Privately owned prison investors are banking on incarceration instead of rehabilitation by supporting politicians who are “tough on crime,” according to a new report analyzing how corporations affect U.S. prison policy.
From 1995 to 2010, the privately owned prison population in the U.S. rose from three percent to eight percent because more criminals are being sentenced under harsher laws and are receiving longer sentences.
Many states transfer inmates from overcrowded prisons to privately owned prisons instead of implementing evidence-based rehabilitation policies, according to the report. Those policies have shown to reduce overcrowding by lowering recidivism rates.
Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group are the two major privately owned prison contractors in the U.S. They grossed more than $3 billion in 2011.
The report claims private prisons are plagued with a lack of oversight and poor medical conditions. It adds that women, the mentally ill or serious offender are not likely to be housed in private prisons because of the high cost it will take to care for them.
“Private prisons experience a higher proportion of Inmate-on-inmate assaults” due to the lack of oversight, the report says.
In 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Custom detained Hui Lui “Jason” Ng, and transferred him to a privately owned facility. Ng died while in the custody of the private prison because officials thought he was faking his medical condition, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf.
Another report, by the Justice Policy Institute, details how corporations such as CCA, GEO and Cornell Company donated over $3.7 million to politicians, party committees, and ballot measures. These corporations also spent more than $1.5 million on federal lobbying.
Privately owned prison corporations, according to the report, influenced laws such as California’s Three-Strikes Law and other sentencing laws intended to increase the length of imprisonment.
A legal challenge of Arizona’s immigration bill, now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, shows that 36 co-sponsors of the bill received donations from lobbyists tied to the prison industry, the report says.
Privately owned prison investors oppose sentencing reform or legislation that will reduce the need for more prisons, the report concludes.
The report, Prison Bed Profiteers: How Corporations Are Reshaping Criminal Justice in the U.S., was prepared for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Archives for July 2012
Fifty S.Q. Men Graduate
Prisoners, their families, education volunteers and staff got a special treat in June, witnessing 50 men reach significant educational milestones despite being behind bars.
“You have accomplished something remarkable, and for that we applaud you,” said acting Warden Kevin R. Chappell.
The 2012 San Quentin graduation ceremony kicked off with the Vietnam Veterans Group presenting the colors before a jubilant crowd. Incarcerated men received their vocational training certificates, General Education Degrees and Associate’s degrees through the Robert E. Burton Adult School as well as Associate’s degrees from Patten University.
Vice Principal, Frank Kellum, addressed the crowd, making changes to the official program, bringing laughter and smiles to a packed Protestant Chapel before he introduced the warden.
“This milestone in their educational experience takes dedication and resolve and is especially admirable when accomplished in the prison setting,” said Chappell. “They have achieved their educational goals, and we commend them for their success.”
Chappell lauded the collaborative effort between Burton and Patten, saying it “lends credence to the department’s continued goal of rehabilitation and positive reintegration into society.”
Keynote speaker Yolanda Jackson told the men, “do not let others validate your work. You have to validate yourselves.” Jackson is deputy executive director of the San Francisco Bar Association.
“Education expands your choices; it gives you the opportunity to lead a life you value,” she said.
The next speakers were program valedictorians James Talley for GED, Thomas Winfrey and Michael Villanueva for vocational, and Chris Schuhmacher for Patten University. Each recounted personal challenges as well as giving thanks to their teachers and programs.
Schuhmacher sported a pair of sunglasses and sauntered up to the podium to the Door’s song “Break on Through.” He dedicated his degree to his sister, Pamela. He asked her to stand as he told how his sister missed her own college graduation ceremony to attend his trial.
“Without hesitation, she sacrificed her own graduation ceremony to be there and support me during the trial, and while I can’t give that day back, I’d like to honor her by dedicating this one to her,” Schuhmacher told the crowd, his voice breaking and unleashing a wave of tears and a standing ovation from the audience.
After Schuhmacher’s moving speech, Patten University keynote speaker Geoffrey O’Brien, a professor at Berkeley and volunteer with the Prison University Project, took the stage. “You should be really proud of the degree you’ve earned,” he said. “That pride should extend beyond your specific accomplishment to the larger change you’ve made.”
After the speeches, each graduate in cap and gown walked to the stage to receive diplomas and certificates. During the intermissions, the band “Just Came to Play” treated the crowd to smooth Latin Jazz tunes.
