One Week Down

I have officially finished my first week clerking for the New Orleans District Attorney's Office. I've learned a lot in a week, but I've decided to limit this post to the top three most surprising things I've learned:

1. Prosecutors do it all. I assumed that prosecutors simply showed up to court and made eloquent, thought provoking legal arguments that were crafted over board meetings with their supervisors. Nope. The attorneys I work for do their own filing, copying, research, fact checking, scheduling, interviewing, arguing, writing, reading and more.

2. Prosecutors truly care. The common assumption is that public defenders are bleeding heart liberals and prosecutors are hard nosed cut throats. I've seen an incredible amount of compassion from both sides. They do not talk about their cases as facts and figures but as people and families in the community. Its refreshing to see how much these prosecutors care about people that they don't even know.

3. Prosecutors don't eat lunch. I'm working under three attorneys who do not even have time to eat lunch. They get to the office before I do (8:30 a.m.) to prepare for court. They're in court from 9:00 until anywhere from 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Then, they stay in the office well after I leave (6:00 p.m.). They work long hours six to seven days a week. You would think they would be slacking off and enjoying some fine New Orleans cuisine while the court takes its lunch recess. Nope. These attorneys are prepping police officers, calling witnesses and further preparing their arguments for the ensuing trial while the rest of the world is on its lunch break.

Papers for Prisoners and Allies

I'm heading up two organizations (Papers for Prisoners, Allies) that attempt to aid prisoners in working through their appeals process from prison.

I put an incredibly talented team together and they made this video as an application to get funding for the programs.

Check it out, e-mail it to your friends and follow us on twitter.

Papers for Prisoners, Allies Video Application

Many, many thanks to Paul Shelton, Tyler Maulsby, Professor Kathryn Mattes, Professor Jane Johnson, Calvin Duncan, Cassie Hewlings, Parmita Samanta, Katie McNearny, Krista LaFave, Editha Rosario, Karen Rudnicki

28 and a half years

I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm either going to let it inspire me into living a great life or let it depress me into an unsalvageable pile of despair.

I interviewed Calvin Duncan yesterday. He spent 28 and a half years in prison for a crime he did not commit. I turned 28 in January, so I almost know what it is like to have lived as long as he was in prison. It took him 20 years to get the proper paperwork so that he could get exonerated. It took him 8 and half more years to actually get out of prison.

FOR A CRIME HE DID NOT COMMIT.

I get it; the system isn't perfect. Please don't tell me that. I may not have the loving, gentle restraint that Calvin has when he's asked questions about prison.

I want this blog to be about me because Calvin's story isn't very realistic. Calvin spent 28 and a half years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and now he's working to get other innocent inmates released. That's not really believable, is it? I heard it, saw it, felt it and I still don't really believe it. Even in the moments where I believe it, I certainly don't get it.

I looked in his eyes and didn't really get it. I mean, this guy isn't getting angry so I feel like I need to get angry for him. This guy is content to right the wrong one person at a time. He isn't exacting revenge or complaining or wilting into nothing. He is literally changing lives.

I saw it and I still don't get it.

28 and a half years.

St. Leonard's Ministries

Check these guys out. St. Leonard's Ministries
In short, these guys are taking care of men and women once they are released from prison. The recidivism rate for people involved in this program is 20% compared with 50% in the surrounding area. WOW!

What are they doing that is so special? As far as I can tell, they're simply meeting the housing, employment and educational needs of recently released prisoners in the Illinios area.

I've contacted them requesting an interview and will post my information on Whitzerland once they get back to me.

Incarcerated Population 1920-2006

Prison Policy Initiative

Prison Policy Initiative

These guys are doing some of the best policy work on American prison reform. They serve as a watchdog over the prison system by documenting Census Bureau reporting of the incarcerated, performing geographic research and tracking sentencing effects.

 Check these guys out and give them all your spare money while you're at it.

Paradigm Shift

Western Thinking Needs Paradigm Shift to Reform Penal System

Current Penal System Ills

The California Penal system is broken and the proposed solutions are woefully inadequate. The ideas coming from Sacramento (prematurely releasing up to 40,000 inmates and possibly privatizing parts of the prison system to Mexico) are weaker than the Republican proposal for healthcare overhaul.

