The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: pelicanbay

  • Letters from Pelican Bay

    Letters from Pelican Bay

    By| Tania Mejia

    In August of 2016, the Department of Justice [DOJ] made an announcement claiming it would begin phasing out the use of private prisons. I clearly remember coming back to school and a number of people sharing their excitement and asking my personal thoughts on it.

    I would start off by saying yeah it was a great thing, but our number of private prisons was miniscule to the total amount of state and federal prisons in our nation. So while it seemed like a great accomplishment, federal private prisons only made up about 8% of our incarcerated population and in the end of December 2015 only housed 22,660 inmates according to an inspector general report. Also, this did not include state private prisons, which similar to our federal government are in the low percentages. I personally thought it would be a greater accomplishment had it been in regards to immigration detention centers, considering about two-thirds of them are privately owned. This is where it is worth mentioning, simply because it is called “detention center” does not mean it is not a prison. 

    Following the DOJ statement, stocks for private corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America, now Core Civic, and GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut,  plummeted. It seemed those who prioritize profits over people were concerned about the future of their investment. But this was not a clear win, and with such companies donating to Trump’s campaign it was expected that the fight was not over. Most recently, the Trump administration announced it will not uphold former Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates’ memo and that we will continue and increase our use of private prisons.

    The reason this is so concerning starts with looking at the models in which companies as CCA and GEO operate in. To ensure maximum capacity and profits, contracts are introduced where states are required to keep a certain percentage of beds full.  What are the problems with private prisons? Culture of violence, poor unsanitary conditions, health care, food, operational conditions, sexual abuse, If crime rates have been down in the past decade, how do we account for such usage of these facilities?

    Some contracts require 90 to 100% occupancy, which means if states don’t provide those numbers, they have to pay these companies for the unused beds. If not, increase the criminalization of everyday life. 

    Private prisons did not exist before the early 1980s when U.S. states and the federal government needed a solution to overcrowding in public prisons. But between 1990-2009 the number of people in private prisons increased by a massive 1600 percent. The business model of these companies essentially depends on locking up more and more people up.

    In its 2010 annual report to shareholders, CCA stated, “The demand of our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of law enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws.” Because of these concerns, private companies spend a lot of money lobbying for policies which will benefit their pockets.

    How can we stop the use of private prisons? Unfortunately, we now have a president who is going to make any effort nearly impossible. But we know private prisons spend a lot of money on lobbying politicians there is hope. They all support governors, state legislators, and judges, which we all have a say in. This requires digging into local and state politics.

    I would encourage everybody to read “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard” by Shane Bauer for Mother Jones. We have vulnerable populations in these facilities including juvenile and immigrant detainees. The problem spreads beyond America into countries like Africa, Australia, and more.  Our nation’s prison system is a failure on its own. Prioritizing profits over people does not serve community, families, and society, but only those who are invested.

    Any Orange is the New Black fans will be somewhat familiar with the problems that follow when public institutions turn to for profit companies. Fun fact, Management Correction Corporation (MCC) piggybacks off the real private prison company Management Training Corporation (MTC).

  • Letters from Pelican Bay

    Letters from Pelican Bay

    By| Tania Mejia

    As a senior currently applying for graduate school, I have been putting a lot of thought into the future and what is to come. I have spent the past four years studying communication and social advocacy, with an emphasis on the prison industrial complex. But even then I am unsure whether I want to work within the system or go outside the system to bring about change. Beyond that, I keep wondering what will happen to the future of our carceral state and the countless people behind bars.

    According to a 2016 Prison Policy Initiative report, “the American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories.” It’s evident punishment has infiltrated every aspect of society while impacting individuals, communities, and society. But as Foucault pointed out in Power/Knowledge, “In 1820 it was already understood that the prisons, far from transforming criminals into citizens, serve only to manufacture new criminals and drive existing criminals even deeper into criminality.”

    Prisons as we know them were originally established as a more humane method of punishment, but since prisons have become a site of struggle where society’s already marginalized, oppressed, and vulnerable populations end up. With 2.3 million people behind bars and clear racial and ethnic disparities, we need to be asking if incarceration actually produces safety.

