Comments on: Lowering the Costs of Virginia’s Prison System http://baconsrebellion.com/2009/01/18/lowering-the-costs-of-virginias-prison-system/ Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:46:21 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Leah Miller http://baconsrebellion.com/2009/01/18/lowering-the-costs-of-virginias-prison-system/comment-page-1/#comment-5525 Leah Miller Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:16:04 +0000 http://baconsrebellion.com/?p=214#comment-5525 Thank you for your concise and incisive article. As a former VA inmate, having served a two year term at the ripe age of 18 on a first offense case involving task force entrapment, I fully understand the issues of protecting the public and the politics of the Department of Corrections. A decade later, I am a successful young woman who has managed to move forward from the stigma and become a happy person, despite the fact that the term was not designed for this to be my outcome. At present, I now have two brothers who are incarcerated for minor infractions involving post release compliance, i.e., dirty urine screening. One was sentenced to an 18 month term and the other was sentenced to a 15 year term. The only concrete difference between the two is that the shorter sentence was given by a long term experienced judge who was retiring and the latter was sentenced by his replacement. Please tell me that there is hope for reform so I do not have to watch my 34 year old brother return home as a 50 year old man, thus costing the state $78 per day for the next decade and a half. Thank you for your concise and incisive article. As a former VA inmate, having served a two year term at the ripe age of 18 on a first offense case involving task force entrapment, I fully understand the issues of protecting the public and the politics of the Department of Corrections. A decade later, I am a successful young woman who has managed to move forward from the stigma and become a happy person, despite the fact that the term was not designed for this to be my outcome. At present, I now have two brothers who are incarcerated for minor infractions involving post release compliance, i.e., dirty urine screening. One was sentenced to an 18 month term and the other was sentenced to a 15 year term. The only concrete difference between the two is that the shorter sentence was given by a long term experienced judge who was retiring and the latter was sentenced by his replacement. Please tell me that there is hope for reform so I do not have to watch my 34 year old brother return home as a 50 year old man, thus costing the state $78 per day for the next decade and a half.

]]> By: Dorothy Sluss http://baconsrebellion.com/2009/01/18/lowering-the-costs-of-virginias-prison-system/comment-page-1/#comment-112 Dorothy Sluss Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:29:57 +0000 http://baconsrebellion.com/?p=214#comment-112 Thank you for your article supporting the governor's move to curb the cost and number of citizens entering the prison system. May I also suggest you add another constituency- the number of men who are incarcerated because they cannot pay child support payments. When these men are out of work, the amount they owe the child and guardian/mother continues to increase along with interest costs. This quickly escalates. Putting these men in prison helps no one-let alone the child who now has the stigma of a parent in jail. We must find a better system lest we continue to perpetuate the concept that jails are debtor's prisons. This is a side of the prison system that few discuss due to the national outcry about deadbeat dads. Placing these men in a revolving door of dept and jail helps no one. Thank you for the work you do. Dorothy Sluss Thank you for your article supporting the governor’s move to curb the cost and number of citizens entering the prison system. May I also suggest you add another constituency- the number of men who are incarcerated because they cannot pay child support payments. When these men are out of work, the amount they owe the child and guardian/mother continues to increase along with interest costs. This quickly escalates. Putting these men in prison helps no one-let alone the child who now has the stigma of a parent in jail. We must find a better system lest we continue to perpetuate the concept that jails are debtor’s prisons. This is a side of the prison system that few discuss due to the national outcry about deadbeat dads. Placing these men in a revolving door of dept and jail helps no one.
Thank you for the work you do.
Dorothy Sluss

]]> By: David Bailey http://baconsrebellion.com/2009/01/18/lowering-the-costs-of-virginias-prison-system/comment-page-1/#comment-103 David Bailey Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:52:37 +0000 http://baconsrebellion.com/?p=214#comment-103 The Way I See It (column in Virginia Capitol Connections Quarterly Magazine, Jan '09) David L. Bailey I cannot get his words out of my mind. They torment and haunt me the way that few words do from 2008. Our enjoyable New Year’s Eve political talk had given way to ‘fixing’ Virginia government, and we were discussing prisons and the Department of Corrections. The story I told him led to his pronouncement. It went something like this: I heard about one of the members of the House of Delegates from another good friend. This friend, a chaplain with hospice, ran into a brick wall trying to get a mother out of prison to attend her son’s funeral. Oh ‘Corrections’ would let her come dressed in prison clothes with shackles around her ankles. Thankfully my friend did not take this for the final answer, so he turned to his House of Delegates member. And did he help! In a short time my friend got a call saying, “Jack, you won’t believe what I’m about to tell you.” The call from this House member resulted in the mother being released. “Corrections” discovered that she had enough good time and should have already been out of prison. With the looming battle to reduce the Commonwealth’s budget, my New Year’s Eve editorial comments went something like this. If there’s one, I wonder how many others. Why not get everyone out of prison that is ready to get out. It’s not only the humane thing to do, it would significantly reduce the budget – and do no harm. Then in the last hour of 2008, he said it: “They have no constituency.” Or perhaps he said, “There’s no constituency representing them.” Sharp as a dagger. I tried for three day to rationalize those words away, telling myself that it’s ‘interference’ surfacing from my upbringing and my theological studies, and that it’s none of my business. Then the Richmond Times Dispatch ran a major story January 4th on aging prisoners, and the New Year’s Eve words came back to me – no constituency. Amid the discussions and battles over the budget, let’s hope that ‘Corrections’ gets the attention that it deserves. If not, there’s always another year. Who knows, ‘they’ may have a constituency. The Way I See It (column in Virginia Capitol Connections Quarterly Magazine, Jan ‘09)

David L. Bailey

I cannot get his words out of my mind. They torment and haunt me the way that few words do from 2008. Our enjoyable New Year’s Eve political talk had given way to ‘fixing’ Virginia government, and we were discussing prisons and the Department of Corrections.

The story I told him led to his pronouncement. It went something like this: I heard about one of the members of the House of Delegates from another good friend. This friend, a chaplain with hospice, ran into a brick wall trying to get a mother out of prison to attend her son’s funeral. Oh ‘Corrections’ would let her come dressed in prison clothes with shackles around her ankles. Thankfully my friend did not take this for the final answer, so he turned to his House of Delegates member. And did he help! In a short time my friend got a call saying, “Jack, you won’t believe what I’m about to tell you.” The call from this House member resulted in the mother being released. “Corrections” discovered that she had enough good time and should have already been out of prison.

With the looming battle to reduce the Commonwealth’s budget, my New Year’s Eve editorial comments went something like this. If there’s one, I wonder how many others. Why not get everyone out of prison that is ready to get out. It’s not only the humane thing to do, it would significantly reduce the budget – and do no harm.

Then in the last hour of 2008, he said it: “They have no constituency.” Or perhaps he said, “There’s no constituency representing them.”

Sharp as a dagger. I tried for three day to rationalize those words away, telling myself that it’s ‘interference’ surfacing from my upbringing and my theological studies, and that it’s none of my business. Then the Richmond Times Dispatch ran a major story January 4th on aging prisoners, and the New Year’s Eve words came back to me – no constituency.

Amid the discussions and battles over the budget, let’s hope that ‘Corrections’ gets the attention that it deserves.

If not, there’s always another year. Who knows, ‘they’ may have a constituency.

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