“In the Death Ward” © Darcy Padilla All Rights Reserved
America Behind Bars: Institutionalized Crime and Punishment
For victims there is nothing theoretical about about crime. The need for retribution is overwhelming and rightfully so. Two years ago, when the seemingly random murder of a film-maker in her own home sparked protests in normally complacent New Orleans, the signs held by victims of criminals were poignant as they were frightening.
But whatver ones perspective, whether it be victim, civil rights activist or cop, there is one shared idea—something needs to change. America has the largest prison population of any nation in history, with over two million people incarcerated. Violent criminal behavior is increasing; there are entire neighborhoods in large cities and sections of smaller towns which are virtual pipelines from street to prison. Tens of thousands of children every year are born into dysfunctional families and will grow up on the street without parental authority, By the time these children are five their fate has been cast. By fifteen they will be out on the street selling drugs or mugging, by 21 they will be either dead or in prison.
Newspapers report the daily toll, the shootings, the rapes, the robberies; the most horrific crimes garner the most attention. But a harder story to tell is that of the people living in Amercan ghettos, struggling against an increasingly powerful and deadly undertow. In New Orleans, in LA, in Detroit, and in Trenton and all over the American abyss the gun rules the street. There is little fear, because life in jail, when your father has been imprisoned, and your uncle has as well, a life in prison is expected. And once incarcerated the penal system does nothing to rehabiliate, but only to secure, and once secure, to institutionalize the mentality, or perhaps mental illness of the criminal, as is seen in Jenn Ackerman’s powerful photos taken in Kentucky prison psychiatric unit. When old age takes is inevitable toll, softening even the most hardened of men, what then? Its hard to look at Tim Gruber’s images of dying men in prison, without empathy, yet what of their victims, and their families and the age old inevitable question of retribution, punishment, and forgiveness?
What is seemingly clear is that elements of the American system–vigorous competition for money, the right to sell and bear arms, drugs free flowing through the borders and a seemingly insatiable appetite for them, are taking more of a toll on one part of society than the others. It is the poor who are most often likely to both criminal and victim, sometimes within one family; certainly within one housing complex in Detroit, or in one block in New Orleans 7th Ward. In New Orleans police and felons have been known to share the same house.
And they are more likely to be black or Latino, not because of genetics but because of a systemic and institutionalized abyss, an American abyss, into which those who are born into difficult circumstances are increasingly likely to fall.
Having spent a week as an inmate in the Louisiana State Penetentiary, when the criminal justice system fractured in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I can state from first hand experience that the our prisons are largely filled with the severely uneducated and those unable to cope with the demands of modern society. To be blunt, our prisons are largely filled with slow learners–people who might not be able to hold the most menial of custodial jobs
A few hours waiting for my release in a wing for violent offenders at Hunt Correctional Facility also taught me that many in prison belong there, and that prisons are inadequately equipped to deal with them, providing only the capacity to isolate them from the public. Prisoner wardens like Louisiana’s Burl Cain, who runs Louisiana’s prisons from his office in Angola, consider this their mandate. Should it be otherwise? Given the nature of the crimes, probably not. Can security be the only concern? Allowing prisoners to victimize each other is unacceptable, yet in prisons all across the nation weaker inmates are attacked daily, allowing transmission of HIV which some experts believe is epidemic in the American prison population, where its illegal to test for the disease without the permission of the prisoner. A with HIV positive status a stigma within the jailed population, few prisoners are will to be tested.
While high profile parole cases always receive front-page coverage, are few wardens in America who will tell you that they are not incarcerating some prisoners who no longer are a threat to society; often they are prison “trustees” who have gained privileges from years of model behavior. These are men and women who have both been institutionalized and adapted to their prison life, forming a meaningful existence against very long odds. They are the exceptions For the most part America’s long-term prisoners are emotionally and intellectually flat-lined, stripped of hope, left blank. At the prison rodeo in Angola, Louisiana, I saw them clinging to the wire fence that separated prisoners from spectators, often their own family members, who had come not to see the bull-riding competition but for a look or a word with a loved one. For many of these men, who have no hope of release, the future is in a prison hospice and an inmate made casket. The fortunate ones have family families that can afford to take their body out of the prison for burial elsewhere.
