Comments on: The jail crisis – an opportunity

By: Judy Clarke

Judy Clarke — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:35:13 +0000

Thank you, Brunilda, for Sharon Daniel’s web site. I think her interview of the women in prison is very powerful. It presents an accurate view of the powerless feeling of many who are incarcerated in prison, often not heard, often abused, fighting to defend themselves, and not having been protected since birth. I work with women in prison and think that maybe only as few as 10 in 500 are a real threat to society. Most of them are sick and in need of healing therapies.

By: Brunilda Pali

Brunilda Pali — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:37:08 +0000

Great post Howard, l am thankful for your blog, interesting, provocative, and dynamic. Your questions reminded me of a good project l came accross lately by Sharon Daniel, who used an aporia "Public Secrets" to adress the problem of the Prison Industrial Complex, where she highlights the many interests involved in the Prison Industry. The project is an online audio archive of her interviews with the women of a Californian prison, where she points out how imprisonment is raced and classed among other things. Therefore, the question of power is one we often ignore in RJ, and most often the main one at stake. If you have some time (you need some to navigate through the site) the project can be found at: http://vectors.usc.edu/issues/4/publicsecrets/ Best,

By: Howard Zehr

Howard Zehr — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:40:27 +0000

Thanks, Rita, for the correction about the location of Attica prison. I’ve corrected the post.

By: Bradley Butters

Bradley Butters — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:41:18 +0000

Howard,
Could you post a picture of that poster? It is in my mind’s eye but some of the details are missing.
Thank you!

By: Rita Kautz

Rita Kautz — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:48:25 +0000

Attica, NY and Attica State Prison are not in Genesee County, NY. They are both located in Wyoming County, NY.

By: jason ekk

jason ekk — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:34:38 +0000

Excellent post Howard. You pose a great question, “Who makes the key decisions about arrest, bringing charges, plea agreements, sentencing options?” I couldnt agree more. So many times people in the RJ field get all excited about having a few cases thrown their way when really it is not affecting the larger community. That is why in our Community Justice Conference pilot project one of the most important stats we are looking at is percentage of eligible cases that are going through our program. In other words, are we acually having an overal affect on the numbers going through the court or are they just increasing the number of cases and simply sending us their lower level cases.

By: Michael Bischoff

Michael Bischoff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:56:17 +0000

Thanks for laying this out in a way that is both accessible and substantive. I think the current financial crises that many states and local jurisdictions are opening up many useful possibilities in this area. While they aren't addressing every piece of the puzzle, I'm quite encouraged by the Justice Reinvestment Project (http://www.justicereinvestment.org/) and the ways they've worked with several states to reduce prison populations and use the same resources in ways that meet the safety and prevention needs of impacted communities.