The First Casualty

            Aeschylus, the great Greek Philosopher, wrote, “Truth is the first casualty of war.” (words to think about as our nation begins yet another military action). In truth, “truth” is the first casualty of all our follies: broken/failed relationships; dishonesty in business and government; failure in corrections. So often, it is easier to lie and distort and to imprison the truth from the light of day than to admit our failures – and the active role we play in them.

            The Virginia Department of Corrections, a behemoth of money and manpower, is broken. That’s the truth. It is as clear as the blue sky on a crisp fall day. Yet, the politicians in Richmond won’t say it because to do so would be to admit that a few have gotten rich off contracts and sweetheart deals; that corruption permeates the departments core; and that prison neither makes society safer nor rehabilitates the offenders it holds. DOC is a failure of monumental proportions. And, when cast into the light of truth, when exposed for what it really is, you can see the waste in money and lives.

1.     There is no statistical correlation between harsh sentencing and crime rates, between abolishment of parole and recidivism. Crime rates have nothing to do with, “tough on crime” sentencing. In fact, in states where there is more liberal use of alternative sentencing (i.e. not prison) and community-based corrections (i.e. parole and probation) crime rates have dropped significantly more than in Virginia.    

       

2.     All harsh sentencing does is sends more people to prison, for longer sentences, at greatly increasing cost. It doesn’t make Virginia any safer. Worse, in “people issues” it actually harms communities. Harsh sentencing creates an attitude of victimization among many offenders. You send a small-time drug user or nonviolent larceny convict to prison and he (or she) is subjected to violence, humiliation, and arbitrary behavior on the part of some guards, and you create an angry inmate, a person who believes he is being treated unfairly.

There are over 100,000 children in Virginia who have a parent in prison. Statistically, those children are less well off economically and have lower education levels. They also are more likely to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. There is a generational component to prison. You send a father to prison and there is a statistically significant likelihood that one of his children will end up there as well.

3.     Corrections uses sweetheart contracts to prison/industrial corporations which, in turn, pay huge dollars to Virginia lobbyists and candidates’ campaigns in even sweeter deals. The state outsources major portions of its corrections apparatus at ever increasing cost to the taxpayers with worse oversight and results.

For example, DOC no longer provides medical care for the incarcerated. That process has been contracted out to medical companies who are paid millions of dollars for “primary” care of inmates. If specialists are needed, those costs are still paid by taxpayers. Forget the moral argument, namely should government be able to take a person’s liberty away by incarceration, then outsource that function; instead, look at the pure dollars and cents. It costs the state more to have private contractors provide medical care than to do it itself.

            These contracts are all big dollar and add to the huge, billion dollar plus expenditures DOC makes every year. They also lead to multitudes of lawsuits, which the state must defend.

            Medical care in prison is poor at best. There is no “Hippocratic Oath” (“do no harm”) at play in here. No, it’s “churn and burn” to make a buck. Then, when the lawsuits begin to mount, the contractor bails out. Think I’m kidding? Ask the women inmates at Fluvanna who successfully sued in a class action suit over the lack of adequate medical care.

4.     Prisons – individually and as a totality – are corrupt. They say it’s all about public safety; they lie. The public isn’t safer with nearly 40,000 people jammed into Virginia’s prisons. Every day in here lives are wasted. The state spends millions to just sit and watch; there’s no rehabilitation or re-entry (real, meaningful programs that actually matter). Over half of all offenders lack high school diplomas and basic job skills yet those programs – talked about all day long in here – aren’t stressed or adequately funded.

Some may argue, “Prison is about punishment not rehabilitation.” Fair enough. Then make the punishment fit the crime. Don’t run violent, drug and gang-filled facilities where corrupt officers bring in the drugs or look the other way at cases of sexual assault or stabbings and say that is the result of those locked up. No, you take a man’s – or woman’s – freedom, you bear responsibility for them. DOC has not been required to be responsible for those in its custody.

5.     Economic realities: Most of Virginia’s prisons are in rural counties. The prisons become the only significant employer in those areas. Do you ever see a private employer decide to build in Lunenburg, or Mecklenburg, or Buckingham, or Brunswick because the state puts a prison there? No. And what happens in those communities when the prison closes? Nothing but economic despair.