We as a society must protect ourselves from violent criminals, just as we must protect us from the Madoff’s and the corporate criminals. But I can only wonder if we need to spend precious resources on incarcerating men like Madoff, when stripping them of all of their wealth and essentially forcing them into a life of poverty mind serve as a better punishment and deterent for their behavior. For those less educated, and with far less opportunity, their path to jail is also lined with money, or a lack of it. Can our society allow access to weapons, when large parts of the population are increasingly likely to utilize the weapons in self-destructive and aggressive behavior? Do the rights of gun-owners trump the right of a society to live without fear of armed criminals? Or is it really the rights of gun manufacturers that are being protected in America? Many would argue that the “right to bear arms” is an idea that has been promoted by those who most profit from the gun trade. But its become a rallying cry for conservatives, especially from southern states that ironically suffer the most from the institution of crime. Isn’t it the fear among their constituency that is fueling the political capital of those legislating for easy access to firearms.
The police are caught in the middle. Increasingly faced with criminals who are armed better than they are, and having to operate within the law, the police incapable of doing anything but redlining the high crime areas, leaving those who live in the slums to fend for themselves. With the gap between rich and poor growing, the privatization of education in the form of tax credits for families sending their children to private school, and a increasingly fatalistic attitude in American slums, the toll of the gun is not likely to abate anytime soon. The abyss widens are more and more Americans fall into it, victims and criminals alike.
The photographers who have contributed to “America Behind Bars” have worked against overwhelming odds to bring back powerful images of American prisons. One can’t simply walk into a prison with a camera. This kind of photography requires long negotiations and often a warden who has the vision and concern to allow a photographer into his jail. As trustees of the state, each prisoner must consent to having his or her photograph taken. The photographers themselves must be protected from the most violent offenders, who are usually housed in cell-block apart from the general population in a prison. These cell-block lockups are the most visual but harder to photograph, as the prisoners are seen as threats to guards and visitors alike. That these photographers were able to get access and create intimate work is remarkable, and I am proud to be able to share their work with you.
Andy Levin
Wonderful issue on a critical issue for America. Well done Andy and the team!
Interestingly, the post Katrina treatment of prisoners got little media attention. Not wanting to plug my own work too aggressively, but I dealt with this in the context of race and economics on my blog:
http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/prison-rates-and-prison-race/
Thank you, Thank you. Keep shining that light!
These photographs are incredibly moving. Thank you for publishing them. You’ve really touched some of the facets of U.S. prisons that are critical today.
I am a former prisoner. I don’t agree with everything Mr. Levin has to say - for one thing there are an enormous number of prisoners in the U.S. who are doing lengthy sentences for non-violent crimes. And I’m not convinced that a few hours in lock-up will reveal everything one needs to know about who is or is not able to be rehabilitated - although I am sure that it was scary.
In my own life I’ve learned that retribution has little value. In terms of creating a real change in the behavior of people who have used violence and aggression to get what they want, I believe that restorative justice is the only thing that will really work. It’s the only way that people really confront their own actions. Currently prisoners spend their time in prison focused on survival, not the acts that put them in prison, and once you’ve learned how to do time, how much more likely are you to become a solid citizen?
Here’s an interesting piece on violence and restorative justice http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22741
Fantastic site! I just discovered it and will be passing this along to my friends. Congratulations!
Peeper, I think maybe you miss-understood me. I have no idea who needs to be rehabilitated or not. As far as my own experiences, a week in Hunt doesn’t make me an expert, but it might give me a better perspective than someone who has never been incarcerated. It certainly was a life changing experience for me. Please feel free to share more of your thoughts here, its why I created the site!
I am, sadly, familiar with life in prison. I fail to understand the significance of these photographs. Even the lengthy paragraphs, which seem to go against the whole premise of photojournalism, are based on assumptions and not on actual experience.
Anyone reading this could easily be completely misguided by the true issues that one faces when incarcerated and this effort fails to even approach the emotional, physical, and cultural impacts on both victims and perpetrators.
Pointless.
Really nice work done by all of the photographers…beautiful, sometimes haunting images. I’m curious about how each gained access to their respective locations and also about the process of gaining the trust of the subjects.
Marc, it takes administrators at the prison who are open-minded enough to get someone with a camera in, and the persistence and patience of the photographer. Access is terribly limited. I was unable to show Lori Waselchuk’s work here because she had previously committed elsewhere but she is a good person to talk to about prison photography. Her work on the hospice at Angola is outstanding.
A.L.
Who are the Real American Gangsters?
By Michael A. Radcliff, Contributing Writer
November 12, 2007
Gangster - A brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang.
Syndicate - A group involved in secret or criminal activities.
(Source: Merriman Webster Dictionary, 2005)
According to criminologist Dr. John Penney who spoke at a recent summit on “Crime in Post-Katrina New Orleans,” on any given day in New Orleans the criminal justice system has more individuals incarcerated than the total prison population of a number of Third World nations.
