Coming Soon: Lower Phone Rates for Prisoners

A recent FCC ruling will soon lower Michigan prisoner phone calls from $0.21-0.23 per minute to a cap of $0.11 per minute, including most ancillary fees. 

Michigan used to have a $0.10 per minute rate and the cost for calls went up when prison officials and lawmakers decided that raising the cost of phone calls (a burden borne mostly by the families or prisoners) could fill a gap in the already enormous $2 billion Corrections budget. The State of Michigan already appealed the last FCC rate change in court, and I fully expect a challenge to this ruling too. 

Prisoners and their families are a golden egg laying goose to the government, and protecting that income, made mostly off the backs of struggling families of prisoners, is a top priority for prison officials. 

Fortunately, advocacy organizations like MI-Cure and CAPPS are making headway in shedding light on the need for cheaper phone rates so families can stay connected to their loved ones.

Too Much Leisure Time?

I recently heard on the news that neurosurgeon-turned-political candidate Dr. Ben Carson toured a federal prison not long ago and was shocked by the accommodations. His shock was at the availability of leisure time activities and lack of harsh conditions (my summary of his reported statements). I don't know what prison he toured, but it wasn't a Michigan State prison. 

Dr. Carson's comments reveal a distinct lack of understanding of incarceration issues. He is undoubtedly one of the most skilled neurosurgeons ever known, but his comments lead to a question being asked and answered by researchers and experts in incarceration issues: What is the purpose and goal of incarceration? 

The incarceration policies of the last two decades focused solely on retribution and isolation from society instead of rehabilitation, restoration, and education. These policies have led to an explosion in prison populations and major profits for the prison industrial complex. They have ignored the nearly fifty-percent re-offense rates, and the core issues that often lead to crime: poverty, lack of education, and family and cultural issues that result in generational incarceration. 

Prisoner warehousing, as we have today, leaves plenty of leisure time for prisoners, and without an outlet for energy and for the anxiety that prison causes, the rate of violence toward other inmates and prison guards would skyrocket, and the already high rate of mental illness would likely grow even higher. 

Prison is supposed to be a punishment and it is by removing the offender from the community and from his family. But if punishment and isolation are the only goals of prison, the result is a lot of leisure time and, inevitably, high re-offense rates. If politicians want to change these results they must encourage and promote productive uses of time like job skills training, post-secondary education, and other educational and rehabilitative opportunities. 

I hope Dr. Carson will propose creative ideas to fill a prisoner's time with productive activities and not buy into the failing policies of the last two decades that have led to these conditions. 

So Many Victims

Today I sat at chow looking out over the sea of faces around me, many of whom I know, at least to some degree. Many of these men are "normal" men who, for reasons I'll never know, made some very stupid decisions in their lives. This prison alone holds over 1,400 men and, combined with other Michigan prisons, the state has roughly 45,000 prisoners incarcerated. 

As I ran these numbers in my mind I began to sense the overwhelming impact each prisoner had on his or her victims, families, loved ones, and communities. If all 45,000 prisoners only affected one victim, that's still over 45,000 victims represented. Many prisoners have more than one victim so the number is really much higher. Add to this the wives (or husbands), children, parents, siblings, and other family and friends and the number of people affected by crime skyrockets. When one factors in the impact on the communities each prisoner represents, the true human cost of crime reaches into the millions of people in Michigan alone. 

The unfortunate reality is that prisons are a revolving door. Crime takes no holidays. But the over-incarceration policies and practices of the last two decades do nothing to address the problem. Instead, lengthy prison terms serve only to deal with the symptoms of a greater problem. 

Policy makers are beginning to realize that long incarceration does not create safer communities, or serve any rehabilitative purpose. My hope is that new policies and practices will be put into place that address the causes of crime and prepare those released from prison to not just avoid crime, but to become productive, contributing members of their communities. 

Michigan has too many crime victims for policy makers to be content with a nearly fifty-percent re-offense rate by offenders. It's time to start strengthening our state with restorative justice practices that focus on healing, not just warehousing. #CrimeVictim #RestorativeJustice #OverIncarceration #MichiganPrisons

Uncertainty as a Way of Life

Michigan prisoners deal with so much uncertainty every day that it becomes a way of life. Prison itself provides so much structure that one would think there is no uncertainty to be had. 

It is true that the regimented scheduling, numerous count times, controlled movement (in many prisons) and published and repetitive menu provides a reasonable assurance of what to expect from day-to-day. However, ongoing appeals, ever changing court decisions, and shifting political winds keep many prisoners on edge, not knowing what might change. 

Many prisoners have oppressive fears about losing loved ones to death, and losing connection to the free world due to failing relationships. Even relationships formed in prison are tenuous and often temporary because at any time, and for any reason (or no reason), one or both parties in a friendship could be transferred to other prisons. You just wake up one morning and your friend is gone. 

For sure, some of the anxiety Michigan prisoners feel is because of the never ceasing rumor mill. "Did you hear they are closing this prison in January?" or "I hear they are going to ride out some fifty inmates next week..." The rumors never stop. Some of these rumors are fed by staff speculation and others simply by inmates with wild imaginations.

Prisoners aren't the only ones who face uncertainty, but in a place with a thousand things to stress you out, uncertainty is near the top of the list. 

One More Stupid Decision

This morning as I silently ate my Ralston cereal at breakfast I overheard a conversation between two other men at the table. One man was lamenting to the other that he had accumulated a poker table debt of over one hundred dollars, but he swore he was done gambling. After listening for a few minutes the 'friend' pulled a better ticket (called a 'skin' in prison) out of his pocket and said, "Here, if you play a dollar on this, it pays eight-to-one on a four pick and fifteen-to-one on a five pick. If you win it could help you out of the jamb you're in."

I nearly choked on my food, and this time it wasn't because of the taste. This sort of illogical thinking is rampant in prison, and I dare say, it's what led many of us to prison in the first place. One more drug deal, one more boost, one more stupid decision to make up for another.

For sure, prisoners don't hold a monopoly on stupid decisions, and not all stupid decisions lead to prison. Some lead to a life in politics, but I digress...

The unfortunate result of stupid decisions is that rarely must the decision-maker bear the consequences alone. For the gambler, his family will likely have to help pay his debt to avoid the consequences of unpaid debt in prison. For the rest of us prisoners, his wife, children, mother and father, siblings, and other loved ones all share the burden of our stupid decisions. 

And politicians? Well, like with prisoners, it's the innocent ones who suffer the consequences of their stupid choices.