Why not fix the problem?

Governor Purdue’s claim that we “will not release violent offenders” to prey on the public is ludicrous on its face. She is referring to the infamous 20 “lifers” who were to be released this month as a result of a NC Supreme Court ruling crediting them with good time and therefore qualifying them for release. Her claim is ludicrous because in the US some 650,000 inmates are released each year.

I’m not sure what she means when she refers to “violent” offenders. Many men who went to prison in the US weren’t violent when they went in, but became violent when they were released and vice versa.

When I give blood at the Red Cross, one of the qualifying questions they ask is whether I’ve ever been locked up more than 72 hours in a jail or juvenile facility. That speaks volumes to the kind of system we have for inmates in this country. There are some inmates who are put in solitary confinement for years on end. What do we expect when they get out? Some walk right out onto the streets from solitary confinement when their sentence is completed. On the NC Dept of Correction website, you can only find out the number of infractions for an inmate and a brief description of each. You can’t determine what punishments were given. The public has no idea of how pervasive this practice is.

Are our actions making them more violent or less violent? I met one inmate who was kept in solitary for three years on the basis that they believed he was associated with a criminal network. I looked at his “infraction” record and for his entire imprisonment, he was charged only with communicating to another prisoner by letter. He’d written his wife and asked her to send a note to a fellow inmate who was in AA with him to find out how he was doing after his transfer to another facility. By golly, we’ll put a stop to this sort of thing won’t we?

It is estimated that 40-60% of prisoners are mentally ill. That’s an ugly number. Something is wrong here.

The posturing and political gamesmanship relating to these 20 men scheduled for release is on a par with the story of “balloon boy”. In the scheme of things, this is nothing. Do you realize that a crime that might get you 10 years in Durham County could get you life if the crime were committed in a rural county in NC? A life sentence is really arbitrary within our justice system. If the DA offers a deal to avoid a trial or because he can’t quite get enough evidence to warrant a sure conviction, the punishment is going to be less severe than for the same crime taken to trial. So, to put “lifers” up for target practice by the public and the news media is disingenuous at best and gives us all a false sense that our politicians are taking care of business.

One of the 20 “lifers” set to be released had a MAP that, if completed successfully, would have released him next year. MAP is an acronym for a plan of release in NC for a prisoner who is given a life sentence. If he follows his MAP (normally lasting about 3 years), even a lifer can be released when he completes the requirements. Normally he has to have no infractions during the time of his MAP, earn a high level of trust in the system and get a work release job. There may be other requirements tailored to the prisoner. I know of several guys sentenced to life who have MAPs. It is a good thing.

The impression you get from the governor and the news media is that the sky is falling. It isn’t, but attention needs to be given to keep those incarcerated from coming back into the system once they are released. Giving them $40 and a handshake isn’t going to cut it, especially in an economy like we are seeing now. We’re willing to spend $30K a year to imprison folks in NC, but virtually nothing to help keep them from coming back into the system. That’s where the story should be.

Calling for more money to be spent to reduce recidivism would be unpopular politically. The fact that it is unpopular is our fault. We don’t know how to attack and fix a problem anymore, assuming we ever did.