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The Prison-Industrial Complex

The Prison-Industrial Complex. Social Policy and Correctional Health Care Martin Donohoe.

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The Prison-Industrial Complex

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  1. The Prison-Industrial Complex Social Policy and Correctional Health Care Martin Donohoe

  2. “The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of any country. A calm, dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused and even of the convicted criminal, ... [and] the treatment of crime and the criminal mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue within it.” Winston Churchill

  3. Lockdown:US Incarceration Rates World prison population 8.75 million US: 6.5 million under correctional supervision (behind bars, on parole, or on probation) - 1/31 adults (vs. 1/77 in 1982) 2.3 million behind bars (jail + prison) 1.52 million in jail; 0.79 million in prison Includes 250,000 women, 93,000 youths 1.6 million prisoners in China

  4. Lockdown:US Incarceration Rates • 6-fold increase in # of people behind bars from 1972-2000 • And rising • # of women behind bars up 750% from 1980 • 3100 local jails, 1200 state and federal prisons in U.S.

  5. Lockdown:US Incarceration Rates • 10 million Americans put behind bars each year • 3-fold increase in # of people behind bars from 1987-2007 • Crime rate down 25% compared with 1988 • # of women behind bars up 750% from 1980

  6. Lockdown:US Incarceration Rates and Costs • US incarceration rate highest in world • Russia close second • 6X > Britain, Canada, France • Costs: $30,000/yr for prison spot; $70,000/yr for jail spot

  7. Race and Detention Rates • African-Americans: 1815/100,000 • More black men behind bars than in college • Latino-Americans: 609/100,000 • Caucasian-Americans: 235/100,000 • Asian-Americans: 99/100,000

  8. Immigration Detention Centers Run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of DHS Haphazard network of governmentally- and privately-run jails Increasing numbers of detainees (“War on Immigration”) Fastest-growing form of detention in U.S. Lucrative business

  9. Immigration Detention Centers / Guantanamo • Abuses common, including over 100 deaths since late 2003 • Guantanamo, overseas black-ops sites (extraordinary rendition) • 92% were never involved with al-Qaeda (per government data)

  10. Jail and Prison Overcrowding • 22 states and federal prison system at 100%+ capacity in 2000 • 1/11 prisoners serving life sentence • ¼ of these without possibility of parole

  11. Reasons for Overcrowding • “War on Drugs” • Mandatory Minimums • Repeat Offender laws • 13 states have “three strikes laws” • Truth in Sentencing regulations • Decreased judicial independence

  12. Corporate Crime:Silent but Deadly • $200 billion/yr. (vs. $4 billion for burglary and robbery) • Fines for corporate environmental and social abuses minimal/cost of doing business • Some corporations linked to human rights abuses in US and abroad • Most lobby Congress to weaken environmental and occupational health and safety laws

  13. Corporate Crime • “The [only] social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Milton Friedman • “Corporations [have] no moral conscience. [They] are designed by law, to be concerned only for their stockholders, and not, say, what are sometimes called their stakeholders, like the community or the work force…” Noam Chomsky

  14. Corporate Crime • “Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.” Ambrose Bierce • “A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation.” Howard Scott

  15. The Prison-Industrial Complex Private prisons currently hold 16% of federal and 7% of state prisoners Only UK has higher proportion of private prisoners than US 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states

  16. Private prison boom over past 15 years • Reasons: • Prevailing political philosophy which disparages the effectiveness of (and even need for) government social programs • Often-illusory promises of free-market effectiveness • Despite evidence to contrary (e.g., Medicare/Medicaid, water privatization, etc.) • Increasing demand from ICE and USMS

  17. The Prison-Industrial Complex • Leading trade group: • American Correctional Association • For-profit companies involved: • Corrections Corporation of America • Controls 2/3 of private U.S. prisons • GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) • Together these two companies control 75% of market, with over $2.9 billion revenue in 2010

  18. The Prison-Industrial Complex • For-profit companies involved: • Correctional Medical Services • Others (Westinghouse, AT&T, Sprint, MCI, Smith Barney, American Express, Merrill Lynch, Shearson-Lehman, Allstate, GE, Wells Fargo [7% owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway])

  19. Corrections Corporation of America • Largest for-profit prison corporation • Largest detainer of undocumented immigrants • Facilitated by Arizona’s SB1070 and similar laws in UT, IN, GA, AL, and SC • Earns between$90 and $200 per prisoner per night • Accused of paying lower salaries and providing less training than state-run prisons

  20. The Prison-Industrial Complex Aggressive marketing to state and local governments Promise jobs, new income Rural areas targeted Face declines in farming, manufacturing, logging, and mining Companies offered tax breaks, subsidies, and infrastructure assistance

  21. The Prison-Industrial Complex:2001 Bureau of Justice Study • Average savings to community 1% • Does not take into account: • Hidden monetary subsidies • Private prisons selecting least costly inmates • c.f., “cherry picking” by health insurers • Private prisons attract large national chain stores like Wal-Mart, which: • leads to demise of local businesses • Shifts locally-generated tax revenues to distant corporate coffers

