A few weeks ago I devoted this column to the comments and observations of my friend Dr. Earl Fuller about his experiences while volunteering at the women’s prison at Chowchilla. The interest in the column was high, and I wanted to share two responses with you were posted on the Daily Pilot’s website.
The first one was: “Finally, some of the horror stories that those of us who have loved ones in prison will be told. I have been sending my son’s story to newspapers for over 2 years, but not one of them has printed it. Maybe now someone will listen to the truth and the people will understand that things are still not right in California.” The second was “What would I feel if a dear one were in prison? I am worried daily because I know someone in prison and he is sick and not being given adequate medical treatment.”
Because Fuller also volunteered to provide medical care at Pelican Bay Prison in Northern California, which houses the most dangerous male inmates, I asked him to give us his observations about the medical care these men received, and to compare it with that received at Chowchilla by the women. The following is a summary of what he told me.
The medical needs and wants of the male prisoners are really quite different than for the women, and I believe the difference is explained on a psychological basis. Women see medical care as a desirable and important adjunct to their life. Having regular visits and care by a physician confers both status and medicine, and both are considered to be a valuable commodity. The male prisoners have a different mindset because the need to see a doctor and take medicine is seen as a sign of weakness. Thus the male inmates try to limit or ignore illness until it can be ignored no longer.
The psychology also differs in another significant way. The male inmates all seemed to be convinced that they would be killed on the outside by the time they were 25 years old. So it didn’t really matter what you did or to whom you did it because you were soon going to be dead anyway. But when they were caught before they could be killed and they were sent away for 50 or 60 years to prison because of one or a series of horrible acts, they were stuck continuing to exist without really ever having learned how to live.
This resulted in most of the inmates existing almost in a vacuum. Their entire day involved being in their special violent offenders housing unit, with breakfast being brought in early, and then watching television until lunch. In the afternoon they were often handcuffed between two guards and taken down to the yard, and then put into a cage of 10-by-25 feet to run around outside for 90 minutes before they were returned to their cells. But this almost always means that when they are eventually paroled at age 45 or 50, they have no skills, no ambition and no abilities. As a result, they are poorly prepared to lead an independent existence, and often almost intentionally return to prison because that is the only place where they feel comfortable.
The prisoners whom I saw medically fell into several categories, which were those with battle injuries mostly from fighting that could not be ignored any longer, those with infections that were getting worse, and those who had contracted diseases. Mostly their sores, cuts and bruises healed quickly, as you would expect in these young people, and the infections were equally responsive, once the inmates allowed us to use medications.
The regularly established clinics ran reasonably well for those afflicted with chronic diseases like diabetes, lung diseases, hypertension and AIDS. But like with the women’s prisons, the need to keep everything fast and cheap was always present. The prisons medically could do a lot more for their inmates, but it takes money that does not seem to be available.
The process used to get them to us to be seen was interesting. First the inmate would back up to his cell door, whereupon a small barred window in his cell was opened and he would be handcuffed. Then he was walked between two guards in flak jackets to my clinic. If he had to wait, he was placed in a waiting box made out of metal and a metal screen, which was about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, and also had a small built-in seat inside.
The inmate would be locked into the box until I could see him. He would then be re-handcuffed and brought to me, but I would have about four to six guards around me at all times. When I would ask to have the handcuffs removed so I could examine the patient, the guards wondered about my sanity. Generally, these inmates were not nice people, and some were overtly psychotic. Yet they still got sick and they still needed to be treated humanly, if only for our sake — if not for theirs.
Those are some of Fuller’s comments. What he did not address was the organized sexual abuse and violence that is often rampant in these facilities. But from my standpoint, all of his observations again strongly reinforce the need for us to provide positive mentors to all of our children — early and often — so that they do not get caught up in the hopeless “well, I’ll be dead anyway” lifestyle Fuller described.
So continue to make special efforts to support things like the YM and YWCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, Scouting organizations, and after-school sports and academic activities. As was stated a few years ago in this column, a “stitch in time” truly does help to keep our children from this fate.
JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of Wearing the Robe – the Art and Responsibilities of Judging in Today’s Courts (Square One Press, 2008), and can be contacted at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or via his website at www.judgejimgray.com .
