Criminal Justice

America’s Prison System is a World of Pain and Despair

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The following article was originally published by the Sun Sentinel on August 19, 2015.

Next month, when Pope Francis visits the United States, one stop on his itinerary will be a prison outside of Philadelphia. He has visited prisons in Italy and other countriesheadshot of Archbishop Thoma Wenski to remind us of the dignity of even those convicted of crime. Pope Francis has said, “God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else — God is in this person’s life.”

While conditions in U.S. prisons might be a bit more humane than those in the notorious Palmasola prison he visited in Bolivia last month, our criminal justice system is nevertheless broken, and it needlessly continues to break up families and communities throughout our nation.

As a nation we incarcerate more of our population than any other Western country, more than even the Soviet Union did. Today, the United States has more than 2.2 million people in prison on any given day — and in the course of a year some 13.5 million passed through our correctional institutions.

In Florida, our state prisons, which house some 100,000 people, have been tainted by scandals in recent years — with various allegations of prisoner abuse and even murder by guards still being investigated.

How did this come about? There are lots of reasons, of course. The crisis in our families — the breakup and dissolution of American families, especially among the poor — certainly left many young people rudderless. Many did not only lose their way; they never learned the way.

Access to better legal counsel and resources often allow the rich and better-educated offenders to defer or avoid prison. The incarcerated tend to be those less educated, the mentally ill, drug addicts or the poor. And because of ill-considered tougher sentencing laws and tougher parole laws that seek more to punish than to rehabilitate, our prison populations continue to grow. “Three strikes” laws often end up sentencing minor criminals to a lifetime of jail for what are relatively petty third offenses.

Justice is supposedly blind — but given the inequities of the criminal justice system today, one could rightly say that justice is crippled.

Our Judeo-Christian tradition has always called for the humane treatment of prisoners and has emphasized that imprisonment should lead to the rehabilitation of the prisoner so that he can return to society and resume his place as a productive citizen. The reality of prisons today is far from this ideal.

While society needs to be protected from the worst among us, there is little effort to rehabilitate the nonviolent and the misguided. And while our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, what we see happening in our prisons is cruel and inhuman. The spread of infectious diseases in prisons, including AIDS, and the sexual violence that occurs within prison walls point out just how inhuman conditions are in our nation’s prison system today.

All this reflects the sad reality of the incarcerated today, whether they are in a small county jail or a large federal prison. Their world is one of pain and despair. Because nobody wants to live next door to a correctional institution, they are usually built in isolated rural areas — and so prisoners end up “warehoused” far from their families — and so, “out of sight, out of mind,” the rest of society allows itself to simply ignore them.

Violence begets violence: Man’s inhumanity to man consists not only of crime itself but also how we as a society treat the wrongdoer. The inmate is our brother or sister in Christ, a child of God who, in spite of whatever crime he or she might have committed, does not forfeit his or her dignity as a child of God.

As a church we must proclaim and promote the respect of each person’s dignity — this must include the unborn, the handicapped, the migrant, the elderly … and it cannot fail to include the prisoner as well.

Here in the Archdiocese of Miami, many of our priests, deacons and faithful minister to the incarcerated. Their ministry is truly a work of mercy. They take to heart Jesus’ words in his parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25): “I was in prison and you visited me.”

After all, Jesus himself was imprisoned and suffered crucifixion, the means of capital punishment of his time. And from the cross, he beatified a common criminal whom history now knows as the “Good Thief” because he “stole” heaven — getting there even before the sinless Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis will remind us in his visit to a U.S. prison this September, “God is in everyone’s life.”

Most Reverend Thomas G. Wenski is Archbishop of Miami and is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Racism, Inequality and the Right to Vote

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Adkins-Jason-head-shot-605x818

Jason Adkins

As we mark the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which is one of the most important and effective pieces of civil rights legislation enacted in this country’s history, more work needs to be done to ensure that racism and other inequities do not inhibit anyone from fully participating in community life.

For example, racial inequities in our nation’s criminal justice system impact voter participation. Many states disenfranchise persons with a felony conviction who have completed their time of incarceration but have not completed their full sentence, including periods of supervised release. In other words, even those who have left jail or prison and are living and working in the community and paying taxes cannot vote if they have not finished their period of probation or parole.

Disenfranchising felony offenders disproportionately impacts minorities. In Minnesota, for example, approximately 7.4 percent of African-American and 5.9 percent of American- Indian Minnesotans are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, as opposed to only 1.1 percent of white Minnesotans.

