Confined to a max custody Intensive Management Unit (IMU) prison cell 24 hours of the day, combating the symptoms and effects of sensory deprivation, long periods of isolation, illusions, hallucinations, paranoia, difficulty with concentration and memory, I wonder if the way I am viewing events taking place at this time are with a clean clear sense of perception.
With Washington State's current economic and employment crisis, revenue forecasters said that Washington will face a budget short fall of at least $2 billion this coming budget cycle.(1) It is ironic that this state's bureaucrats would lay off teachers, reduce pay, cut classes, or even close schools when the average cost of incarceration per inmate is between $22,000 to $24,000 per year with cost per prison cell construction at $54,000. Washington State currently has a prison population of more than 15,000 inmates, and the DOC also has 15,304 registered sex offenders (statistics of 2001) that are not incarcerated.(1)
This state has more registered sex offenders than it does incarcerated prisoners. With the recent media attention on this state's dilemma of what to do with civil committed sex offenders the DOC and DSHS is billing the state of Washington up to $800,000 per prisoner per year to house, treat and maintain 24 hour supervision of non-treatable offenders.
My question is, should we lose any of our pedagogical education professionals, or precious students who are our future generation, our senior citizens who can't afford the high cost of prescription drugs, some who travel all the way to Canada to find affordable prices? Should any of our schools or social programs suffer? There is a Iroquois teaching: "We are walking upon the face of those yet to come."
In a report by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) "Cell blocks or class rooms?" there is a state by state analysis of corrections and higher education spending. JPI shows the fiscal impact of nation's overuse of prisons as a solution to social problems.(2)
Between 1985 and 2000 the nationwide increase in state spending on corrections was nearly double that of the increase to higher education ($20 billion versus $10.7 billion). The spending on higher education by states was 24% compared with 166% for corrections. In Washington between 1985 and 2000 state spending on corrections grew by 138% while state spending on higher education grew by only 13%, a spending difference of 125% for a population of just 15,000 prisoners.(3) The cost of one prisoner a year of $24,000 could increase the salary of six teachers by $2,000 each or the salary of one teacher for a year. That sum alone could fund academic educational programs for students. The state of California spends $7,000 each year on every child but spends $27,000 each year on every inmate.
Every election year the politicians sing the same old song "tougher on crime and better funding for education." The state legislature has to start a process of immediate criminal justice reform, changing, creating laws, and repealing existing ones such as the persistent prison misbehavior RCW 9.94.070, a frivolous law passed in Aug 1, 1995. An inmate of a state corrections institution commits the crime of persistent prison misbehavior if the inmate knowingly commits as serious infraction that does not constitute a class A or class B felony after losing all potential earned early release time credit; this law serves no penological objective nor does it deter misbehavior and it does not apply to all prisoners.
Legislature officials should really take a look into the mirror as to the severity of economic, employment, educational, and social situations we are facing due to the budget crisis and government mismanagement.
There is also the recent tragic event of the murder suicide of Tacoma police chief, David Brayn, and his wife, due to Domestic Violence issues and the subsequent on-going investigation. It is shocking to find out that this officer of the law should never have been in law enforcement, but due to this state's infestation of nepotism in all branches of law enforcement agencies, he was hired, progressed and promoted through the ranks to chief of police after being evaluated by departmental psychologists as not fit to be a public servant.
What's ironic is this officer was charged with rape, but the charges and allegations were swept under the rug, overlooked. One has to wonder, while he held the office of Chief of Tacoma, how many criminal acts he allowed by officers under his charge and supervision? His wife has made numerous charges of abuse and domestic violence only to have them ignored by the good 'old boy network. The law states that anyone convicted of a domestic violence charge are prohibited to even carry firearms. There are hundreds of law enforcement employees that fit this criteria. As Mumia Abu Jamal says "they may be sworn to protect the people but they are paid to protect the established."
Notes:1. Prison Legal News, May,, 2003, Vol 14, No52. www.justicepolicy.org3. Justice Matters, 2002 Vol4, no2
-- a Washington prisoner, June 2003