Afterward, the graduating prisoners and their families were treated to cake and were allowed to mingle in the Garden Chapel area.
“I am proud of my father,” said Heracio Harts Jr., who came to watch his dad graduate with an Associates of Arts degree. He leaves for college this spring, a few months before his father ‘s scheduled parole.
Hamlet Production Captivates Crowd
More than 300 people packed the San Quentin Garden Chapel in June, transforming the space into a Danish castle awash with Hamlet’s anguish and anger over the murder of his father.
For approximately three hours, Suraya Keating and Lesley Currier of Marin Shakespeare Company treated prisoners and outside guests to a masterfully directed rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It was standing-room-only as prisoners and volunteer actors captured the admiration of many who had never before seen a Shakespearean play.
“I have been an actress for many years,” said Keating. “My reason for coming to S.Q. is to raise consciousness, foster community, and have my fellow actors learn as individuals and as a team. My belief is that they can achieve who they believe they are and not what the past has told them. Shakespeare brings them alive. ”
“I had goose bumps. I wanted to laugh and cry”
While there were praises and laughter throughout the performance, there was a thunderous standing ovation at the end.
“Incredible,” said Elizabeth a community volunteer. “I had goose bumps. I wanted to laugh and cry. I have seen many (productions) and had a new appreciation, respect and admiration for Shakespeare. Thank the cast for me.”
The actors said the opportunity to transform themselves into Shakespearian characters allowed them to forget for a few moments about being locked up. For days, the performance was one of the biggest topics of conversation on the yard.
–Clinton Martin contributed to this story.
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory LWOP for Juveniles
The nation’s high court said a juvenile who commits murder could not be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Supreme Court held 5-4, in Miller v. Alabama, “that mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.”
The court affirmed that children are “constitutionally different from adults for purposes of sentencing.”
Children have less culpability and greater prospects for rehabilitation and therefore are less deserving of the most severe punishment. The majority’s decision was based “not only on common sense” but on science and social science.
The court, in a 5-4 decision, invalidated the sentences of two men who had committed murder at the age of 14 and were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
In each case, state law mandated a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
The sentencing courts could not consider the youth of the offenders or the nature of the crime.
In 2005, the Supreme Court held in Roper v. Simmons that it was unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to death.
In 2012, the court ruled in Graham v. Florida that juveniles, who do not commit murder, could not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The court considered a juvenile’s “lessened culpability” compared to an adult who commits a similar crime and greater “capacity for change.” The court said the punishment of life without the possibility of parole was compared to the death penalty.
The Miller ruling said for a court to impose the death penalty, it must consider the characteristics of a defendant and the details of the crime. Similarly, before imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole on a child, a court must consider the child’s age and role in the crime.
The court relied on psychological and scientific studies used in the Graham decision, showing the difference between juvenile and adult minds, particularly in behavior control. The court also noted the susceptibility and vulnerability of children to criminal behavior by their peers.
The decision reiterated the reasoning used in Graham that “youth matters in determining the appropriateness of a lifetime of incarceration without the possibility of parole.”
The court’s decision requires that a juvenile receive individualized consideration when sentenced for murder.
The cases cited for this article are: Miller v. Alabama (No. 10-9646, June 25, 2012), Roper v. Simmons (543 U.S. 551), and Graham v. Florida (560 U.S.___).
At-Risk Youths Visit San Quentin
The S.Q.U.I.R.E.S. of San Quentin teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department to give 32 at-risk boys a tour of the prison in hope of diverting them from future criminal activity.
The impact is illustrated by comments from two of the boys at the end of the tour:
“They don’t mess around. I thought it was fun and games, but I see it’s not. They got murderers and people on Death Row. It’s scary,” said Oscar Lopez.
“I’m going to respect my mother. I’m going to respect other family members, and I’m going to stop doing the things I was doing,” said Chris Montana.
Organizers said the tour helped the boys see the difference between the real world and a world where violence, drugs and death are common themes.
Edwin L. Henderson, executive director of On a Mission, was accompanied by LAPD officers Gus Tarian, Oscar Ibanez, Erwin Rocha and Lori Green to show the South Central Los Angeles youngsters the real side of criminal activity.
Henderson said On a Mission’s goal is to show kids that prison is no Hollywood movie.
The prisoners who led the group of kids are a part of a program called SQUIRES.
