Decarcerate PA Newsletter September 2013
Content
DECARCERATE PA!
It’s been an exciting few months for the campaign to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania.
ISSUE 2 SEPTEMBER 2013
NO NEW PRISONS! DECARCERATION! REINVEST IN OUR COMMUNITIES!
Decarcerate PA Marches 113 Miles for a People’s Budget
On May 25th, the “March for a People’s Budget: Stop Prison Expansion Now!” kicked off in Philadelphia. We had a great turnout, powerful speakers, and beautiful weather as we bid farewell to Philly and hit the road. As we moved through West Philly, we were joined by some young people who took a turn on our bullhorn: “Come walk a block with us!” we all chanted. “Stop Locking Up our Youth!”
G-law is theatrically freed from his schackles as Decarcerate PA ascends on the Harrisburg state house
Over the next ten days, in sunshine, pouring rain, and sweltering heat, we made our way on foot across the state. And everywhere we went, we met people who were impacted by Pennsylvania’s broken budget priorities. We met teachers and parents After the rally, we knocked on the door of every state legislator to let them know why devastated by education funding cuts. We we’d walked all that way. If they didn’t know before they know now: the movement for met Pennsylvanians who had recently come a decarcerated PA is growing! home from prison and family members with prisons. We also demand changes in policing, loved ones locked up. Our journey made it sentencing and legislation to reduce the prison very clear that mass incarceration is a statepopulation. We believe that public money wide disaster -- affecting communities of This quarterly newsletter is intended to be should instead be spent on quality public all sizes, in urban, rural, and suburbans areas.
past corner stores, over abandoned bridges and under highway overpasses -- and then, finally, up the capitol steps. Our final rally in Harrisburg on June 3rd featured speakers from the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Civil Rights Movement veteran Jesse Epps, State Representatives Vanessa Lowery Brown and Ron Waters, and of course many of our footsore, but invigorated marchers.
WHO WE ARE
We held events all along our route - including a rally in Norristown with DreamActivist Pennsylvania and local immigration justice activists; community meetings in Haverford, Pottstown, and Harrisburg; a protest in Collegeville near the Phoenix I and II prison construction site; and a panel discussion with activists and academics at Hopewell Mennonite Church in Reading. Every step of the way, we shook hands, passed out fliers, listened and learned. Thousands upon thousands of drivers and pedestrians saw us, our bright yellow construction vests, and our “STOP Prison Expansion” signs as we made our way through cornfields and
a tool of communication and information between Decarcerate PA members on the outside and people inside of Pennsylvania prisons.
Decarcerate PA is a coalition of organi zations and individuals seeking an end to mass incarceration and the harms it brings our many communities. Decarcer ate PA seeks mechanisms to establish and maintain whole, healthy communities and believes that imprisonment exacer bates the problems we face. We there fore demand an immediate and lasting moratorium on all new prisons: no new prisons, no new county or city jails, no prison expansions, no new beds in county jails, no immigrant detention facilities, no private
schools, jobs and job training, communitybased reentry services, health care and food access, drug and alcohol treatment programs, stable housing, restorative forms of justice and non-punitive programs that address the root cause of violence in our communi ties. The task before us is as large as it is necessary. With your help, we can put an end to mass incarceration.
