Virus Intensifies Already Stressful Prison Environment

It's another week in enhanced isolation. The normal isolation of prison is bad enough, but add on top of that the increased isolation caused by the coronavirus, and it feels like a bad dream from which we can't awaken. So far, MTU, the prison where I am housed, has avoided the virus, but administrative staff, officers, and prisoners are on edge. The virus has continued to sweep through other prisons, leaving death and chaos in its wake. The restrictions at these and other prisons are similar to level five restrictions, with almost no prisoner movement. All activities are cancelled, including religious services and schooling, and prisoners are largely restricted to their cells. While that reality has not yet hit MTU, many of us fear it is only a matter of time. 

We have been required to wear masks for several months now, everywhere we go except while we shower or eat. Social distancing, even at a prison that is not on lockdown, makes it difficult to connect with people we normally hang out with on yard or at school. On the news I hear some people complaining about having to wear masks to shop or work, but we have to wear them all the time. We have no choice. 

What's more, we are severely isolated in prison. While prison is meant to isolate law-breakers from society, studies have shown that maintaining social connections with family and (law-abiding) friends outside of prison is critical for the mental health and well-being of prisoners. These studies also show how critical these social connections are for reducing re-offense rates. Because of the virus restrictions, prisoners are unable to visit with loved ones, except over the phone. Many prisoners and their families cannot afford regular phone calls, further exacerbating feelings of isolation. Other factors, like college or trades schooling, addiction support groups, and religious services, are also either limited or eliminated during this pandemic, further reducing prisoners' rehabilitation tools. 

Because prison is such a boring existence, prisoners count on spending energy on yard, attending school or vocational trades, working prison jobs, and social interaction with other prisoners to pass time. The more social restrictions imposed on prisoners, at some prisons even isolation to cells, the greater the level of stress prisoners experience. When prisoners experience high levels of stress, tensions rise between prisoners and between prisoners and staff. 

Additionally, corrections officers experience stress of their own with the complications the coronavirus brings to their lives. As they encounter prisoners who are acting out because of their own stress, the officers' stressed out responses combine with the prisoners' stress to create tense hostility, sometimes leading to heated verbal exchanges and prisoner discipline. 

I don't know what the answer is. We all have to deal with added stress from this virus, both inside and outside of prison. I simply highlight the added stressors of prison because this is my current reality. As the saying goes, "this too shall pass," but in the meantime, life in prison is increasingly complicated and stressful. 

Disappointing News Should Not Derail Rehabilitative Goals

In the last week or two, the Michigan Prisoner Rehabiliation Credit Act suffered a fatal end--for now. Because the organizers were not able to collect enough signatures (probably largely due to the coronavirus shutdown), the Act will not be on the ballot this fall. This is very disappointing news to prisoners and their loved ones who had hoped for earlier release dates.  Rumors of good time bills have been circulating for many more years than I have been in prison. Decades of rumors have yielded no good time or disciplinary credit legislation. The MPRCA was the closest we have seen to a potential change to sentence terms in Michigan. However, prison reform is not dead. Just last year one Michigan legislator introduced a good time bill in the House (which went nowhere), and he has indicated that he may do so again.  The time is ripe for Michigan to pass legislation to reduce prison sentences. With one of the longest average prison sentences in the United States, and with the state desperately short on funding, offering prisoners an opportunity to earn time off their sentences through good, responsible behavior, as well as proactive educational involvement just makes good sense. Longer prison sentences do not make communities safer. Rehabilatative programming does.  For those who have loved ones in prison, even though Michigan is unlikely to enact good time or rehabilitation credits this year, it is imperative that you encourage your incarcerated loved ones to work diligently to rehabilitate themselves. Possibly earning time off one's sentence is a nice bonus, if that ever happens, but the more important benefit is changing one's heart and mind. Leaving prison, no longer a danger to one's community, is a gift prisoners can give to those they have harmed. It shouldn't take a good time credit bill to cause us to put in the work of rehabilitation.  I will continue to hold out hope that Michigan will soon shift from a retributitve mindset to a rehabilitative and restorative mindset. And in the meantime, I'll continue to advocate for prisoners to adopt restorative justice attitudes and practices: crime harms relationships, these harm create obligations to victims and communities, and our central obligation is to make right those harms. Cultivating these attitudes and practices is, perhaps, the best way offenders can show their sincerity and change of heart.

 

Corrections Officers Can Make a Big Difference

The job of a corrections officer is not extraordinarily difficult. For much of their shifts, correction officers are glorified babysitters. They make their rounds to ensure prisoners are not harming themselves or others, occasionally enforce rules, and generally provide an authoritative presence to ensure prisoners govern themselves appropriately. That said, though, corrections officers face complexities in their jobs that many other people do not. 

