I was pleased to see that the N&O published my letter about Gov. Perdue’s Lifers. Please read yesterday’s blog, an expansion of that letter, before reading this one.
1) Prison authorities have been quoted as saying that the system of reducing sentences through good behavior is an important factor in maintaining order in prison. After all, if you see no possibility of getting out, or at least of getting out early, what incentive is there to be cooperative?
So if the official policy now is that all these earned credits will not count toward an earlier release date, then some prisoners – out of boredom or deep-seated anger – may be inclined to break the monotony by causing disturbances.
2) There is a moral issue here, and perhaps a paradox. These prisoners ended up in prison because they did not follow the rules of society. So it is ironic that the Governor is choosing not to follow the established rules – rules regarding the length of a sentence and the rewards of good behavior in reducing that sentence – in now seeking to redefine the meaning of credits earned for good behavior.
3) The Governor has repeatedly referred to these prisoners as rapists and murderers. Indeed, those are the crimes that got them into prison. The implication of these labels is that, once released, these prisoners would resume their past careers of murdering and raping. While I recognize that her stance on the issue is based at least in part on the attitudes of family members of the victims, I find her wording inflammatory; it is an effort to justify doing what some victims’ family members demand that she do: keep these criminals behind bars and throw away the key. I am disappointed that either she is making a decision based on emotion or she is allowing her rational principles to be influenced by the emotions of others.
4) Admittedly we do not know – with total certainty – what these prisoners might do when released. But we have a pretty good idea. First of all, we know that when they committed their violent crimes, they were in their teens or early twenties. And it is well known that people tend to “age out” of their violent impulses. People in their fifties and sixties are far less likely to be involved in violence than young people. And let’s look at the record these prisoners have compiled: To have their sentences, in effect, cut in half, they have compiled forty years of at least good, and probably exemplary, behavior. At a minimum they have stayed out of trouble, in an environment where that can be very difficult. But many of them (and I would like to see the facts on this published) have furthered their education, helped teach fellow inmates, and generally shown that they have turned their lives around. Some of them have done more with their lives in prison than many people I know of out of prison. If you can compile such a record during forty years in prison, then I, for one, have no fears that you will harm me, and I would be happy to have you as a next-door neighbor.
5) Except for the criminally insane, who might well commit more violent crimes if they were released, the goal of society should be to lock up criminals, to offer them opportunities to be rehabilitated, and then to release them back into society as soon as there is reasonable assurance that they are ready to be good citizens. It makes no sense to spend vast amounts of taxpayer money to imprison people who are not a danger and who could be productive citizens.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Free Gov. Perdue's Lifers!
This is an expansion of a letter I wrote recently to the Raleigh News & Observer (which might or might not get published):
For those who came in late: Sometime in the 1970s, the courts defined a life sentence as 80 years. And the prison system has a policy of giving credit for good behavior, such that in effect every day in prison can reduce the length of the sentence by a day. And the net effect of these two policies is that a number of prisoners, originally sentenced to life imprisonment for murder or rape, have now acquired enough credits to be released, after serving some forty years.
When a group of these prisoners petitioned for the release to which they said they were entitled, Governor Perdue stepped n to prevent “the release of murderers and rapists that would threaten public safety.” She is having legal experts and the courts examine the rules to redefine them as necessary to keep these murderers and rapists in prison.
After this issue had been in the news for a week or two, the News & Observer had an article about a petition filed by one of these worst-of-the-worst, Faye Brown, who, in prison, has completed a bachelor’s degree, got certified to style hair, is learning to teach others to cut hair, is let out of prison each day to work as administrator at a beauty school, and gets passes twice a month to visit her sister. Yeah, sounds like a real threat to public safety.
The word “penitentiary” is about being penitent, about repenting, rethinking one’s life. And when that happens, the repentant criminal should be re-introduced into society as a contributing citizen. If we’re not willing to do that, we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face. We’re running up our tax bill to maintain these prisoners, and we’re not letting them contribute to society, all because we’re afraid they haven’t paid enough (not because we’re afraid they’re a threat to society).
Not paid enough? Twenty years (let alone forty!) doesn’t sound like much, until you think about missing out on a generation of family events, children, career, your whole life. These prisoners have paid. Let them have what’s left.
On the one hand, I think the cases of these prisoners should be examined one-by-one to be sure we are not indeed releasing people who are a threat to public safety. But it seems to me that if a convict can stay out of trouble in prison for forty years in order to accumulate forty years of credits, that person has been rehabilitated and needs to be let out to become a productive member of society.
For those who came in late: Sometime in the 1970s, the courts defined a life sentence as 80 years. And the prison system has a policy of giving credit for good behavior, such that in effect every day in prison can reduce the length of the sentence by a day. And the net effect of these two policies is that a number of prisoners, originally sentenced to life imprisonment for murder or rape, have now acquired enough credits to be released, after serving some forty years.
When a group of these prisoners petitioned for the release to which they said they were entitled, Governor Perdue stepped n to prevent “the release of murderers and rapists that would threaten public safety.” She is having legal experts and the courts examine the rules to redefine them as necessary to keep these murderers and rapists in prison.
After this issue had been in the news for a week or two, the News & Observer had an article about a petition filed by one of these worst-of-the-worst, Faye Brown, who, in prison, has completed a bachelor’s degree, got certified to style hair, is learning to teach others to cut hair, is let out of prison each day to work as administrator at a beauty school, and gets passes twice a month to visit her sister. Yeah, sounds like a real threat to public safety.
The word “penitentiary” is about being penitent, about repenting, rethinking one’s life. And when that happens, the repentant criminal should be re-introduced into society as a contributing citizen. If we’re not willing to do that, we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face. We’re running up our tax bill to maintain these prisoners, and we’re not letting them contribute to society, all because we’re afraid they haven’t paid enough (not because we’re afraid they’re a threat to society).
Not paid enough? Twenty years (let alone forty!) doesn’t sound like much, until you think about missing out on a generation of family events, children, career, your whole life. These prisoners have paid. Let them have what’s left.
On the one hand, I think the cases of these prisoners should be examined one-by-one to be sure we are not indeed releasing people who are a threat to public safety. But it seems to me that if a convict can stay out of trouble in prison for forty years in order to accumulate forty years of credits, that person has been rehabilitated and needs to be let out to become a productive member of society.
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