Pubdate: Thu, 31 Jul 2003
Source: Tennessean, The (TN)
Copyright: 2003 The Tennessean
Contact:  http://www.tennessean.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447
Author: Dwight Lewis

ROBBING OUR PUPILS TO PAY FOR THE PRISONS

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Not really, but it's a matter all of us should be concerned about.

I'm talking about the fact that a new Justice Department study shows that 
at the end of 2002, there were 2,166,260 Americans in local jails, state 
and federal prisons and juvenile detention facilities.

That's a lot of folks, way more than would fit in all 32 of the National 
Football League stadiums combined on a given Sunday afternoon.

The study, released this past Sunday, shows that the nation's prison 
population grew by 2.6% last year despite nearly a decade of declines in crime.

But more importantly, the study said, ''The $40 billion cost of corrections 
nationally now threatens the viability of higher education and other vital 
state services.''

''I think much of what it shows is that the legacy of the get-tough 
movement of the '80s and '90s, mandatory sentencing, three strikes and 
you're out, the war on drugs continued to send more people to prison and 
keep them there for longer periods of time despite the fact that crime is 
actually going down,'' said Marc Mauer, assistant director for The 
Sentencing Project, a Washington-based national organization that promotes 
criminal justice reform and alternatives to incarceration.

Just four years ago, in 1999, Mauer authored a book titled Race to 
Incarcerate (The New Press), in which he predicted then that the nation's 
prison population would reach 2 million by 2000. He also issued a 
passionate plea for change.

Such a plea has been made by others for years, but far too many states just 
keep locking people up.

And that's especially true when it comes to people of color.

The Justice Department study, according to The New York Times, found that 
10.4% of black men ages 25 to 29, or 442,300 people, were in prison last 
year. By comparison, the newspaper said, 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of 
white men in the same age group were in prison.

''What we find now is that African Americans are about seven times as 
likely to be incarcerated in prison as whites and about half the prison 
population now consists of African-Americans,'' Mauer said in an interview 
over a local radio station Tuesday. ''These figures have become very 
dramatic in recent years, so much so that a black boy born today stands a 
29% chance . almost three of every 10 black boys born today can expect to 
go to prison at some point in their lives if the current trends continue.

''There is much debate about where these figures come from, to what extent 
is this crime rate, to what extent is this policy? Much of what we've seen 
in recent years is the intersection of race in the justice system.

''The war on drugs by and large has not been a war on everyone's drug use 
but rather a war on inner-city (I don't like that term) drug use and 
low-income communities. Similarly, we've seen through documentation of 
racial profiling how race plays out in terms of the death penalty and all 
sorts of things. . The way discretion is used in the justice system often 
has negative consequences for people of color.''

Mauer also said parents who are concerned about having to pay higher 
tuition at public universities for their college-age children should also 
be concerned about the nation's rising prison population.

''Policymakers don't say this very often, but basically part of the reason 
tuition is going up is because of all the money that is being invested in 
prisons over the last decade,'' Mauer said. ''We often develop criminal 
justice policy in a very short term way.

''You know, there is a sort of crime of the month, and legislators decide 
to get tough and increase sentences, but clearly what we need to do is have 
more of a long-term vision. The investments we make in our children today 
and our institutions are going to pay off 20 years from now, and we have to 
decide: Do we want to build more prisons, or do we want to build more schools?

''It seems to me most communities would certainly rather have a more 
positive approach to community development, but our public policy, 
certainly in urban areas, has been much more toward emphasizing law 
enforcement and incarceration.''

One of the things Mauer suggests that we do as a nation is invest early on 
in our children by making sure that they learn how to read and are not 
behind in math.

''I think also that we're finally starting to see the beginning of some 
change, and a lot of it is being brought on by the fiscal crisis facing 
many states,'' he said. ''Many states are going broke right now, and 
they've got to balance the budget, and they're recognizing that prisons are 
very expensive.''

In Tennessee, for example, the inmate population Tuesday afternoon in the 
state's 15 penal facilities was 19,053, an increase of 1,466 inmates since 
July 2000.

And most criminal justice experts say it costs an average of $20,000 per 
year to house a prisoner. Just think what we could do with that money if we 
find some better ways of handling people who get in trouble with the law.

Dwight Lewis is a columnist, regional editor and member of the editorial 
board for The Tennessean.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens