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Is the news media overblowing the prison issue?

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Illinois

* Illinois Statehouse News has a pretty good piece of media criticism today. The service interviewed people who’ve been studying and working with prison issues for decades…

“There is increased tension, so there’s an increase in prisoner-on-prisoner fights, but that’s because it’s hot. And the prisons have been on lockdown and they’re overcrowded, and there are no programs left so everybody is sitting in their cells. So there’s a good story here, but it’s not the one being told,” said Alan Mills, legal director of the Chicago-based Uptown People’s Law Center, a nonprofit legal center that handles cases on behalf of inmates. […]

“I’ve been disturbed by the lack of any sort of skepticism on behalf of the press. I don’t see how you can report that anytime there’s an assault it must be related to closing a correctional institution without asking for somebody to prove it. Anytime there’s an incident in any prison … the union puts out a press release,” he said. “Things are terrible, but it has nothing to do with prison closures.”

* More…

Laurie Jo Reynolds, who has taught at Columbia College in Chicago and is the organizer of Tamms Year Ten, a grassroots campaign to educate people about the effects of long-term prison isolation, said the incidents are being used to bolster the argument that no prisons should close.

“I think it deceives the public about what the true issues are. It confuses the public, and it makes it harder for the governor, the (Department of Corrections) and anyone else to pursue evidence-based public policy,” Reynolds said.

“They are creating an environment of scare tactics and fear mongering,” she said. “We all need to work together to reduce overcrowding, and everybody needs to buy into true evidence-based policies to reduce prison populations. But they’re creating such a polarized political environment, it’s not good for the dialogue and it’s also not good for the policies.”

* The John Howard Association’s executive director John Maki also weighed in…

“What we’re seeing here is decades of asking the system to do more than it can possibly do with the amount of resources we’ve given it,” Maki said. “Everyone is feeling that — from the administration to the staff to the inmates. The answer isn’t to have more staff. The answer is to do what other states have done, which is to reduce the prison population.” […]

And the state’s complicated cultural and economic relationships are playing out in the prison debate right now, he said.

“The average citizen should keep in mind that it’s in everyone’s interest to have the most effective prison system possible, but also because we spend more than a billion dollars a year on this system,” he said. “As all these battles are getting played out, citizens should be asking how does this help what we all care about – safer communities and a safer state.”

Go read the whole thing.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 9:25 am

Comments

The public generally pays no attention to our prison system. Consequently, they tend to believe simplistic and misleading explanations for violence.

Those who are actively involved in prison reform, such as Alan Mills, recognize there are several factors causing increased tensions, and those existed prior to closing Tamms.

Illinois can’t afford to maintain our swollen prison system at its current capacity. The solution is reducing the number of inmates. That means sending fewer nonviolent offenders to prison.

Comment by reformer Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 9:35 am
Stop sending people using pot to jail. Thousands would be out of jail and the prisons would be less crowded.

Comment by Leroy Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:04 am
Of course they are right to a point. All those factors contribute to inmate violence. You can’t really blame much of it on closing Tamms, because it hasn’t happened yet.

What you are now seeing is the day to day violence that occurs in the prisons this time of year which is due to many factors. Removing the threat of being sent to Tamms is just one of those factors, which is only beginning to show an effect. I believe it will play a much bigger part in the future and will cause even more violent attacks than you have seen so far.

Comment by Ronbo Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:07 am
I’m disgusted with AFSCME. They know they can scare the public and they do it for their own economic gain. These ignorant reporters just serve as the AFSCME PR vehicle. They publish these assertions without evidence.

It is unseemly that individual guards at all these institutions are running to press and saying that [insert incident here] is because of Tamms closing. It is one thing to talk about working conditions and overcrowding, but it is another for them to leak documents and try to screw up IDOC policy for their own economic gain.

Comment by Dan Bureaucrat Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:09 am
AFSCME has been very effective at manipulating the media pursuant to their strategy of undermining Gov. Quinn so that he won’t have the political capital to close Tamms and other institutions. The media should ensure a more balanced discussion; this blog post is much needed and news organizations should follow suit. AFSCME is taking routine occurrences like fights between prisoners and trying to blow them up and tie them all to facility closures…it doesn’t pass the sniff test. If problems stem from overcrowding, it’s because too many people are incarcerated - we need sentencing and parole reform badly.

Comment by fix the system Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:20 am
I’ve been skeptical of the old and drawn out AP articles all along. It always seems one sided and it seems like that one reporter in particular has a beef with Corrections for some reason. The problem is prison population and resources do not run parallel and to blame administrators and corrections itself is disingenuous. Start writing and reporting on the real problems with our system of justice rather than throwing cheap fear mongering articles at us.

Comment by Tony Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:32 am
The small scale pot users should not be jailed at great expense. Figure out a structure of fines and/or home confinement.

Incarcerate only those who are violent or are involved with larger scale distribution.

