1.1. I would like to shine some
light on an issue that,
unfortunately, is becoming increasingly prominent
in the land of
the free. It is an issue of which many
of you may be aware, for
it has grown to unprecedented proportions
here in the United
States. It is one which all Americans
should be concerned with,
if they value such things as freedom, equality,
and justice for
all. A state of freedom exists only
if all individuals are free.
1.2. The issue in question is the major expansion
of the U.S.
prison population and prison system, otherwise
known as the
Prison Industrial Complex. The Prison
Industrial Complex is
giving rise to policies such as those in
California, where more
money is currently being spent on incarcerating
young people than
on educating them. California spends
nearly 30,000 dollars to
jail a juvenile, while devoting only 8,000
dollars to that
youth's education. In addition, it
is important to understand
how the policies of states like California
have been responsible
for criminalizing a generation of young people.
Moreover, we
must realize how this criminalization, not
only of a generation
but of poor people as well, has played a
significant part in the
recent doubling of the U.S. prison population--in
just 10 short
years from one million in 1990 to two million
in the year 2000.
Currently the U.S., with 280 million people,
has the largest
prison population in the entire world, even
higher than
China, whose population is 1.2 billion.
You have got to admire
America for living up to its motto of wanting
to remain #1.
1.3. The existence of the Prison Industrial
Complex drastically
restricts the possibilities of establishing
a society which can
call itself just, free, or democratic.
If what I have been led
to believe is true, two things are necessary
to obtain a just,
democratic society. First, a knowledgeable
and informed
citizenry, which can practice self-determination
by participating
in the political process and the decisions
that affect their
lives. Second, a society that is deeply
rooted in and based upon
equality. It is safe to say that without
equality for all from
cradle to grave, it becomes impossible to
obtain a just,
democratic society. My worldview leads
me to believe that
equality, justice, and freedom are being
reserved for the few and
denied to the many, and that this is the
essence of America.
This is what the nation's foundation is built
upon: injustice and
inequality. This fact needs to be established
before we talk
about our American-made atrocity, the Prison
Industrial Complex.
1.4. What are the dynamics of this new feature
of U.S.
democracy? The number of men, women,
and young people being
incarcerated, especially people of color
and the poor, has risen
drastically in the past ten years.
Laws such as mandatory
minimum sentencing for non-violent first
time drug offenders (who
currently make up 60% of the prison population)
have been
enacted. There is a racist discrepancy
in sentencing those
convicted for crack cocaine versus powder
cocaine offenses.
Sports slogans have become the basis for
criminal justice
policies, for example, three strikes you're
out. We witness the
largest gap between rich and poor in U.S.
history. Homeless
populations in cities across America are
criminalized. For
example, thanks to Mayor Willie Brown in
San Francisco, pushing a
grocery cart can now be a jailable offense.
Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani in New York City has helped raise
homelessness to levels
that have not been seen since the Reagan
administration. Our
public education system is being devastated,
Kansas City being a
case in point. Its schools would be
a joke, except that their
abuse of students is very sad. Harsher
so-called "juvenile
justice" laws, such as Proposition 21 in
California (to which I
will return in a moment) have been passed,
preparing for the
proposed new federal version of the same
law, titled the "the
violent youth predator act". Bear in
mind that all this is
occurring in a nation where juvenile and
adult crime is at record
lows.
1.5. Furthermore, the incarceration rate of
women in America is
skyrocketing. Although imprisonment
rates for women are
relatively low, they are rising rapidly.
According to government
statistics, the number of women prisoners
has increased 244
percent since 1992, as compared with an increase
of 188 percent
for men during the same period. The
mass imprisonment of women
has a major effect on families, quite devastating
in families
headed by a single mother.
1.6. The poor and people of color are disproportionately
targeted, criminalized, and imprisoned at
much higher rates than
the rest of the population. Such a
policy exacerbates existing
inequalities in today's criminal justice
system, or, as it should
be called, the criminal injustice system.
The kind of so-called
justice you will receive depends on the color
of your skin or the
size of your bank account. Statistics
released by the U.S.
Bureau of Prisons provide glaring examples
of these blatant
racial and class disparities.
1.7. Out of two million prisoners currently
being held in U.S.
penitentiaries 65% to 70 % are people of
color. Of these 50% are
African Americans. Keep in mind that
African Americans in this
country only comprise 12% of the U.S. population.