    Prisons disconnect and isolate individuals from their families, communities, and society. The impacts of such disconnection transcend past the incarcerated individual to the 1.7 million children who have at least one incarcerated parent. Having a parent behind bars can have significant impacts on children from mental health to changes in social behavior, which in turn can affect educational outcomes and lead to juvenile delinquency creating a cycle of incarceration. Further, children may feel stigma from their circumstances while experiencing financial hardships as a result of lost income and support.

    What is most problematic about prisons is that we have come to believe that one institution can solve some of society’s most pressing issues from poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and drug addiction. The truth is prisons cannot address everything from drug possession to serial murder, which means collectively as communities we will have to come together to figure out what works and how to find alternatives to incarceration.

    Another problem with prisons is that they do not heal or address the needs of victims and perpetrators. Long prison sentences are not the solution, especially when we know prisons provide little to no rehabilitation or treatment. Prisons do not stop violence and it is reflected in the number of people sexually assaulted and raped, as well as suicide rates behind bars. Incarceration exposes people exactly to the things that increase the likelihood that they will harm others.

    As I have previously written about, prisons further stigmatize and disenfranchise people through felon labels making reentry a punishment of its own. Unfortunately, our prison system has built a reputation of failing people, doing little correcting (whatever that means) and rehabilitating. If incarceration actually produced safety, we would have the safest country in the world and that’s not what we have as shown in our crime and recidivism rates.

    This goes without addressing the costs behind prisons, private contracts, white collar crime, how prisons create a black market, lack of educational, mindful, and vocational programs, or racial inequalities within the criminal justice system. So, if not prisons then what? What about the murderers and rapists as I am always asked when proposing prison abolition? Well, let’s remember they only make up a small percentage of our incarcerated population, and, regardless, most will return to society.

    The #cut50 movement is a national bipartisan initiative to safely and smartly cut our incarcerated population by 50 percent over the next 10 years. There are many alternatives to imprisonment from drug courts, mental courts, halfway houses, community service, treatment, public housing, and so on. Ultimately, we need radical changes in the status quo. Similarly, to Baz Dreisinger, author of Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World. 

    “I envision a system that is grounded in community courts, reparative systems, truth and reconciliation commissions, and ‘facilities,’ insofar as absolutely necessary, which is always involving a really small number of people.”

  • Letters from Pelican Bay

    Letters from Pelican Bay

    By| Tania Mejia

    By now, most of us know there are 2.3 million people behind bars, and that the U.S. makes up 5% of the world’s population while housing 25% of the world’s prison population. Unlike other political topics, there seems to be bipartisan agreement that our criminal justice system is an urgent need of reform. Unfortunately, most of these cries for change are happening as a result of the $80 billion price tag, instead about the peoples lives who have been and are being impacted by this system. 

    Our society seems to be unable to forgive people and it manifests in the way we treat people behind bars and upon their release. In his, “Re-humanizing Inmates” TEDx talk, inmate, Anthony Wyatt states, “As prisoners, we’re automatically presumed to be less than civilized, and so less than equal. Less than equal, and so less than worthy. A segment of the population, undeserving of your respect, and basic human rights cause we’re considered less than human. I know it sounds extreme, but how else can we account for society’s clear lack of concern for the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated lives?”

    I have repeatedly came to the same conclusion as I read letters by my prison pen pals, walkthrough prisons, and talk to formerly incarcerated people. It is hard not to wonder how did we get here at the approval of so many people. Of course, politicians “tough on crime” rhetoric, media portrayals, and people’s fears were a driving force, but more than that, I think it became an us vs. them. It is no secret that our criminal justice system disproportionately locks up people of color and people who are poor, yet many of us keep the system out of sight, out of mind while falling into the false narrative of who these men and womyn are. I think society as a whole has negatively dehumanized and desensitized our incarcerated brothers and sisters that many people simply do not care about their conditions, rights, and treatment behind bars. 

    As mass incarceration begins to scale down, which it will, we have begin a re-humanization process of inmates and prisoners. It is simply not enough to release people behind bars back into society when being labeled a felon puts you in a category, which Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, identifies as a racial caste system equivalent to slavery and Jim Crow. Being labeled a felon carries consequences with it, which make reentry into society a punishment of its own. People with a criminal record can’t receive financial aid, can’t apply for food stamps and welfare, can’t apply for business loans, can’t earn some professional licenses/permits, can’t apply for public housing, can’t own guns, can’t vote, can’t sit on a jury, can’t apply for some jobs, and if, they are able to they face the “Have you been convicted of a felony?” question on job applications. 