Catholic social teaching encourages greater attention to disparities that impact voting participation. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states that “participation in community life is not only one of the greatest aspirations of the citizen, called to exercise freely and responsibly his civic role with and for others, but is also one of the pillars of all democratic orders and one of the major guarantees of the permanence of democratic life.” (no. 190.)

Our justice system has changed

Historically, a felony conviction resulted in what is called “civil death”—a concept dating back to ancient Roman jurisprudence. By committing a crime, one had offended the peace of the community and, therefore, rightfully lost the privileges of participating in civil society. Yet, when these rules barring the restoration of civil rights until the full sentence is completed were instituted, the criminal justice system looked a lot different than it does today.

In 1858, when Minnesota became a state, there were 75 felony crimes enumerated in statute. Today, there are 368 (and the list continues to grow). Only 30 people were in prison in 1858, and there was no probation system. Today, there are approximately 16,000 people incarcerated in Minnesota, and 75 percent of felony convictions result in probation. 47,000 Minnesotans are on some form of supervised release and unable to vote.

Yet, there is no evidence that losing the right to vote deters crime. It is merely punishment for punishment’s sake. Fortunately, a rethinking of the punitive criminal justice policies of the past is occurring across the ideological spectrum. In Minnesota, legislation that would restore the vote to those on supervised release has obtained broad bi-partisan support and hopefully will be signed into law soon.

Responsibility, rehabilitation, and restoration

Solidarity, a foundational principle of Catholic Social Teaching, is defined as “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all” (Solicitudo rei Socialis, no. 38). In their document, “Restoration, Rehabilitation, and Responsibility” (2000), the U.S. Catholic bishops declared that in matters of criminal justice, “solidarity calls us to insist on responsibility and seek alternatives that do not simply punish, but rehabilitate, heal, and restore.”

The bishops encouraged lawmakers to redirect the vast amount of public resources away from building more prisons and toward better and more effective programs aimed at crime prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

In fact, the premise of supervised release programs is that an offender and society are better off by re-integrating people back into our communities. If offenders continue to be reminded, however, by the collateral consequences of a conviction that they are not like everyone else, how can we, as a society, have expectations that they will act as responsibly as everyone else?

Restoring the vote to those who are out of prison and living and working in our communities under supervised release can promote successful reintegration into the community, as voting can be a powerful, concrete, and symbolic way to contribute to one’s community and to feel invested and empowered to play a positive role. In other words, it serves the common good. Fuller integration of people into their community and involvement in civic life logically results in stronger ties and feelings of empowerment, which can help to lessen feelings of disconnection and frustration that can contribute to future crime.

The Church should continue to be at the forefront of providing a policy framework that cuts through the false “either/or” rhetoric of criminal justice debates. It should emphasize the need to integrate the policy goals of restoration, rehabilitation, and responsibility—not just retribution—and highlight the themes of justice and mercy for the disenfranchised and others on the margins of society.

Jason Adkins is executive director and general counsel of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

In the Tsarnaev Case, Will Justice be Served?

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Rachel Malinowski

Rachel Malinowski

Justice.

That was the single word at the top of my newsfeed when I opened Facebook after the thirty-count conviction of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. As I continued to scroll, I saw similar cheers for justice and chants of “Boston Strong”.

I must admit that following Tsarnaev’s conviction, I felt a sense that justice had been served. As a native Bostonian, it had been painful to see my city and my neighbors under attack in 2013. I remember frantically texting my mom and being glued to the television during the chase in Watertown. Even from my current home in Connecticut, I felt angry and upset; I cannot fathom the pain, fear and anger that runners, spectators and victims felt when our city was attacked. In light of this, the conviction of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev brought some sense of justice to this tragedy.

But Tsarnaev’s conviction was somewhat expected and thus the real focal point of this case will come with the sentencing phase, which just began. So this begs the question, will justice ultimately be served in the penalty phase of this case?

In the Catholic worldview, justice is not a death sentence for Tsarnaev. Rather, for there to be justice, Tsarnaev’s life should be spared, a position that is rooted in the belief that the application of capital punishment today, unnecessarily violates the inherent dignity of human life. When we as Catholics talk about the inherent dignity of life, we are referring to the sacredness of life that springs from the fact that each and every human has been made in the image and likeness of God; nothing—not even committing heinous crimes—can take this dignity away from a person. Thus, taking a brother or sister’s life as a penalty for a crime violates the image of God among us and as such, is unjust.

