Ex-Felon Association

Transcription

1 The Ex-Felon Association Redeeming the time for Ex-Felon

2 All About Statistics How would you describe an industry that wants to put more Americans in prison and keep them there longer, so that it can make more money? In America today, approximately 130,000 people are locked up in private prisons that are being run by for-profit companies. And, that number is growing rapidly. Overall, the U.S. has approximately 25 percent of the entire global prison population, even though it only has 5 percent of the total global population. The United States has the highest incarceration rates on the global. And, no other nation has locked up more of its own citizens than The United States. Are we really such a cesspool of filth and decay, that we lock up so many of our own people? Or, are there some other factors at work? Could part of the problem be that we have allowed companies to lock up men and women in cages for profit? The two largest private prisons companies combined, brought in close to $3 billion dollars in revenue for And, these large private prison companies have spent tens of millions of dollars to lobbying and political campaign contribution for decades. Putting Americans behind bars has become big business. The private prisons companies have been given an incentive to push for more and more Americans to be incarcerated. The corruption has saturated the industry. Prisons and jailing institutions are already crowded and more are privately operated facilities are coming online every day. One key to success in private prison business is to get politicians to vote their way. That is why they contribute so much money to lobbying and political campaigns. The following is an excerpt from Justice Policy Institute, GAMING THE SYSTEM: HOW THE POLITICAL STRATEGIES OF PRIVATE PRISON COMPANIES PROMOTE INEFFECTIVE INCARCERATION POLICIES, published June For-profit private prison companies primarily 1

3 use three strategies to influence policy: lobbying, direct campaign contributions, and building relationships, networks and associations. Over the years, these political strategies have allowed private prison companies to promote policies that lead to higher rates of incarceration and thus greater profit margins for their company. In particular, private prison companies have had either influence over or helped to draft model legislation such as the Three-strikes and truth-in-sentencing laws, both of which have driven up incarceration rates and ultimately created more opportunities for private prison companies to bid on contracts to increase revenues. We stated earlier that the private prison companies have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and political campaigns for decades. If you can believe it, three of the largest private prison companies have spent approximately $45,000,000 on lobbying and political campaigns in the past ten years alone. Would they be spending so much money if those companies did not believe that it was getting results? Just look at what happened to the U.S. prison population over the past 20 to 30 years. Prior to 1980, there were virtually no private prisons in the United States of America. But since that time, we have seen the overall prison population, in both public and private increase exponentially For example, between 1990 and 2009 the number of Americans in private prisons grew by about 1600% Overall, the U.S. prison population more than quadrupled between 1980 and So, something has definitely changed. 2

4 Not that it s wrong to incarcerate people when they commit crime. Of course not. And, right now violent crime is rapidly rising in many large cities in the US. When people commit violent crimes they need to be removed from the streets. But, when you put those criminals into the hands of private prison companies, that are just in it to make a buck, the potential for abuse is enormous. For example, when auditors visited one private prison in Texas, they reported that they, got so much fecal matter on their shoes they had to wipe their feet in the grass outside. The prisoners were literally living in their own excrement. How would feel if a member of your family was locked up in a facility like this. And, the truth is that there seem to be endless stories of abuse in private prisons. One private prison company reportedly charges inmates $5.00 a minute to make phone calls but only pays them $1.00 a day to work Last year the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation s largest private prison company, received $74 million of taxpayers money to run immigration detention centers. Their largest facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, receives $200 a night for each of the 2,000 detainees it holds, and rakes in yearly profits between $35 - $50 million. Prisoners held in this remote facility depend on the prison s phones to communicate with their layers and loved ones. Exploiting the inmate s needs, CCA charges $5 per minute to make phone calls. Moreover, the prison only pays them $1 per day for working. That would be 5 days of work to make a 1-minute phone call. 3

5 Speaking of work. Private prisons have found that exploiting their inmates as a source of slave labor can be extraordinarily profitable. Today, private prison work programs are reducing the jobs that are available for the American working citizen. These are jobs spread across many industries. The following is from an article published by Vicky Pelaez. According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for the blind people. And many of the largest corporations in America have rushed in to take advantage of this pool of very cheap slave labor. Just check out some of the big names that have been exploiting prison labor. At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private prison companies that mount their operation inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of the U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom s, Revlon, Macy s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generated by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from #392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado they get about $2 per hour, which is well under the minimum wage. And, in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 per day for a maximum of six hours a day. That would be equivalent to $20 per month. 4

6 The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 per hour for what they called high skilled positions. At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes get overtime too. They can send home $200-$300 per month. But, of course, some of the biggest profits for private prisons come from detaining young people. Today, private prison companies operate more than 50% of all youth correctional facilities in the United States. And, sometimes judges are bribed by these private prison companies to sentence kids to very harsh incarceration terms in these private prisons. The following is from a report about 2 judges in Pennsylvania that were recently convicted for taking money to send kids to private prisons. Michael Conahan, a former jurist in Luzerne County, was sentenced on March 8 th, 2013, to 210 months in custody by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik II. Conahan was also ordered to pay $874,00 in restitution. [ ] As Main Justice reported in August, Ciavarella, former president judge of the Court of Common Pleas and former judge of the Juvenile Court for Luzerne County, was sentenced today to 28 years in prison and make restitution of $965,930. [ ] Conahan s role in the cash for kids scheme was to order the closing of a county-run detention center, clearing the way for Ciavarella, once known as a strict law and order judge, to send young offenders to private facilities. This arrangement worked out well for Ciavarella and Conahan, as well as the builder of the facilities and the developer, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges. The arrangement didn t work out so well for the young offenders. Some of them were sent away for offenses that were little more 5

