Student activists and professionals gathered at the Memorial Union Wednesday for an informational session entitled “Prisons: Hidden Effects” to discuss the issue of increased state spending on prisons.
The session also addressed how these issues affect members of the community, including youth, people of color and residents of rural communities in particular.
Linda Hoskins, NAACP Prison Committee chair and Operation Straighten Up activist; Sheila Stubbs, Bridge-Lakepoint Neighborhood Association president and probation and parole agent; Ed Steichen, Money, Education and Prisons community organizer; and Michelle Gordon, a graduate student from People for Justice, Not Prisons, all spoke on the main issue of increased prison spending and the problems with this.
This program was part of “Hot Topics” in the Service in Action Series, a project sponsored by the Morgridge Center for Public Service, University Health Services and the Wisconsin Union Directorate.
Hoskins said there are problems with prisoners who “went in with no education and came out with no education.” She said these prisoners are often depressed, get an “I don’t care attitude,” have no sense of direction and have no families to return to after release. The importance of treating inmates while incarcerated, rather than just punishing them, was a main point throughout Hoskins’ address.
According to Hoskins, prisoners are receiving no treatment and no job training.
Following Hoskins, Stubbs spoke in full agreement with her mother and expanded on many of her previously made points.
“What have they learned?” asked an emotional Stubbs in regard to the expectations people have for prisoners after release. “They’ve learned nothing. They’ve learned how to be more angry.”
She also briefly spoke on how employers, family members and communities as a whole are affected by the incarceration of one individual. According to Stubbs, it is necessary for communities to be stable and give back to people when they return to their old environment. Community resources also need to be strong, she said. This in turn requires resources to get to these areas so they can be effectively utilized.
Stubbs urged members of the audience to help someone in any way possible while also informing them of community efforts, such as support groups, that have been especially effective.
At this time, panelist Steichen began his talk with statistics of the number of people currently incarcerated.
The panelists said approximately 21,000 individuals are locked away, with another 60,000 to 70,000 people on probation or parole in Wisconsin alone.
Similar to Hoskins and Stubbs, Steichen informed the audience of the major division within prisons based on race. According to Steichen, there are approximately two times as many black individuals incarcerated in Dane County than in the rest of the state.
In many problem areas, elementary schools are targeted in hopes of making accurate predictions of how many prisoners to expect in the future by looking at race as the main deciding factor, he said.
Steichen also gave the audience a closer look behind prison walls by showing yet another racial difference, this one being between prisoners and guards. Prisoners are primarily black, while guards, as well as other authoritative figures, are primarily white.
Gordon said her main criticism of the justice system is the rhetoric behind how criminals and justice work. She also expressed disgust with the idea that “being tough on crime makes you a good politician.” Issues such as immigrant prisons, jail library groups and ways for students to get involved were also points in Gordon’s speech.
