I think one of the things that I don't think people focus on is that there are some red states that have done some really innovative things when it comes to criminal justice reform, including on rehabilitation, reentry efforts. I think one of the things that we have seen in that regard is that you save money.
Prison works.
At the age of 46, in my sixth prison term, it was the second prison I was in - California Rehabilitation Center. The California Civil Education program kind of opened up all of the experiences that that I had dealt with in my life, that I had experienced.
Yeah, I've gotten a few letters from prison.
I've taught in prison; I've counseled people... I've been arrested; I've been to the psychiatrist.
The notion that we should take away educational programs in prisons in order to be tough on crime makes no sense.
I think we will be safer when we can concentrate law enforcement and criminal justice resources and energies on those individuals who truly need, for the safety of society... to be incarcerated.
I left the world of jail with plenty of relief but, more than anything, with a sense of unease that I still can't quite shake.
I've definitely become more aware of the penal system and more aware of what life could be like inside a prison.
Jails and prisons are the complement of schools; so many less as you have of the latter, so many more must you have of the former.
Prison opened my eyes to so many things. It was a great time. I met interesting people. I got to understand the behaviour of the police and the media. I am an observer of the human race.
So for you people who are filled with fear that I might someday be released: breathe easy, I don't see it happening.
I'm a felon. I get pulled over all the time.
None of my peers avoided prison. None of 'em.
Most of the American skyjackers who fled abroad eventually elected to return to the United States, having tired of life on the lam. These homecomings typically involved prearranged surrenders to the FBI, in the hopes of earning lenient sentences.
I would make the case that the vast majority of prisoners leave prison and go back into society. We share that society with them and what sort of people do we want them to be.
Employment is key to reducing recidivism.
Perhaps there should be a box on the census form that says, 'I'm a criminal.' Everyone who has ever committed a crime would be required to check it. If everyone were forced to acknowledge their own criminality, maybe we, as a nation, would second-guess our apparent zeal for denying full citizenship to those branded felons.
When I was incarcerated at Alderson in West Virginia for a five-month term, they had a ceramics class.
I knew hundreds and hundreds of women like me, who had traveled in and out of prison in a revolving door. They needed support and help just like I had received. And it could make a difference, just like it had made a difference in my life. I wanted to see them come back to the community and have a chance at a different life, too.
It is good to make my comeback in Jamaica after not playing for so long.
I'll stay in my house and watch 'Lockup,' the prison show.
We spend ninety-five cents of every dollar for prisons on pure custody; iron bars and stone walls; and they dehumanize. We spend five cents on hope—health mental health, education, vocational training, employment services, family guidance, community services. Most of these inmates have never been to a dentist. Psychoses and neuroses—a major cause of crime—are immense.
Studies have shown that inmate participation in education, vocational and job training, prison work skills development, drug abuse, mental health and other treatment programs, all reduce recidivism, significantly.
What are we going to do to make sure people get the skills they need if they are incarcerated so that when they are released to hit the ground running? And what are we all going to do to give people who've earned a second chance, a second chance?