In the midst of appalling statistical evidence, it is almost impossible to find a proponent of the current penal system. California owns the highest recidivism rate in the country; over 70% of California inmates are released from prison and end up behind bars again in their lifetime. This statistic seems to show that prison is not seen as a deterrent, nor is it effective as a means of rehabilitation.

To make matters worse, the state of California is spending over $47,000 a year per inmate. The Governor’s office cites health care as one of the primary reasons that costs are climbing. Unfortunately, there were over 64 preventable deaths in California in 2009. The medical care has been described as barbaric and the Human Rights Watch has been forced to monitor the quality of life in our prisons due to the poor quality of life. Inmate health care may be the reason for so much government spending, but it is clearly ineffectively spent.

Western Thinking

The argument against Western health care is that it addresses the effects while ignoring the causes. I’m not sure that our approach to prison management could be honored with an analogous argument; we’re not even addressing the effects of a barely functioning prison system.

Politics and views of the appropriate size of government aside, the idea of privatized prisons was originally a very appealing idea. After all, proponents of privatizing prisons claimed that private companies would reduce costs by up to 20%. I guess “up to” is a pretty important clause as the BJA’s (Bureau of Justice Assistance) conclusion was that the involvement of private corporations in the federal prison system actually resulted in a 1% cost reduction.

On the other hand, releasing 40,000 inmates before they serve their full sentence is definitely going to be a paradigm shift in the way we do corrections management in the state of California. That makes about as much sense as releasing your eight year old from time out because you don’t have time to watch him or her. The reaction will be the same: even less regard for the rules currently in place.

My biggest issue with these solutions is that once again we’re not addressing the cause or the root of the problem. The United States is by far the most incarcerated country in the world. Does that mean we’re over-legislated and the we’re the victims of severe government intrusion? That may be true, but you would need a hang glider to make that logical leap.

If we’re going to make any decent attempt at repairing this flat tire, then we need to ask why we’re driving over nails on the way to work everyday. A systemic problem begs for systemic solutions and laughs at any other feeble attempt.

Paradigm Shift

This isn’t a new concept in the world of penal system reform. Proposals of holistic development solutions have seen varied amounts of approval and progress within the system. Education, job training and faith based initiatives are knocking at the door of addressing the root cause in our disastrous penal system.

The root issue, however, is not simply socioeconomic. By definition, refusal to obey socially agreed upon rules and regulations (for the most part) is a violation of the social contract that we must live by in order to sustain a safe society of liberty and freedom.

This disobedience must not be confused with ignorance or lack of understanding; it is a result of moral depravity and the lack of community guided ethics. If this point is granted, then it becomes clear that a true approach to reform must be grounded in appreciation for humanity and the community in which it lives.

If one is not able to respect oneself, then we cannot expect him or her to live by socially accepted values in order to contribute to a social contract. Thus, we must start with the individual and the community in which he or she lives.

It is easy to see how a system based on punishment can exacerbate the issues that it wishes to correct. The California penal system cannot be successful if it does not address the moral and ethical deficiencies in criminally convicted communities.

In short, the California penal system needs to find practical ways to treat inmates like respectable human beings. Prison is not a time out or a job training center; it must be both and more.

The idea of treating people like actual people (as opposed to caged animals) sounds revolutionary, but it is already out there. There are a couple of operations that seem to embody the idea of dignifying human life as behavioral correction: Puppies Behind Bars and David Kennedy’s approach to policing policy.

Puppies Behind Bars is a program that uses inmates to train police dogs and vision impaired dogs. The inmates are fully responsible for the care and training of another life and this results in a significant maturation process during their sentence.

David Kennedy is another policing policy expert who values treating criminals with dignity and respect. One of his methods consists of giving known drug dealers the option between participating in a mentorship program and continuing with the normal criminal proceedings of arrest and incarceration.

It seems as though the system is broken beyond repair. Quick fixes will not provide significant solutions and will probably only hinder progress. The California prison system must begin to approach inmates as people in need of rehabilitation instead of animals in need of punishment.