Prisoners: Not people, just commodities locked in a warehouse!

 Instead of brutality, prisons could be a place to instill dignity and a sense of worth 

That headline says it all. It’s the caption on a recent piece written by a prominent attorney for The Star-Ledger, of Newark, New Jersey. 

Says Charles McKenna: “Our prison system is designed to demean, degrade and dehumanize. Prisons treat inmates as commodities in a warehouse and not people.” 

Comments made by HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS clients in recent weeks prompt me to beat on this old drum one more time. Currently, Michigan’s corrections budget is about $2 billion a year. We could be doing so much better! 

My hero, Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative, tells it like it is: “Incarcerated people are beaten, stabbed, raped, and killed in facilities run by corrupt officials who abuse their power with impunity. People who need medical care, help managing their disabilities, mental health and addiction treatment, and suicide prevention are denied care, ignored, punished, and placed in solitary confinement.” 

Those are the very reasons we have an HFP! Those are the things that our team-members are helping Michigan prisoners with every day! 

Yes, Michigan is creeping along with minor steps toward prison reform. That’s not good enough.

I’m Dutch, and I must tell you that I’m extremely proud of the criminal justice system of the Netherlands. True, it hopes to deter and mitigate crime, but it has rehabilitation in mind. According to Wikipedia, “the Dutch incarceration philosophy stresses the need to minimise the hardships on the prisoner. This philosophy emphasises maximising prisoner contacts with family and the preservation of community ties. Prisoners are able to enjoy many of the benefits of life on the outside.” 

Laments McKenna in his newspaper essay: “...there has been no true attempt at altering the system since it was implemented with the birth of the republic. It is a failed system and we should not accept failure...” 

It’s time for state legislators to put politics aside. This is not a “tough on crime” issue. It’s a “positive step for Michigan’s future” issue. Let’s look at the Netherlands. Let’s look at Norway. We can do better. But first, we must want to do better! 

May the day come when the emphasis of Michigan’s $5 million per day expenditure is on rehabilitation instead of retribution.


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