Jackson Free Press

Two recent reports, one from the ACLU and one from the Pew Center on the States, highlight and then double-underscore the problem of what experts have dubbed the "school-to-prison" or "cradle-to-prison" pipeline.

The ACLU report focuses on one end of the pipeline: the schools. Titled "Missing the Mark: Alternative Schools in the State of Mississippi," it documents the failure of Mississippi's alternative schools to educate our young people. Not surprisingly, the report also demonstrates a clear bias toward placing African American students in the schools—if one can even call them schools based on their lack of providing the most basic educational needs.

The Pew report focuses on the other end of the line: prison. "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections" documents the results of neglecting our children's education. Mississippi ranks No. 3 in the nation for the percentage of our population behind bars, with $266 million going into the correction system.

Mississippi's staggering statistics pale by what the pipeline costs us on a national scale, where one U.S. citizen out of every 31 is either in jail or prison, or are on parole or probation. And prison, as we should well know, does little to reverse the lifetime of bad habits and behavior learned in our decaying public schools.

Prisons are a growth industry in Mississippi, like many other areas of the country, with spending on prisons outpacing spending for education. We build prisons instead of schools, and spend more to keep prisoners behind bars than we do on our children's education.

This isn't a partisan or ideological problem. Whatever your political leaning—Republican, Democrat or Independent—it's just wrong. Whatever your religious affiliation—Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist—it's just wrong.

As a society, we cannot afford to continue this trend. By ignoring our children's education, especially those who need help the most, and warehousing them when they misbehave, we have given up their futures—and ours—in favor of punitive measures. We enrich an ever more private prison system run for profit in favor of our public-education system. Both systems are broken and need immediate attention.

We urge Mississippi's legislators to speak out against this national trend, seeking equitable solutions for all citizens. And we urge citizens to educate themselves on the issues so that together, we can direct legislation to correct this systemic imbalance.