Nov
3
Beware the Prison-Industrial Complex
November 3, 2009 | |
President Eisenhower’s last address to the American people warned them to “guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. . . in the councils of government.” He warned that, unchecked, the interests of an industry devoted to war could endanger the liberties and democratic processes of the American people. There is a similar, yet overlooked danger to our liberties as well today. The prison-industrial complex.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania not even a week ago overturned 6500 convictions and prison sentences of juvenile offenders in Luzerne County. No, it was not a “soft on crime” decision that declared imprisonment for juveniles unconstitutional. It declared that virtually every single juvenile to appear before the court in Luzerne County in the last five years had been the victim of the prison-industrial complex. Two judges, Mark Ciaverella and Michael Conhan, have been charged with accepting 2.8 million dollars in bribes from the owners of private prisons in Luzerne County to send some extra business their way. The judges were not only accepting bribes from the owners of the prison, but had convinced the county in 2002 that the current, government-run prison was unsafe, and that they should hire a private firm to do the job. Kids were sent to jail for stealing change from unlocked cars, and shooting out windows with a BB gun, among other minor offenses.
Well, at least they were caught, you might say. That is true. They will hopefully spend just as long, if not longer, in prison than the children they sent away for their own material gain. The children’s records will be expunged. But they cannot get back the months or years of their lives they spent in prison, the terror they likely experienced. The scars will follow them for a long time.
While this may be an isolated incident in its execution, it is certainly not an isolated incident in its opportunity. Arizona already has 30% of its prisoners in private facilities, and is considering completely privatizing the rest, including death row.
President Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex because he knew that at the very core of the industry was a desire for nothing but a healthy profit margin - a margin that could only be obtained by killing not only foreign armies, but the sons and daughters of its employees as well. Since he warned us of the dangers of this industry, we have gone to war numerous times, and virtually each time there seems to be something not quite right about the reasons we are given, about the way the war is fought, about the time and money and lives that we spend.
The United States is the world leader in incarceration. 702 out of every 10,000 Americans is in jail. The nearest is Russia, at 628 per 10,000. No country in Europe tops 150 per 10,000. There seems to be something not quite right about a country that claims to uphold liberty and justice for all taking away years of someone’s liberty because they had a few sticks of an illegal drug. Occasionally, as it did in Luzerne County, the mask gets pulled off in a dramatic way. Occasionally, a state tries to privatize its entire prison system. But even beyond that, isn’t there something the matter with a country where so many make their livelihoods and pad their bottom lines by denying their fellow citizens their liberty? Is it just that we have more crime than other Western democracies? Is it that maybe we have gone a little too far in punishing criminals? Or is it that, inside all of us, there is a little bit of what animated the Luzerne county juvenile court judges to work, not for justice, but for the prison-industrial complex?
Sources:
Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses juveniles’ convictions after Luzerne County Court scandal
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/10/pennsylvania_supreme_court_dis.html
Luzerne’s youth-court scandal: How?Why?
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20091025_Luzerne_s_youth-court_scandal__How_Why_.html
Death row may go private in Arizona
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010127223_prison24.html
Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/indust.html
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