If you know others who would also like to receive this newsletter, please encourage them to write us at: Decarcerate PA, PO Box 40764 Philadelphia, PA 19107 This newsletter is also available online at http://decarceratepa.info/newsletter
DATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDA
ment. Public education funding received in part to express their opposition to the only a modest increase, leaving 81% of the increase in DOC funding. Decarcerate PA funding cuts from previous years intact. believes that the state should fund posiStatewide healthcare also took a blow, tive programs that help people stay out of with outpatient Medical Assistance receivprison and help those coming home from Despite a statewide postcard, lettering a $140 million cut, and the budget for prison, and we will continue to pressure writing and call-in campaign waged by inpatient medical assistance being cut by our legislators to invest in education and Decarcerate PA and our allies, on June more than 50%. Funding for conservation reentry, not in mass incarceration. 30th the Pennsylvania General Assembly and natural resources was also slashed by voted to pass a state budget that provides 43%. In contrast, the Department of Cora $75 million increase for the Department rections is receiving an additional $75 milof Corrections (DOC). This increase is in lion, taking their total state funding from addition to the $400 million+ being spent Despite growing public outrage, the $1.87 billion to over $1.94 billion. on building new prisons. While this year’s DOC has moved stubbornly ahead with budget avoided some of the draconian construction of SCI Phoenix I & II on the While the budget received the majority cuts to essential public services that have grounds of SCI Graterford. The $400 vote in both the House and Senate, there been the hallmark of the Corbett adminismillion construction of two new prisons were some legislators who had the courtration, it did little to nothing to repair the - designed to hold 4100 people - will be age to take a stand against out-of-control devastating damage of prior cuts and still the second most expensive construction prison growth. Representatives Ronald reflects a government that prioritizes inproject in the state’s history. Waters and James Roebuck, Senator Daylin carceration and corporate tax breaks over Leach, and others, voted no on the budget education, healthcare, and the environEven though construction has gotten underway, the fight is not over. Much of DOC Secretary Wetzel’s defense of this massive construction project has rested on his Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester) recent- corruption, waste and abuse, and stripping insistence that SCI Graterford cannot be ly introduced legislation (Senate Bill 444) them of meaningful access to the Right renovated in a cost-effective manner and that would strip prisoners of their access to Know Law would ensure that the PA must be replaced. Though he claims the to nearly every provision of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections has even more DOC conducted an internal cost-benefit Right to Know Law (also known as the freedom to operate in secret and hidden study on renovating SCI Graterford, he has Sunshine Law, giving everyday citizens the from scrutiny. Any responsible amendment repeatedly told Decarcerate PA - and state right to review most government records). to PA’s Right to Know Law would include legislators - that he would provide this This bill was referred to the Senate Comprovisions to allow greater access to document, and then failed to do so. We mittee on State Government in late April government records for both prisoners and believe that Secretary Wetzel has intenand should be strongly opposed as it only non-prisoners, not less.” tionally misled the public and the legislafurther narture about the contents of this phantom rows prisoners’ Everyone is study. already severely encouraged to curtailed access write or call In what appears to be an additional move to informaSenator Pileggi to manipulate the conversation about tion and leaves and express prison construction, the DOC has also individuals with their strong crowded SCI Graterford far beyond its even less practidisapproval of usual capacity in recent months. As of June cal ability to his sponsorship 30, 2013, there were 3992 people incarcerutilize the tools of this bill. Then ated in SCI Graterford, up from 3446 one of democracy write or call year earlier. By drastically increasing the to advocate for Sore feet won’t stop > Decarcerate PA takes the capitol ! your own state number of people held at Graterford, the their own health and safety. If Pennsylvania senators and firmly explain to them why DOC has allowed themselves to suddenly legislators were truly concerned about they should stand in opposition to SB444. claim that the new facilities won’t add to cutting costs, they would pass legislation Urge your loved ones to do the same. the system’s capacity when, in reality, SCI to ensure that fewer people go to prison, Phoenix I & II will hold over 700 more beds expedite parole processes, and eliminate Decarcerate PA opposes this bill and is also than Graterford’s operational bed capacity. the vast array of solitary confinement units continuing to pressure Pennsylvania legEven if Secretary Wetzel makes good on that fuel recidivism and brutality. islators to stop the prison expansion and his promise to close SCI Graterford, there reduce the prison population by changing is no doubt this new construction will add As our allies in the PA Human Rights Coalisentencing and parole policies as well as hundreds of beds to the PA prison system. tion observe, “Prisoners serve as among the improving conditions for people who are most dedicated watchdogs against prison currently incarcerated.
