PrisonReform20thCentury7

​​ = **Prison Reform in the 20th Century** = =toc=

//The 20th century prison reform movement was sparked by the horrid conditions in jails and prisons. The movement was somewhat sucessful because while a few laws were passed to improve conditions, many aspects of prison life remained constant.//

Poor Prison Conditions:

 * Until 1965, many cells ** lacked toilets **
 * Lack of adequate sleeping arrangements (many prisoners lacked beds and blankets)
 * **"Separate and Silent" system**- prisoners in the early 1900s were subject to t[[image:PrisonPoopSpot.jpg width="252" height="205" align="right"]]his system. They were not allowed to talk to other prisoners, and they were given solitary cells to ensure that prisoners could not socialize with one another- people in charge of this system claimed that it was helpful for stopping prison riots.
 * Slave wages for prison work- about 10-45 cents per //day// (even in the late 1900s)
 * Few educational programs for inmates
 * **Overcrowding** because of the war on drugs- drug users were given longer sentences than usual
 * Black Muslims were often denied the right to practice their religion
 * Inadequate food-no variety, lacked nutritional value
 * Funding for jails was constantly cut and given to police forces instead, so prison conditions would keep getting worse
 * Poor medical care
 * Poor mental health care (lack of psychologists etc)
 * 95% of all prison guards were white-extremely ** racist ** towards Black and Hispanic prisoners-they were typically beaten more frequently, and about 14% less Black prisoners than White were parolled each year (also increasing the crowding in prisons)

Solitary Confinement:

 * ** No bed** or any other furniture
 * ** One true meal **in 24 hours
 * No reading material
 * Toilet is flushed from the outside 3 times a day if you're lucky
 * Could be locked up for ** over 3 days **
 * Inmates who are exposed to solitary confinement frequently often have trouble socialzing with others, and are even more prone to **suicide**.

Supermaximum Prisons:

 * There are** 42,000 **supermaximum prisoners in the U.S.
 * Prisoners receive their food through a whole in the wall
 * Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist at Berkley, testified in court that many prisoners had paranoid schizophrenia (they hallucinate) as a result of the supermax prison system.

California Pelican Bay State Prison:

 * Cells measure 7 11/42 by 11 feet
 * The prison holds 1,200 prisoners, and in 2001, 288 of the inmates shared a cell
 * In the history of the prison, 12 inmates have been** murdered ** by their cellmate
 * The cells are laid out like spokes on a bicycle wheel, so that prisoners cannot see anyone else (unless they share a cell).

Early 20th century:

 * Mindset of the people: in the midst of mob violence and other violent crimes, many Americans wanted harsher prisons with longer sentences
 * Leasing of chain gangs-prisons would lease Black chain gangs to work for little or no pay. Later banned because this was essentially a continuation of slavery.

Late 20th century:

 * Prison conditions had been improving gradually-physical conditions of prisons are better, but still many civili rights violations (such as Muslim prisoners sometimes denied right to practice their religion)
 * Mindset of the people: many radicals wanted to get rid of prisons entirely, suggesting a true //correctional// system instead of prisons

**What were the methods of the movement?**

 * Many ** books **were published to inform the public-usually from the perspective of current or former inmates
 * These books were so successful that many people in the 80s-90s believed that prisons should be abolished altogether, and in their places TRUE "correctional" facilities
 * Organizations such as the** Black Panthers ** took extreme actions, such as carrying weapons, to make a point about racism in prisons
 * Other organizations such as the ACLU took various cases to court to seek more rights for prisoners
 * ** Violent prison riots ** opened the eyes of the public to the true conditions in prisons
 * Prisoner's rights activists brought issues to ** court ** in order to change conditions and other problems. Examples:
 * **Wolff vs. McDonnell (1974)**- prisoners DO have many constitutional rights
 * **Gagnon vs. Scarpelli (1973)**- if a prisoner on parole commits a crime, their parole may not be revoked without a hearing and counsel (due process of the law)
 * **Toussaint vs. McCarthy (1986)**-conditions of segregated cells in many major prisons were declared unconstitutional
 * **Madrid vs. Gomez (1995)**-unconstitutional conditions at California Pelican Bay State Prison were rectified. These conditions included health care improvement, guard brutality conditions, and removing patients with mental illness from the ward

**Thomas Mott Osborne**

 * Appointed chairman of New York prison reform, a recently created state commission, in 1913.
 * He spent a week in Auburn Prison pretending to be convict "Tom Brown."
 * His book ** //Within Prison Walls// ** is a record of the time he spent in prison.
 * Found that prison destroyed individuality, manhood, and self-respect of prisoners
 * While he was in prison, he devised a plan, with the help of another prisoner, that would allow prisoners to learn corporate
 * responsibility to help the readjust to the world.
 * This plan became part of the **Mutual Welfare League**, which was fairly successful in prison reform.