But it is not only the dignity of the individual sentenced to death that is violated when the death penalty is utilized; the dignity of the entire society is violated. In a 2005 statement on the death penalty, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed the hope that, “our nation will no longer try to teach that killing is wrong by killing those who kill.” More important than the logical flaw with the application of the death penalty, is the fact that the death penalty perpetuates a vicious cycle of violence and death that threatens all human life. By violating the dignity of our brothers and sisters, we necessarily violate our own.

I do not mean to make an anti-death penalty stance sound easy. In fact, it would be much easier to refuse to see the dignity of our enemies and not to worry about the culture of death that we are creating. It is imperative, though, that we resist this culture of violence and death. Violent penalties only breed more violence; they proclaim a disregard for life and express that violence is an acceptable vehicle for communicating ideals. Justice can only be realized when we boldly assert the sanctity of life in the face of horrific destruction.

I invite you to join me in praying that justice will be served and the culture of death and violence will be resisted.

Rachel Malinowski is a third-year Master of Divinity candidate at Yale Divinity School. She received her undergraduate degree at Fordham University. Rachel is an alumna of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development intern program.

Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Bishops Call for an End to Immigrant Family Detention

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Archbishop Garcia-Siller calls for an end to immigrant family detention during a press conference in Dilley, Texas.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller calls for an end to immigrant family detention during a press conference in Dilley, Texas.

Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran bishops visited today with young mothers and children who have fled violence in their home countries and are now incarcerated at Dilley Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. The bishops called upon the federal government to halt the practice of immigrant family detention, citing the harmful effects on mothers, children and the moral character of society. Among the bishops present were Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio and Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration.

In response to the influx of some 60,000 migrant family members who arrived along the southwest border in 2014, the federal government expanded its number of family detention centers across the country. Locations for these facilities include Karnes and Dilley, Texas and Berks, Pennsylvania. The purpose of these detention centers is to expand the ability of the federal government to detain migrant families on their arrival.

Migrant families (typically young mothers and children) apprehended while crossing the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are placed into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE then places these immigrant families into family detention facilities. Family immigrant detention facilities are described by ICE as “residential facilities,” and detained families are considered “residents.” In reality, however, these detained families have limited freedoms and are forced to live in a highly restrictive setting.

Many of these detained migrant families have valid, international protection claims that deserve fair adjudication. The United States bishops believe that during this process they should not be held in detention for indefinite periods of time. Children should not be locked up in prison-like facilities that restrict their movements and stunt their psychological and emotional development. Placing vulnerable women and children in detention who have experienced extreme persecution and violence contravenes our moral and religious principles to protect the defenseless and welcome the stranger.

The bishops are deeply concerned that immigrant family detention compromises the health and welfare of children, especially their emotional and psychological wellbeing. Following the bishops’ their visit to Dilley, Archbishop Garcia-Siller asked, “Why? Why do we feel compelled to place in detention such vulnerable individuals –traumatized young mothers with children fleeing persecution in their home countries?”

Instead of incarceration, the bishops support community-based alternatives to detention programs that are more humane than the mandatory detention programs currently in place.

Dr. Todd Scribner is education & outreach coordinator at the USCCB Migration and Refugee Services.

Yes. The Church Is Opposed to the Death Penalty

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“All Christians and men of good will are thus called to fight not only for the abolition of the death penalty, whether legal or illegal, and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, with respect for the human dignity of the people deprived of their freedom”
Pope Francis, October 23, 2014

Anthony Granado, USCCB

Anthony Granado, USCCB

Last week, the chairmen of the USCCB Committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Pro-Life Activities, joining Pope Francis, reasserted their opposition to the death penalty. In their statement, Cardinal Sean O’Malley and Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s January 23, decision to review the drug protocols for lethal injections in Oklahoma. This comes after the April, 2014 botched execution of Clatyon D. Lockett, where witnesses recounted that he was seen in pain for some time before finally dying.

The case of Glossip v. Gross is being brought by three men on Oklahoma’s death row, Benjamin Cole, John Grant and Richard Glossip. They are asking the court to reject the three-drug protocol used in lethal injection in Oklahoma claiming this violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court is expected to begin hearing arguments in April.

