Flawed Liberal View of Prison Reform

Many prison advocates regard incarceration as a form of oppression by the racist and capitalist system against victimized criminals of color lacking education and jobs. Left-wing prison reformers seldom address personal responsibility for crimes, unless they know of someone wrongfully convicted. They dislike mass incarceration and the New Jim Crow that follows it, but the plight of crime victims and society in general tends to be slighted in their discussions. They often refuse dialogue with conservative reformers.

The biggest avoidance mechanism in progressive discussions of prison reform is to generalize the problem instead of proposing practical solutions. Progressives want to "create a movement," eliminate poverty, create jobs, improve education and end racism before facing the stark realities of crime and punishment. This approach favors dreams over answers.

A red flag for this leniency is commonly an emphasis upon incarceration for marijuana possession. Emphasizing marijuana is a convenient dodge from the horrendous physical and psychological effects of methamphetamine, heroin, powder cocaine, crack and other legal and illegal drugs. Very few modern prisoners were sent to prison solely on account of marijuana possession. Liberals regard non-violent drug offenders as undeserving of prison, ignoring the violence and social costs necessarily caused by illegal drug operations.

An urgent plea for jobs outside of prison is countered by widespread disdain for jobs inside prison, commonly termed "exploitation" of prison labor. Hard labor in prison is a universally accepted rehabilitation method and provides budgetary relief, except federal and state laws protect outside labor and businesses with debilitating statutory restrictions on prison industries. If convicted felons are to obtain jobs when released, they must learn how to show up for work on time, follow instructions, stay sober, work cooperatively and produce goods and services. Many have never held a job. Today, every American would win if prison industries could make products now exclusively manufactured overseas. That prisoner advocates object to prisoners working or profits by businesses is a sure sign they have been influenced by socialist ideas rather than proven rehabilitation techniques, budgetary realities and the power of the private sector.

African Americans are many times more likely to wind up in prison than white people. For a variety of reasons, they are more likely to be convicted of drug offenses than whites. Liberals with justification object to this disparity. But they rarely mention crimes of violence. Some 93% of black homicide victims are slain by other blacks. Blacks sent to prison for murders, assaults and rapes are most likely sent there to vindicate their African American victims. It would be nice if advocates would call upon their minions to stop committing crimes and readily embrace tough incarceration alternatives such as corporal punishment. The "get out of jail free" mentality will never cut it.

Liberal solutions include the release of convicted felons because the prisons are overcrowded and constitutionally mandated healthcare is not provided. California, a liberal bastion, enacted so many far-reaching laws that California prisons were filled to overflowing while California approached bankruptcy. California's prison system is a disaster. Justice Scalia viciously criticized the Brown v. Plata solution of releasing up to 46,000 California prisoners, calling it a pernicious, incompetent, absurd judicial travesty contrary to the law, policy judgments dressed-up as factual findings, and sure to cause murders, robberies and rapes. He said the majority opinion was an invasion of the executive function by judges who were utterly unqualified to run a social institution; rewarded inmates in perfect health; was deliberately ambiguous; and constituted a ceremonial washing of hands to provide cover to the majority when the inevitable crime wave hits. Justice Thomas previously objected to judicial micro-managing of prisons. A few years after Justice Thomas dissented from forcing racial integration in prison, a destructive and injurious riot erupted in Chino, California, from racial tensions caused by such integration, which happens to be the main spark for prison riots today.

The left increasingly advocates the libertarian solution of legalizing drugs. They now object to big government handling of prisons, even though they prefer it in so many other areas of life. The current prison crisis brings us to the end of the line for big government solutions and begs for an end to the exclusion of private enterprise.

                                                         by John Dewar Gleissner