Prisons in those rural counties are a con job run on the locals. They think the state is “investing” in their economic future. They aren’t. Those counties, like the men and women housed in their prisons, have lousy schools and poor job opportunities. Those counties are economically as shackled and imprisoned as those behind the wire.

Truth is a casualty. It is time for an honest discussion about Virginia’s prison system. Lives – both inside and outside the walls – are being lost; money is being wasted. The truth is, one day inside here tells you things are not as those in Richmond want you to believe. The politicians, and the senior people at DOC won’t tell you the truth because it will cost them money. But, as another “philosopher” once said, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Money drives prison policy; it’s corrupt money that destroys lives. That is the truth.

Major Misinformation

I expect to hear stupid things everyday around here. It goes with the territory. Part of dealing with prison life is learning that the majority of men – and women – behind bars are not the most well versed. Simply put, much of what I consider common, ordinary knowledge – facts and figures and basics of geography, history, language, that I assume everyone knows – isn’t known by most of the men inside. And not knowing breeds problems. Prisons run on misinformation, whether it be rumors, conspiracy theories or worse, falsehoods. And, you learn to live with it; with some difficulty, you ignore it.

            Yeah, you ignore it. At first, I didn’t. I couldn’t. When I would hear an inmate spout as “fact” some ridiculous statement about the power of the Virginia Governor to change, en masse, sentences, I’d explain how the Virginia constitution delineates powers. Usually the response, mumbled of course, would be “fuckin guy thinks he knows everything.”

            Even worse are the race conversations. Black or white, these guys splintered off into prison-built “religions” – spout segregation-themed words. “Blacks are ______.” Or “Whites are _____.” The only commonality is their misogynistic rants and their utter lack of any factual support for their views. And, I use to argue with those knuckleheads. Not anymore. It just isn’t worth the effort.

            But stupid people in prison isn’t what this is about. As bad as that is, I understand it. After all with over 50% of those behind bars lacking a high school diploma, you expect men not to know. What really bothers me is when those responsible for the system perpetuate falsehoods. That is a major problem. And, that is what is going on in here.

            There is a disconnect between what DOC says it’s trying to accomplish inside and what those in charge actually do. For example, DOC says, “90% of those behind bars will return to their communities.” True. And they say, the goal of prison should be not merely to punish those offenders but to prepare them to “successfully reintegrate into the community.” Fancy terms like “healing environment” are tossed around at places like this. Posters are up in chow halls and buildings promoting this facility as a “healing environment.”

            Then there are the re-entry programs: the “cognitive communities,” the classes called “breaking barriers,” “Thinking for a change,” and “Productive citizenship;” beautiful titles and goals. It is all a façade.

            This compound has a chief of Security – a Major, who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the facility. Forget the fact that there is more drug use, more fights, more gang activity, than before his arrival (perhaps that is because so many in the population are young, short sentence offenders sent here solely to go through “re-entry,” this hot-shot, relatively young Major said the other day – when shown the summer college schedule – “Great more free education for these guys.”

            An educator then told him 1. Most of the men don’t go for “free” (veterans earned education benefits through service; other students are now paying a percentage of the cost); and 2. Higher education is the single best reducer of recidivism. Do you know what our security chief then said? He said, “No, it’s not.” Hey Major Einstein, yes it is.

            Fact, Major – education, primarily college education is the only factor that significantly effects recidivism rates. So, he’s flat out wrong. More troubling – if the ignorance exhibited by the guy in charge can be more troubling – is that his incorrect assumption is shared by a large portion of those who work here. In some ways, that’s understandable. Their livelihood depends on a steady supply of inmates. Less returning inmates means less prisons. Fewer prisons mean fewer jobs for Unit Managers, counselors and Majors.

            But there’s a more insidious problem. Folks like the major miss what Senator Elizabeth Warren calls “the notion that we are all in this together.” See, the Major – and a whole lot of other people working here – see offenders as “thems.” “Those guys” break the law and expect a free education while “we” pay for all of it. The problem with that logic is, there isn’t a “we” and a “they.” There’s an “us.”