BUDGET
CONSTRUCTION
policy
Every issue of our newsletter we feature one of the badass organizations that works with Decarcerate PA. So far over 85 organizations have signed our platform from large non-profits to street level social justice warriors - check out who’s with us at decarceratepa.info/platform !
ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHT:
convicted citizens as slaves. EXIT-US values and invests in the lives of returning citizens and our principles are informed by the insightfulness of the many convicted citizens we have mentored during their family reunification process. EXIT-US is informed by a strategy of constituent-led expertise to supplement the inadequate exit preparation offered by the penal system. Our Core Advocacy Initiatives are: Facilitating electoral education forums to engage the 350,000 returning citizens residing in Philadelphia to discuss issues pertaining to civic responsibility; Amending the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to protect returning citizens from all forms of discrimination in Pennsylvania. Ratifying The Returning Citizens Bill of Rights, a document drafted by EXIT-US demanding returning citizens, receive the total restoration of all opportunities and
civil liberties. and Building a national coalition of social justice organizations to push for legislative relief to correct the imposition of the 13th Amendment, which condones punishment that parallels slavery for citizens convicted of a crime. President, Thomas Ford CONTACT EXIT US: 215-626-1915 [email protected] www.exitusreentry.org www.facebook.com/exitus.reentry
Founded in 2009, EXIT-US is part of a social justice movement to end all forms of discrimination against citizens released from prison and to facilitate a national movement to remedy the injustice of the 13th Amendment which categorizes
Why we cannot afford to build any more prisons
By Fred M., currently incarcerated in the PA DOC Building new prisons is just an external symptom of the cancer that is eating away at our society’s core. At the root of the issue is the ever-expanding gap between the rich and the poor which has created a ‘class’ system even as politicians preach equality. The ‘haves’ (rich) are willing to go to great lengths to protect their wealth and maintain the status quo. In this kind of system, the poor (‘have nots’) are seen as a source of danger that must be policed. The solution to the problem, in this view, is to remove and banish it far away so that it does not have to be dealt with. Thus results what Michel Foucault called “le grand renfermement,” the great lock up. More and more behavior is considered ‘criminal’ and therefore legislation grows endlessly, usually under a thick veneer of ‘security’.
for minor infractions. I was horrified a while back, to see police escort a six year old girl in handcuffs! This country’s propensity to lock people up is borne out by the fact that we have 25% of the world’s prisoners but only 5% of the world’s population. These poor, marginalized, mentally ill and mostly minority populations fare no better once they get out of prison. They are ‘marked’ people. Nobody wants to hire them or live near them. Prisoners are the new lepers. No one wants anything to do with them. America throws its marginalized people away and Pennsylvania is at the very top of that trend. In the first half of the twentieth century, America isolated tuberculosis patients and left them to die. Today there is the same mentality towards prisons. This prison-building frenzy is profit based and needs to be exposed. The truth of the matter is crime has gone down nationwide while Pennsylvania continues to lock more people up. There is no need to build more prisons. Genuine prison reform can reduce the PA’s prison population drastically resulting in the closure of some prisons. But as long as prisons remain moneymakers for a privileged few, politicians will continue to lie to the public and use fear to maintain these society-destroying institutions. The public needs to know the truth; and that is, the majority of us are willing, even determined, to learn from our mistakes and make a difference in the young generation but the system makes it almost impossible. The image of changed prisoners does not augur well for their lock ‘em up worldview, and it definitely does not line their pockets. See more prisoner writing online at http://decarceratepa.info/voices-inside
VOICESFROM
A PRISONER’S STATEMENT AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF PA’S PRISON SYSTEM
THEINSIDE
In Pennsylvania, more than half of all prisoners in state prisons are non-violent offenders. The present epidemic of incarceration creates an unsustainable financial cost on the taxpayer. It gets even more worrisome when prison growth is accompanied by failed school systems. A prisoner’s biggest nightmare is to see their child join them in prison. This ‘lock ‘em up’ mentality has gone to the schools themselves where children are treated as criminal
ACTION STEPS
construction and make 2014 the year of no new prisons. We hope you will participate in this effort! To do so, please send us a drawing or text on an 8 x 11 piece of paper that depicts what you would build instead of prisons. We will affix it to a flag that says “Instead of prisons...” on the top and “PA People’s Budget” on the bottom, then photograph the flag and put it on our website with an explanation of the project. We will also use these flags at future Decarcerate PA protests and events.