Pope Francis, building on the legacy of his predecessors, has called for the abolition of the death penalty. It was Pope Saint John Paul II in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, who was instrumental in urging society to reconsider the death penalty. He reminded us that the Lord is not a god of death but the God of the living. He spoke of the very limited means when recourse to capital punishment may be unobjectionable, such as when there is no other way to protect the common good of civil society (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267). But such theoretical instances in modern society, he said, “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”

With scandalous frequency, people on death row have been exonerated through DNA testing of crimes for which they were convicted. It is abhorrent to hear of innocent people being put to death by the State or that botched executions have taken place resulting at times, in the slow, painful death of a human being; a person created in the image and likeness of God.

Cardinal O’Malley and Archbishop Wenski’s statement is consistent with over 40 years of opposition to the death penalty by the American bishops. According to Archbishop Wenski, “the bishops continue to say, we cannot teach killing is wrong by killing.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley echoes St. John Paul II in reiterating that there are better ways to protect society without taking human life. He hopes the Supreme Court’s review of Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocols will lead to the realization that that state’s actions erode a reverence for human life. The only logical and life affirming conclusion he sees, is that “capital punishment must end.”

We believe and put our trust in a merciful and loving God. We are conscious of our own brokenness and need for mercy. Our Lord calls us to imitate him more perfectly by witnessing to the inherent dignity of all persons, including those who have committed evil acts. Today, instead of repaying death with death, the Church is calling us to also witness to something greater and more perfect: a Gospel of life, hope and mercy.

Anthony J. Granado is a policy advisor at the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development.

Go deeper:
Listen to Anthony’s interview last week on the Catholic Church and the death penalty on the Drew Mariani Show.
Check out the work of our collaborator, Catholic Mobilizing Network, to end the use of the death penalty.

Denying Dignity in the Name of Deterrence?

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Ashley Feasley, USCCB

USCCB’s Ashley Feasley, Esq.

Last week, we failed as a nation to welcome the stranger.

Instead of welcoming vulnerable women, mothers and children seeking refuge from Central American violence, we opened a new prison-like facility to detain them. Last Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson unveiled the Dilley Family Detention Center, a former oil field worker camp in rural South Texas and now the nation’s largest family immigration detention center. Dilley will house 2,400 young immigrant mothers and their children.

On Friday, GEO Corporation announced a 626-bed expansion to its facility in Texas, the 532-bed Karnes County Residential Center. Karnes will now have a total capacity of 1,158 beds available to detain women and children and will generate approximately $20 million per year in additional corporate revenues. The opening of Dilley and the expansion at Karnes mark the most recent and strongest articulation of the Obama administration’s policy goal of using detention as a tool to deter migrant families from arriving at the southwest Border.

The current ramping up of prison-like facilities to contain vulnerable women and children goes squarely against the principles articulated by the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the ethos of Catholic social teaching itself. Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, responded to the opening of the Dilley facility by saying:

“It is inhumane to house young mothers with children in restrictive detention facilities, as if they are criminals.”

Bishop Elizondo noted that these mothers and children arrive “. . . traumatized from their journey . . . and need care and support, not further emotional and psychological harm.” And he is right, as study after study has shown that detention harms children’s psychological development.

In July, I visited Artesia, News Mexico, where this summer a hastily thrown together “facility” for migrants and refugees crossing the border opened, consisting of portable buildings on the grounds of a federal law enforcement training center. During a tour, I witnessed scores of small children and babies, some walking and sitting outside under the hot sun. One little girl, probably just 2 years old, wore a sweater and was sweating heavily. When asked why she was wearing the sweater, her mother said that it was the girl’s favorite possession, and that she was worried it would be taken away from her if she took it off. The image of an overheated little girl wearing her favorite and likely only possession brought home how entirely unsuited prison-like detention facilities are for children. The Artesia facility is now in the process of being closed.

Family detention conflicts with a central tenet of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of human life. In their pastoral letter, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, the US and Mexican bishops declare that “regardless of their legal status, migrants, like all persons, possess inherent human dignity that should be respected.”

Bishops are speaking out against the rapid rise of family detention facilities popping up in their backyards. Archbishop Gustavo-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, where both Dilley and Karnes are located, has spoken out against family detention. On Dilley’s debut, he said:

“It is the largest facility of its kind and some have called it ‘History Making’. That forces me to ask, ‘What kind of history does our country want to make?’ Will our history be defined by the detention of children and their mothers who do not threaten us with either violence or security risks? They need mercy and compassion, not derision and detention. The deep emotional and spiritual wounds that have been inflicted on them remain open sores without proper counseling and care.”