    So how do we begin this rehumanization process? We have to begin by challenging our own beliefs and attitudes. Ask yourself, what images come to mind when you hear the words criminal, felon, inmate, prisoner, or convict? We have to stop making prison jokes such as “don’t drop the soap,” which as Anthony points out in his TEDx talk, “since when is the rape or assault of any fellow human being funny?” We have to stop supporting TV programs who profit from the violence in jails and prisons. We have to stop calling people behind bars by the labels given to them by the oppressor (e.g. inmate, prisoner, felon, convict, criminal). We have to bridge gaps between the inside and outside world. 

    Most importantly, we have to support them. We know 90-95% of people behind bars are someday returning to society. It’s time to let go of assumptions, prejudices, and stereotypes. 

    Poem by Marcus Armstrong
  • Letters from Pelican Bay

    Letters from Pelican Bay

    By | Tania Mejia

    Last week, Humboldt County joined the Women’s March movement and marched in solidarity for women’s rights and related causes at the largest protest in our nation’s history. Not only was this a historical day for our country, it was also a historical day for the Humboldt County: the march became the largest demonstration in Eureka’s history.

    During the Women’s March I held a sign which read, “INCLUDE THE 1.2 MILLION WOMEN BEHIND BARS IN YOUR ACTIVISM,” in bold black letters over an orange painted women’s power symbol. Inspired by Intersectional Feminists Against Fascist Overlord’s Instagram post with a poster reading “INCLUDE DISABLED WOMEN IN YOUR FEMINISM,” I thought the same message could be applied to an often forgotten imprisoned population.

    With one in 100 US adults behind bars, it is important to be conscious of those who cannot participate in free speech and currently sit behind bars. As I marched, I saw posters reading, “MY BODY, MY CHOICE” or “A WOMAN’S PLACE IS IN THE RESISTANCE,” and couldn’t help but cringe at the lack of thought about the privilege behind such messages. Just to be clear, women are currently the fastest growing prison population.

    Women, especially trans women of color are being arrested, harassed and victimized by our criminal justice system far more than any other incarcerated population. They are being housed in male prisons where they are put in solitary confinement for their so-called protection. Alternatively, if left in general population, they are mistreated and/or become victims of sexual assault both by correctional officers and inmates significantly more than other prison populations.

    It’s also important to note that when we talk about “MY BODY, MY CHOICE” this is not true for women behind bars. In her book, “Are Prisons Obsolete,” Angela Davis writes. “Prison and police officers are vested with the power and responsibility to do acts, which if done outside the work hours, would be crimes of sexual assault.”

    Let’s think about that. Let’s think about the sterilization of female inmates without consent as a form of birth control, which California recently banned in 2014. Let’s think about the lack of medical and reproductive health care women behind bars face and endure on a daily basis in unsanitary conditions.

    Overall, when we proclaim, “WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS,” we must include every self-identified female body behind bars. While I understand not everybody is seeking to reform the criminal justice system, we must connect the dots between other social justices. This is where we have to build the kind of unity and solidarity across very different places – culturally, geographically, and politically– to create a stable foundation to progress as a nation.

    How this is put into action is up to us, but as a self-identified prison abolitionist this is my favorite example: In Spring 2001, Critical Resistance, an organization that works to dismantle the prison industrial complex system, filed an environmental lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections (CDC) with the goal of stopping the construction of a 5,160 bed prison in California’s Central Valley that would have cost taxpayers $335 million. Critical Resistance organized a group of coalitions that had previously never worked together, including anti-prison activists, environmentalists, farm worker’s unions and immigrant advocates.

    So, when I say, “INCLUDE THE 1.2 MILLION WOMEN BEHIND BARS IN YOUR ACTIVISM,” I don’t mean, ‘don’t forget them.’ I am calling for us to unite, organize and combine strategies to address our societal problems. I am calling for grassroots organizing and legislative work with diverse individuals, organizations and state agencies. I am calling all of the civil rights activists, environmental protectors and social justice warriors who want to live in a better world. As we continue on, we must move into new and formerly unlikely alliances which allow for participation from all of us.

    Note: When stating there is 1.2 million women behind bars, this includes those in prison, jail, probation and parole. According to the Sentencing Project, “The rate of growth for female imprisonment has outpaced men by more than 50% between 1980 and 2014.”