There are many ways to be part of Decarcerate PA’s campaign whether you are inside or outside of prison. Here are three action steps you can take to participate in our upcoming initiatives:
1. TELL US WHAT YOU WOULD BUILD “Instead of Prisons”
On the “March for a People’s Budget, Not a Prison Budget,” Decarcerate PA crafted our own vision for Pennsylvania by asking people across the state what they would build instead of prisons. People drew or wrote these visions on pieces of paper, which we affixed to hundreds of colorful flags and took with us to the Capitol in Harrisburg. On September 23rd, Decarcerate PA is launching a “100 Days Instead of Prisons” countdown to the new year. Every day we will post a picture of one of these flags on our online social media networks and call on people to re-post it & to share what they would build instead of prisons. The 100 days will count down to the end of the year, when we will be calling on Corbett and our legislators to cancel the
Decarcerate PA is an all-volunteer campaign and we are always looking for new people to get involved. If you have family or friends in the Philadelphia area, invite them to come to a meeting! Decarcerate PA has General Meetings at 6pm on the 4th Monday of every month at the Institute for Community Justice at 21 S 12th Street, 7th floor in center city Philadelphia. We are also looking to grow throughout the state, so if you have family elsewhere in PA who are interested in getting involved they can contact us at (267) 217-3372.
2. WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS
Many legislators we talk to, in particular legislators from Philly, believe that new prisons are being built for the benefit of people who are already incarcerated. We believe that the money and legislators’ time would be better spent crafting programs and policies that help people get out of prison and keep people from going there in the first place. If you don’t want new prisons being built in your name, write your legislators and let them know!
THANK YOU so much to everyone who
3. INVITE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
sent us statements, poetry, and words of encouragement before our march to Harrisburg. We were overwhelmed by the thought, passion, and support of your words, and the many ideas for what we can and should be doing to build a better Pennsylvania. We read from these statements at our rallies and protests in Philly, Harrisburg, and along the march route. We also included excerpts of statements on our “PA People’s Budget” flags, and are in the process of putting the complete version of these statements up on the “Voices from the Inside” section of our website.
STATEMENTS FROM THE MARCH
We salute everyone of you in the spirit of courage and solidarity! For standing and walking for a cause! They say many are called, but only a few are chosen. And you are the chosen because you are here today with a common purpose! Know for a surety that somewhere, somehow, your stand will make a difference! In the words of Frederick Douglass, 1847: “We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed!” -From the Men at SCI Greene Restricted Housing Unit via Brother Tawfeeq.
Many people inside the prisons wrote to us offering encouragement on our journey, and marchers themselves wrote statements about why they were taking this dramatic action. Here are excerpts from just a few: I was one of those young people who was affected by the criminal justice system and also by the school system. I know if I can stand up and fight, I know it’s a lot of youth around that can help me fight too…. I’m marching to tell Governor Corbett to stop locking up our youth to build more jails. It’s not making the community safe and it’s not helping the crime rate go down. Invest that money in schools NOT prisons!!
March kickoff in Philadelphia
– Alisha Alexander
Education, Social Services, and Health Care are definitely things that the women need whom I was incarcerated with. They are also the things that the women need outside the walls. I’m marching for all of them. - Malissa Gamble
Decarcerate PA is a grassroots campaign working to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania. We demand that PA stop building prisons, reduce the prison population, and reinvest money in our communities. Decarcerate PA: Box 40764 Philadelphia, PA 19107 [email protected] decarceratepa.info (267) 217-3372
It’s been an exciting few months for the campaign to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania.
