This is a photo that I posted a few weeks back showing some of the advertising that I've seen in North Camden. I had commented on how this advertising is somewhat reflective of some of the issues facing Camden right now. Though I hadn't really intended this page to be much more than a forum through which I could post photos etc. some interesting dialogue has developed that some of you may be interested in. Soula and Jimmy started it off, thanks for your interest guys. Thanks too to Justin for your great comments, I appreciate your time and thoughts.
"This advertising is reflective of the challenges currently facing the city of Camden. Disillusioned and disenfranchised youth are often left with two options for survival: the military or life on Camden's drug ridden streets. The Marine Corps heavily recruits in North Camden and signs such as these can be found on numerous street corners."
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7 comments:
Next to the Marine ad is an ad for "Bail Bonds of America." The photograph has also captured another classist system that preys on the poor of this country - the prison industrial complex.
What are you talking about Soula? The prison industrial complex? Did you follow the Enron or Tyco trial at all? The people who go to prisons are those who commit crimes not those who fail to reach certain tax brackets. I understand that the majority of prisoners are poor but that is not the excuse to blame the "prison industrial complex" for their actions. Poor decisions are have consequences no matter what social class that person belongs to.
-James
-James
Prieto,
Though I appreciate your ruffling of feathers/offering a differing view point, please try to keep an open and curious mind. If you'd like Soula to flesh out the notion of the "Prison Industrial Complex" I'm sure she'd love to do so. Keep reading pal, I appreciate your support. ps - Your climbing photo is one of my most popular.
James, many people who go to prison are people who have committed crimes. However, most incarcerated people DO fail to reach a certain tax bracket. Take for example that the consequences for posession of crack, which is used primarily by poor people, are far more severe than for posession of cocaine, a more refined version of crack, which is used mostly by wealty individuals. Perhaps you disagree, but I believe W.E.B DuBois was correct in saying that crime is a "symptom of wrong social conditions." There is also a very considerable number of people who are incarcerated who have not had adequate representation for lack of funds who have recieved incredibly disproportionate sentances when compared with other individuals who committed similar crimes but could afford top-dollar representation. There is no justice in that. I'm happy to give a brief explanation of the prison-industrial-complex. The prison system takes criminals and puts them in "rehabilitative" or "correctional" facilities, as they are called. During their time there, what do they do? Many of the incarcerated have committed crimes that are the result of absolute dsperation that is the result of poverty. Many suffer from severe mental health problems. Many struggle with severe addiction. So now in jail, what happens? Rehab? GED classes? Vocational training classes? Any sort of rehabilitative services with the goal of helping the person overcome the circumstances that led to them committing the crime in the first place? Maybe...Maybe not. Several prisons had decent opportunities. Now, however, it varies by which state you are in. And the truth is that funding is being cut for such services in most prisons. I know this both because I have read it in many credited publications and because I have spent a great part of my time visitng an inmate at Old Colony Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. He has told me of the increasing lack of such facilities. Furthermore, the prison's approach to mental health problems is simply to drug up prisoners. There is little counseling, little attention to the unique and dynamic mental health problems of each inmate, just a prescription. So, these people "serve their time" and then are out again, only to committ another crime out of desperation, out of poverty, out of addiction, out of unstable mental health. And they are back in the prison again. What do they do in the prison, since they probably aren't in classes and are in lock-down for most of the day? If they want to work they can - what is an average wage? About $2 an hour, if even. Sounds like a slave wage to me. Perhaps some think that is all such an individual deserves because they have committed a crime. But prisons ARE an industrial complex, there is a huge profit being made off of the unpaid labor of the incarcerated population. What when that person is let out in 3 years, 4 year, 8 years and has nothing to build a life on, what is the likelihood you think they are going to end up in jail again? Prisons do turn a profit...and it has been happening for a long time: "Prison industries, using inmate labor to manufacture goods for private firms, were thriving enterprises in the first quarter of this century. However, the sale of open market prison-made products was banned in the 1930's and 1940's by Congress and the States, in response to protests from both competing industries and labor unions. In 1979 legislation was enacted to restore private sector involvement in prison industries to its former status, provided certain conditions of the labor market are met." National Institue of Justice. Also, the General Secretary of the National Committee on Prison Labor points out "The State has a property right in the labor of the prisoner. The 13th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides that neither slavery nor involutary servitude shall exist, yet by inference allows its continuance as punishment for crime, after due process of law. This property right the state may lease or retain for its own use, the manner being set forth in state consitutions and acts of legislature." For further information, check out the writings of Dr. Angela Davis.