The system doesn’t have to be like this. There are financially and morally responsible alternatives to detention that are available. Community-based alternatives to detention offer case management for children and their mothers as well as a cost-saving and humane solution to this problem.

The bishops ask that you advocate for the end of family detention. We must work together to welcome the stranger. Detention is an inhumane option for these vulnerable women and children. Contact the White House at 202-456-1414 and send Congress a postcard letting them know that you oppose family detention.

Ashley Feasley, Esq., is an immigration policy advisor with the USCCB Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs Staff.

Our Faith Calls Us to Restore Justice

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Clifton

Karen Clifton, Catholic Mobilizing Network

In Pope Francis’ call to abolish the death penalty in all forms, he tells us that the American criminal justice system is in need of a new and restorative approach. The United States incarcerates an appalling number of its citizens. While our country represents 5% of the world’s population, we are home to 25% of the global prison population and we imprison more citizens per capita than almost any other country. [i] [ii]

When we sentence men, women and children to be incarcerated, we send them to a prison system in which they are at an exponentially greater risk of becoming victims of violence and suicide. On any given day in the United States, an estimated 600 people are raped in prison and roughly 80,000 incarcerated adults and youth are held in conditions of solitary confinement, a practice considered by many as a form of torture.[iii] [iv] These statistics are shocking but none of these numbers conveys the ripple effect this system has in our society in creating broken individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities.

Our corrections system costs us tens of billions of dollars a year but is neither effective in rehabilitating offenders, nor in deterring crime.[v] Haunted by institutionalized racism and the criminalization of mental illness, prison dehumanizes and hardens its residents rather than “correcting” them. Over half of all inmates are re-arrested within three years of their release. [vi] We have created a system that pushes inmates into gangs and substance abuse to cope with prison life and the dead-end opportunities they face upon release.

How can we provide these persons the opportunity to experience the unconditional love of God? How can we meet their needs by counseling their broken spirits and addressing their addictions and mental illness?

Shujaa Graham spent 4 years on California's death row for a crime he did not commit. He was raised on a plantation in the segregated South in the 1950s. (Photo by Scott Langley)

Shujaa Graham spent 4 years on California’s death row for a crime he did not commit. He was raised on a plantation in the segregated South in the 1950s. (Photo by Scott Langley)

Retribution focuses on punishing the offender. Restorative justice, by contrast, focuses on the needs of victims, their communities, and the offender and seeks to repair broken relationships and heal harm. Restorative justice is at the core of the Gospel. It witnesses to the dignity of all human life, guilty and innocent.

To offer the convicted person a path to restoration is not to be soft on crime. It calls the convicted person to do the hard work of justice, shoulder responsibility and seek forgiveness, repair broken relationships with victims and communities, and address the issues that led them to their actions.

In the words of Fr. David Kelly of the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, we cannot write off offenders as worthless, banish them and expect a different result. Rather, we need to ensure that offenders are held accountable and remain part of the community while they serve their sentence.[vii] Restorative justice programs prove that broken people can be rehabilitated through encounter and prayer. The results of restorative justice pilot programs in the US are promising. Bridges to Life, a restorative justice program that began in Texas, reports recidivism rates lower than half of the national average.[viii]

As Pope Francis says, our media and political system promote “violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion.” Violence as a quick solution to our problems has become culturally ingrained and changing this is hard work. As Catholics, we must confront this culture of violence to create a new generation of hope and justice. It will take something as radical as the Gospel message of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation.

(Photo by Scott Langley.)

(Photo by Scott Langley)

Karen Clifton is executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network.

[i] View comparative data about worldwide prison populations from The International Centre for Prison Studies here.

[ii] Sean McElwee. “America’s Awful, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Prison System.” The Huffington Post. July 1, 2013.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] National Religious Campaign Against Torture “Ending Torture in US Prisons”

[v] For more information about total state correctional expenditures (not including federal expenditures) see the Bureau of justice Statistics report “State Corrections Expenditures, FY 1982-2010.” April 30, 2014.

[vi] According a report made available by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, among state prisoners released in 30 states in 2005, 67.8% of prisoners were re-arrested within 3 years. Alexia Cooper, Matthew Durose and Howard Synder. “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010.” April 22, 2014.

[vii] See the transcript of the conference “Restore Justice!” held in Washington DC on November 21, 2014.

[viii] GuideStar Exchange Charting Impact Report. “Bridges to Life.” April 24, 2014. Page 3.