At the current
rate of incarceration the majority of African
American males
between the ages of 18 to 39 will be in prison
by the year 2009.
1.8. It is also very important to realize
that about 65% of
inmates were at the time of their arrest
unemployed, poor, and
did not have a high school diploma.
Individuals are not being
given access to the means to compete in the
job market, such as
an education that does not seriously limit
opportunities to gain
employment. Most people depend on their
wages for the
necessities of life. In a system that
puts price tags on
essentials such as food, clothing, and shelter
and then denies
access to them by paying substandard wages,
crime becomes by and
large the occupation of the poor. A
recent Hip-Hop artist
stated, "Some steal for fun, but most steal
to eat." At the same
time, the dominant culture educates or indoctrinates
individuals
into the supreme value of greed as the symbol
of "making it" or
"success".
1.9. Another aspect of the prison industry
is the emergence of
privatized for-profit prisons. Corporations
such as Wackenhut
and the Corrections Corporation of America
are just two of the
market pioneers tapping into the fourth largest
industry in
America, the construction and maintenance
of prison facilities.
Not to mention a corporation directly linked
both to privatized
prisons and this very University, Sodexho
Marriott, which runs
the cafeteria here at UMKC. I would
like to thank the UMKC Tea
Society for exposing these links in the one
week boycott of the
cafeteria they have called, starting this
Monday.
1.10. The world of privatized prisons creates
a number of
problems. For example, privatized prison
corporations have a
vested interest in seeing the incarceration
rate rise, in order
to see their stock prices rise. In
addition, in order to
maximize profits by reducing costs, some
privatized prisons cut
services. These measures include restricting
inmates' access to
medical treatment, adequate clothing, education,
decent food, or
even electricity.
1.11. A growing component of the Prison Industrial
Complex is the
use of forced and/or slave labor. Contrary
to what most
Americans may believe, slavery was not abolished
under the 13th
amendment, it was legalized. It states
that the use of slave
labor can be justified in the case of incarceration.
"Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for a
crime [emphasis MM], shall exist within
the United States."
Typically, if prisoners refuse to work, they
are punished with a
loss of privileges, denied access to the
phone or mail, placed in
solitary confinement, etc. The captive
labor force of low-wage,
non-unionized workers without healthcare
or retirement benefits,
the absence of safety and health standards,
e.g. for handling
hazardous materials, an unlimited workday,
no strikes, actions,
or pressure for better wages or working conditions,
and a
workforce that is never late is a dream come
true for Corporate
America. TWA, McDonald's, Starbucks,
IBM, Motorola, Victoria's
Secret, and Toys 'R Us are just a few of
the corporations
exploiting prison labor. As an example
of the size and range of
prison industries, in the year 2000 alone
prison labor made over
9 billion dollars in shareholder profits.
1.12. Most crimes committed in the U.S. are
economic. Corporate
crime feeds profits, while poor people have
to feed themselves
and their families. For example, the
San Francisco Hilton
contributed 50,000 dollars to a campaign
to pass harsher juvenile
laws in California.
The Juvenile Justice System
2.1. The policy of "Incarceration instead
of Education" is best
understood when we look at the California
model. Since 1984
California has built 21 prisons but only
one university campus.
It is also the state with the largest prison
population in the
country. Proposition 21, a recent state
initiative that passed
in March 2000, gives us a clear view of how
government officials,
school boards, and lawmakers prefer to deal
with the so-called
"epidemic" of youth and school violence.
The new law, called the
"Juvenile Crime Initiative," with its 43
pages of text
effectively sought to divert additional funds
from educational
facilities and other social programs to build
more new prisons.
Here are some of its provisions:
2.1.1. It creates a new system of "prosecutorial
judgement," a
power now taken from judges and given to
prosecuting attorneys to
decide if a juvenile should be sentenced
as an adult. A
prosecuting attorney may not be the most
unbiased person to
decide the fate of a juvenile, since his
or her job is to gain
convictions. He may bar testimony from
parents, school
officials, psychologists, and others
when arguing for a
conviction. Especially if the case
is high profile and has
received much media attention, the prosecutor
will not want to
"appear soft on crime" and will usually seek
the harshest
sentence.
2.1.2. It allows juveniles as young as 14
years old to be
sentenced as adults and sent to adult facilities,
where they will
be put into the general population.
