An estimated 13.2 million misdemeanor cases are filed in the United States each year. This number is overwhelming and concerning. Masses of poor and homeless people are sucked into an overburdened misdemeanor trapdoor system designed to inflict misery and sustained hardships.
In her 2018 book Punishment without Crime, law professor Alexandra Natapoff estimates that “approximately 730,000 people are in jail.… Read the rest
As I’m writing this post, we are in the twenty-ninth day of the government shutdown. The passionate truth is the country has a limping, underfunded government that is impacting people hard. Putting the political causes aside, what matters now are the short- and long-term effects on individuals and families of eight hundred thousand government workers, countless government contractors, and thousands of prisoners.… Read the rest
A recurring theme of my posts is the vast scope and breadth of prison reform. The issues impact every aspect of human life. Prison is an insane world of forced routine accentuated by culture clashes, boredom, and the loss of personal freedoms. As such, real prison reform issues take time to percolate into a legislative forum that initiates change.… Read the rest
On December 18, 2018, the US Senate passed the First Step Act, a measure previously passed by the House of Representatives. Its passage was the culmination of five years of political arm wrestling that started with the Obama administration and was supported by the Trump administration. On December 21, 2018, Donald Trump signed the First Step Act into law.… Read the rest
This is my one hundredth Break Out Blog post. In the summer of 2016, I started writing without a true guiding compass. I had no specific plan for going forward, but I knew the subjects associated with prison reform corralled complex issues that needed to be changed in state and federal prison systems.… Read the rest
Current California law forbids police departments from sharing information about officers’ criminal backgrounds. The ACLU Center for Advocacy & Policy reports that “the majority of other states recognize that disclosure of records of [officers’] critical incidents is a basic element of peace officer oversight—peace officer disciplinary records are available to the public in some form in 27 states.”… Read the rest
The older we get, the clearer our perspectives on life become. This onset of clarity is wired in us. My theory is this: dormant genes of wisdom kick in at different times in people’s lives. Some people experience the jolt early on; some people never do. I like the Your Dictionary definition of wisdom: “the quality of being wise; power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience, understanding, etc.;… Read the rest
Common prison reform necessarily highlights the federal government’s smothering of inmates’ constitutional rights. The age-old patterns of violations of incarcerated persons are examples of legislative bullying designed to protect the security of prison officers and staff at the expense of inmates’ basic rights. Because prison communication to the outside is designed to hide behind the security of guards and staff,[1] the residual effect is but a hazy view into the lives of those held in the clutches of mass incarceration.… Read the rest
Poetry is a penetrating art form that can give voice to the plight of incarcerated people. In his book Wounded Researcher: Research with Soul in Mind, Robert Romanyshyn studies the art of keeping the soul in mind when authoring psychological research reports. I was struck by the unusual juxtaposition of his research.… Read the rest
The fervent fight to eliminate California’s discriminatory cash bail system has resulted in qualified reform. Initial reporting on the subject is laced with hyperbole—for example, Thomas Fuller reported in an August 28, 2018, New York Times article, that “California . . . became the first state to fully abolish cash bail, a step that backers said would create a more equitable criminal justice system, one less dependent on a person’s wealth.”… Read the rest
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