Thursday, September 29, 2011
While serving an 18-month sentence for securities fraud inside the boundaries of the Taft Federal Prison Camp, nothing inspired me to work toward reconciling with society more than the visits I received from my mother, Tallie. Every Friday she made the long journey, driving across the Grapevine mountain that separates Los Angeles from California's Central Valley. The difficult journey sometimes required more than six hours of driving roundtrip. Yet she made the trip each week as part of a family effort to boost my spirits while I endured the sanction for bad decisions I made.
Visits from my family, I'm convinced, made all the difference in how I emerged from prison. Rather than harboring a bitterness or anger over my separation from society, I more easily understood how decisions I made influenced the lives of people I loved. That realization and acceptance inspired me to work toward reconciling with society, toward making amends.
Because of my personal experience with the transformative influence visits can have on those who serve time in prison, I speak out in protest against a new law in the state of Arizona that imposes a $25 fee on people who want to visit prisoners in that state. According to a New York Times article the state recently imposed the unconscionable fee. It troubles me because I understand that prisoner families frequently struggle financially, and many people who otherwise would support their loved ones in prison with visits must now forego visits because of the $25 expense.
Our nation now confines 2.3 million people at a cost to taxpayers of $75 billion each year. Strikingly high recidivism rates, however, show that taxpayers receive little in return for their investment. It is shameful when government bureaucrats exploit the disenfranchised with what amounts to a taxation.
Business leaders contributed to the making of one of the world's strongest economies because they understand the need to make data-driven decisions. In prisons, on the other hand, bureaucrats seem to reject compelling data. Such data shows that prisoners who maintain close family ties and pursue educational training more frequently emerge as law-abiding, productive citizens.
Rather than encouraging prisoners to rely upon visiting as a tool to maintain family ties, however, prison administrators in Arizona have imposed higher burdens that make visiting less likely. Such policies undermine the greater social interests of an enlightened society. Tiberius, a wise ancient philosopher is attributed with the saying:
"It is the part of the good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it."
I acknowledge that criminal sanctions should punish offenders. Yet exacerbating the struggle of prisoner families who strive to stay together does not serve society's vested interest. We should encourage people in prison to emerge with family values intact, with values, skills, and resources that translate into law-abiding, contributing lives. I have made such a goal my career, and it troubles me to see laws that make the effort more difficult.