Showing posts with label california legislature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label california legislature. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, December 1, 2008
SEEKING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE - by Judge Jim Gray
SEEKING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE (21) - by Judge Jim Gray 12/10/07
The main purpose of the Criminal Justice System is to reduce crime and all of the harm and misery that accompany it. Although there simply must be negative consequences for criminal acts, as a practical matter this goal cannot be maximized by punishment alone. We also must employ the concept of “Restorative Justice.” That means we must also concentrate upon rehabilitation and treatment of the offenders, as well as community healing.
There is no doubt that we need to have prisons in our society. Unfortunately, for whatever reason some offenders see the rest of us as their natural prey, and these people present an unacceptable threat to public safety and wellbeing. Accordingly, there can be good cause to lock up people like this for the protection of the community. In that regard, I have taken a tour of San Quentin State Prison in the San Francisco area, and I have never seen so many men that had “ball bearings for eyes.” The bottom line is that I was quite happy that they were where they were.
As members of a civilized society, we have an obligation to treat our prisoners humanely and to keep them safe while they are in our custody – no matter if they are Al Capone or Jack the Ripper. Why? Because as Fyodor Dostoyevsky put it, “The degree of civilization in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.” But as long as we meet the threshold of providing them with secure and humane treatment, society deserves to be protected from people who commit criminal violence, and these people deserve their fate.
But to pursue this subject further, I think the comments of a man named Pat Nolan are instructive, and we should take note of them. Nolan was a former arch-conservative member of the California Legislature who always voted for longer and longer prison sentences for more and more offenders – until he himself was subsequently convicted of an election fraud offense and sentenced to two years in prison. He said upon his release that, based upon his direct observations, we have many too many people in prison who simply should not be there. Then he went on to say that “We should reserve our prison space for people we are afraid of, and not people we’re mad at.”
Unfortunately, for various reasons, people in our country have seized upon the idea that prisons are the answer to our criminal justice problems. As a result, the United States of America now leads the world in the incarceration of its people – both in sheer numbers, as well as per capita.
But not only is prison the most expensive approach for the taxpayers, we must also understand that about 95 percent of the prisoners eventually will be released. So what kind of people will they be when that happens? After their years in confinement they are normally released with a few items such some new clothes and a pair of shoes, $200 in cash, and a bus ticket. Probably they will have no family or other positive support group on the outside to help them. Probably they will have gotten a tattoo while in prison that identifies them with whatever racial group they belong to. Probably they will still be vulnerable to the drug addictions that they had when they entered prison. And probably they will have been rendered functionally unemployable by their felony conviction. As such, the likelihood that they will become repeat offenders is painfully high.
So if offenders are going to be confined but eventually released, shouldn’t we help to provide them with the tools that will address the reasons why they were imprisoned in the first place? And shouldn’t we help to provide them some social support once they are released? I think it is clear that we should, if for no other reason than to protect our own safety, as well as our own pocketbooks!
` Prison programs that teach and focus upon simple reading, writing and mathematical skills are a great place to start. It is commonly known that a large majority of inmates in prison are functionally illiterate, and a basic education is the thing that will most probably keep them from re-offending. For example, about two-thirds of California’s 173,000 prison inmates read below a ninth-grade level, and more than half of those fall below the seventh-grade level. Even worse, a full 21 percent of California’s inmates read below the third grade level. What chance do they have, particularly when there is only space for about 6 percent of the inmates in academic classes and only 5 percent in vocational classes in prison?
In addition to basic education, things like anger management and other counseling, parenting skills, alcohol and other drug treatment, job skills training, and even learning meditation techniques will help to reduce the rate of re-offending substantially. For example, a drug treatment program in Donovan State Prison in San Diego County that addresses these problems and has an aftercare support component has reduced the level of re-offending from 80 percent down to 18 percent! Think of all of the crimes that will not be committed, the victims who will not be victimized, the police, prosecutors, judges and juries that will not be involved in investigations and trials, and the people who will not be incarcerated as a direct result of the Donovan program! And all of the taxpayer money that will not be spent!
But in California, even though about 56 percent of the inmates have a “high need” for treatment for their drug addictions, only about 9 percent receive any treatment at all. The same is true with regard to alcohol treatment, where about 42 percent of the inmates need treatment, but only 7.5 percent actually receive anything at all.
