By Dianne Frazee-Walker The California prison system is stepping up to the plate by fighting fire with fire. Yes, that’s right — they are saving taxpayers money and providing low-level offenders with valuable skills and purpose by putting them to work fighting wildfires. Another side benefit of this ingenious project is California’s prisons are emptying
KEEPING a thousand sets of otherwise idle prisoners’ hands busy is a fine idea. Make them contribute to their own room and board with jobs that offer a carrot for good behavior. As a bonus, they learn job skills that will pay off once they’re released. Fine idea. But delivering on that promise requires the
By Rhonda Turpin In their heart of hearts, every federal prisoner is a celebrity. Many fellow inmates have approached me, stating, “Ms. Turpin. You should write a book about me! My case was all over the news, and I am known everywhere!” They brag. Instead of stating the obvious fact that I have never heard
Not only has our country earned the reputation for incarcerating more adults than any other country, but our criminal justice system has managed to win the world’s record for developed countries at 60,000 juveniles behind bars. Worldwide, The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at any given time, an astronomical one million individuals under 18
By Jerry Large Reading a series of Seattle Times articles about “the empty promises of prison labor” made me think how hard it is to get something good from a system that is, at its core, all about failure on multiple levels — of individuals, of families, of government. Reporters Michael J. Berens and Mike
Last Christmas didn’t look promising for two young brothers whose lives consisted of living on the streets, drug deals, and gang initiations. Up until nine months ago, the brothers, whom we will call Troy and Devon, only had a 10th-grade education and no hope for the future. As a consequence of having a mother hooked
San Quentin is home to the Prison University Project, the largest on-site college-in-prison program among California state prisons. Inmates in PUP earn their associate’s degree for free, with volunteer instructors from schools like Stanford and UC Berkeley.
Opponents of higher education in prison, like those who voted down a proposal in New York earlier this year, say it’s wrong to give a taxpayer-funded degree to convicts. Some are fine with providing remedial and vocational education, but draw the line at college, a commodity families sacrifice thousands of dollars to give their children.
By Deborah Stipek and Kathryn Hanson Victor Hugo’s 19th-century remark, “He who opens a college door closes a prison,” still holds true these days. The connection between education and incarceration was made starkly clear at Stanford’s 2014 Cubberley Lecture, exactly where actress Anna Deveare Smith brought to life the difficulties facing disadvantaged youth in American schools
By Dianne Frazee-Walker Sweden is doing something to lower the recidivism rate and forcing prisons to close because they are taking a different approach to crime and punishment. Globally, we need to pay close attention to what Sweden is doing. The sentences are not as long in Sweden, which makes prison authorities realize the work
By Eric Thomas Weber In the dozen years that I have been teaching, two moments stand out as the most gripping experiences I have had in my classes. With a group of freshmen sitting by the Honors College fountain at the University of Mississippi, we once talked about philosopher John Lachs’s book, In Love with
We have profiled every prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Learn about each prison’s location, security level, educational and recreational offerings, and much more.
Elizabeth Franklin-Best P.C.
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