Tag: incarceration

This is noteworthy in its rarity. Keep in mind that New York is one of the few states that has de-carcertaed over that past decades (and no, crime has not gone up).

Notice too how most of the article is about jobs and the economy, not crime.

Notably, Mr. Cuomo spared several large prisons in the northernmost section of the state, where lawmakers had warned of possible economic ruin if the prisons were closed, and he did not shut down any maximum-security prisons, which have no surplus of beds.
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Over all, the closings will allow the prison system, which currently houses about 56,000 inmates, to shed about 3,800 of its 64,000 beds.

The governor’s office said closing the seven prisons, which together operate at about 70 percent capacity, and moving the inmates to other facilities would save $184 million over the next two years.

I just received an email with a subject line that baffled me: “Enough room to swing a cat.” I’ve actually heard that absurd expression, which as far as I knew, came (at least in print) from Mark Twain. I was introduced to the phrase by a Russian translator in Moscow circa 1991 who liked to show off his learned “colloquial” English skills. Once, standing in cramped quarters, he proudly said, “There is not enough room to swing a cat.”

He was baffled that we had no clue what he was talking about. Ever since, I have chuckled at the image of a class of English-learning Russian students who repeat, in unison, and with thick Russian accents: “Not enough room to swing a cat.”

Well Peter Dodenhoff, a colleague at John Jay College, was nice enough to school me (schooling is, after all, what what we professors like to do):

In the days of Rule Britannia, as I suspect you’re familiar, discipline was maintained on board by the use of the cat o’ nine tails. When floggings were called for, they were carried out on deck, for two reasons: This way they would be public events that served as a warning to others, and also the cramped spaces below deck did not provide “enough room to swing a cat.” That cat, of course, was the cat o’ nine tails.

Cool stuff, eh?

That is cool stuff. And no, I never put two and two together to realize the link between the expression and flogging. I always pictured a real cat, which makes the expression all the more bizarre, especially when said with a thick Russian accent.

I became aware of the the naval history of flogging only in response to my article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (which was kind of my book’s public “coming out”). So it didn’t make it into my book, which is a shame, as it would have fit in perfectly.

The Navy also liked flogging because it didn’t take an essential seaman out of commission by throwing him in the brig. If you weren’t needed, you wouldn’t have been on the ship in the first place! I like to think there is a good analogy here vis-à-vis all of us and why we shouldn’t throw people in society’s brig.

In the Washington Post. By Marc Mauer and David Cole.

The Boston Globehas an article on recidivism, parole, and lifers.

“I crave felicity…. I’m in a state of peonage that seems perpetual.”

Whoa. Is this really how outlaw cowboys talk? Who doesn’t crave felicity? I’ve just never put it quite like that.

There’s a story about this in the New York Times. But what struck me was this:

Today, even prison officials encourage death row inmates to draft appeals. “At times, we also help the person draft the petition,” said K.V. Reddy, president of the All-India Prison Officers Association, who opposes capital punishment. “Normally, everybody sympathizes with a person who has spent a number of years in prison.”

I like this model, which isn’t that rare in much of the world: “Where Prisoners Can Do Anything, Except Leave.”

Why not? It’s cheaper. And more humane.

I received an email yesterday from Lorne Caplan, who gave me permission to republish it with attribution. I’ve edited it slightly:

As a former investment banker and having recently been freed from prison in 2007, I have to agree with much of what you said today. Most importantly, it is the culture of eternal punishment that has developed in this country.

My own situation suggest you are absolutely right to try to avoid prison, since once you have a felony on your record, it is like being branded for life. My own prospects for work have been essentially taken away by what I did and what the system continues to do, as Google can’t seem to lower the references to my incarceration and conviction, and any company with an HR department won’t even consider me.

As for qualifications, that is also funny, since I have been published in trade and consumer magazines, have the Masters, etc. It doesn’t matter. It only makes me overqualified.

I am curious if you have run across organizations for white collar criminals that have found no support and a complete taking away of family (my children haven’t had food on occasion because I can’t find work, UPS won’t hire me, McDonald’s and so many others), friends, work prospects etc…. Yes, there should be consequences to peoples actions, but a lifetime of no prospects hurting family, children, etc? I don’t think that is what the US population really would want.
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I was first interrogated as a witness in 2002 and after 21 or so meetings with the FBI, a wire tap, and the usual threats to family, I heard nothing for 3 1/2 years, until one day they showed up at my ex-wife’s door looking for me. The perp walk ensued, lawyers and their expensive (useless) defense, the pleading, sentencing, etc. And all the while, no work, income, devastation to the family, etc. I got out to no prospects, the joke of half-way house, and programs that are menial and insulting. All to say, almost 10 years into this and I am still suffering from the decisions and consequences. I don’t believe those in industry understand that it isn’t just a couple of years and some time playing tennis at a minimum security prison in the US. Your life will be destroyed, completely.

California spends more than $50,000 per prisoner. A few years ago, back when it only costs $49,000 to lock a person up for a year, Mother Jones did a breakdown of where that money goes:

Security: $20,429

Medical services: $7,669

Parole operations: $4,436

Facility operations: $3,938

Administration: $2,871

Psychiatric services: $1,403

Food: $1,377

Education: $687

Records: $513

Vocational education: $289

Inmate welfare fund: $282

Clothing: $152

Religion: $53

Activities: $23

Library: $23

Transportation: $15

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics; California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; National Association of State Budget Officers

And just think, if we cut all those “activities” and “libraries” we give to prisoners, we would be spending only $49,954 per prisoner per year.