From my observations, and taking the advice of Pat Nolan to heart, I recommend that we begin to make much more of a distinction between violent as opposed to non-violent offenders. People convicted of violent offenses should still be sent to prison as an appropriate sanction for their acts, but we should impose much shorter sentences of incarceration for non-violent offenders convicted of property crimes. Those non-violent offenders, however, should be sentenced to be on a meaningful and strictly-applied program of formal probation.
What would such a probation program involve? It would assist the offenders in addressing their fundamental problems of substance abuse, lack of job skills, anger and rage, etc. But it would also require them to obtain and hold full-time employment. And, all importantly, it would also require them to pay about 15 percent of their gross wages back to the victims of their offenses as reimbursement for their crimes.
Such a program would benefit everyone. In the first place, paying about $150 or some reasonable amount to the victim each month would be a continual reminder to the offenders that there is a price for their misdeeds, and it would also allow them to support their families and keep their families together. Secondly, it would be therapeutic for the victims to receive the restitution. Thirdly, the restitution would also help to reduce the victims’ insurance rates, since the reimbursed funds would go to the insurance companies, thus reducing their costs. Finally, it would be beneficial to society not only to see that the victims’ losses were being addressed, but also, since incarceration is the most expensive option, it would reduce the overall cost of the system to the taxpayers.
Of course, if those on formal probation fail to take the programs and their obligations seriously, they could always be sent back to jail for ever-increasing periods of time, until they decide to perform. That return to jail would serve as a “booster shot” to remind these offenders that the judicial system is serious about their obligations to make restitution and improve themselves. Or, if all else fails, they could at least serve as “bad examples” for other offenders by being forced to waste more of their lives in custody due to their own irresponsibility.
Restorative Justice is a different way of thinking about crime and our response to it. I believe we are living in the Renaissance period of this insightful movement, and that the more people understand it and its benefits, the more people will support it as well. So I just thought you would want to know.
The main purpose of the Criminal Justice System is to reduce crime and all of the harm and misery that accompany it. Although there simply must be negative consequences for criminal acts, as a practical matter this goal cannot be maximized by punishment alone. We also must employ the concept of “Restorative Justice.” That means we must also concentrate upon rehabilitation and treatment of the offenders, as well as community healing.
There is no doubt that we need to have prisons in our society. Unfortunately, for whatever reason some offenders see the rest of us as their natural prey, and these people present an unacceptable threat to public safety and wellbeing. Accordingly, there can be good cause to lock up people like this for the protection of the community. In that regard, I have taken a tour of San Quentin State Prison in the San Francisco area, and I have never seen so many men that had “ball bearings for eyes.” The bottom line is that I was quite happy that they were where they were.
As members of a civilized society, we have an obligation to treat our prisoners humanely and to keep them safe while they are in our custody – no matter if they are Al Capone or Jack the Ripper. Why? Because as Fyodor Dostoyevsky put it, “The degree of civilization in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.” But as long as we meet the threshold of providing them with secure and humane treatment, society deserves to be protected from people who commit criminal violence, and these people deserve their fate.
But to pursue this subject further, I think the comments of a man named Pat Nolan are instructive, and we should take note of them. Nolan was a former arch-conservative member of the California Legislature who always voted for longer and longer prison sentences for more and more offenders – until he himself was subsequently convicted of an election fraud offense and sentenced to two years in prison. He said upon his release that, based upon his direct observations, we have many too many people in prison who simply should not be there. Then he went on to say that “We should reserve our prison space for people we are afraid of, and not people we’re mad at.”
Unfortunately, for various reasons, people in our country have seized upon the idea that prisons are the answer to our criminal justice problems. As a result, the United States of America now leads the world in the incarceration of its people – both in sheer numbers, as well as per capita.
But not only is prison the most expensive approach for the taxpayers, we must also understand that about 95 percent of the prisoners eventually will be released. So what kind of people will they be when that happens? After their years in confinement they are normally released with a few items such some new clothes and a pair of shoes, $200 in cash, and a bus ticket. Probably they will have no family or other positive support group on the outside to help them. Probably they will have gotten a tattoo while in prison that identifies them with whatever racial group they belong to. Probably they will still be vulnerable to the drug addictions that they had when they entered prison. And probably they will have been rendered functionally unemployable by their felony conviction. As such, the likelihood that they will become repeat offenders is painfully high.