ISSUE 2 SEPTEMBER 2013
NO NEW PRISONS! DECARCERATION! REINVEST IN OUR COMMUNITIES!
Decarcerate PA Marches 113 Miles for a People’s Budget
On May 25th, the “March for a People’s Budget: Stop Prison Expansion Now!” kicked off in Philadelphia. We had a great turnout, powerful speakers, and beautiful weather as we bid farewell to Philly and hit the road. As we moved through West Philly, we were joined by some young people who took a turn on our bullhorn: “Come walk a block with us!” we all chanted. “Stop Locking Up our Youth!”
G-law is theatrically freed from his schackles as Decarcerate PA ascends on the Harrisburg state house
Over the next ten days, in sunshine, pouring rain, and sweltering heat, we made our way on foot across the state. And everywhere we went, we met people who were impacted by Pennsylvania’s broken budget priorities. We met teachers and parents After the rally, we knocked on the door of every state legislator to let them know why devastated by education funding cuts. We we’d walked all that way. If they didn’t know before they know now: the movement for met Pennsylvanians who had recently come a decarcerated PA is growing! home from prison and family members with prisons. We also demand changes in policing, loved ones locked up. Our journey made it sentencing and legislation to reduce the prison very clear that mass incarceration is a statepopulation. We believe that public money wide disaster -- affecting communities of This quarterly newsletter is intended to be should instead be spent on quality public all sizes, in urban, rural, and suburbans areas.
past corner stores, over abandoned bridges and under highway overpasses -- and then, finally, up the capitol steps. Our final rally in Harrisburg on June 3rd featured speakers from the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Civil Rights Movement veteran Jesse Epps, State Representatives Vanessa Lowery Brown and Ron Waters, and of course many of our footsore, but invigorated marchers.
WHO WE ARE
We held events all along our route - including a rally in Norristown with DreamActivist Pennsylvania and local immigration justice activists; community meetings in Haverford, Pottstown, and Harrisburg; a protest in Collegeville near the Phoenix I and II prison construction site; and a panel discussion with activists and academics at Hopewell Mennonite Church in Reading. Every step of the way, we shook hands, passed out fliers, listened and learned. Thousands upon thousands of drivers and pedestrians saw us, our bright yellow construction vests, and our “STOP Prison Expansion” signs as we made our way through cornfields and
a tool of communication and information between Decarcerate PA members on the outside and people inside of Pennsylvania prisons.
Decarcerate PA is a coalition of organi zations and individuals seeking an end to mass incarceration and the harms it brings our many communities. Decarcer ate PA seeks mechanisms to establish and maintain whole, healthy communities and believes that imprisonment exacer bates the problems we face. We there fore demand an immediate and lasting moratorium on all new prisons: no new prisons, no new county or city jails, no prison expansions, no new beds in county jails, no immigrant detention facilities, no private
schools, jobs and job training, communitybased reentry services, health care and food access, drug and alcohol treatment programs, stable housing, restorative forms of justice and non-punitive programs that address the root cause of violence in our communi ties. The task before us is as large as it is necessary. With your help, we can put an end to mass incarceration.
