hands with strangers when they arrived and did our once a quarter packing bags of food at the local pantry.  But that is touchy-feely stuff.  It’s easy and you do it and head home and say “I care”. 

God requires more.  I’m part of a leper colony.  People, good church going middle class, whites (yes race plays a role) don’t know the first thing about what goes on inside here.  Worse, they don’t care.  I’m here to tell you, God’s children are inside these walls.  They may have done horrendous things, but they are children of God and He expects each of us to be treated with dignity, and respect, and mercy.

A minister friend asked me one day “what can my church do to help the incarcerated?”  I told him what churches typically do.  They come in here and tell you “God loves you; repent”.  There’s singing and hands raised in praise.  Then the inmate is released.  Where’s the church?  Does anyone offer the inmate a bed, a meal, a job?  That’s what “58” means.

There was an old, crazy woman that came to worship at our family’s church.  She was dirty, loud, undignified and didn’t fit in with the well-heeled Presbyterians she came in contact with.  Frankly, she annoyed the hell out of me.  We did a ceremonial handwashing for a Good Friday service one year and she sat beside me.  She reeked and when I washed her hands the water turned brown.  I swore I’d never attend another service like that again.

And then it came to me one evening as I sat in receiving on a sweltering August night.  “You never fed me when I was hungry; you never visited me in prison.”  It was Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25.  As you treat the least of my children, so shall you be treated.

There’s a reason the lepers, and possessed, and filthy, and whores and tax collectors flocked to Jesus and the well-heeled ignored Him.  He carried a message of freedom unlike anything in the world.  God loves you and forgives.  You are free of your sins, and poverty, and self-loathing.  How ironic that such a beautiful empowering message has been lost on so many of us “modern” American Christians.

Isaiah 58 is a call to action and a reminder that God hears.  He will answer.  He tells us all, no matter what our circumstances, that a child of His is in need.  That child may be in a homeless shelter or even a prison.

As James reminds us, faith without works is not really faith.  Read Isaiah 58.  God’s calling us to action.

Future Prospects

The January/February issue of the magazine The American Prospect is devoted to criminal justice reform. Try these facts on for size:



1. Nearly 1% of the American population is imprisoned.


2. Approximately $70 billion is spent annually on the nation’s local, state and federal corrections system ($1.1 billion in Virginia alone).


3. Between 1972 and 2008 the state inmate population grew 708 percent.


4. In 2001 (the last year data was available) the cost to incarcerate an inmate for one year averaged $22,650.


5. Spending on corrections has grown 300 percent in the past 20 years.


6. The United States accounts for 25 percent of the prisoners in the world, but only 5% of the global population.


7. In 33 of 50 states (include Virginia in this) more was spent on corrections-related costs than education spending.


As Michelle Alexander, Associate Professor of Law at Ohio State University wrote:


“Crime rates have fluctuated over the past 30 years and are at historical lows, but incarceration rates have consistently soared . . . crime rates and incarceration rates have moved independently of each other; incarceration rates have skyrocketed regardless of whether crime has gone up or down. . .”


And she concluded with this telling pronouncement:


“As a nation, we have managed to create a massive system of control that locks up a significant percentage of our population . . .into a permanent, second-class status. . .we have all been complicit in the emergence of mass incarceration in the United States.”


Virginia, a state that did away with parole in 1995 and then saw its prison population climb from 9,000 to almost 40,000 in 15 years, elected Robert McDonnell Governor a year ago. McDonnell, a Republican and former Virginia Attorney General, was known as a tough on crime candidate. But, McDonnell is also an evangelical Christian.


Leaders of Prison Fellowship, a Christian outreach organization include former Virginia Republican Lt. Governor Mark Earley as a senior staff member. The group is making inroads in the conservative Christian movement by urging their members to take a serious look at inmate re-entry and alternatives to incarceration. It is, they argue, a moral obligation for Christians to care for the incarcerated. “Jesus would not have turned away from the prisoners and neither should his believers”.


Powerful words. But, it will take more than words to correct the problems associated with mass incarceration. Governor McDonnell has made a start with a re-entry initiative. Beginning January 10th, 40 at risk inmates (at risk means they are within 18 months of release and have a high probability of re-offending within a year of release) will begin an intensive eight month information technology certification program. Over those eight months they will earn 37 credits toward a college degree: 15 hours in general education courses (2 English, 2 Math, 1 Social Science) and 22 hours in information technology. They will have a counselor in here helping with job placement and a counselor “on the street” sponsored by Goodwill Industries to help them tackle work and community issues. Basically, help them adjust to freedom.


Those guys make up half the college guys in the newly created college dorm I’m now living in as an academic tutor.


The Governor appears willing to change Virginia’s prison model. He must do more. Give inmates like me – nonviolent offenders serving our first sentences – the opportunity for early release (say 25% to 50% sentence time); implement restorative justice and community corrections programs and remove the stigma attached to felons.


Do nothing and, in the future, corrections spending will completely overwhelm state and federal budgets. Do the right things, the moral things, and broken lives can be restored. Governor McDonnell has a choice and future prospects for correcting corrections hang in the balance.