Today I happened to see a segment on CNN describing a proposal Governor Schwarzenegger is making to build prisons in Mexico. His budget problems necessitate that the State of California make changes to its growing crisis of confining more prisoners than it can afford. Apparently, the state confines too many Mexican nationals and the governor recognizes that he can cut his expenditures significantly by sending the Mexicans to Mexico, where they would supposedly serve their sentences in prisons that Americans would fund.

Although moving prisoners to Mexico might cut down on the costs of confining so many people, I wonder whether justice might be better served if laws were changed to encourage prisoners to work toward earning freedom. As I understand the California prison system, the real problem is that people serve their sentences, then return to society lacking skills or resources to reintegrate. Without opportunities or hope, the cycle of crime sucks them back in, and the ex-prisoners become prisoners again.

The answer to America’s prison crisis is more complicated than shipping human beings to the least expensive warehouse. As long as taxpayers must fund this system of so-called corrections, they should expect the prison system to do more about lowering recidivism rates. Such a change would require those who administer the system to encourage prisoners to work toward earning freedom through incremental steps, preparing them along the way to live as law-abiding citizens.

Another approach that would seemingly make more sense than shipping prisoners to Mexico would be to make better use of the resources available. With GPS technology, administrators could release tens of thousands of minimum-security offenders to work in community programs.

Instead of more warehouses, the system should evolve. When I see the snapshots of governors or other politicians talking about the prison crisis, I shake my head, sad and discouraged that these irresponsible drains on our nation’s budgets will continue.

Rather than dwelling on the prison industrial complex, I choose to spend my time taking steps every day for the challenges that await my release. Besides writing and striving to live as a positive role model, I exercise and read. Today I ran 10 miles, but I didn’t follow with strength training because I met with the youth outreach program we call TOAD.

[Consecutive running log: 3,650 miles over the past 411 days]

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

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