JJT
11-19-2004, 02:20 PM
Kansas loves prisons
BY RONALD FRASER
Prison policies made in Topeka and Washington, D.C., take on a life of their own. In "The New Landscape of Imprisonment: Mapping America's Prison Expansion," Sarah Lawrence and Jeremy Travis at the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center track how prisons became a growth industry in America. Their study found that during the last quarter of the 20th century, state prison systems grew from 592 prisons to 1,023 prisons nationally -- an increase of 73 percent.
In 1979, eight state correctional facilities, including prisons, operated in Kansas. By 2000, that number had grown to 11, including facilities in Sedgwick, Butler, Reno and Cowley counties.
The U.S. Census counts prisoners where they are incarcerated, and both federal and state agencies distribute funds based on this data. The more prisoners counted in a town or county, the bigger will be its share of goodies from Washington, D.C., and Topeka.
Regular paychecks roll in for 3,017 prison employees in Kansas. And don't forget the incomes of employees of private firms that directly sell food, fuel, clothing and furniture to prisons.
As more towns become economically dependent on state prisons -- which held more than 8,600 inmates in 2002 -- the greater is the likelihood grassroots support will grow for politicians who favor putting nonviolent people behind bars. After all, it's in the self-interest of these towns to keep their prisons full and their local economies booming.
When prisons boom, everyone wins except the nonviolent inmates and the taxpayers.
Now that the jailhouse economy is going strong, the political reforms needed to abandon this old drug war mentality will be much harder, if not impossible, to get through the legislatures in Topeka and Washington.
Chances are that U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the cost of keeping 2 million men and women behind bars well into the future -- not because justice demands it, but because the economic benefits of the prison business are working to keep it that way.
Ronald Fraser writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a civil liberties organization in Washington, D.C.
© 2004 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com
BY RONALD FRASER
Prison policies made in Topeka and Washington, D.C., take on a life of their own. In "The New Landscape of Imprisonment: Mapping America's Prison Expansion," Sarah Lawrence and Jeremy Travis at the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center track how prisons became a growth industry in America. Their study found that during the last quarter of the 20th century, state prison systems grew from 592 prisons to 1,023 prisons nationally -- an increase of 73 percent.
In 1979, eight state correctional facilities, including prisons, operated in Kansas. By 2000, that number had grown to 11, including facilities in Sedgwick, Butler, Reno and Cowley counties.
The U.S. Census counts prisoners where they are incarcerated, and both federal and state agencies distribute funds based on this data. The more prisoners counted in a town or county, the bigger will be its share of goodies from Washington, D.C., and Topeka.
Regular paychecks roll in for 3,017 prison employees in Kansas. And don't forget the incomes of employees of private firms that directly sell food, fuel, clothing and furniture to prisons.
As more towns become economically dependent on state prisons -- which held more than 8,600 inmates in 2002 -- the greater is the likelihood grassroots support will grow for politicians who favor putting nonviolent people behind bars. After all, it's in the self-interest of these towns to keep their prisons full and their local economies booming.
When prisons boom, everyone wins except the nonviolent inmates and the taxpayers.
Now that the jailhouse economy is going strong, the political reforms needed to abandon this old drug war mentality will be much harder, if not impossible, to get through the legislatures in Topeka and Washington.
Chances are that U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the cost of keeping 2 million men and women behind bars well into the future -- not because justice demands it, but because the economic benefits of the prison business are working to keep it that way.
Ronald Fraser writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a civil liberties organization in Washington, D.C.
© 2004 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com