Miss Soula Pefkaros,
The Prison Industrial Complex is an interesting concept with a few holes. This system devoids the poor of future opportunities by forcing them to work for extremely low wages? People are not forced into prisons, they choose to go to prison because of a poor decisions they have made. I do not disagree that their decisions have a strong relationship tied to lack of education, poor family structure and drug use. These 3 factors above are a cocktail to life of prison and despair. But at what point does that individual realizes this formula. If an individual see family members, friends and neighors spend great portions of lives in and out of prisons when does this individual decide to curb this type of lifestyle. Prisons are a response to society. W E B Dubois's quote " symptom of wrong social conditions" dealing with the fact of crime is very interesting. I believe he relating this to the dispary of wealth among social classes. But does this ring true through all social classes? I consider myself to be in the majority of the middle class. I would like to reach the range of the upper class. But I would ever use crime to reach this goal. Do inner-city urban American lower class individuals try to reach goals of middle class and fail to do so because of 3 factors above education, family, drug use? Is this because they are groomed in the system of the industrial prison complex? Maybe so, but at some point an individual no matter how many chips stacked against them has to stand up and make a change in their own life and take responsibility for their actions. You can't force an individual to change this decision relies square on that person. I believe everyone needs some sort of safety structure to survive parents, teachers, social services. But the role of prison is not one of a social structures and is poorly effective as a place of rehabliate. The role of a prison is to incarcerate an offender and any programs offer have little effect becauses prisoners are forced to attend and there is no personal committement to the program. The habliation of a prisoner starts with the person and positive reinforcement should be rewarded for the prisoners when they achieve habliation goals such as GED and occupational training.
On a final note the majority of prisoners in prisons have committed crimes. The fact the law many differenciate between the types of drug crimes: crack possession versus cocaine possession is a response society which deems crack more dangerous on the streets. Is this because it cheaper and used my poorer individuals who perceived as more dangerous? I don't condone any drug use but I perceive crack as more dangerous form of cocaine and I would have not a problem lengthing the sentence of this drug and I would be hard press to find anyone who would support the lighter sentences for crack dealers.
The use of prisons in America to house prisoners. I believe they are terrible places to rehabilitate people. The fact is prisons are filled with other prisoners who teach each other betters way to committe crimes. But what should prisons' role be? A place of incarcerate criminals or place of rehabilitation with less rules and more personal responsibility?
-James
Greetings fellow travelers,
I would like to step in and add to this conversation.
Before I introduce my opinions and analysis, I would just like to illuminate the fact that we all have our own lens with which we view the world, our believes and understandings are built and filtered through all of our experiences, information we have taken in, and maybe most importantly what position we hold when we begin
As we gather, analyze and bounce our ideas off other people we are able to form our understanding of our world.
Knowing this we MUST understand that those of us who are privileged (be it the color of our skin, the economic status of our parents, or the gender we are born with), from the outset, will develop a much different view and understanding of the world based on our vantage point.
I feel there are a lot of topics to discuss when talking about crime and punishment. History is a big one. There are also many issues surrounding this system, due to time I will focus mostly on race and economic status and the way in witch I fell this system we have unjustly targets and punishes people.
1. Questions
2. Facts
4. Response
1. QUESTIONS
Is incarceration the best way to deal with someone who has step outside what some in the society have deemed acceptable behavior? At what point does someone become so dangerous that they must be removed from society?
Does the current prison system we use in this country function justly in regard to gender, race, and someone’s economic status?
What is the goal of this system? Is it protecting the citizens of this country? Is it helping those "criminals" rehabilitate and become better members of out society? Is the system reflecting the needs and wishes of the citizens of this country? Is this system meeting these goals? Does this system solve problems in our society, or merely attempt to hide them from view?
Is this the best system we can create? Does it fall in line with all that we know of human psychology, heath, rehabilitation, fear? Does it serve the people of this country?
Who is being targeted? Who is getting caught? Who is being convicted? Who is being sentenced?
2. FACTS
Humans have lived for 99% of their existence without prisons
African Americans represent 12.7% of the US population, 15% of US drug users (72% of All users are white), 36.8% of those arrested for a drug-related crime, 48.2% of American adults in state, and federal prisons and local jails and 42.5% of prisoners under sentence of death.