Facilitators of SQUIRES say they offer mentorship to boys on the brink of entering into the criminal justice system.
The day began with the youngsters submitting to clothed body searches conducted by serious-looking guards in front of the prison.
Next, they went through the Sally Port, the entry portal between two sets of huge iron doors marking the entry to where inmates live and work in San Quentin State Prison.
“Now, listen up! You are not in boot camp. You are in San Quentin State Prison, where there are different rules. When you hear an alarm go off, you will get down and stay down until you are told the alarm is cleared,” SQUIRES facilitator James Cavitt told the youngsters. “When you hear ‘Escort!,’ you will turn around and face the wall until the escort has passed. Today you will be one of us,” he explained.
Their indoctrination included an agreement to honor three basic principles: respect, honesty and confidentiality.
Later, the group walked to the Lower Yard, where hundreds of prisoners were going about their daily prison routines.
“Look at that little one there. He looks like he’ll be here in a couple years,” one prisoner remarked.
In an attempt to show these youngsters the consequences of bad choices, ex-gang member Markee Carter, whose ex-gang name was Keke Loc, gave a presentation just outside the entrance of Death Row.
“These guys you see in this picture are all dead,” Carter tells them. “They’re all under 25 years old,” he added.
The boys stared at the photo gallery wide-eyed and silent.
“Here’s one of my homeboys who caught a life sentence at 16,” said Carter. “This can happen to you, if you follow the wrong crowd.”
Carter then showed the boys a picture of all-star football player DeSean Jackson.
“He’s from the same neighborhood that I came from. But he didn’t follow the crowd. He made something out of his life,” Carter said.
The group was taken to one of the worst cell blocks in San Quentin, Badger section. Inmates began yelling profanities and insults to the children. Suddenly, an alarm went off, and the boys were instructed to follow the rules and get down.
“If you end up in prison, these are some of the things you have to adapt to—someone instructing your everyday life,” Thomas Winfrey, who has worked with SQUIRES for the past year, told the boys.
“Remember, each of you has a choice in life,” said Winfrey.
The tour then went to the prison’s Education Building, giving the youngsters the opportunity to discuss some of the problems they have in their lives.
They spoke about their hardships and the obstacles that interfered with their upbringing. The kids were able to talk about absent parents, about drug-using parents, and about parents who were or had been in prison.
Prisoners Join Amala Foundation in Peace Walk
Amid tennis matches, basketball games, and inmates otherwise enjoying a warm Saturday afternoon, the Amala Foundation held its second annual Peace Walk for Children.
About 30 local community members joined hundreds of San Quentin prisoners to bring awareness to the displacement children undergo as a result of political strife throughout the world.
“This day is a day of unity for me,” said Vanessa Stone, one of the organizers of the foundation.
“We get to touch lives from what we do, and it ripples throughout the world,” said another foundation organizer, Kathy Harris.
The first lap around the prison yard was walked in silence. After the first lap, community members and inmates talked to each other about the significance of the event.
“I’m a refugee from Laos,” said Boualay Sengsavang, a San Quentin prisoner. “When political actions happen and dislocate children, that resonates with me.”
The community members and prisoners walked in pairs, threes and fours circling the softball-sized field of the prison’s Lower Yard.
“I support peace,” said 24-year-old Jahkeem Stokes-Gulley, an inmate at San Quentin. “I’m trying to get a better understanding of peace, a better definition of peace. I can do this by participating in this walk that has a lot of different people of different ethnicities.”
“I support nonviolence throughout the world,” added Sean Littlefield.
John Wilkerson provided easy-listening music from a variety of bands. A representative from Texas group, Mindz of a Different Kind, entertained the crowd by chanting, “Soul is the remedy,” and the audience responding with, “I feel it in my soul.”
Ebo Thorbas, a community member who describes himself as a “long-term societal planner,” said, “I like to be a part of anything that breaks the monotony of prisons, because when any man is in prison, every man is in prison.”
Troy Williams, 44, had just arrived at San Quentin three days before the event, after being transferred from Pleasant Valley State Prison. Williams was walking alone. He said he’s been incarcerated for 27 years, and felt that his incarceration has cost him his ability to socialize. He said the ability to interact with community members helps him reconnect with himself. Williams said, “I feel like I’ve been in a long storm, and events like this let me know it’s coming to an end.”
