Ripped Off

The following is a response I wrote to a conservative columnist, who wrote a piece in the Sacramento Bee about having his I-Mac Laptop stolen. He blamed the state prison system of course, made snide comments about the Prison Guard union (?), and said the "realignment" caused by prison overcrowding was the problem. I couldn't resist:


First, I am sorry you got ripped off. My daughter had her car almost stolen last weekend, the thieves badly damaged the steering column of her Honda, but luckily were scared off before they hot wired the vehicle. Pros would have had her car in five minutes.

She called in tears, feeling violated. The car was parked right outside her house.

It does not sound like parolees did the deed in your case. Likewise, the amateur attempt in my daughter's case, also indicates "pro"s were not involved.

But, statistics show a large number of state prison releases, on parole, in our communities. And, sure enough, crime is beginning to move up.

Remember, conservatives used the "law and order" brand, to push "three strikes and youare out", determinate sentences; etc., that caused the prisons to overflow in the first place. The Prison Guard Union power grew along with the growth of state prisons, NOT before it. The union grew in power because the state spent so much money on imprisoning almost everyone, did away with rehabilitation programs, and cut probation system in localities.

My stepson lived in Susanville, CA. The BEST jobs in the town were as prison guards, since the timber industry is in deep decline. He is a college graduate, but fought to get hired as an entry level guard; he didn't get the job.

Thanks to over thirty years of conservative dominance in criminal justice, we have the highest imprisonment per capita in the world. We imprison thousands for non-violent "drug" crimes. We then "get tough on crime" by gutting rehab programs, not hiring ex-felons, and creating more hardened criminals.

And, part of the political push you have so consistently encouraged, rehabilitation programs have been scrapped in prisons, giving way to punitive "get tough" policies.

This has resulted in minor criminals (like the kids that ripped you off) being jailed with career gangsters, who beat them into learning the "trade" so to speak. Moreover, since there is so little follow-up due to drastic cuts in probation officers, parolees are released into communities with no skills, many cannot read, with little monitoring.

And guess what, they resort to crime again, because they can't get jobs, and nobody is checking them. Recidivism is over 40% in most states. Our prison system is broken. Conservative "war on crime" and "war on drugs; just say no" did it. Yes, conservatives, there are consequences for stupid public policy!

And we privatize prisons in some states. And we continue to "get tough on crime", following the same old prescriptions that YOU have pushed for years.

Try this, I dare you. Follow those young men who allegedly stole your laptop (not physically), but follow them through the criminal justice system. Find out how it works, and doesn't work. Visit a prison, talk to the guards (they might be union but they won't bite).

You will discover a system that actually manufactures criminals from amateurs. You will find a system that imprisons over 25 percent of African American males under the age of 30. You will find a system that is creating much of the decline of America.

You got ripped off plain and simple. You are another statistic, just like my daughter, and me (when my new Prius had its window smashed out and my wife's purse stolen; that sent us into identity theft hell).

And your twisted political philosophy is what is made the situation so bad!