N o vem b er 9, 2011
$lortlanò (Observer
Page 21
A Prison Nation in the Spotlight
Money woes
ease destructive
policies
bv
W illiam A.
C ollins
T he U nited States has
m o re c itiz e n s b e h in d
bars per capita than any
o th er nation. N o, this
q uirk doesn't reflect an e sp e ­
cially felonious gene in our na­
tional D N A . It exposes e m b a r­
rassing shortfalls in o u r public
policy.
T a k e m en tal h e a lth , fo r e x ­
a m p le. M an y sta te s o n c e fe a ­
tu red larg e "h o sp itals" to w a re ­
h o u se th e m e n ta lly ill. W ith an
a v a la n c h e o f new d ru g s and
e le v a te d le v e ls o f p u b lic p a rs i­
m o n y , th o s e f a c ilitie s h a v e
la rg e ly c lo s e d . C o u n tle s s
h e a v ily m e d ic a te d fo rm e r p a ­
tie n ts p e rm a n e n tly im p o se on
th e ir w e ary re la tiv e s in ste a d ,
w h ile m y ria d o th e rs in h ab it ill-
p re p a re d n u rsin g h o m e s o r are
h o m e le ss.
Plenty m ore o f the m entally ill
— for the m ost part inadequately
treated — fill our p ris­
ons. It's a m ajor hum an
rights problem .
There are more than
seven million imprisoned
Americans. Along with
people who might have
been held in a mental insti­
tution in years past, they include
large numbers of low-level, non­
violent offenders, commonly con­
victed o f simple drug possession.
In oth er countries such crim es
ty pically lead to fines, su p er­
vised hom e co nfinem ent, h a lf­
way houses, restitution paym ents,
or o th er n on-incarceration p e n ­
alties. In m any places, sim ple
drug possession isn't a crim e at
all, o r at least not one that the
police pursue.
But in the U nited States, law
enfo rcem en t has som ew hat d if­
ferent goals from those o f other
countries: profits and jo b s.
■PJ-K !■.,
'K J
P rivate co m p an ies now house so c ia lly d e s tru c tiv e s c e n a rio am ong private prison supporters
m any o f o u r prisoners, and such m ay no w be c h a n g in g , th o u g h is T exas Gov. R ick Perry. His
firm s are u n d erstan d ab ly e ag er not d u e to an y p a n g s o f c o n ­ p resid en tial cam p aig n co ffers
to m aintain a large inventory. sc ie n c e o r in te rn a tio n a l so cial brim w ith their donations, in part
S ofter p en alties aren't on their p re s su re . It's a b o u t m o n e y . W e b e c a u se T ex a s is a n a tio n a l
agenda, nor d o all police, p ro s­ h av e e n te re d a p a rtic u la rly tax- leader in turning convicts o v er to
ecuto rs, o r ja ile rs' asso ciatio n s re s is ta n t e ra , a n d g o v e rn o rs shady en trepreneurs.
pine for reform s to reduce ar­ are sc ram b lin g fo r b u d g et item s
Prison co rruption is an o th er
rests or prison populations. T hose to c u t. T h u s, p riso n s h av e s u f­ big problem . In P ennsylvania, a
co u p le o f ju d g e s w ere caught
after m any years in a kickback
schem e to sentence m in o r ju v e ­
nile offen d ers to private prisons
to b e e f up th eir enro llm en t.
C o n serv ativ e ideo lo g u es are
torn. T hose w ho lobby hardest
fo r lo w er taxes are often the
sam e folks w ho fancy the costly
w ar on drugs. T hey d o n't m ind
folks have g o o d jo b s and g e n er­ fere d the w e ll-d e se rv e d m is ­ that ex p en siv e ja ils k eep a d is­
ally p refer not to lose them , e s­ fo rtu n e o f b e in g c a u g h t in the p ro p o rtio n ate n u m b er o f A fri­
pecially in this econom y.
spotlight.
can A m ericans and L atinos aw ay
Local g o v ern m en ts also get
T hat co u ld m ean that at last from the polls.
into the act. If y o u r tow n is there w ill be som e pro g ress to ­
T o spend o r not to spend?
e co n o m ically d e p en d en t on a w ard fixing C alifo rn ia's prison T h at's th eir dilem m a.
nearby prison, you m ight rea ­ system , w hich has long attracted
OtherWords columnist Will­
sonably lobby y o u r legislature to attention for its d ram atic o v er­ iam A. Collins is a former state
keep it open. S cores do.
cro w d in g and abuse o f inm ates. law m aker and m ayor o f
F o rtu n a te ly , a sp e c ts o f th is
P e r h a p s th e b e s t- k n o w n Norwalk, Conn.