            Some of the “thems” the major refers to – they’re young guys, vets of the Afghan and Iraq wars. They have diagnosed PTSD; they were given too many prescriptions and not enough help. They’re young guys who fought for this country while “we” sat on our asses post 9-11 and hung out flags.

            Here’s the thing, the shortsighted mistake guys like the Major make. Treat people like “thems” and they’ll stay “thems.” And “thems” get bitter, and don’t care; “thems” don’t feel connected to what binds “we’s” in society. That’s what education does – it makes you feel connected; it gives you a purpose. And, if you have a purpose, if you feel connected, chances are pretty certain you won’t reoffend.

            Mexican novelist Juan Villoro said it best, “Criminal acts can be redeemed, but nothing can save us from mediocrity.”

            Mediocrity; that’s what’s taught and expected most times in prison. And it all begins with major misinformation.

Seein' The Future

A year after his big pronouncement on re-entry, we are starting to see the effects of the Governor’s emphasis on “new” programs to break the cycle of recidivism.  Lunenburg is in a state of transition.  Guys are moving from building to building.  There are pros and cons with all change, but here is my best guess about the chances for success under the Governor’s new proposal:  you can put perfume on a turd, but it’s still a turd.  The Governor’s re-entry model is a turd.

Shortly after his inauguration, Governor McDonnell announced that Virginia would take an entirely new approach to transitioning soon to be released “offenders” back to the community.  Ten prisons were earmarked as re-entry facilities.  Forget for a moment the Orwellian component to to so much of this:  inmates are now called “offenders”; prisons are called “correction centers”; inmates, er offenders aren’t released, they “transition” to their home communities; the idea was 1) evaluate every offender for their likelihood to reoffend using a 120 question software program, and 2) have every offender attend “thinking for a change”, a pre-packaged group-sharing program where offenders explore their feelings.  Both programs have been implemented here.  Any person with an ounce of common sense can see already the only thing different with McDonnell’s plan are the names.  Nothing has changed.

“Thinking for a change” involves upwards of forty offenders sitting in a room with a counselor exploring general topics such as healthy sexuality, anger, good parenting and job attendance.  Here’s the problem – prison creates an environment where any honest display of feelings can, and will, be used against you.  Offenders use personal disclosure as a sign of weakness.

Add to that the problem that the programs are, well, lame.  The counselors leading the groups are touchy, feely.  Most of the guys getting ready to get out are repeat offenders having done prior short stints.  The structural difficulties released offenders face:  drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues, poverty, court fines and fees, not to mention severe limitations on employment opportunities (because Virginia is one of the worst for discriminating against released felons), are not addressed by the Governor’s re-entry program.

If the Governor and the General Assembly were serious about ending the problem of recidivism they would dramatically change the department of corrections.  Parole would be reinstated and offenders would earn early release commensurate with their participation in meaningful rehabilitative programs.  That means end warehousing offenders and provide real, personalized treatment.  Don’t tell the public drug and alcohol rehab goes on in prison and pass off the ridiculous ten week group meetings as evidence of that.  DOC spends $1 billion each year.  That is one of every eight dollars spent by the Commonwealth and it is horribly misspent.

Then there is the 120 question “compass” test designed to identify likely re-offender candidates.  First, any moron taking the test knows what the “correct” answer is (i.e. the answer that will elicit the lowest threshold on the recidivism scale).  Second, the test has no relevance to an offender until you’re within your final year.

Take me for example.  I am in every low risk category used by the software designer and DOC (age, education, nonviolent, no prior prison).  I scored a “1” in every category.  As the counselor giving me the test said, I’m “virtually no risk to reoffend.”  Yet, my release date remains almost ten years from now.  I have no treatment programs on my “plan” other than “thinking for a change” and ironically, because of my success in “the real world”, I will – in all likelihood be a program mentor.

The Governor’s re-entry plan has changed nothing except require a lot of inmate movement.  It may look good on paper, but recidivism isn’t about paper.  It’s about flesh and blood and decisions men – and women – make when released.  If the Governor really wants to break the cycle of recidivism he needs to be bold.  It’s time, Governor McDonnell, for you to start “thinking for a change”.  It’s time for real corrections change.  It’s time for you to make real structural changes in rehabilitative and education programs and early release.