Prison reform
AB 1008 Becomes Law in California
Assembly Bill (AB) 1008 is California’s extended Ban-the-Box law. It is an antidiscrimination employment law. I discussed the bill in Ban the Box and called for its enactment into law. The law is well intended but flawed. The reasoning behind Ban the Box is not complicated; it forces the removal of this question from job applications: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”… Read the rest
I wonder what the big prison reform issue is going to be in 2018. As I see it, there are three categories of reform issues to watch: preincarceration (bail and sentencing), incarceration (overcrowding and rehabilitation), and postincarceration (reentry and employment). This post focuses on incarceration—more specifically, the retention of inmates in private prisons.… Read the rest
As I review my 2017 posts, I cannot help but notice that my subject matter is influenced by current events filtered through the lens of prison reform issues. Reform affects all socioeconomic classes, both genders, most ages, and all races. This reality makes prison reform a far-reaching governmental arch over human conduct.… Read the rest
I’m often asked what prison is like. That broad question can be approached in many ways, and I rephrase it in my mind as: “What does prison feel like?”
When feelings are part of a conversation, solid connections are made. To communicate at this level, identifying a life experience equivalency with whom I’m talking helps.… Read the rest
I remember meeting my first state-raised inmate. It was on the yard, walking the track at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, California. State-raised refers to a person who has spent more time incarcerated than not.
Anthony was twenty-six years old, small in stature, socially awkward, and eager for recognition. He joined me walking the track one day—walking the track was a good time to talk in relative privacy—and he seized the opportunity.… Read the rest
The media is inundated with stories about sexual harassment involving public figures. These stories are not new news; sexual harassment, assault, and abuse of females are sorry chapters within the patchwork history of the human condition. Sexualization of girls and women can have unexpected long-term results that derail lives: it can result in victims’ being incarcerated in a system of blind justice.… Read the rest
The money bail system is immoral. Studies show the system discriminates by economic status and race. A scholarly analysis of this immorality is set forth in The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. One study cited by the authors suggests that defendants who were detained prior to trial—because they could not afford bail—received sentences that were more punitive than those of people who could afford bail.… Read the rest
My cellblock at Ironwood State Prison (ISP) in Blythe, California, rose out of the sands of the Colorado desert region of the Sonoran Desert. Prisons such as ISP are often put in remote areas away from large population centers.
The two summers of my time spent at ISP were blistering hot.… Read the rest
I’m not a trained mental health professional, but that doesn’t disqualify me from knowing when someone isn’t quite right. Most people have an awareness of when, as it’s colloquially put, a person is half a bubble off center. Prisons are magnets for the mentally challenged and have become mental health sanctuaries.… Read the rest
Colors are more than meet the eye. Anecdotally, bulls are angered by red; they charge the matador’s red cape—the muleta—on sight. But bulls are red/green color-blind. They see red and green as shades of gray or black. It’s the movement of the muleta, as it’s whipped around by the matador, that stokes the fury of the bull.… Read the rest