Prisons - Abuses of Power, and Release Problems

 Unlike the Soviet Gulags, the American prison system works out in the open. This succeeds because no one pays attention. Criminals are treated as lepers, discards from American society, therefore punishment rather than rehabilitation becomes justified.

Lord Acton wrote power corrupts. Indifference to criminals feeds the corruption behind stories like this: Ex-warden who allegedly ran California prison ‘rape club’ goes on trial:

Ray J Garcia – who ran the federal correctional institution in Dublin, California, near Oakland – retired after FBI agents investigating reports that he was preying on women serving time in his prison found nude photos of some of them on his government-issued phone last year. He and four other workers at the facility have been charged with abusing women at the embattled complex, accused of breaking a law that prohibits sexual contact between prison workers and inmates.

Garcia, 55, has pleaded not guilty and this week became the first to go to trial before a judge at Oakland’s federal courthouse.

His attorney, James Reilly, maintains that a lack of video depicting any of Garcia’s purported abuses means he cannot be convicted. And Garcia took the witness stand in his own defense, denying that he had any inappropriate contact with anyone under his power and saying he snapped the nude photos because he thought the prisoners might have had drugs, the Oakland news outlet KTVU-TV reported.

Three others have pleaded guilty, and another is scheduled to be tried next year.

This one has attracted some attention. 

Education determines too much. Add the diminution of education in this country to the disdain for criminals (and we should add in the systemic racism affecting both systems), then we get stories like this: I have no problem hiring ex-offenders. But they’re being let down. 

So no, I don’t care if a candidate for my company’s open position has a criminal record or is an ex-felon. But I do care about something that, to me, is even more important.

Can they read?

It’s one thing for all of these government programs and non-profit organizations to help ex-felons secure employment. But are they even qualified?

If they cannot secure good jobs, then why should they not turn back to crime? It does keep up employment for our prisons.

The answer is literacy. Don’t pay me to hire ex-felons. Pay to get them literate. People in prison need to learn how to read, period. Instead of tax credits and other incentives for businesses to hire, governments and non-profits should be investing in programs to get prisoners educated on the basics of reading and math first. That’s the priority. Because once someone is at a proficient level of education, he or she can then learn the rest. But they can’t do that if they can’t read an instruction manual or study for a Microsoft certification.

That’s what I’m looking for before hiring someone out of prison. I need people who can read. Unfortunately, that’s not what the system is producing.

At Fort Dix FCI, the prison received money for GED education. The prisoners got $25 for taking the class. They could make that much in a day stealing from the kitchen. Indiana probation orders will require those without education to get a GED, or go to prison. I am not sure if Indiana law gives credit for a person getting a GED; it does do so for college degrees. The federal system runs on mandatory minimum imprisonment, and it gives no credit for furthering one's education.

If criminals are expected to return to society contrite and wanting to remove themselves from criminality, then society needs to be willing to treat criminals as humans, not as belonging to a different species.

sch 12/4/22