7 than pranks and would have merited probation, or perhaps just scolding, if these judges had lived up to their oath. Hundreds of kids had their lives permanently altered by those corrupt judges. Employment We use Bureau of Justice Statistics data to estimate that, in 2008, the United States had between 12 and 14 million ex-offenders of working age. Because a prison record or felony conviction greatly lowers ex-offenders prospects in the labor market. We estimate that this large prison population has lowered the total male employment rate that year by 1.5% to 1.7% points. In GDP term, these reductions in employment cost the U.S. economy between $57 and $65 billion in lost output. Our estimates also suggest that in 2008 there were between 5.4 and 6.1 million ex-prisoners (compared to a prison population of about 1.5 million and a jail population of about 0.8 million in the same year). Our calculation also suggests that in 2008 there were between 12.3 and 13.9 million ex-felons. In 2008, about one in 33 working-age adults was an ex-prisoner and about one in 15 working-age adults was an ex-felon. An extensive body of research has established that a felony conviction or time in prison makes individuals significantly less employable. It is not simply that individuals who commit crimes are less likely to work in the first place, but rather, that felony convictions or time in prison act independently to lower the employment prospects for ex-offenders. Given our estimates of the number of ex-offenders and the best outside estimates of the associated reduction in employment suffered by ex-offenders, our calculations suggest that in2008 the U.S. economy lost the equivalent of 1.5 to 1.7 million workers, or roughly a 0.8% to 0.9%- point reduction in overall employment rate. 6

8 According to research, there are approximately 2.8 million ex-felons currently locked up in jails and prisons around the United States. African American make up approximately 47% of the inmate population in the U.S. jails and prisons. Yet they only account for only 12.7% of the population in the United States. African Americans are disproportionately represented in every state in the United States. This means that their percentage in the prisons population is greater than their percentage in the state s general population. Sixty percent (60%) of the one million people who are released from prison return to prison within 3 years, and many of them much quicker. Success Today ex-felons are visible in every facet of life. America and Americans are becoming more tolerant of ex-felons in sports, media, education, military and areas in which felons benefit the organizations. But, corporate America and political entities continue to maintain a strict stance against ex-felons. However, there are states such as Louisiana who allow ex-felons to run for public office after being released from probation or parole for fifteen years. Ex-felons have much lower rate of recidivating when they are released to stable living environments and caring families. Without these two safety nets, most ex-felons are DOA, (Doomed On Arrival). Ex-felons who are released from prison and acquire gainful employment, have the support of their love ones, and are connected to a higher power, are more likely to stay out of prison longer and in many cases never return. One of the strongest predictors of ex-felon success on the streets lies with their religious beliefs while being incarcerated. We know that many people believe that felons have nothing else to turn to when they are in jail or prison, so they turn to God. Many folks refer to this as jailhouse religion. In a survey of characteristics of successful exfelons, 78% reported that they attended church and religious services on a weekly basis while in prison. Sixty-seven percent (67%) were serving a first or second sentence in a penal institution, sixty- 7

9 two percent (62%) were serving time for drug and property offenses. Many of these felons had previous charges, but had come to the conclusion that they did not want to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Most ex-felons say that their greatest desire upon release is to be given a fair chance to succeed in America. When businesses close their doors to ex-felons and private and public entities refuse to allow ex-felons a chance to work, what other resources do they have other than selling drugs, robbing folks, carjacking, burglary, etc.? If we are going to hold ex-felons accountable for pulling themselves up by their boot straps. We have to provide them with some boots with straps to accomplish the task. Ex-felons love their families, lives, children, etc. And, many of them want to live the American Dream. But, America in many cases have written them off as nobodies and regulated them to the back waters of society. The American Dream for many ex-felons has become the American Nightmare. There are approximately 25 million ex-felons in the United States and every year and addition 1 million new people are convicted of a felony. Ex-felon has power that they do not realize that they have. Ex-felon can decide the outcome of many local, state and national elections. Just like gays, women and African Americans united and wielded their power at the voting booth; ex-felons in the not too distant future will resolve to use their power also. When any group unite and go to the voting booth, politicians immediately recognize them and the power they wield. Finally, there are many ex-felons whose only wish is to be given another chance. A chance to get a good education. A chance to work. A chance to have their voting rights restored. A chance to learn a skill. A chance to get another opportunity. My message to exfelons is to never give up. Just because you lose a battle in your life, it doesn t mean that you have lost the war. 8

10 Recidivism During 2007, a total of 1,180,469 persons on parole were at-risk of re-incarceration. This includes persons under parole supervision on January 1 or those entering parole during the year. Of these parolees, about 16% were returned to incarceration in Among nearly 300,000 prisoners released in 15 states in 1994, 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years. A study of prisoners released in 1983 estimated 62.5% Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 states in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years. 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% resentenced to prison for a new crime. These offenders had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 within 3 years of release. Released prisoners with the highest rearrests rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%), larcenists (74.6%), motor vehicle thieves (78.8%), those in prison for possessing stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%). Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapist were rearrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who served time for homicide were rearrested for homicide. Success-Statistics are from Dr. Tracy Andrus, PH.D. Characteristics of Successful Ex-Felons, USDOJ, Employment Statistics-Bureau of Labor and CEPR 2010 Private Prisons: The More Americans They Put Behind Bars the More Money They Make, by Michael T. Snyder. 9

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12 We are the repairers of the breach, we build pathways on foundation for many generations to run in and be safe Isaiah