According to the most recent statistics attained from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (9/2007), nearly 75 percent of the total population of those incarcerated are non-violent offenders, the majority of whom are of a low to minimal security risk. In our federal penal system there are currently 3 times as many illegal immigrants incarcerated as it has those imprisoned for homicide, aggravated assault and kidnapping combined. Over half of those currently incarcerated are non-violent drug offenders, the majority of whom are African-American males, serving an average sentence of five to 10 years.
According to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest owner and operator of privatized correctional and detention facilities in America, in its 2006 Annual Financial Disclosure to stockholders, they received an astounding $61.03 per/day per/inmate in facilities they owned and managed, generating $1.3 billion in revenue. The CCA’s Board of Directors is a virtual who’s who of Wall Street.
In a recent report, “Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population 2007-2011,” prison populations are projected to increase by more than 192,000 inmates by 2011.
Having said this, let’s do the math. The CCA receives $61.03 per/day per/inmate x 365 days or approximately $22,276 per/year; equating to approximately $111,380.00 to $222,760.00 over the span of the average five- to 10-year sentence, to incarcerate a single non-violent, low to minimal risk, primarily African-American male drug offender. Why?
As the Corrections Corporation of America informed its stockholders last year, “We (the CCA) continued to benefit from further improvement in industry fundamentals and executed our strategy to take advantage of these opportunities.” So what does “improvement in industry fundamentals” mean? When you realize that the American Legislative Exchange Council, which lobbies Congress to pass “tougher laws,” “three-strikes policies” and “mandatory minimum” sentencing, is co-chaired by Brad Wiggins, a former director of business development for the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), you might infer that their fundamental belief is “lock’em up and throw away the key.”
As with most private enterprises, the primary objective is to make a profit. As such, there exists no incentive to release inmates - ever. In essence, it actually increases profits for these corporations to extend the amount of time an individual is incarcerated. Even more egregious is the moral implication of for-profit prisons. In a series of statements issued by Catholic bishops in an exposé entitled “Wardens from Wall Street: Prison Privatization” which addressed the “serious moral issues” of private prisons, they expressed the following concerns: “To deprive other persons of their freedom, to restrict them from contact with other human beings, to use force against them up to and including deadly force, are the most serious of acts;(and) to delegate such acts to institutions whose success depends on the amount of profit it generates invites abuse.” If, for instance, an inmate is up for parole, does the private prison give a favorable recommendation and in essence, reduce its profit; or does it foster a hostile environment that serves to provoke an inmate into committing an infraction? Does an accidental step on a guard’s foot become assault and negate the “Good Time” the inmate has earned? As Harvard Professor Dr. John Dilulio poignantly points out in his Critical Perspective on the Private Management of Prisons and Jails, “They (for-profit prisons) have an incentive to extend inmate stays as long as possible, and so are liable to reduce prisoners’ chances for parole or good time off by exaggerating or fabricating disciplinary infractions.”
Now that’s brutal, to the point of being criminal, so now I ask you, who are the real American gangsters?
Michael A. Radcliff is a social worker and author of the book The Custom House Conspiracy. Having received his Master’s Degree in Social Work from Southern University at New Orleans, he is a member of the New Orleans Association of Black Social Workers and past president of the Men of Social Work Association. He can be reached at radicalmike2000@http://www.facebook.com/l/;yahoo.com.
Behind Bars is a beautiful series. I was wondering how I could submit work. I just got back from Uganda where I was working on a documentary series called Mothers of a Nation about women with HIV and their connection to agriculture. I would love to submit the work to your publication if you take submissions. Thank you for your time, Ansley
Hey, Ansley, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Because 100eyes issues are related to themes I look at both the theme and the specific story as a possibility for future issues. AIDS is such an important issue, but the question is how to tackle it….
Great issue Andy! speaks for itself…and one issue that is practically never in the news…
Handwringing over bad actors seems par for the course in certain circles. Dramatic visuals are a poor substitute for a reasoned discussion. Rather than asking how criminals can be made to conform, these photographs only ask that we emote over the consequence of their actions. Saying ’something needs to change’ doesn’t account for those who refuse to change their behavior–instead it implies that change comes from the victims. Higher incarceration rates lead to lower crime statistics. That’s the change society expects.
Why do you think these visuals are a substitute for discussion? I think the visuals are intended to start a dialog, to ask questions…
Yes, we are indeed in a dialog started by these photos. My comment is somewhat different in that I said that it is “a poor substitute for a reasoned discussion’. Fortunately your commentary covers a lot of ground with an economy of words, and while the photos are indeed compelling, the tendency seems to be that we mention a number of intractable problems without getting specific about what can be done better. The specifics are unsuitable for photography alone.