If you know others who would also like to receive this newsletter, please encourage them to write us at: Decarcerate PA, PO Box 40764 Philadelphia, PA 19107 This newsletter is also available online at http://decarceratepa.info/newsletter
DATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDATES * UPDA
ment. Public education funding received in part to express their opposition to the only a modest increase, leaving 81% of the increase in DOC funding. Decarcerate PA funding cuts from previous years intact. believes that the state should fund posiStatewide healthcare also took a blow, tive programs that help people stay out of with outpatient Medical Assistance receivprison and help those coming home from Despite a statewide postcard, lettering a $140 million cut, and the budget for prison, and we will continue to pressure writing and call-in campaign waged by inpatient medical assistance being cut by our legislators to invest in education and Decarcerate PA and our allies, on June more than 50%. Funding for conservation reentry, not in mass incarceration. 30th the Pennsylvania General Assembly and natural resources was also slashed by voted to pass a state budget that provides 43%. In contrast, the Department of Cora $75 million increase for the Department rections is receiving an additional $75 milof Corrections (DOC). This increase is in lion, taking their total state funding from addition to the $400 million+ being spent Despite growing public outrage, the $1.87 billion to over $1.94 billion. on building new prisons. While this year’s DOC has moved stubbornly ahead with budget avoided some of the draconian construction of SCI Phoenix I & II on the While the budget received the majority cuts to essential public services that have grounds of SCI Graterford. The $400 vote in both the House and Senate, there been the hallmark of the Corbett adminismillion construction of two new prisons were some legislators who had the courtration, it did little to nothing to repair the - designed to hold 4100 people - will be age to take a stand against out-of-control devastating damage of prior cuts and still the second most expensive construction prison growth. Representatives Ronald reflects a government that prioritizes inproject in the state’s history. Waters and James Roebuck, Senator Daylin carceration and corporate tax breaks over Leach, and others, voted no on the budget education, healthcare, and the environEven though construction has gotten underway, the fight is not over. Much of DOC Secretary Wetzel’s defense of this massive construction project has rested on his Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester) recent- corruption, waste and abuse, and stripping insistence that SCI Graterford cannot be ly introduced legislation (Senate Bill 444) them of meaningful access to the Right renovated in a cost-effective manner and that would strip prisoners of their access to Know Law would ensure that the PA must be replaced. Though he claims the to nearly every provision of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections has even more DOC conducted an internal cost-benefit Right to Know Law (also known as the freedom to operate in secret and hidden study on renovating SCI Graterford, he has Sunshine Law, giving everyday citizens the from scrutiny. Any responsible amendment repeatedly told Decarcerate PA - and state right to review most government records). to PA’s Right to Know Law would include legislators - that he would provide this This bill was referred to the Senate Comprovisions to allow greater access to document, and then failed to do so. We mittee on State Government in late April government records for both prisoners and believe that Secretary Wetzel has intenand should be strongly opposed as it only non-prisoners, not less.” tionally misled the public and the legislafurther narture about the contents of this phantom rows prisoners’ Everyone is study. already severely encouraged to curtailed access write or call In what appears to be an additional move to informaSenator Pileggi to manipulate the conversation about tion and leaves and express prison construction, the DOC has also individuals with their strong crowded SCI Graterford far beyond its even less practidisapproval of usual capacity in recent months. As of June cal ability to his sponsorship 30, 2013, there were 3992 people incarcerutilize the tools of this bill. Then ated in SCI Graterford, up from 3446 one of democracy write or call year earlier. By drastically increasing the to advocate for Sore feet won’t stop > Decarcerate PA takes the capitol ! your own state number of people held at Graterford, the their own health and safety. If Pennsylvania senators and firmly explain to them why DOC has allowed themselves to suddenly legislators were truly concerned about they should stand in opposition to SB444. claim that the new facilities won’t add to cutting costs, they would pass legislation Urge your loved ones to do the same. the system’s capacity when, in reality, SCI to ensure that fewer people go to prison, Phoenix I & II will hold over 700 more beds expedite parole processes, and eliminate Decarcerate PA opposes this bill and is also than Graterford’s operational bed capacity. the vast array of solitary confinement units continuing to pressure Pennsylvania legEven if Secretary Wetzel makes good on that fuel recidivism and brutality. islators to stop the prison expansion and his promise to close SCI Graterford, there reduce the prison population by changing is no doubt this new construction will add As our allies in the PA Human Rights Coalisentencing and parole policies as well as hundreds of beds to the PA prison system. tion observe, “Prisoners serve as among the improving conditions for people who are most dedicated watchdogs against prison currently incarcerated.
