Jackson Free Press

No one likes to be fooled.

I was reminded of that after an overtly satirical piece I wrote April Fool's Day, poking at Gov. Haley Barbour and the conservative "tough-on-crime" and pro-death penalty platforms, brought some unexpected strong reactions. But some people got their hopes up and then dashed. For any hurt I caused, I apologize.

The larger purpose of the piece was not lost on everyone: The death penalty, beyond being morally repugnant to many, is economically unfeasible. The sources and facts I cited and the links I provided are the real thing.

If Barbour has never had a "come to Jesus" moment about what it costs to put someone to death in Mississippi--and who's on death row--someone should get up in his face and give him one.

During the '70s, I spent time demonstrating against injustice. The boys who died in the jungles of Southeast Asia were not the sons of the wealthy. The women who died of back-alley abortions were not the daughters of privilege. More than anything else, we protested the inherent unfairness of our system.

It's always been that way: When ordinary citizens get fed up enough, they rise up against the powerful and wealthy. We're seeing it across the globe as people are saying, "Enough is enough." In America the cries are coming in opposition to conservative attempts to rip away the rights of ordinary Americans to bargain for fair wages. And unlike the manufactured and corporate-funded "astro-turf" outrage of the Tea Party against government "interference," ordinary people are calling attention to the absurd inequities fostered by decades of "pro-business" legislation that allow multi-nationals to pay zero taxes in support of the country that fostered their wealth.

I spent this past Saturday at the fourth annual Criminal Justice Reform Conference at Jackson State University. The focus was on women, but the larger message was clear: Our justice system is skewed against the poor. The rich don't go to prison for the same reasons the poor do, and you don't find the sons and daughters of the wealthy on death row.

The amount of wealth the private-prison industry generates is staggering. The largest company, Corrections Corporation of America, had revenues of more than $1.6 billion in 2009, and assets of nearly $3 billion.

At the end of 2008, America had more than 2.3 million people behind bars in federal, state and local prisons and another 5.1 million on probation or parole, reported the Congressional Research Office last year. The industry employed about 770,000 Americans.

Business is booming for private corrections companies. More than one out of every 31 American citizens is in "the system" somewhere, and the industry wouldn't want it any other way. Just ask Gov. Barbour: His former lobbying firm (on which he continues to collect royalties) represents the prison industry.

"Record incarceration rates can have longer-term economic impacts by contributing to increased income inequality and more concentrated poverty," the CRO study states. "The problems are exacerbated by the fact that African Americans and Hispanics are far more likely than whites to be incarcerated

In fact, blacks, although just over 12 percent of the U.S. population, represent 36 percent of the federal and state prison population. Black women make up an astonishing 52 percent of women in those prisons. Since 1977, the rate of women behind bars has increased 720 percent, Bear Atwood, legal director of the Mississippi ACLU, reported Saturday. A record 1.7 million children under age 18 now have an imprisoned parent, according to the Department of Justice.

The industry doesn't want laws stemming from America's war on drugs to change. They're more than happy to "house" users and low-level mules who can't plea-bargain their way out of mandatory sentences. The industry doesn't want recidivism rates to decline or children to receive adequate early education to break the back of the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Why would it? As the CCA 2009 annual report states, "a decrease in occupancy levels could have a material adverse effect on our profitability."

Look, you'll usually find me running for the door when people start spouting conspiracy theories. But whatever else you might believe about the most recent war on the poor that began in the Reagan years, the numbers of people America has incarcerated just don't lie: Our rate of imprisonment is five times higher than the global average, and, with 5 percent of the world's population, we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

Are you upset about your tax rate? American taxpayers spent about $68.7 billion in 2008 to house, feed, clothe and provide medical care to prisoners. Find one state budget item that has grown as significantly and that Barbour refuses to cut.

So who is fooling whom?

America's criminal-justice system isn't just broken, Jackson Councilman Chokwe Lumumba said Saturday. For minorities and the poor, it has always been bad. And it's about as bad as it has ever been right now.

As for the death penalty, best estimates put the cost of a capital trial at about $1 million more than when prosecutors don't seek death, regardless of whether a jury hands down a death sentence--and two out of three juries don't. Add the cost of appeals, special housing units and other "special" death-row-connected costs, and the numbers skyrocket. And it's all on the taxpayer's dime--your dime.

Some politicians are coming to grips with the death penalty's inherent inequities and huge costs. On March 9, Gov. Pat Quinn made Illinois the 16th state to ban capital punishment. "Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it," Quinn said in a statement.

Illinois joined New Jersey and New Mexico, which ended capital punishment in 2007 and 2009. In Connecticut, lawmakers tried to abolish the death penalty last year, but then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, vetoed it.

When it comes to the justice system, some of us are waking up to the fact that we've been the fools all along. It's time to stand up for a better, more sane way to go.

Previous Comments

ID

163076

Comment

Thanks, Jim. That means a lot coming from you. Keep on doing your good work.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2011-04-09T12:49:36-06:00

ID

163106

Comment

Unlike Jim Craig I can't forgive this easily. I'm still hurt, demoralized and looking for alternative employment. We got to eat.

Author

Walt

Date

2011-04-11T17:45:14-06:00