MANSFIELD: Obama Goes to (a) Prison

Prison

On April 19, 1995, I was standing in a TV room in a housing unit at Ashland Federal Correctional Institution as images from the horrific bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City flashed on the screen. While the carnage being shown was chilling, the response by some of the other prisoners to the scenes of bodies being pulled from the rubble literally chilled me all the way down to the bone.

The absolute glee being expressed by some of the convicts as burned babies were being evacuated — the pure, unadulterated hatred of the federal government and anything connected to it — literally caused a knot in the pit of my stomach. I’d never been so close to such venomous, hateful feelings before in my life, and I’d been around the block a few times.

One man, a tattooed, hillbilly biker type, summed it all up for me in one sentence: “Fuck them all … those no good sons-a-bitches done took me away from my wife and kids for 30 years over some goddamn marijuana. I wish all of them get blown to hell and gone!”

Many of the other men in the TV room either nodded their assent or shouted their agreement. In effect, our nation’s unjust drug laws have created enemies of the state.

As President Obama takes the first tentative towards ending the 40-plus-year “War on Drugs” (which really, from the beginning, was a war on people), there’s gleefulness in some quarters and sadness in others. By visiting a federal prison in Oklahoma and then pardoning 46 nonviolent drug offenders, the President caused some convicts and their families to rejoice, but for the thousands of others in similar situations, convicted of essentially the same crime(s), their unending nightmare of incarceration continues.

Which begs the question … if these 46 men and women were eligible for pardons, why didn’t the president make a bolder statement and pardon the thousands of others similarly situated?

Of course, I already had the answer when I was formulating the question in my mind: Politics. I have to assume that Obama is attempting to “triangulate” — to play the political calculus that he hopes will cause both ends of the American political spectrum in Congress to at last meet in the middle on this issue.

In an unusual political circumstance, the federal government is this time taking its cue from the states instead of the other way around. Legislatures in California, Texas, Georgia and a number of other states that comprise “Incarceration Nation” have been moving, albeit agonizingly slowly, to reduce the number of individuals they have behind bars. And while I wish it were some form of enlightenment, some moral awakening that is causing the shift, I know better. The primary reason for the reduction is money.

Over 20 years ago I — along with a number of other experts on incarceration American-style — predicted the day would come when the cost of our national orgy of incarceration would threaten to bankrupt states. Californians finally woke up when someone pointed out that over the last few decades they had built 10 new prisons, but not one new university — a sure way to drive their society over the cliff.

However, releasing prisoners that were serving draconian sentences for nonviolent crimes is only part of the solution. Far too many of them will struggle with finding gainful employment in a society still hellbent on forcing returned citizens to continue to serve a life sentence of poverty upon their release. It’s akin to when the Civil War freed four million slaves, but didn’t provide them with a pot to piss in, let alone a window to throw it out of. We simply must make allowances for these individuals to somehow make an honest living.

President Obama has opened the door a crack, but rest assured, those who make their living off locking people up for long periods of times for nonviolent crimes are going to begin to push back. Organizations that represent police, prosecutors and prison guards (no doubt with the backing of the huge, lucrative and growing prison privatization industry) are going to make dire predictions of new crime waves in spite of no solid evidence to back up such claims. It’s called job protection.

There’s an old saying that “half a loaf is better than none,” and for the nonce, I suppose those of us who have worked in the field of social and criminal justice reform will have to be satisfied with baby steps. Still, I can’t help but wonder when and if that tattooed hillbilly will get out, and what will his state of mind be upon his release.

It’s easy for anyone not serving time to caution “go slow.” But when you know that you’ve paid whatever debt you owe society many times over years ago, and still are incarcerated … well, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. Like the recently released man who was arrested in Sheffield Lake for attempting to purchase an AK47. He’d immediately begun professing his love for and dedication to radial Islam upon his release from prison. What radicalized him?

The question on my mind is how many other radicals have we created with our unjust, overly punitive sentences for nonviolent crimes? How many of the men will return to society with a huge — and understandable — chip on their shoulder? And more importantly, how many of them will seek violent revenge for the stolen, lost years?

[Photo by Craig Sunter]

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From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

 

 

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2 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Obama Goes to (a) Prison”

  1. Dick Peery

    Great points, Mansfield, but they might be overly optimistic. A few years ago John Kasich became the first governor to sell a prison to a private corporation with an agreement to pay public money to keep it full and he’s about to sell another one. Wall Street wouldn’t have rushed into Corrections Corporation of America’s stock if they didn’t see this as a long running trend.

  2. Marc Spohn

    Hey M!
    Thank you for your articles. Your ability to reduce political bullshit to smoldering embers & ash is indescribably refreshing. In regards to your most recent article, I can tell you that California didn’t wake up until they lost a 25 year cruel & unusual lawsuit, prompting the federal government to step in & mandate a reduction in the prison population with NO NEW PRISONS. Not only that, even after the federal ruling, they had the audacity to fight the ruling every step of the way with their typical lies, deceit & misdirection. The CCPOA has bought & paid for the privilege & free reign to squander money, resources & human beings to further their cause of greed & power. California built well over ten prisons since the 80s. There are something like 35 out there now, and there’re more that they will tell you are not “prisons” but simply “expansion onto existing sites.” I was only released because of the federal ruling and the fact that people finally did in fact “wake up” to the fact that the state’s three strikes law was focusing most of its time and energy on non-violent drug offenders & mentally challenged, not to mention its amazing ability to sweep a disproportionate number of minorities into its “net.” People don’t seem to wake up until they’re told to do so, and this was no exception. I’m just lucky is all, but I have very little tolerance for political bullshit, as do you, and I appreciate your ability & willingness to point it out. Respect,
    Marc

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