BOOK REVIEWS
unemployment and inadequate reve- nues to local coffers. These issues raise moral concerns not only about relying on revenues from incarcerating people but why, as a nation, can’t we do better than that for these communities and for the inmates in terms of outcomes and harms. Services and Outcomes Versus Profits In terms of effectiveness, studies have attempted to determine which prison system—the private for-profit versus the public system—produces the best outcomes for inmates and communities. Eisen explains the com- plexities of trying to draw comparisons when variables and purposes differ; the results are inconsistent and there- fore inconclusive. Both government and for-profit private prisons provide programs and opportunities to inmates but not in the same quantity, especially when costs and expenditures are pri- ority considerations within for-profit private prisons. Eisen emphasizes that “private prisons have been around for more than three decades now. It is time for them to show that they rehabilitate inmates, not merely warehouse them.” Too many people find themselves in prison because they were poor, and the government failed to provide them Inside Private Prisons ...continued from page 45
Eisen insists that because the eco- nomic and social costs of incarcera- tion are so great, reforms should focus on the person’s “quality of life in the community after release.” The New Zealand and Australian models high- lighted in her book include these im- portant transitions with support from local organizations and residents. Su- preme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy maintained “the subject of prisons and corrections is the concern and respon- sibility of every member of our profes- sion and of every citizen. This is your justice system; these are your prisons.” In other words, work with and reward prisons for ensuring better outcomes when they strive for and achieve “low recidivism rates within a two-year pe- riod after a prisoner’s release.” Alyce Ortuzar is a freelance medical and social science researcher, writer, and editor. She runs the Well Mind Association of Greater Washington, a holistic medicine information clearinghouse that focuses on environmental and nutritional influences on our mental and physical well-being. For five years, she edited the U.S. Surgeon General’s smoking and health reports. She can be reached at (301) 774-6617 and by email at alyceortuzar@gmail.com in Mont- gomery County, Maryland.
with nutritious meals and a resources- rich education that communicated a sense of options and a future. Many grew up amidst intergenerational pov- erty and hunger. Others grew up in abusive homes with no one to inter- vene on their behalf. Eisen seamlessly covers and con- nects hundreds of years of history. Topics include a history of crime and punishment in this country (“Incar- ceration as we know it today began just after the American Revolution”); what enabled the prison buildup and the related emergence of mass in- carceration; and the privatization of government services from policing to collecting garbage to managing pris- ons. She finds that “private prisons are not transparent and their operating contracts do not hold them account- able. There is little evidence that they produce better outcomes than public prisons for incarcerated people.” In addition, “our overreliance on jails and prisons to combat crime created space for private prisons to emerge.” These profit-driven corporations then lobby for laws and policies that benefit them financially, such as modifying or add- ing crimes to increase the prison popu- lation. The ensuing profits keep those prisons economically viable and prof- itable for their investors, but are not necessarily held accountable for the outcomes of the inmates.
The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats EnrichedWall Street While Mugging Main Street By Robert Scheer 2010; Nation Books: New York 292pp (PB); $15.95 ISBN 978-1-56858-434-8 The dispiriting lesson of both the Clinton and the Obama White Houses is that the Democrats proved to be as eager to please
Save money and get practical solutions to your everyday needs! tapping into solar and wind energy
organic gardening cutting energy costs green homebuilding
constructing do-it-your- self projects
self-sufficient living
Subscribe today! 6 issues only $12 Call toll-free (800) 234-3368 www.MotherEarthNews.com/EMEADEZ3 U.S. only
46—PATHWAYS—Spring—21
Made with FlippingBook Publishing Software