BUDGET
CONSTRUCTION
policy
Every issue of our newsletter we feature one of the badass organizations that works with Decarcerate PA. So far over 85 organizations have signed our platform from large non-profits to street level social justice warriors - check out who’s with us at decarceratepa.info/platform !
ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHT:
convicted citizens as slaves. EXIT-US values and invests in the lives of returning citizens and our principles are informed by the insightfulness of the many convicted citizens we have mentored during their family reunification process. EXIT-US is informed by a strategy of constituent-led expertise to supplement the inadequate exit preparation offered by the penal system. Our Core Advocacy Initiatives are: Facilitating electoral education forums to engage the 350,000 returning citizens residing in Philadelphia to discuss issues pertaining to civic responsibility; Amending the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to protect returning citizens from all forms of discrimination in Pennsylvania. Ratifying The Returning Citizens Bill of Rights, a document drafted by EXIT-US demanding returning citizens, receive the total restoration of all opportunities and
civil liberties. and Building a national coalition of social justice organizations to push for legislative relief to correct the imposition of the 13th Amendment, which condones punishment that parallels slavery for citizens convicted of a crime. President, Thomas Ford CONTACT EXIT US: 215-626-1915 [email protected] www.exitusreentry.org www.facebook.com/exitus.reentry
Founded in 2009, EXIT-US is part of a social justice movement to end all forms of discrimination against citizens released from prison and to facilitate a national movement to remedy the injustice of the 13th Amendment which categorizes
Why we cannot afford to build any more prisons
By Fred M., currently incarcerated in the PA DOC Building new prisons is just an external symptom of the cancer that is eating away at our society’s core. At the root of the issue is the ever-expanding gap between the rich and the poor which has created a ‘class’ system even as politicians preach equality. The ‘haves’ (rich) are willing to go to great lengths to protect their wealth and maintain the status quo. In this kind of system, the poor (‘have nots’) are seen as a source of danger that must be policed. The solution to the problem, in this view, is to remove and banish it far away so that it does not have to be dealt with. Thus results what Michel Foucault called “le grand renfermement,” the great lock up. More and more behavior is considered ‘criminal’ and therefore legislation grows endlessly, usually under a thick veneer of ‘security’.
for minor infractions. I was horrified a while back, to see police escort a six year old girl in handcuffs! This country’s propensity to lock people up is borne out by the fact that we have 25% of the world’s prisoners but only 5% of the world’s population. These poor, marginalized, mentally ill and mostly minority populations fare no better once they get out of prison. They are ‘marked’ people. Nobody wants to hire them or live near them. Prisoners are the new lepers. No one wants anything to do with them. America throws its marginalized people away and Pennsylvania is at the very top of that trend. In the first half of the twentieth century, America isolated tuberculosis patients and left them to die. Today there is the same mentality towards prisons. This prison-building frenzy is profit based and needs to be exposed. The truth of the matter is crime has gone down nationwide while Pennsylvania continues to lock more people up. There is no need to build more prisons. Genuine prison reform can reduce the PA’s prison population drastically resulting in the closure of some prisons. But as long as prisons remain moneymakers for a privileged few, politicians will continue to lie to the public and use fear to maintain these society-destroying institutions. The public needs to know the truth; and that is, the majority of us are willing, even determined, to learn from our mistakes and make a difference in the young generation but the system makes it almost impossible. The image of changed prisoners does not augur well for their lock ‘em up worldview, and it definitely does not line their pockets. See more prisoner writing online at http://decarceratepa.info/voices-inside
VOICESFROM
A PRISONER’S STATEMENT AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF PA’S PRISON SYSTEM
THEINSIDE
In Pennsylvania, more than half of all prisoners in state prisons are non-violent offenders. The present epidemic of incarceration creates an unsustainable financial cost on the taxpayer. It gets even more worrisome when prison growth is accompanied by failed school systems. A prisoner’s biggest nightmare is to see their child join them in prison. This ‘lock ‘em up’ mentality has gone to the schools themselves where children are treated as criminal
ACTION STEPS
construction and make 2014 the year of no new prisons. We hope you will participate in this effort! To do so, please send us a drawing or text on an 8 x 11 piece of paper that depicts what you would build instead of prisons. We will affix it to a flag that says “Instead of prisons...” on the top and “PA People’s Budget” on the bottom, then photograph the flag and put it on our website with an explanation of the project. We will also use these flags at future Decarcerate PA protests and events.