At the end of the walk, all participants held hands to encircle the softball outfield.
The event continued with some participants going inside an air-conditioned building to tell stories of how the experience transformed their thinking or redefined their perspective about those living behind bars.
The room was filled with teary eyes, laughs, and stories about how the walk changed their lives.
The group chanted, “Love, respect, honesty, community, one village for children who can’t find their voices,” and the event ended.
Last year the walk collected more than $12,000. This year’s donations are close to $10,000 in support of the annual Global Youth Peace Summit held at its headquarters in Texas. Next year the summit is scheduled to be held in the Bay Area.
Prisoner Fire Fighters Work To Refurbish Bikes for Kids
Every kid loves bikes and wants one—no matter where it comes from.
Derrick Edgerly is a San Quentin inmate firefighter who also is involved in the bike program.
Local police departments give the bike program broken down bikes. Inmates, like Edgerly, refurbish, then donate the bikes to needy children.
“It’s always a pleasure when I see those bikes, because I know that they are going back to kids that deservingly need them,” Edgerly says. “Sometimes the bikes require a lot of maintenance. Each year we refurbish enough bikes to give about 20 to four or five different organizations that work with kids,” he added.
Edgerly’s latest work was done for an organization called Relay for Life. Correctional Sgt. Weaver asked Edgerly if he could build a mother/daughter bike set in support of an auction for breast cancer research.
Edgerly said the project made him feel useful. “I’m sure everyone knows someone that’s been touched by cancer,” he added.
Inmates Glen More, Alcaraz Reyes and Armando Mendez assist Edgerly in refurbishing the bikes.
Memorial Honors Fellow Prisoner
The San Quentin community came together in the Garden Chapel to memorialize and commemorate Levelt Duverne, 39.
Duverne’s April 25 suicide stunned the San Quentin population.
The memorial service for Haitian-born inmate was attended by about 50 men in blue, institutional staff, and the San Quentin Prison University Project volunteers.
The service began with a prayer led by Protestant Chaplain Mardi R. Jackson.
Following the prayer was a reading of Psalm 23 by Kara Urion, the Prison University Project administrator who worked with Duverne.
“He was one of the most brilliant students in the college program,” remarked a tearful Urion prior to the service.
San Quentin’s New Dae musical group sang, “Heaven is my Home.”
Former cellmate Danny Cox eulogized Duverne. “He was a brilliant mind. He studied a minimum of 12-14 hours a day and spoke seven languages fluently. He often spoke of his family with a lot of love and affection,” said Cox, breaking down several times. “It still weighs on my heart.”
After the eulogy, a number of memories of Duverne were expressed by educators and men in blue.
“He was really open to being changed by things he learned,” said Marianne Kaletzky, a graduate student from UC Berkeley who teaches Spanish at San Quentin. “There is that piece that’s missing from my life now.”
Alton “Coach” McSween recalled, “He always had a smile on his face.”
“He was brilliant, as he was humble, and the best asker of questions I’ve had in the classroom,” said one of his English 101-B instructors, Geoffrey O’Brien.
“Levelt was always incredible and intense, funny, and had a good sense of humor,” expressed Victoria Kahn, another of his English 101-B instructors. She added, “I loved his personality. He didn’t seem the type of person that would commit suicide. He was engaged in life, a critical thinker and extremely intelligent.”
“Levelt always was generous when sharing his ideals with the class. He always asked instructors intelligent questions. In his final presentation to class, he expressed passion and rigor for topics, and inspired everyone,” said Haley Pollack, his English 204 instructor.
Alex Miley, Spanish 102 Instructor, said, “We really missed him in the class and his contagious joy in learning. But I am glad we did get to have him at least for the time he was here, and I am so glad to have the opportunity to share his memory here today with the other students and teachers who knew and loved him. He was a very special student, and he touched us all.”
Sam Aranke, program administrator for the Prison University Project, said, “I will always remember Levelt for his quietness and respectful ways. He had a way of asking questions that were generous, caring, and patient. His death reminds us of the need for support for those of us who might be suffering all alone.”
Juan Haines commented, “He was a wonderful human being.”
Jody Lewen, director of the Prison University Project, said of Duverne, “He was an extraordinary person…we were heartbroken to lose him.”
The service concluded with another prayer led by Chaplain Jackson.
Duverne was 10 years into a 16-year-to-life sentence for second-degree murder.