So if offenders are going to be confined but eventually released, shouldn’t we help to provide them with the tools that will address the reasons why they were imprisoned in the first place? And shouldn’t we help to provide them some social support once they are released? I think it is clear that we should, if for no other reason than to protect our own safety, as well as our own pocketbooks!
` Prison programs that teach and focus upon simple reading, writing and mathematical skills are a great place to start. It is commonly known that a large majority of inmates in prison are functionally illiterate, and a basic education is the thing that will most probably keep them from re-offending. For example, about two-thirds of California’s 173,000 prison inmates read below a ninth-grade level, and more than half of those fall below the seventh-grade level. Even worse, a full 21 percent of California’s inmates read below the third grade level. What chance do they have, particularly when there is only space for about 6 percent of the inmates in academic classes and only 5 percent in vocational classes in prison?
In addition to basic education, things like anger management and other counseling, parenting skills, alcohol and other drug treatment, job skills training, and even learning meditation techniques will help to reduce the rate of re-offending substantially. For example, a drug treatment program in Donovan State Prison in San Diego County that addresses these problems and has an aftercare support component has reduced the level of re-offending from 80 percent down to 18 percent! Think of all of the crimes that will not be committed, the victims who will not be victimized, the police, prosecutors, judges and juries that will not be involved in investigations and trials, and the people who will not be incarcerated as a direct result of the Donovan program! And all of the taxpayer money that will not be spent!
But in California, even though about 56 percent of the inmates have a “high need” for treatment for their drug addictions, only about 9 percent receive any treatment at all. The same is true with regard to alcohol treatment, where about 42 percent of the inmates need treatment, but only 7.5 percent actually receive anything at all.
From my observations, and taking the advice of Pat Nolan to heart, I recommend that we begin to make much more of a distinction between violent as opposed to non-violent offenders. People convicted of violent offenses should still be sent to prison as an appropriate sanction for their acts, but we should impose much shorter sentences of incarceration for non-violent offenders convicted of property crimes. Those non-violent offenders, however, should be sentenced to be on a meaningful and strictly-applied program of formal probation.
What would such a probation program involve? It would assist the offenders in addressing their fundamental problems of substance abuse, lack of job skills, anger and rage, etc. But it would also require them to obtain and hold full-time employment. And, all importantly, it would also require them to pay about 15 percent of their gross wages back to the victims of their offenses as reimbursement for their crimes.
Such a program would benefit everyone. In the first place, paying about $150 or some reasonable amount to the victim each month would be a continual reminder to the offenders that there is a price for their misdeeds, and it would also allow them to support their families and keep their families together. Secondly, it would be therapeutic for the victims to receive the restitution. Thirdly, the restitution would also help to reduce the victims’ insurance rates, since the reimbursed funds would go to the insurance companies, thus reducing their costs. Finally, it would be beneficial to society not only to see that the victims’ losses were being addressed, but also, since incarceration is the most expensive option, it would reduce the overall cost of the system to the taxpayers.
Of course, if those on formal probation fail to take the programs and their obligations seriously, they could always be sent back to jail for ever-increasing periods of time, until they decide to perform. That return to jail would serve as a “booster shot” to remind these offenders that the judicial system is serious about their obligations to make restitution and improve themselves. Or, if all else fails, they could at least serve as “bad examples” for other offenders by being forced to waste more of their lives in custody due to their own irresponsibility.
Restorative Justice is a different way of thinking about crime and our response to it. I believe we are living in the Renaissance period of this insightful movement, and that the more people understand it and its benefits, the more people will support it as well. So I just thought you would want to know.
James P. Gray is a Judge of the Superior Court in California, the author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It - A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs (Temple University Press, 2001) and Wearing The Robe - The Art And Responsibilities of Judging In Today's Courts, has a blog at http://judgejamesgray.blogspot.com/. http://www.judgejimgray.com, and can be contacted at www.judgejimgray.com.
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