PRISON SYSTEM GROWS FAT FROM FEAR AND GREED

By Eugene Kane Journal Sentinel columnist [Call Eugene Kane at 223-5521 or
e-mail him at ekane@onwis.com ]

From time to time, I will get a call or a letter from someone behind bars.

My first assumption is to expect the plea of an innocent man done wrong,
tales of judicial corruption or complaints about an incompetent attorney.

Surprisingly, many of the inmates who call or write these days don't want
to profess their innocence as much as they want to complain about
conditions inside what has come to be described as "the prison industrial
complex."

They complain about the high price of phone calls to loved ones. Or, they
complain about conditions inside a so-called minimum security facility. Or,
about being sent outside Wisconsin to a prison in Texas, far away from
their family.

These letters from inmates usually don't make for great news stories; most
of us have been raised to think if someone's behind bars, they probably
deserve it.

Of course, if you are African-American or Latino behind bars for a
non-violent offense, you might think differently.

For example, although most experts believe black and white men use illegal
drugs at about the same rate, a black man is five times as likely to be
arrested for a drug offense.

For lesser offenses too, a black or brown face carries a much greater
chance of conviction. Because of that fact, many see the prison system as
the very personification of institutional racism.

No wonder it is distressing for some to note -- even with violent crime
decreasing nationwide -- that building more prisons has never been more
popular.

The December issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine described the prison
industrial complex as "a confluence of special interests that has given
prison construction in the United States a seemingly unstoppable momentum."

Some of those special interests include politicians -- conservative and
liberal -- who use fear of crime to gain votes; rural communities seeking
to use prisons as an economic boon; and private companies that see prisons
as a lucrative market.

This speaks particularly well to our situation in Wisconsin, where Gov.
Tommy Thompson has based his political fortunes on building more prisons
while cutting welfare for the poorest citizens.

Doreatha Mbalia, chairwoman of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's
Department of Africology, took a look at the difference in money spent for
prisons and education in Wisconsin for a recent community forum on the
criminal justice system.

She came away shocked at the disparity. The state of Wisconsin spends $241
million to incarcerate minorities, compared with $81.3 million in funding
grants earmarked for minority students, according to her findings.

Mbalia said that disparity was evidence of misplaced priorities.

"It is very significant," she said. "Those statistics (on education) are
what jumped out at me. Somehow, we have to rectify the money spent on
education versus prisons."

One disastrous result of the disparity is that in some neighborhoods young
people come to view prison as a rite of passage instead of college.

"Isn't it something, when some youth coming out of prison can get a
reputation for being cool, the idea that if you've served time, you're
something special?" asked Mbalia.

Or, just as disturbing to me, a news story a few months ago: in Milwaukee
some young people were buying orange jumpsuits, similar to the ones issued
inmates at Milwaukee County Jail, to wear as fashion statements.

When jailhouse clothing becomes a fashion statement, that's a sure sign the
prison industrial complex is one business ready to explode through the roof.

It is a beast that demands to be fed.