In case you missed it, the woman who inspired Netflix's Orange is the New Black (and penned the titular book), wrote an argument against transferring the thousand women who are incarcerated at her former prison to other facilities across the country. Piper Kerman says this change will be equal to a "second sentence" for these women. The whole piece is worth reading.
Kerman makes a good argument and made me interested in the group she points to, JusticeHome. I find her refreshing as an engaged author and coincidentally now more curious regarding the next season of OITNB.
I agree, but on the flip side, she's in a prison. I'm all for humane treatment of prisoners, and for helping them keep in contact with their family, but a huge part of the deterrent of committing a crime is the fact that you DON'T get to be with your family, or in your home... what is the point of having prisons at all if you won't put criminals in there?
I was just getting ready to post something almost identical to what you wrote. There is no reason to further punish the innocent children of inmates by making it next to impossible to have regular visits. The JusticeHome concept is very intriguing. For certain types of offenses, this seems like a really good idea. It saves the state money and keeps families intact. The statistics for children with parents in jail ending up in jail as an adult themselves are staggering and anything we can do to change that is worth trying. But you can bet your ass that the prison lobby will fight that tooth and nail!
Sure I thought your point was contained in how she argued specifically on the question of the role of the prison (is it just punishment or also rehabilitation) and focused on certain kinds of offenders that were incarcerated there. It also continues in the NYT comments section, at least around the question of what is the role of prison exactly, for certain kinds of offenders.
Amazing how crime is actually down but incarcerations are on the rise, forcing places like Danbury to relocate these women to the farthest reaches of the country in order to continue the unexplainable growth of the prison population.
An acquaintance of mine has a father in prison for life (making firearms without a license).
He used to be kept only 90 mins away from his family, which was nice for visitation and such, but then one morning was abruptly moved to a horrendous Max Security prison in Texas without notification to his family. The conditions were abysmal, as you can imagine, and the homicide rate among the inmates was astronomically worse because of... security? Management? Administrators within the Prison Industrial Complex simply not giving a fuck if some convicts murder one another?
Inconvenience for the family is one thing, but the endangerment some inmates face (no matter what they're in for) is just another testament to the fucky nature of incarceration in the Land Of The Free.
We have this problem in Alaska they will ship you 2,500+ miles away add in the fact that their is only one airline leaving town (no roads) that gouges you and you will never get a visit, perhaps once in a 5 year sentence.
He must have been making/modifying firearms and selling them to get a life sentence.
Anyway, a friend of mine did two years in Huntsville, one of the toughest prisons in Texas and home to Death Row, he got out last month on a Thursday and died two days later of a heart attack. He was 32.
That place killed him.
I'm so sorry. That is tragic.
I think I remember from when Dolce&Gabanna got sentenced for tax evasion that in italy nonviolent offenders with jail terms of 3 (or was it 1?) years or under get automatically assigned to home detention. Makes perfect sense to me.
