What Are Prisons Really For?

When you really think about what Prisons are really for, several reasons can come to mind. But are they really the reasons? Why do we have Prisons? To make us feel safer? Protect us from harm? Punish the guilty? Prevent crime?

In reality, Prisons increase the profits of Corporate America. The money generated fills the pockets of the "privileged". Prisons are also used as an election tool for politicians. Propaganda that generates fear in the electorate who in turn push the fear aside, so they think, when they pull the lever for a "no-nonsense" candidate who promises peace and tranquility by locking away those who disturb it.

During my first trip to Cambria Minimum Security Prison in North Philadelphia, I noticed that Prisons were not what they were purported to be by government officials. They are not warehouses that harbor criminals and protect society. This was evidenced by the heart to heart discussions of strangers, men who are incarcerated at Cambria. They are not professional actors. They are real people just like us, who have feelings, motivations, happiness and despair.

Another observation that stuck out was the high population of African Americans who are incarcerated. As I looked around the room, there were very few white faces. There had to be a reason for this.

In the Real War On Crime, Stephen Donziger describes the race crisis that is unfolding in the criminal justice system. "A racial breakdown of the inmate population in the United States reveals that African Americans are incarcerated at a rate more than six times that of whites - 1947 per 100,000 citizens compared to 306 per 100,000 citizens for whites." He explains two reasons for this disparity. He conveys the message that African Americans tend to get arrested at higher rates and are treated more harshly.

Several times the issue of the high population of minorities in prison came up for discussion in class. Most agreed there was no balance of races. In the Real War on Crime Book, shocking statistics were revealed how the government disguises this fact. For example, the Department of Justice mislead the public in a press release that stated the incarceration rate "doubled for both black and white inmates". This press release appeared to demonstrate that the prison expansion affected blacks and whites equally by referring to research that was collected over a ten-year period and showed the population doubled from 500,000 to 1 million. This sugar coated press release included Hispanics in with the white population that never occurs in any other government survey. By including Hispanics with the white population, this falsely leads one to believe that the incarceration rate is almost equal between blacks and whites. However the true statistics are pointed out in the Real War on Crime. "In reality, African-Americans have been incarcerated at a rate six times that of whites". Crime and Punishment In America, written by Elliott Currie also agrees that the African American population in prison is overwhelming. "Nationally, there are twice as many black men in state and federal prison today as there were men of all races twenty years ago." He attributes this rise to the "War On Drugs".

During my visit, I observed a lot of pent up anger at the system by the men living in Cambria who are minorities. This is completely understandable and justifiable. But what is more shocking is how our government, whom we put our trust in, intentionally tries to hide the accurate statistics. A government that we are supposed to have faith in, defend from all harm and honor, in reality, twists the facts to downplay the hardship of the African American population. Examples such as this make me question the authority of those who are supposed to be in "charge" and are responsible for issuing sentences of punishment on those who have committed crimes. Is it possible to falsely mislead the American public and get away with it? Isn't that a crime? Shouldn't those responsible for supplying false statistics be charged criminally? If I am feeling frustrated and harboring feelings of disgust and anger at a system that covers up and changes the facts, I can only imagine the degree of frustration felt by those men who are incarcerated. I would say whatever anger is felt by these men is justified.

Another disturbing fact learned from the Real War On Crime book was again, our "government" twisting the facts. However this time, the twisted version was announced for political purposes to put fear in the American people. This would propel them to vote for "get tough" candidates. To justify the expansion of the prison population, the Department of Justice issued a statement that put fear in the public. "94 percent of inmates had been convicted of a violent crime or had a previous sentence to probation or incarceration." The insertion of theword "or" in this sentence puts a spin on the statement. It makes one think that 94% of the prison population residents are harmful. The actual figure provided in the Crime and Punishment contains a more accurate statement. "A Justice Department study found that only 17.0 percent of state inmates are violent recidivists." It is outrageous and unacceptable that the government can twist the facts and relay this false information. This now puts a huge question in my mind and makes me wonder how much other information is fed to us that are not accurate? How many more times will we condone this action by not speaking out? Or worse yet, how much information is given to us that puts the "fear factor" in and leads us to be "tough on crime" when it's really not that bad? "Growing social disintegration has produced more violent crime: in turn the fear of crime (often whipped up by careless and self serving political rhetoric) has led the public and the legislatures to call for "tough" responses; the diversion of resources to the correctional system has aggravated the deterioration of troubled communities and narrowed the economic prospects for low-income people, who have maintained high levels of crime despite huge increases in incarceration. The persistence of violent crime paradoxically leads to calls for more of the same. And so the cycle continues." So in a nutshell, the solution to reducing crime is to implement prevention programs. Prevention programs cannot be put in place because the funding isn't there. The funding isn't there because it has been diverted to pay for the cost of expanding the prisons system. The problem isn't corrected because many programs in Prison have been eliminated because of lack of funding. So in the words of Elliot Currie "And so the cycle continues".

To answer the question "What are Prisons Really For? It appears they are vehicles that help politicians lie by putting fear in the minds of the public. They really are warehouses, but not for dangerous violent people. More likely they are warehouses that house people that are addicted to drugs or alcohol. They are warehouses that contain people who committed crimes because they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They are warehouses that contain a large portion of the African American population. Therefore, these "warehouses" need a major makeover. They need to be knocked down, reduced in size and erected to form a new type of "warehouse". A new type of prison system needs to be developed that will hold those who truly are violent, who need to be incarcerated.

The majority of those incarcerated come from low income economically deprived communities. This is what appears to be the root cause of crime in our communities. Will putting those caught in the trap of drugs and poverty improve our communities or protect our families? What happens when they are released? Are they cured? Will they come back to dysfunctional communities and recidivate? Will the temptation of doing drugs still be there to entice them to get back into the habit? Or will the incarcerated time they spent away have cured them? Will it decrease violent crime? A well taken point is that even a first year Criminal Justice student can figure out that containing people inside of prisons does not correct the problem. It became a "default solution". He also pointed out that almost 1.7 million of those incarcerated were mostly poor and males. "Prison then, has increasingly become America's social agency of first resort for coping with the deepening problems of a society in perennial crisis."

Crime will be reduced when we start hitting the core of the infection by rehabilitating those who need rehabilitation. Streets will be safer when we find the root cause and cure it. Hopefully one day, this will occur. Then, maybe the warehouses can come down or be turned into educational facilities or something that will give back to the community instead of taking from the community.