Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
What’s Wrong
With Our Prisons?
by Senator Jim Webb
T
he United States has by far the petuate and magnify the same the answer is the latter.
world’s highest incarceration rate. With 5% types of behavior we purport release. Over the past two decades,
of the world’s population, our country now to fear. Post-incarceration re- we have been incarcerating
houses nearly 25% of the world’s reported pris- entry programs are haphazard or, in some places, more and more people for nonviolent crimes and
oners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per nonexistent, making it more difficult for former for acts that are driven by mental illness or drug
100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the av- offenders who wish to overcome the stigma of dependence. The U.S. Department of Justice es-
erage worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. In ad- having done prison time and become full, con- timates that 16% of the adult inmates in Ameri-
dition, more than 5 million people who recently tributing members of society. And, in the face of can prisons and jails—which means more than
left jail remain under “correctional supervision,” the movement toward mass incarceration, law- 350,000 of those locked up—suffer from mental
which includes parole, probation, and other com- enforcement officials in many parts of the U.S. illness, and the percentage in juvenile custody is
COVER PHOTO BY BRAND X PICTURES/FOTOSEARCH; OTHER Photos BY Dovarganes/ap (INMATES) AND Zaklin/epa/Corbis (WEBB) PAGE 4 • M a r c h 29, 2009 • parade
Our Prisons by Senator Jim Webb
A
even higher. Our correctional institutions are also gainst this backdrop of chaos the Central American gang MS-13 now operate in
heavily populated by the “criminally ill,” including and mismanagement, a dangerous form of northern Virginia, only a stone’s throw from our
inmates who suffer from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, organized and sometimes deadly gang ac- nation’s capital.
and hepatitis. tivity has infiltrated America’s towns and cities. It In short, we are not protecting our citizens
Drug offenders, most of comes largely from our coun- from the increasing danger of criminals who per-
them passive users or mi-
nor dealers, are swamping More and more try’s southern border, and petrate violence and intimidation as a way of life,
much of the criminal activ- and we are locking up too many people who do
our prisons. According to
data supplied to Congress’
people are ity centers around the move- not belong in jail. It is incumbent on our national
ment of illegal drugs. The leadership to find a way to fix our prison system.
Joint Economic Commit- getting locked weapons and tactics involved I believe that American ingenuity can discover
tee, those imprisoned for
drug offenses rose from 10%
up for nonviolent are of the highest order. better ways to deal with the problems of drugs
The Mexican drug car- and nonviolent criminal behavior while still mini-
of the inmate population to offenses, while tels, whose combined prof- mizing violent crime and large-scale gang activity.
approximately 33% between
1984 and 2002. Experts
dangerous gangs its are estimated at $25 bil- And we all deserve to live in a country made better
lion a year, are known to by such changes.
estimate that this increase are besieging our employ many
accounts for about half of
towns and cities. elite former sol-
the dramatic escalation in
the total number impris-
diers who were
trained in some It’s time to
oned over that period. Yet locking up more of of America’s most sophisticated
these offenders has done nothing to break up military programs. Their brutal tac- change the law
I
the power of the multibillion-dollar illegal drug tics took the lives of more than 6000 am now introducing legislation
trade. Nor has it brought about a reduction in the Mexicans last year alone, and the that will create a national
amounts of the more dangerous drugs—such as bloodshed has been spilling over the commission to look at every
aspect of our criminal justice
cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines—that border into our own neighborhoods system with an eye toward
are reaching our citizens. at a rapid pace. One terrible result is Senator Webb
reshaping the process from top to
Justice statistics also show that 47.5% of all that Phoenix, Ariz., has become the bottom. I believe that it is time to bring together the
the drug arrests in our country in 2007 were for kidnapping capital of the United best minds in America to confer, report, and make
marijuana offenses. Additionally, nearly 60% States, with more than 370 cases in specific recommendations about how we can reform
of the people in state prisons serving time for 2008. That is more incidents than in the process. This commission will be tasked with giving
us clear answers to hard questions, including:
a drug offense had no history of violence or of any other city in the world outside of
Why are so many Americans currently in prison
any significant selling activity. Indeed, four out Mexico City. compared with other countries and our own history?
of five drug arrests were for possession of illegal The challenge to our commu- What is this policy costing our nation, both in tax
substances, while only one out of five nities is not limited to dollars and in lost opportunities?
was for sales. Three-quarters of the How would the states that border How can we reshape our nation’s drug policies?
drug offenders in our state prisons you change the Mexico. Mexican car- How can we better diagnose and treat mental illness?
prison system? How can we end violence within prisons and
were there for nonviolent or purely Take our poll at tels are now reported to
increase the quality of prison administrators?
drug offenses. And although experts Parade.com be running operations How can we build workable re-entry programs so
have found little statistical difference /prisons in some 230 American that our communities can assimilate former offenders
among racial groups regarding ac- cities. Other gang activ- and encourage them to become productive citizens?
tual drug use, African-Americans—who make up ity—much of it directed from Latin How can we defend ourselves against the growing
about 12% of the total U.S. population—account- America, Asia, and Europe—has scourge of violent, internationally based gang activity?
ed for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% permeated our country to the point
Senator Jim Webb (D., Va.) is a PARADE Contributing Editor
of those convicted, and 74% of all drug offenders that no area is immune. As one ex-
and the author of nine books, including “A Time to Fight.”
sentenced to prison. ample, several thousand members of