Last of three parts
The second part is available at thevoice.us/prison-reform-rooted-in-care-better-than-punishment
Mary Rinaldi and Ashish Prashar posted the following article in Fast Company.
“Imagine a world without prisons. It may sound radical, but for millions of black and brown Americans, this fantasy is urgent and necessary.
“Programs based on this approach are used now in youth courts, such as the Red Hook Community Justice Center and Harlem Community Justice Center, and by Impact Justice’s Restorative Justice Project. The work interrupts the cycle of offending, repairs harm caused to the victim and the community, and incorporates restorative healing circles. Restorative justice programs have higher survivor satisfaction rates than punitive systems.
“Programs such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion in Seattle are important, by joining civilians with local police to redirect offenders to needed resources, like for homelessness, substance use, and mental health issues, without making an arrest. These participants were 58% less likely to be arrested after enrolling in the program than those who went through the usual criminal justice process.
Misdemeanor reforms
“Misdemeanors vary in severity from jaywalking to unpaid parking tickets to third-degree assault. Although the latter may need stronger consequences, facing jail time for not being able to pay a speeding ticket or jaywalking isn’t just. What few Americans know is that misdemeanors make the U.S. criminal justice system a profit center, consisting of 80% of state criminal dockets, putting throngs of people in U.S. jails and prisons.
“Misdemeanor sanctions shouldn’t be done away with, but our justice system must enforce appropriate consequences for offenses rather than disproportionate punishments.
No arrests for parole violations
“Passing legislation that would eliminate parole violations would go a long way toward keeping people out of prisons and jails who don’t belong there.
“New York City’s Less is More Act is a great example of how to get that done. The act, if passed, would eliminate technical parole violations. The state’s taxpayers spent millions of dollars last year incarcerating folks for technical parole violations. New York wouldn’t be the first to take steps that eliminate parole violations. After South Carolina adopted sanctions, which included disciplinary actions outside of incarceration, violations decreased and recidivism dropped.
“Committing to restorative justice, implementing these reforms and making other structural changes will significantly reform the justice system and ground it in the principle of care. It will set us on a path for that world without prisons.
Do Not Stop at the Prison Walls
“But if we’re going to get there we can’t stop at the prison walls. The aim should be to reshape our society as a whole. We are not doing nearly enough to address the root causes of poverty, addiction, homelessness, and mental-health crises. Instead, we criminalise poverty through harsh fines and debt regulation; criminalise addiction through drug laws; criminalise homelessness by conducting sweeps of people sleeping in parks; and criminalise mental illness by turning prisons into de facto psychiatric hospitals. Why do we focus on these symptoms instead of the true diseases? TItis one of the key differences between reform and abolitionism: The former deals with pain management and the latter with the actual source of the pain.
“The Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic has taught us that we’re all in this together, opening up the opportunity to explore building a new, care-based reality. People are flexing their visionary skills and imagination, something we’re often kept from in our society.
“We need a vision of a future in which vital needs such as housing, education, and health care are met, which allows people to live big, beautiful, fulfilled lives—with not a prison in sight.”
Mary Rinaldi is a social justice advocate, a creative technologist and writer who is a mentor-in-residence at NEW INC..
Ashish Prashar is a justice reform campaigner, who sits on the Board of Exodus Transitional Community, Getting Out and Staying Out, Leap Confronting Conflict, and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, and is a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts.