• Note from the author: My goal for this article is that I receive comments from readers in the hopes that it might lead to more ideas or better ideas. I’d love for feedback from those who have been involved in the prison system - whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Maybe some of our conversations can be published (with your permission) in another article in the future. Hopefully, ultimately, this becomes a large enough discussion to influence change.

In the wake of Kanye and Trump and the discussion of sentencing reform, I’ve been hearing a lot about the prison system. The topic has been on my mind for a while and I’d like to dig into it.

I have a few ideas for the prison system I’d like to explore, on paper, for this audience. They’re going to be sweeping, broad shotgun-blasts of ideas; some will be common sense, some controversial.

Before we address potential solutions, we have to note the problems. According to me, they fall into three categories: cost, volume, and effectiveness.

PROBLEMS

Cost

The U.S. spends about $80 billion per year on incarceration, at the state and federal levels combined. That’s only about 2% of the federal $3.8-trillion budget, but it’s more than we spend on education.

Furthermore, the national average for housing an inmate for a year is about $32,000. For comparison, there are people in the general public who house themselves and their families for less, annually.

Volume

The U.S. has the highest rate of imprisonment, per capita, of any nation on earth: about 0.7%. That’s almost 1 in 100 people. We currently house about 2.3 million prisoners. (I’ve never heard anyone stop to ask if that means we have the highest behavioral standards, as that could certainly influence this issue.) The prison population has risen sharply since the 1980s and has continued growing at a rapid rate despite violent crime waning since the 1990s.

Correspondent German Lopez at Vox says the prison population exploded because of an “overreaction” from lawmakers over the high crime rate of the 1970s. However, I’m not sure it’s an overreaction that lawmakers should respond with... laws to a heightened crime rate. If the crime rate dropped after the tightening of laws, doesn’t that mean the experiment worked? Lopez also stated that incarceration has reached the point of diminishing returns. On that front, he seems to be correct; the prison population should have receded with the crime rate.

Contrary to what the pro-drug public would have you believe, our prisons aren’t filled to the brim with Black men who got busted for a gram of weed; they are filled, as they should be, with violent offenders. Over half of prisoners in state prisons are violent offenders; the next highest percentage are thieves, then drug-users after that.

Legislation will do little to change a society facing problems of violence, theft, and drugs - we’ve seen the evidence (National Research Council, 2014); society will only be improved by changes to culture. Remember, crime is a culture problem.

Effectiveness

Of course you’ve heard about the impotency of our prison system. There’s a lot of talk about “recidivism.” There are a few different definitions of “recidivism,” but The Marshall Project defines it as “the likelihood that someone who broke the law once will do it again after being set free.” Depending on how you measure, the rate is between 25 and 50 percent. Clearly, a one-half failure rate is unacceptable.

Our prisons are an ineffective deterrent to crime. This topic is a more difficult one to research; the search results of “factors influencing recidivism” are barren of sites like Vox or the Times, instead providing results of dissertations and scholarly articles. Nonetheless, there are a multiplicity of factors influencing recidivism.

SOLUTIONS

Cost

Get Rid of Prison Guard Unions | New York State and California are the largest spenders when it comes to housing inmates. The national average to house an inmate, as mentioned above, is about $32k. It costs New York State an average of $60k (NYC itself jumps to a grotesque $168k). In California, it’s $71k.

What keeps these states so expensive? The answer, mainly, is staff. Salaries and pensions add up to nearly half of the nationwide cost of prisons. For comparison, 15% of prison cost goes to healthcare in these facilities, and only 2% goes to keeping the lights on. The excess cost beyond these comes from prison guard unions.

Mic Network suggests that California prison guards make sixty percent above the national average salary of prison guards (sometimes up to eighty percent), while California prison staff looms rampant with corruption.

Thirty-eight states have state-wide guard unions. Disbanding guard unions means making it easier to remove corrupt officials. It also means saving us hefty salaries and reducing the corruption that might be partially responsible for recidivism. Without those salaries, we can afford to hire staff enough to make prisons ordered places.

Abolish Private Prisons | This is one of the few times I’ll ever argue against a free-market solution. Leave corrections to the Government. Law and order is one of the few things a Conservative believes is within the purview of government responsibilities.

Although I’m sure private prisons are run more efficiently and effectively, creating a profit motive for incarceration is a dangerous game. There’s an entire discussion to be had about the tactics and practices inside private prisons that contribute to recidivism.

Around 5% of government spending on prisons goes to private prisons - private institutions get a monthly stipend per head on their roster. The only function of a private enterprise is to grow, and that’s exactly what we don’t want to continue in our prison system. The goal of our system, at all times, should be to shrink.

Volume

Change the Laws | I think most people can agree we need some sort of “sentencing reform;” what exactly that means is up for debate.

First, I think we should redefine assault and battery. Frivolous lawsuits are a problem when it comes to these terms. “Assault” has such a broad definition that it has become merely perception; whether the victim believes he or she is in danger. Battery? While I don’t condone violence, if two (otherwise sound, stable) people get into a non-serious-injury-inducing fight and no weapon is wielded, I don’t think the police need to be involved. Furthermore, men need to stop complaining to the State for being shoved at a bar. Men, in all matters, you need to handle your own problems before going to court.