Studies show that juveniles
housed in adult prisons are five times as
likely to commit
suicide and are much more likely to be raped
and physically
assaulted. These two policies, enacted
earlier in Florida, have
resulted in 117 kids being placed in adult
facilities, some as
young as 12 and 13 years old (Florida has
lower age minimums).
2.1.3. It defines a "gang" member as an informal
group of three
or more people wearing a certain kind of
clothing, and sentences
juveniles as young as 14 to death for certain
"gang related"
crimes. Police on the beat, a not exactly
impartial authority,
decide who is and is not a "gang" member.
A young person deemed
a "gang" member will be sentenced much more
harshly than others.
There is no probation system for anyone who
commits a crime while
being a so-called "gang member." Now
even a misdemeanor results
in automatic prison time.
2.1.4. It expands the three strikes law for
juveniles. For
example, a juvenile convicted a third time
while a minor will
receive a minimum sentence of 25 years to
life.
2.1.5. It lowers the dollar amount triggering
felony vandalism
charges, like graffiti, from over $50,000
to $400, and sets a
minimum penalty of one year in jail or thousands
of dollars in
fines.
2.1.6. It mandates six months of prison time
for truancy offenses
(skipping school).
2.1.7. It destroys the privacy and confidentiality
of juvenile
criminal records. Now schools, the
media, and employers have
access to their records, making it very difficult
for young
people who are labeled criminals to go back
to school or get a
job.
2.2. Is it possible that California forgot
to look at the facts
before passing this new law? The facts
are that in California
and across the nation youth crime is down,
even violent youth
crime. Juvenile homicide is down 56%,
and fewer than one half of
1% of youth are charged with violent crimes.
But two-thirds of
the public believes that juvenile crime is
increasing. The
chances of being killed in one of today's
schools is 1 in 2
million. But opinion polls show that
7 out of 10 people think a
shooting is likely to happen in their school.
Perhaps it was of
no importance that Proposition 21 would cost
the taxpayers one
billion dollars in prison construction and
another 330 million
just to get it off the ground. That
money is being taken away
from schools.
2.3. The fact that incarceration has been
substituted for
education depends on how perceptions have
been shaped, the
perceptions of legislators, judges, attorneys,
school board
members, and the public as a whole.
One of the core issues is
the media's portrayal of youth, and how these
depictions
determine how youth are treated and viewed
in our schools,
society, and in the courts. The sad
truth is that the media are
more concerned with sensationalism, to boost
their readership and
gain larger profits from advertisers, than
with reporting the
facts. Sensationalism easily swamps
the facts associated with
youth, violence, crime, and prison issues.
Media-hyped public
perceptions fuel harmful policymaking, and
support politicians
who proclaim the ever increasing need "to
get tough on crime," at
the expense of young people in ghettos or
rural areas, where most
politicians will never go. The politicians'
children generally
have class privilege and the right skin color
to protect them
from confronting the juvenile injustice system.
A Process of Alleviation
3.1. How can this system be changed and what
might an alternative
look like? Ultimately, we are talking
about a process of
alleviation: to end these acts of barbarism
that we see committed
every day of every week in America.
Acts of legalized barbarism
are occurring not only in the courts, or
in the forgotten urban
schools of America, or in the dungeons of
American correctional
facilities, or in some far off ghetto of
poor oppressed people
across town, which exists only in one's mind,
or in books,
statistics, and pie charts. Legalized
barbarism is also evident
in the raping and pillaging of the Third
World, supposedly done
for our benefit, or in the destruction of
millions of jobs and
pensions and the mental health of the victims
of downsizing. Our
inability thus far to unite and to truly
act as one people for
self-determination and equality is good only
for the American
status quo. We must get off the treadmill
of indoctrination in
our schools, get out of our monotonous alienating
routines,
including marches and rallies, and get out
into our communities,
to put an end once and for all to the oppressive
exploitative
nature of America. For I know that
our hope for tomorrow depends
upon our actions today.
3.2. It is traditional to end a speech with
a quote, and the one
I am about to read is fairly famous.
It comes from a man about
whom I know little but still admire.
The man is Mario Savio and
the quote is as follows:
There comes a time when the operation
of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't
take part, you can't even tacitly take part. And you've got to put
your bodies on the gears, and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all
the apparatus. And you've got to stop the machine.
3.3. This is the challenge before us, and I believe
we can live
up to it.
Michael McCormack (mikelastone@hotmail.com)
is an organizer in
Kansas City and co-founder of Solidarity
and Unity Now |
|