The United States imprisons African American men at a rate four times greater than the Rate of incarceration for Black men in South Africa.
In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses went into effect, the average sentence for an African American convicted of a drug-related crime involving crack was 11% higher than for whites. In 1990, four years after the implementation of harsher federal drug laws, the average increased to 49%
Due to felony convictions, 1.46 million African American men out of a total voting
population of 10.4 million have lost their right to vote.
Native Americans represent less than 1% of the US population. Over 4% of Native
Americans are under correctional supervision (compared to 2% of whites). Native
Americans are the victims of violent crimes at twice the rate of the general population and 60% of these victims describe the offender as white.
3. RESPONCE
I would like to take a moment and respond to some of James' thoughts...
"If an individual see family members, friends and neighors spend great portions of lives in and out of prisons when does this individual decide to curb this type of lifestyle."
Curb this type of lifestyle? Stop being poor? Change the color of their skin? Is it not the society's responsibility to change the conditions that produce underprivileged lifestyles and grant all of its citizen’s equality and equal opportunities? This is the responsiblity of all of us, when will WE stand up and take this responsibility? This sentence reminds me so much of the justification and rationalization of the Indian boarding school system. The way to deal with the "Indian problem" is to make them change their lifestyle.
"I consider myself to be in the majority of the middle class. I would like to reach the range of the upper class. But I would ever use crime to reach this goal."
Of course you don't have to use crime, someone else before you has already committed the crime. Are you going to say that the land and prosperity you now have wasn't original stolen from someone else? That the wealth attained and past down in this country wasn't horded by theft, slavery, forced labor, children working the mines and factories, police and hired thugs union busting, and conditions and laws meant to keep a separation between peoples. But of course most of these crimes were committed "legally" (which leads into another facet of this system, who is making the laws?, based on whose moral values is our system constructed? it was not so long ago that it was illegal in this country to speak a certain language, to play an instrument, wear a certain piece of clothing, to engage in a certain sexual activity. Today are we to just accept that all the laws we now enforce and just and equal towards everyone?) It wasn't a crime when we stole the land and resources of this country, but today if a Native citizen walks into a home and takes a laptop computer to sell for food money he will be arrested, deemed a criminal and incarcerated. How insane must this appear to those that have knowledge of history, is not what is wrong for one wrong for all? I am not arguing this in a practical sense, only attempting to show the range and depth that different analysis can take and how different someone’s else view can be. We all view the world through our own lens.
"On a final note the majority of prisoners in prisons have committed crimes."
What about that minority that didn't commit any crime? What type crimes did the others commit? The overwhelming majority of prisoners are incarcerated for Non-violent crimes. Do they really need to be removed from society? Who in power is saying what they did was a crime?
"The fact the law many differenciate between the types of drug crimes: crack possession versus cocaine possession is a response society which deems crack more dangerous on the streets. Is this because it cheaper and used my poorer individuals who perceived as more dangerous? I don't condone any drug use but I perceive crack as more dangerous form of cocaine and I would have not a problem lengthing the sentence of this drug and I would be hard press to find anyone who would support the lighter sentences for crack dealers."
The first thing I must point out is that in the beginning of this paragraph you use crack possession, yet in the end you say crack dealer. I hope this is only a mistake and you make the distinction between a user and a dealer. Crack and Cocaine are the same drug, none more dangerous then the other, it is a continuance of the same racist and dividing legislation we have propagated since the inception of this system. The legality of substances is also another huge can of worms. Why are some drugs legal and others illegal? If someone is addicted to painkillers they are considered sick and in need of medical rehabilitation, yet if someone is addicted to crack they are viewed as a criminal and incarcerated. *Raises hand* I support lighter sentences for crack dealers.
In summation I would say... how could we agree on improving this system? Can it be improved? What system can we build in its place?
From earth, 2005
with much love,
Justin
Justin,
Your comments are unique and interesting and I will respond to them in detail later this week. This whole working thing really get in way of trying to find a solution to the industrial prison complex. I am just wondering do you consider yourself to be a liberal, libertarian or revolutionary. Who advocates for use home invasion and freeing of drug dealers to help solve the prison problems of the US. I understand everyone sees thru different lens otherwise we would have a very boring view of the world. But I am just wondering what your len is focusing on? The solving of the " industrial prison complex" or rewriting the moral codes which our laws are base from. On a sidenote I took a quick poll of reducing sentences of crack/cocaine dealers and I have yet to get a vote for the "hand raised" category.
-James
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