There are many ways to be part of Decarcerate PA’s campaign whether you are inside or outside of prison. Here are three action steps you can take to participate in our upcoming initiatives:
1. TELL US WHAT YOU WOULD BUILD “Instead of Prisons”
On the “March for a People’s Budget, Not a Prison Budget,” Decarcerate PA crafted our own vision for Pennsylvania by asking people across the state what they would build instead of prisons. People drew or wrote these visions on pieces of paper, which we affixed to hundreds of colorful flags and took with us to the Capitol in Harrisburg. On September 23rd, Decarcerate PA is launching a “100 Days Instead of Prisons” countdown to the new year. Every day we will post a picture of one of these flags on our online social media networks and call on people to re-post it & to share what they would build instead of prisons. The 100 days will count down to the end of the year, when we will be calling on Corbett and our legislators to cancel the
Decarcerate PA is an all-volunteer campaign and we are always looking for new people to get involved. If you have family or friends in the Philadelphia area, invite them to come to a meeting! Decarcerate PA has General Meetings at 6pm on the 4th Monday of every month at the Institute for Community Justice at 21 S 12th Street, 7th floor in center city Philadelphia. We are also looking to grow throughout the state, so if you have family elsewhere in PA who are interested in getting involved they can contact us at (267) 217-3372.
2. WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS
Many legislators we talk to, in particular legislators from Philly, believe that new prisons are being built for the benefit of people who are already incarcerated. We believe that the money and legislators’ time would be better spent crafting programs and policies that help people get out of prison and keep people from going there in the first place. If you don’t want new prisons being built in your name, write your legislators and let them know!
THANK YOU so much to everyone who
3. INVITE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
sent us statements, poetry, and words of encouragement before our march to Harrisburg. We were overwhelmed by the thought, passion, and support of your words, and the many ideas for what we can and should be doing to build a better Pennsylvania. We read from these statements at our rallies and protests in Philly, Harrisburg, and along the march route. We also included excerpts of statements on our “PA People’s Budget” flags, and are in the process of putting the complete version of these statements up on the “Voices from the Inside” section of our website.
STATEMENTS FROM THE MARCH
We salute everyone of you in the spirit of courage and solidarity! For standing and walking for a cause! They say many are called, but only a few are chosen. And you are the chosen because you are here today with a common purpose! Know for a surety that somewhere, somehow, your stand will make a difference! In the words of Frederick Douglass, 1847: “We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed!” -From the Men at SCI Greene Restricted Housing Unit via Brother Tawfeeq.
Many people inside the prisons wrote to us offering encouragement on our journey, and marchers themselves wrote statements about why they were taking this dramatic action. Here are excerpts from just a few: I was one of those young people who was affected by the criminal justice system and also by the school system. I know if I can stand up and fight, I know it’s a lot of youth around that can help me fight too…. I’m marching to tell Governor Corbett to stop locking up our youth to build more jails. It’s not making the community safe and it’s not helping the crime rate go down. Invest that money in schools NOT prisons!!
March kickoff in Philadelphia
– Alisha Alexander
Education, Social Services, and Health Care are definitely things that the women need whom I was incarcerated with. They are also the things that the women need outside the walls. I’m marching for all of them. - Malissa Gamble
Decarcerate PA is a grassroots campaign working to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania. We demand that PA stop building prisons, reduce the prison population, and reinvest money in our communities. Decarcerate PA: Box 40764 Philadelphia, PA 19107 [email protected] decarceratepa.info (267) 217-3372
