Prison population quotas

This infographic is a few years old, and there are now more prisons that have signed contracts with the government in which they are guaranteed high prisoner populations or the government must pay fines. According to April M. Short for Alternet, there are currently three prisons in Arizona that have been guaranteed 100% populations. This actually touches my life because one of my penpals is a prisoner of the State of Califorina, but has been leased out to Arizona to fill a bed there. Presumably Arizona was willing to pay more for him than California would lose for leasing him out.

This sounds bad enough even before you realize that this means the governments involved in these contracts can be held liable for high fines and even lawsuits if they fail to produce or they choose to reduce a prison population for any reason, including the prison being swept with a highly contagious disease, or found to be routinely torturing inmates. 

In 2013 a private prison in Arizona sued the state for $16 million for not meeting it's occupancy quotas. There had been a decision not to send the facility additional inmates after they were labeled "dysfunctional" following the 2010 escape of three inmates convicted of murder, two of which then went on a crime spree.  The state negotiated a 3 million dollar settlement.

When having people in prison makes money for a few private prison owners, and reducing prison populations costs local governments money, this system is not benefiting us. At the cost of our communities going bankrupt we could theoretically have our people back. But while people are incarcerated at wild rates our municipalities can keep some of the money they need to run while the owner of CCA or GEO Prisons amasses enough money to have as many corrupt and dangerous prisons as they may fancy.

I would love to use this paragraph to tell you how you can make it all go away. We all need to pay attention to what's going on in our government and vote or protest or petition or do whatever is needed before things like this happen, and research the people on the ballots before voting. What I do is I send books to inmates, be their penpal and take their phone calls. I also give speeches on the subject and write this blog. Admittedly, I chose this as a priority that you might not choose. But you can write an inmate. You can mindfully vote. You can read this blog and my sources and talk to people about it. Choose the way that makes sense for you to help and do it. Thank you.

Harvard study says donate money to my efforts.

http://harvardpolitics.com/harvard/stop-revolving-prison-doors-books/

A recent Harvard Political Review article makes is crystal clear: it is more than worth your money to send books to inmates. If you know some people in prison, please do send them a good dictionary and some thoughtful reading.

If you don't know anyone living in a cell, then you can make a donation to my book fund. That's how I'm able to send reading materials to the men in prison that I keep in touch with through letters and very expensive phone calls. These guys appreciate your donations more than you can imagine, partly because it suggests that their existence matters on earth. There is so little evidence that they matter where they are, and even less to suggest that bettering themselves is supported. When they get books from me, they feel acknowledged, hopeful, and motivated to continue working on who they are. Everyone deserves to feel real.

Alice Hu for Harvard Political Review focuses on higher education and recidivism in the article I linked to above. Its a good article, highly related to access to books. If you have any questions about the subject: "How educated are inmates before they go in? How many inmates have access to higher education? What effect does continued education have on their future?" then read what Alice has to say. Without putting any personal commentary, she just crunches the facts.

But seriously, have you donated to the book fund yet? I would really like it if you did. So would my penpals.

The business of prison.

Hoping for more books.

It's been a while since I sent any books out to my penpals.

Because prisons have strict regulations, I can't send any of my own books or used books. All I can do is send brand new books from the publisher, or directly from a mega-store warehouse, like Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. That's meant to ensure that nothing "special" arrives with the book, like a spoon to dig their way out, a nail file for getting through bars, scribbled notes in the text that give instructions for building weapons from toilet paper. Or cocaine. There are lots of things not to send into a prison. I'm not even allowed to use white out when I write to them. So it makes perfect sense that used books are not allowed. But that makes sending books expensive.

This bloggy thing is not about me, it's about some real people that are being held captive by the state and need a damn book. But the thing about me that makes this blog needed is that I can't afford to send my friends books. I live a very sparse life and have no savings. My plan is that soon I'll be rolling in cash and my guys will have impressive personal libraries, but not today.

If you have any concerns about whether my pen-pals deserve to have books, then I ask you to question whether any person deserves to be kept captive and without intellectual stimulation for years or decades. We're all part perfect and part fuck-up. If you ever mess up real bad, or people think you do, you could end up imprisoned by the state or federal government too. And I'd send you books (if I could afford it). I think it's clear that NOT allowing folks to have books does not improve society, or the individuals involved.

Your helping me will help the men I write, and that will help their families, which will help their children not grow up to be where the daddies are.

Doing good spreads, help me spread it.