  22. The Prison-Industrial Complex:Politically Well-Connected • Private prison industry donated $1.2 million to 830 candidates in 2000 elections • $100,000 from CCA to indicted former House Speaker Tom Delay’s (R-TX) Foundation for Kids • Delay’s brother Randy lobbied TX Bureau of Prisons on behalf of GEO

  23. The Prison-Industrial Complex:Politically Well-Connected • Spent over $20 million lobbying legislators and DHS between 2003 and 2010 • $3.3 million donated in 44 states between 2000 and 2004 • 2/3 to candidates, 1/3 to parties (2/3 of this to Republicans • More given to states with tougher sentencing laws

  24. The Prison-Industrial Complex:Abuses • Some paid for non-existent prisoners, due to inmate census guarantees • 2009: Two judges in PA convicted of jailing 2000 children in exchange for bribes from private prison companies

  25. Jails for Jesus:Faith-Based Initiatives • Increasing presence • Politically powerful • Most evangelical Christian • Supported financially by George W Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives Program • e.g., Prison Fellowship Ministries – founded by Watergate felon Charles Colson in 1976

  26. Jails for Jesus:Faith-Based Initiatives • Offer perks in exchange for participation in prayer groups and courses • Perks: better cell location, job training and post-release job placement • Courses: Creationism, “Intelligent Design”, “Conversion Therapy” for homosexuals

  27. Jails for Jesus:Faith-Based Initiatives • Some programs “cure” sex offenders through prayer and Bible study • Rather than evidence-based programs employing aversion therapy and normative counseling • Highly recidivist and dangerous criminals may be released back into society armed with little more than polemics about sin

  28. Health Issues of Prisoners • At least 1/3 of state and ¼ of federal inmates have a physical impairment or mental condition • Mental illness • Dental caries and periodontal disease • Infectious diseases: HIV, Hep B and C, STDs (including HPV→cervical CA) • Usual chronic illnesses seen in aging population

  29. Crime and Substance Abuse • 52% of state and 34% of federal inmates under influence of alcohol or other drugs at time of offenses • Rates of alcohol and opiate dependency among arrestees at least 12% and 4%, respectively • 28% of jails detoxify arrestees

  30. Inmate Deaths 141 per 100,000 deaths in custody in 2007 89% - medical conditions 8% - suicide or homicide 3% - alcohol/drug intoxication or accidental injury

  31. Inmate Deaths • Blacks prisoners have ½ mortality of Black non-prisoners (fewer alcohol- and drug-related deaths, lethal accidents, and chronic diseases; guaranteed health care) • White prisoners have 12% higher mortality than White non-prisoners (higher death rates from infections, including HIV and hepatitis)

  32. Inmate Deaths • Very few prisons have hospice programs • Some have compassionate release programs, to allow death outside of prison before completion of sentence

  33. Prison Health Care • Estelle v. Gamble (US Supreme Court, 1976): affirms inmates constitutional right to medical care (based on 8th Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment) • Amnesty International and AMA have commented upon poor overall quality of care

  34. Prison Health Care • 60% provided by government entities • 40% (in 34 states) provided by private corporations • Private care often substandard

  35. Prison Health Care • Some doctors unable to practice elsewhere have limited licenses to work in prisons • Some government and private institutions require co-pays • Discourages needed care; increases costs

  36. Examples of Substandard Prison Health Care • Correctional Medical Systems (largest/cheapest) • Numerous lawsuits/investigations for poor care, negligence, patient dumping; opaque accounting of taxpayer dollars • Prison Health Services • Cited by NY state for negligence/deaths; subject of >1000 lawsuits; under investigation in VT

  37. Examples of Substandard Prison Health Care • California’s state prison health care system placed into receivership through 2012 • 1 unnecessary death/day • $5 co-pays limit access

  38. Rehabilitation and Release 600,000 prisoners released each year 4-fold increase over 1980 97% of all prisoners eventually return to the community 1990s: funding for rehab dramatically cut

  39. Rehabilitation and Release Newly released and paroled convicts face restricted access to federally-subsidized housing, welfare, and health care ½ of state correctional facilities provide only a 1-2 week supply of medication Wait times for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits up to 3 months

  40. Rehabilitation and Release • Drug felons in 18 states permanently banned from receiving welfare • High risk of death in first few weeks after release, mostly due to homicide, suicide, and drug overdose

  41. Ex-offenders have poor job prospects Little education and job skills training occur behind bars GED programs reduce recidivism, decrease costs Most prisoners released with $50 to $100 “gate money” and a bus ticket Limited resumés, background checks 60% of employers would not knowingly hire an ex-offender High rates of criminal recidivism

  42. Summary • US world’s wealthiest nation • Incarcerates greater percentage of its citizens than any other country • Criminal justice system marred by racism • Prisoner health care substandard • Until recently, US executed juveniles and mentally handicapped

  43. Summary • US continues to execute adults • Drug users confined with more hardened criminals in overcrowded institutions • Creates ideal conditions for nurturing and mentoring of more dangerous criminals • Punishment prioritized over rehabilitation

  44. Summary • Convicts released without necessary skills to maintain abstinence and with few job skills • Poor financial and employment prospects of released criminals make return to crime an attractive or desperate survival option

  45. Summary • US criminal justice system marked by injustices, fails to lower crime and increase public safety • Significant portions of system turned over to enterprises that value profit over human dignity, development and community improvement

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