On sexual assault, rape-culture-hawkers and #metoo have redefined “sexual assault” and “rape” into oblivion, including anything from an unwanted hug to “next-morning regret.”

Next, we might take a look at domestic violence. This is only speculation, but I have reason to believe that many use the law as an arm of revenge upon their partners. Commentator Gavin McInnes has spoken on the problems with domestic crimes arrests. He illustrates it this way: Often, a (romantic) couple will get into a fight and the cops are called. Eventually, the couple returns to good terms and continues on in their relationship until they have another fight, and the cops are called again. Now, the perpetrator (usually male, as in domestic violence situations the male will more often be removed/blamed as he is considered to be the “more dangerous” person in the conflict) is a “repeat offender” and goes to jail. Thus, many males fall through the cracks into the system. Granted, no one can be sure what percentage this contributes to the domestic-offenders population.

The most hotly-contested issue, though, is drug-sentencing. I will concede that the incarceration rate is due, in part, to the Reagan-Era War on Drugs, but even Vox says it isn’t completely to blame. Laxing drug laws for marijuana use and possession might be the answer, and there’s a good case for that. That discussion is for a different article. However, I would repeat a quote I love from Samuel Johnson: “All the laws of heaven and earth are unable to prevent man from his crimes. Surely relaxing [them] shall not dispose man to better behavior.”

Fines for Crimes | I think a lot more low-level crimes, including some drug-related offenses, can be handled through fines instead of incarceration and left off of one’s criminal record. This would relieve some of the congestion while providing the state with extra non-tax funds going toward prisons. (This is obviously not an appropriate punishment for white-collar criminals, though.)

Compassionate Release | Lastly and simply, I think most prisoners 80 and over and the terminally ill, who aren’t housed for murder or racketeering, should be released. There is little sense in thinking the octogenarian that can hardly walk will be committing mass homicide. These offenders can only cost the state exponentially more through healthcare costs.

Effectiveness

Give ‘em Hell | Scrolling through prison day-in-the-life-of videos, I see a few notes of concern; some in normal prisons, some in women's’ correctional facilities. I see headphones and mp3 players, magazines and personal TV’s. I found out prisoners can buy snacks from the commissary. Guys, this is not summer camp.

Prison is a place any citizen should dread. It has lost its punch, and it’s evident by the rate of recidivism. I was arrested once. The two things I remember being the worst, of my brief stay: the light and temperature. The lights never went off and it was freezing.

Make prison a living hell, so that no person ever wants to go back. No TV. No magazines. No snacks. No cigarettes. No games. Only an hour a day of communal time, and that’s during recreation. Maybe rec shouldn’t even be outdoors. Maybe cells shouldn’t have windows. The lights are constantly on. Implement a strict no-talking policy, except during recreation. The only solace one should have in prison is in constructive activities - reading, writing, optional classes and vocational training.

One goal of incarceration should be a feeling of isolation. Isolation would also keep prisoners from trading contraband and establishing gang relationships.

Fix the Death Penalty | The cost of the death penalty has risen sharply recently. Sentencing a person to death in Texas, through the current means of lethal injection, used to be around $85. As of 2012, it had risen to $1,300 due to the skyrocketing cost of the injection drugs themselves. For various reasons including additional court costs and higher security, California has spent over $300 million to execute each of its death-row inmates since 1978.

Whether you agree with it or not, the death penalty has been and can be reasonably inexpensive. Since as recently as 1996, hanging, firing squad, lethal gas, and electrocution were all used at least once as a form of legal execution in the U.S.

Make Prison Productive Again | Prison was once a place of difficult labor. When I lived in El Paso, we used to take care of an elderly member of our church, Bob. I was young then, but it was explained to me that he was an ex-convict that had turned his life around. However, post-prison, he began to deteriorate. In prison, he had three meals a day and was “strong as an ox,” because he worked. On the outside, he was in poverty and got little exercise because of his age. This personal anecdote demonstrates two things; his activity in prison kept him healthy and post-release work programs should be invested in.

The 13th Amendment explicitly grants the right to enforce penal labor. Whether it’s making license-plates or breaking rocks, public works are a great way for prisoners to stay active, healthy, and pay their debt to society. Hard labor also stands as a discouragement to recidivism. Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to use chain-gangs to pick up trash, even recently.

Get Creative | Finally, the punishment should fit the crime. I don’t think the guy I shared a holding cell with, who stole a hat, should have been in there for such a petty offense (granted, that was only his side of the story). I think that petty punishments should fit petty crimes. Judge Michael Cicconetti is famous for getting creative with his sentencing. Goofy punishments can be effective at bringing much-needed public shame and can keep minor criminals out of the prison system.

These are my researched solutions for curing the U.S. prison system. If you have feedback, let’s put your thoughts and mine to the test by emailing me at ptkelly@critlarge.com. Let’s move to shrink the system.