George Jackson
======
 * Born in Chicago; moved to Los Angeles
 * Sentenced to "one year to life" for stealing $70 from a gas station when he was 18
 * Convicted of murdering a prison guard while in Soledad prison along with the help of 2 other inmates-these three were called "the Soledad Brothers"
 * Wrote letters to people while in prison- published them in a book called __** The Soledad Brothers **__
 * His book revealed the true horrid conditions of prisons and the racism that went on-essentially, it advocated for prisoner's rights
 * After the **"Soledad Incident"** where three African-American prisoners were shot by guards, Jackson began engaging the prison in "selective retaliatory violence." This meant that for every prisoner that was murdered, the prisoners would kill a guard.
 * While in prison, he became a leader and recruiter for the ** Black Panthers ** (African-American radical group)
 * Was killed in an "escape" attempt. His death was directly responsible for many prison rebellions, including Attica's

 One of George Jackson's letters while in prison (To read more letters click here): //Dear Fay,// No one here knows about the scheduled court hearing. They say we're not going. The prison doesn't like moving us, so somehow they have managed to arrange with the judge to //leave us out of our own trial//! Or pretrial. Can they try us in absentia (is that the term??)? Some bull (pig I mean) just said that the judge under no circumstances wants us in his court. In that case they shouldn't mind dropping the whole thing or sending us to another country for trial. Berkeley perhaps. But as you've said more than likely it'll be Orange County. Why do we accept this sort of thing? We have numerical superiority - but they have guns and money. And then the righteous don't like to cut throats, so we languish in misery. When you finally get me out of this mess, you'll have to send me away somewhere for a while, somewhere like Cuba or China or Tanzania, so that I can reorient myself. My understanding had been strained to the utmost.

Black Panther Party
======
 * ** African-American group in 1960s-70s; ** strongly opposed to racism against African Americans
 * Primarily opposed to racist police brutality
 * Didn't believe that many Blacks had recieved fair trials because of racism
 * Were opposed to the squalid conditions of prisons
 * Ran free 'survival classes' in subjects ranging from self defense to politics and economy
 * Frequently exercised their right to bear arms
 * **Malcom X** was a large influence

ACLU

 * Fought many court cases for prison reform
 * Kept watch for prison conditions and violation of the prisoner's civil rights
 * Took cases to court to improve prisoner's rights and conditions
 * Currently are running the ACLU prison project

Attica Prison Revolt
On September 9th 1971, after the news came that George Jackson had been shot in California, tension broke at Attica prison. A fight erupted between inmates and guards, but then escalated when 1,500 prisoners took 50 guards hostage. When the New York government finally sent in a negotiator, these were the prisoners demands: >> ([])
 * 1) Apply the New York State ** minimum wage **law to all state institutions.
 * 2) Allow all New York State prisoners to be politically active, without intimidation or reprisals.
 * 3) Give us ** true religious freedom. **
 * 4) ** End all censorship **of newspapers, magazines, letters and other publications coming from the publisher.
 * 5) Allow all inmates, at their own expense, to ** communicate **with anyone they please.
 * 6) When an inmate reaches conditional release date, give him a full release without parole.
 * 7) Cease administrative resentencing of inmates returned for parole violations.
 * 8) Institute realistic ** rehabilitation programs ** f or all inmates according to their offense and personal needs.
 * 9) Educate all correctional officers to the needs of the inmates, i.e., understanding rather than punishment.
 * 10) Give us a ** healthy diet, ** stop feeding us so much pork, and give us some ** fresh fruit daily. **
 * 11) ** Modernize **the inmate educational system.
 * 12) Give us a ** doctor **that will examine and treat all inmates that request treatment.
 * 13) Have an institutional delegation comprised of one inmate from each company authorized to speak to the institution administration concerning grievances (QUARTERLY).
 * 14) Give us less cell time and more recreation with better recreational equipment and facilities.
 * 15) Remove inside walls, making one open yard, and no more segregation or punishment.

media type="youtube" key="oMjQCAjKLiw" height="385" width="480"


 * The New York governor, ** Nelson Rockefeller **, called an attack to retake the prison.
 * State police fired ** tear gas ** into cells, riffles and shot guns for 10 minutes.
 * Originally the police thought that nine guards had their throats slit by the prisoners, but it turned out that during the attack the police had shot them.
 * 29 prisoners were also shot to death.
 * All together 43 people were killed: 33 prisoners and 10 guards.
 * New York was criticized for their ** brutal attack ** and for the prison conditions.
 * The riot started a movement of people attempting to make prison conditions better.
 * Because of the cost many of the efforts failed.
 * Prisons actually became more crowded after the riot.

National Geographic Explorer: Solitary Confinement
National Geographic recently made a show in which three volunteers (James, Laura, and Rick) stayed in solitary confinement for a week. During their time in prison, they "twitted" their thoughts and feelings to the public, and a video camera was trained on their cell 24/7. After the week was over, each volunteer was interviewed about their experience, here is James' interview: media type="custom" key="6141173" width="416" height="416" To find out more [|click here].

**This movement was successful because:**

 * Many bills were passed ; Hoover signed a bill that guaranteed prisoners th basic human conditions of 5 lbs. of food daily with variations in the menu, a balanced diet, abolished dining room silence rules, balanced diet for those in solitary confinement (instead of the usual bread and water), and visititation regulations were relaxed.
 * More educational programs are in place for prisoners
 * Generally less racism in prison
 * People's petitions were listened to in order to change prison conditions such as little food
 * Some prisoners got better wages
 * Prisoners have more rights to express freedom of religion
 * Increased medical care requirements for prisons (Perez v. Tilton, Farrell v. Cate, etc.) See[] for more cases

**This movement was unsuccessful because:**

 * Still, some prisoners work for slave wages (23 cents-$1.15 per hour)
 * Supermax prisons continue to cause mental problems among inmates
 * Solitary confinement is still used as a punishment-also causes mental problems in inmates such as hostility and antisocial tendencies (which, ironically is similar to what solitary confinement attempts to punish)
 * Food quality is still not amazing; inmates are served meals very high in carbohydrates to fatten them up and make them calmer.
 * Over-crowding is still a major problem (see picture to right)
 * Many prison guards still abuse their power-brutality
 * Many organizations (such as the ACLU) still have to fight for prisoner's civil rights



<---Katrina's final bibliograhy