A primary complaint of prisoners is that some corrections officers treat prisoners like they are less than human. We are nothing more than numbers or bodies to many officers. That does seem to be changing some with newer (i.e. younger) officers who appear to view prisoners as worthy of dignity. Perhaps it is just that these officers have not yet been corrupted by the influences of prisoner behavior and other officers who hate prisoners. 

The prison environment is fraught with negativity, so I admire officers who can come to work every day, be exposed to hateful coworkers' attitudes, be treated with disdain and disrespect by some prisoners, and work a terribly boring job--and still keep a good attitude. I imagine that it must be difficult to maintain a positive, hopeful attitude about prisoners when officers see so many return to prison again and again. The abysmal re-offense rate has got to affect how some officers view us. 

Officer training changes with the times, and from what I hear newer officers are receiving more training in conflict management, rehabilitative measures, and social work. As the primary authorities who interface with prisoners on a daily basis, it makes sense for corrections officers to be trained in these areas. They, more than anyone else, have the ability to closely observe a prisoner's need for thinking and behavior changes. Some officers also have the ability to help transform a prisoner's focus and thinking--as I've seen happen with several prisoners I know. 

Changing lifelong thinking and behavior patterns is hard work, and it's bound to include some failures. When officers recognize these facts and continue to encourage and counsel prisoners who, to others, appear hopelessly committed to stupidity, they deserve praise for a job well done. We need more corrections officers who come to work with this sort of purpose rather than simply punching a time clock to pay bills. Perhaps it is unfair to ask such an extraordinary thing of corrections officers, but if prisons are to turn out more reformed people who will go on to live productive lives as safe citizens, something has to change. 

The corrections industry likes to tout "safety" as its primary aim. If that's true, "safety" must include a day one focus on returning prisoners back to their communities as safer, more responsible citizens. To that end, the job of corrections officer should not be filled by retributive-minded people who believe it is their job to "punish" prisoners by making their lives miserable. These jobs should be filled by people who care about releasing prisoners who have been changed for the better by their prison experience. They should be filled by officers who are properly trained and willing to encourage and facilitate the transformation process necessary for many prisoners to become safe citizens. Such a task requires a lot more than reform-minded officers, but that's a great place to start.

Budget Shortfalls Highlight Bad Corrections Policies

Coronavirus restrictions have caused the state a great deal of financial hardship, and the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) is no exception. The state budget for the MDOC is roughly $2.2 billion for 2020. A deficit of nearly $400 billion has been covered by federal funds, but next year's budget is anticipating cuts of at least 25-35% in the corrections budget. It is yet unclear how state lawmakers anticipate saving such a massive amount of money. 

One possible way the state could save money on its massive corrections budget is by reducing its prison population. The state of Michigan has the lowest crime rate in over 50 years, but it continues to incarcerate its prisoners for longer average sentences than any of the Midwestern states. The state has recently acted to reduce criminal sanctions for minor driving infractions, some of which had included incarceration. In strongly bipartisan action, the state trimmed or eliminated jail time requirements for several driving offenses, and has encouraged non-jail sentences for low level offenses, as well as eased punishments for some minor offenses committed by parolees. 

This recent legislative criminal justice reform is an encouraging sign. However, lawmakers could do more. A recent bid to put a ballot measure before the people in November targets the state's truth in sentencing law. The ballot measure would restore the ability for Michigan's prisoners to earn reductions in prison sentences for good behavior in prison, including voluntary participation in education and vocational opportunities, and maintaining a job in prison. Unfortunately, the state has staunchly opposed the ballot measure, including using court action to try to keep the initiative off of the ballot in November. 

Thankfully, the federal courts have disagreed with Michigan, so far, and the ballot initiative is currently slated for inclusion on November's ballot. For more information on this initiative, visit www.mprca.info.

Although many prison reform advocates would argue for reduced prison sanctions on both moral and economic grounds, the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the state's wasteful corrections spending. Rather than making drastic cuts to education funding, reinforcing the school to prison pipeline, courageous lawmakers ought to take this opportunity to rethink the state's prison industrial complex policies. Excessive punishments do not make communities safer. They only serve to drain the state budget and give some lawmakers political points for being "tough on crime." But we can no longer afford to pay the outrageous costs, with very little benefit, of mass incarceration. 

To cut 25-35% from the corrections budget is going to take drastic policy changes. And if the legislature won't do it, it's time for Michigan's citizens to use their political voices--vote FOR the Michigan Prisoner Rehabilitative Credit Act in November.