PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

The American prison system has become less a servant of justice and more a
creature of politics and a tool of special economic interests.

This idea is central to 'Going Up The River: Travels in a Prison Nation,' a
new book by Joseph Hallinan. The author, a successful journalist, spent a
decade visiting, studying and writing about prisons.

For 30 years, I worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I retired
recently as warden of a women's prison in west Fort Worth. I also traveled
extensively in the "prison nation."

After growing up the son of a prison warden, I worked in six prisons and
have visited more than 50. I spent a career experiencing the ups and downs
of correctional work, struggling with its challenges, trying to make prison
a better instrument of justice.

For the past few years, my professional soul has been troubled, for I have
come to believe that our federal system is less just than it once was.
Hallinan's central idea is correct.

'Going Up The River' is thoroughly documented and filled with information
and history about prisons. The author writes interesting stories of
inmates, their families, correctional officers (I won't call them
'guards'), wardens and others. From these encounters, the reader learns
about the "prison business."

Prisons are big business. Over the last 20 years, the incarceration rate in
the United States has tripled. There are 1.3 million people in prison
today, generating $37.8 billion in economic activity.

Many rural communities have competed for and received the economic benefits
of a prison. "Not in my back yard!" has been replaced by "Prisons, please
come!"

Corporations have noticed that money can be made in prisons. Profits are
sought selling everything from inmate long-distance service to commissary
supplies. Vendors vie to provide products and services to prison
management, from security hardware to construction management.

Profit-making corporations contract with governments to operate prisons.
Nonexistent 20 years ago, these private companies have 65,000 inmates in
custody. This merger of punishment and profit has resulted in some
shenanigans, such as competing corporate leaders making campaign
contributions to well-positioned government officials.

In one egregious case, a private prison accepted dangerous inmates without
providing the necessary security, work and programs for them. In short
order, two inmates were murdered and four escaped.

Although most private prisons have not experienced such problems, there is
always the concern that their managers will worry more about the bottom
line than the quality of the service they provide. Private prison
entrepreneurs claim that they can provide this service less expensively
than government. This is a fiction, according to 'Going Up The River'.

Hallinan documents how "the drug war" and the hardening of public attitudes
and political decisions about crime and drugs have fueled the explosive
increase in prison populations.

In the 1980s, the public demanded that something be done about the scourge
of drugs and violent crime. People were impatient with what was thought to
be lenient treatment of criminals behind bars.

Lawmakers responded. Parole was eliminated. Sentencing guidelines and
mandatory minimum sentences were established and have greatly increased the
time served in prison, especially by drug offenders. More moderate voices
were ignored.

The prison boom began, and the "prison-industrial complex" was born. There
is yet no end in sight.

The economics are good for those on one side of the prison equation.

Many politicians posture as being tough on crime, while others feel they
must avoid another "third rail of politics" _ being soft on crime. Hallinan
makes a compelling case that this confluence of economic and political
interests will determine criminal justice and imprisonment policies in this
country _ and undermine justice.

We have had to go "up the river" to find places that will welcome all the
prisons that had to be built. In this process, prison inmates, their
families and their communities (disproportionately African- American and
Hispanic) have been sold "down the river."

The book details the degrading and inhumane conditions that exist in many
prisons. The corrosive effect that prison work can have is explored, as
exemplified by a female officer who liked her job but who thought the most
difficult part was "not smiling."

Hallinan found nothing of value in the prisons he visited.

Rehabilitation of inmates has been a pipe dream. Though prison is the wrong
place to try to change anyone, "not trying is even worse." In the end
(thank goodness!), Hallinan expresses his belief, entirely unjustified by
his book, that our society is capable of something more.

The book explores the problems but not the possibilities. The author did
not write about many parts of the "prison nation" where I have been.

More than a few prisons are safe, secure and humane. They offer inmates
opportunities to change for the better and prepare for a law- abiding life
through work and programs. The hallmarks of staff interactions with inmates
are professionalism and civility. Usually, inmates reciprocate with respect.

Hallinan only reported the bad examples; had he experienced the good
examples as extensively, he might be more optimistic.

I have worked in prisons that produce "value" for society. In such places,
all inmates are confined as punishment for criminal culpability. In such
places, we reach out to the human capability of most inmates.

As scholar and law professor Norval Morris has put it, prisons can only
"facilitate change" in offenders. Ultimately, the needed transformation is
up to them. In my experience, many inmates struggle for that, and more than
a few succeed.

What I found fascinating about working in prisons was the very human
struggle with important issues of life: evil and good, guilt and
punishment, sin and redemption, vengeance and forgiveness, alienation and
belonging, intolerance and acceptance, fear and courage, hate and love.

Some people succeeded in transcending their pasts and transforming
themselves. Some succumbed to the negative side of life.

Hallinan and I agree that many sentences of inmates serving time for drug
crimes are excessive. These sentences support the prison boom, but they are
detrimental to the cause of justice because they are unfair and
disproportionate to the crime committed.

A lot of women doing federal time could have their photos on posters for
sentencing reform. Like the majority of women in prison across the country,
they have experienced various forms of trauma in their lives _ usually
sexual and/or physical abuse.

Before they were criminals, they were victims. They turned to alcohol
and/or drugs to escape from despair. They had few educational and
vocational skills. As marginalized women, neither external nor internal
resources to cope with the challenges they faced were there. To survive,
they often developed relationships with men who turned out to be abusive
and involved them in crime and drug trafficking.

Within the troubled context of their lives, these women made choices that
led them to prison, and prison they deserved. However, countless times I
encountered inmates whose sentences should have been much less than they
were _ sometimes only a fraction of what they were. Too many of these
women, not dangerous or violent but convicted of drug offenses, have
sentences of 20 years and more _ with no parole.

Imprisonment is about justice.

That justice is for society, for victims and for offenders themselves. The
administration of justice may not be a thing of beauty, but it can have
meaning and dignity. Sentences can be fair and proportionate. Inmates can
be held accountable for their crimes and afforded opportunity and hope in
prison. The needs of victims can be met through restoration more than
retribution.

However, justice is like beauty _ it exists in the eye of the beholder.

Many eyes do see that we need to make changes, but too many others have not
yet seen that light. Economics should not drive our decisions about
justice, though justice has its economic aspects. Political expedience
should not determine our prison policies, though the involvement of
politicians is crucial.

If our country were to cut back on its imprisonment binge, billions of
dollars could be saved. Those resources could be spent on the prevention of
crime and drug use, on reducing the demand in our country that causes so
much of the world's drug trafficking, and on programs to help victims of crime.

It is a political reality that more people need to see the ways in which
our justice and prison systems can be improved and act on that
understanding. Hallinan's book does a great service in that regard. It is a
good place to start.

Those to whom our country's criminal justice system and "drug war" are
important ought to consider the wisdom of my father's favorite cartoon
possum, Walt Kelly's Pogo: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Prisons and their use as punishment are a product of their times. They
reflect the culture and society of which they are a part.

Justice requires that our prisons reflect the best of American values and
culture.