Let’ see how much smaller the prison population gets.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:41 am
First of all I have a real problem about how some of these people are considered “Experts”. But that is not the point of this question.

That being said, if you really want to have a truthful discussion you have to admit when the other side does have a good point. They are right that the reduction in programs over the last few years is also part of the problem that you are seeing now. Inmates sitting around to much with nothing to occupy their time has never led to good results. The majority of the arguements have revolved around closures,Tamms in particular, but that is only one part of a larger problem. removing tools to discipline inmates for their actions is a bad idea. But removing tools to reward inmates for trying to improve themselves and their behavior is also a bad idea. You need both to make the system work effectively. Has knowing that Tamms will close emboldened some inmates and led to some of the violence you see. Yes it has. Has the Segregation Reduction Project led to some of it? Yes it has. But, reduction of programs and eliminating MGT has also played a part. Until all sides stop using myths distortions and lies, there wont be a real solution to all of the pieces that make up the big picture.

One more side note as an example is the headline “Tamms inmates moved on day of lawsuit”. Yes technically the inmates were moved on the day the suit was filed, but were moved hours earlier and scheduled days before. The headline is insinuating that there was a connection when there wasnt. The transfer was not related to the filing of the suit.

Comment by SO IL M Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:42 am
“We all need to work to reduce overcrowding”. Is that not AFSCME’s point? Closing state facilities does not solve the issue of overcrowding….it worsens it?

If Mr. Mills calls for evidence when AFSCME makes claims, then why doesn’t he provide evidence when he claims that the heat causes an increase in riots. I am not doubting his claim. I also don’t doubt AFSCME’s claims.

Comment by Raaaalph Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:50 am
Well, Mr. Dan, quiet frankly I’m disgusted with a whole lot of things right now. With that said, it does not mean I can point a finger and blame a unit of workers to the depth you seem to be spinning this all on.

Yes, the state needs less prisons and in order for that to be state needs less prisoners. In the meantime though, in a state which has no money and is billions in past bills long due (not to mention cuts cuts and more cuts in budgets) I’m just not convinced our governor is going into this in a realistic manner and timeline. It just rather seems the governor is starting at where the ending should be.

I don’t think smashing more prisoners into already over capacity prisoners and then beginning to worry about the rest of the ’solutions’ is the answer.

Comment by Cindy Lou Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 10:51 am
Cindy Lou, What you are discussing is absolutely valid and important, although Tamms has nothing to do with it because it has so few people. But, your good points are not what AFSCME is discussing. They have put out a relentless PR campaign to bully people into their position. They only support closures. They did not support the bill to reduce overcrowding. That is what infuriates me.

Comment by Dan Bureaucrat Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 11:52 am
Oh, meant to say: AFSCME only wants to stop closures. They did not support the bill to reduce overcrowding.

Comment by Dan Bureaucrat Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 11:55 am
Raaalph, Not true. As you know, reducing the prison population is politically treacherous for the governor. If AFSCME wants it to happen, they should say it. But they don’t. It is all about keeping prisons open…all of them.

Comment by state worker Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 12:18 pm
There us a reason that schools of sociology and criminology exist. It is to assess which types of correctional solutions work and which don’t. Supermax prisons simply don’t and no amount of special pleading or personal anecdotes will change that.

Comment by bartelby Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 1:42 pm
The John Howard Association does not receive money from the state to perform audits or for anything else. Our funding–which is limited–comes from private foundations and individual donors. We have never given a “kickback” to anyone, nor have we received one. We are the only independent organization that monitors Illinois’ juvenile and adult prison systems because we believe that safe, cost-effective prison reform is a powerful tool to promote public safety. If you want to see an example of our work, please check out our website http://www.thejha.org

Comment by John Maki, Executive Director, John Howard Association Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 2:20 pm
“truth”,

1) Ad hominem arguments are more effective when they don’t include gratuitous capitalization.

2) Anyone interested in the degree to which “truth” played with the facts regarding the JH Assoc should start by looking up the definition of “acquittal” and then read this piece from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-31-1053857529_x.htm

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 2:46 pm
Mr.Bureaucrat, what prison do you work at? I wish AFSCME did a better job of describing the current inmate population and how it effects the safety of staff/inmates. Many posters are uniformed if they believe we have thousands of non-violent offenders sitting in prison for simple pot possession.

Comment by tired of politics Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 4:30 pm
On the question of who is in prison, according to the last available IDOC annual report, there were 6,447 committed to prison that year with class 4 felonies. The vast majority of those were drug possession and DUI cases. According to the same report, the average time spent in prison (including time spent in jail awaiting trial, is less than two years. To get this low average, especially given the bery long sentences being served by Class X prisoners, means that there are thousands of people spending less thana year in prison. Clearly, these are not violent, hardened criminals. The prisons are, in fact, over crowded because we sentence so many drug addicts and alcoholics to prison, rather than providing treatment.

Comment by Alan Mills Friday, Aug 3, 12 @ 5:08 pm