Banquet Held by Alliance Group
Community volunteers and prisoner graduates were honored at a recent banquet marking the second year of a San Quentin program designed to change how inmates think about themselves.
“We need to change our perception that society is against us. That perception is what leads to a lot of crime,” said R. Malik Harris, president of the Alliance For Change group. “We need to change the way parents treat their children – many of us are parents and many of us will be getting out some day.”
About 100 prisoners and 50 community members attend the dinner, including eight inmate facilators and 14 graduates.
“Alliance For Change is a self-help program that shows inmates the relationship between their feelings and their actions,” said Harris. He quoted Frederick Douglass: “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither person nor property will be safe.”
AFC focuses on self-discovery, accepting responsibility and realizing the necessity for change with structured classes.
The program is developing classes to show inmates how to prepare for parole board hearings, how the justice system works, and show ex-offenders how to reenter their communities safely, according to its public relations representative, Chris Deragon.
“Our program shows men how to change from the inside out; this will keep people from returning to prison,” said Harris. “We teach men how to understand themselves. We’re in the business of making better people.”
Community volunteers met regularly with inmate facilitators four to five times a week, over a 16-week period.
“When I tell my friends that I come inside San Quentin to help them with their program, my friends cannot image the warm feeling that the men give me. The inmates treat me with more respect than people on the streets. They treat me like family,” said AFC community volunteer Kristy Ronnquist.
Community volunteer Samantha Epstein and inmate Felix Lucero were given awards at the banquet for developing AFC’s mentoring program.
“The program teaches incarcerated men how to re-integrate back into their communities as an asset by focusing on all aspects of justice,” said Deragon. “Once a person understands the justice system as a whole, the participant is able to understand what learned behaviors were most influential into their deviant behavior.”
The program’s chief sponsors are correctional Lt. Sam Robinson and community volunteer Romania Jaundoo.
www.alliance4change.org
Fourth Annual Avon Breast Cancer Walk
More than 300 inmates and approximately 60 community members walked the San Quentin Lower Yard in support of cancer research. Inmates walking in the event donated more than $2,100 in the prison’s 4th annual Avon Breast Cancer Walk.
“God put it in my heart to find out what I can do to help find a cure,” said Sam Johnson, co-chairman of San Quentin’s Breast Cancer Walk. “I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I praise God for everyone who lent a helping hand for this worthy cause,” added, co-chairman Steve Pascascio.
Johnson and Pascascio brought several inmate self-help groups together to sponsor the July 7-8 fundraiser. An additional $1,300 was donated by San Quentin TRUST, The Richmond Project, Kid CAT, Alliance For Change, Thespians, The 1,000 Mile Club, The Work, Kairos, and No More Tears.
Toward the end of the walk, donations neared its goal; however, it was about $200 short. An anonymous donor contributed the needed amount and the goal of $10,000 was met.
“It does my heart good to see so many different groups come together and set their differences aside to make this happen,” said acting Warden Kevin Chappell.
“The breast cancer walk is an opportunity for the Richmond Project to take our minds off the negativity that plagues our community and give back to those in need. We want all to know that the Richmond Project is about peace, love, and togetherness, no matter what city or community you dwell in,” said Reginald Hunt Jr.
San Quentin’s Arts in Corrections program donated about 25 pieces of art. The prison’s hobby program donated handmade bracelets. The art and the bracelets will be auctioned on Dec. 7 at the Oakland Art Museum to support the Women’s Cancer Resource Center.
“I live in a world fueled by generosity, compassion and love,” said Peggy McGuire, executive director of Women’s Cancer Resource Center. “$4.8 million was raised by Avon, with $1.2 million given to our foundation. This includes money raised by the San Quentin walk,” McGuire added. “I will be wearing my San Quentin CARES pink shirt at the San Francisco breast cancer event.”
Inmates, community members, and staff who participated in the walk were given business-sized cards saying I walked, and pink bracelets saying, San Quentin Cares, 2012.
“I was blessed to walk in memory of my grandmother and aunt who recently died of cancer,” said Clinton Martin, an inmate who worked on the walk.
“I would like to commend all of the volunteers, staff, and especially, inmates who have demonstrated their support and commitment to this vital cause. Thank you for standing by the women and men who have been or will be impacted by this disease. Together, we will be triumphant!” said Sen. Loni Hancock via letter to San Quentin.