We have entered a particularly tax-
resistant era, and governors are scrambling
for budget items to cut. Thus, prisons have
suffered the well-deserved misfortune of
being caught in the spotlight.
Income
It’s not about
taking money
from the rich
J udge G reg M athis
U nder our current tax
system , the rich are g e t­
ting richer while the m iddle
class slides into poverty.
T h o se w ho w ere p o o r before
the recession are still p o o r and
have little hope o f changing their
situations. •
W e ’re not talking about an
incom e gap here. W e ’re talking
about incom e inequality. In fact,
the distribution o f h ousehold in­
com e in the U .S. is m ore u n­
equal today than in w as three
by
decades ago.
A ccording to a report released
by the C o n g ressio n al B udget
Q lf ice, a fte r-ta x in co m e for
A m erica’s highest-in-
com e households, the
ric h e st o n e p e rc e n t
sa w a 2 7 5 p e rc e n t
grow th from 1979 to
2007, w hile the p o o r­
est 20 percent ex p eri­
enced only 18 percent grow th.
T hose w ho sit in the m iddle e x ­
p erienced ju st under 40 percent
grow th.
H isto ry sh o w s us th at the
w ider the incom e gap, the m ore
u n e q u a l th e d is tr ib u tio n o f
w ealth, the clo ser a society gets
to political unrest. W e are seeing
evid en ce o f this in the grow ing
IJorilanh (Dbsertter
Established 1970
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4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd„ Portland, OR 97211
E ditor - in -C hief , P ublisher : Charles H. Washington
EDiroR.Michael Leighton
D istribution M anager : Mark Washington
C reative D irector : Paul Neufeldt
O ccupy W all S treet m ovem ent, year. T he revenue from the in ­
w hich began in S ep tem b er in crease w ould help balance the
M anh attan .
national budget o v er tim e, and
Since those first gro u p s o f pay fo r a co m p reh en siv e jo b s
d em on strato rs m et to protest the program .
unhealthy alliance betw een g o v ­
O f course, the P resident has
ernm en t, big business and the his R epublican d etracto rs w ho
ex trem ely w ealthy, the m o v e­ have put forth th eir ow n tax
m ent has spread to o v er 100 proposals. R epublican p resid en ­
cities. M arch ers are w orking to tial candidate H erm an C ain has
expose - and h o p efully sp u r a his 9-9-9 plan, w hich p ro p o ses a
go v ern m en t response to ch an g e flat 9-percent business, individual
- the unequal d istrib u tio n o f the incom e and national sales tax.
n a tio n ’s w ealth. T h ey are fru s­ R epublican R ick Perry, an o th er
trated that ju s t one p ercen t o f p residential hopeful, has p ro ­
the n a tio n ’s p o p u latio n co n tro ls p o sed a flat 20 percent incom e
o v er 5 0 p ercen t o f the w ealth tax.
and w ant to see that change.
T he p lans p roposed by C ain
P resident O b am a p ro p o sed a and P erry are reg ressiv e and, if
plan to increase taxes on those e v e r adopted, w ill n eg ativ ely a f­
m aking m ore than $ 1 m illion per fect the poor. U n d er both o f
these plans, a m ajority o f A m eri­
can hou seh o ld s w ould end up
paying m ore in taxes, w hile a
great m ajority o f m illionaires
w ould end up paying less.
W e need a tax plan that is fair,
but also takes into account class
and taxes accordingly. T his is n ’t
about taking m oney from the
rich - it’s about fairly d istrib u t­
ing and taxing incom e in a fairer
m anner.
N o tax plan will be perfect but
w e m ust w ork to d ev elo p one
that clo ses the incom e gap, not
w iden it further.
Judge Mathis is a longtime
advocate fo r equal justice. His
life story’ o f a street youth who
rose from ja il to judge has
provided hope to millions.
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