On May 17th, Middlesex County Sheriff James D. DiPaola sent a memo to County legislators. Legislators were told “We must construct a new Jail” because of overcrowding— a common refrain from the punishment industry in Massachusetts and across the nation.

The Sheriff is calling for up to 600 additional cells, of which only half are intended for use during reconstruction of the Middlesex County court house. Next year the court and jail will shut down for asbestos removal. However there are no plans to close the temporary structure when the court house is reopened.

Susan Mortimer is a member of the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC).

In 2001, Springfield organizers from ARISE for Social Justice and Out Now, a LGBTQ* youth group, enjoined a fight to stop construction of a 240 bed women's jail in Chicopee, and the Springfield Harm Reduction Coalition was formed. Women from low income neighborhoods were being swept up in a dragnet of enforcement activity aimed solely at the poor.

The hard fought campaign lasted over 3 years. Alliances were made with the Community Church of Boston, the American Civil Liberties Union, Jericho-Boston, 7th Hampshire District Rep. Peter Kocot, Boston City Councillors Felix Arroyo and Chuck Turner and others.

In July, 2003, the Springfield group became the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC), calling for a moratorium on jail and prison expansion.

Punishment— a growth industry

Unresolved issues around race and poverty contribute to overcrowding, Susan Mortimer explains. Prior to the current prohibition era the U.S. Prison population was a quarter of what it is today. But 30 years ago the “War on Drugs” was launched. Despite even law enforcement declaring the drug war a failure, arrest and imprisonment on drug charges continues unabated. With 2.3 million inside and upwards of 6.6 million either on parole, probation or awaiting trial, 1 in every 33 people in the U.S. Is now under state control and the number is growing. “One cannot ignore the racial factor in all of this. And the drug war is just one way race continues to be a factor in who goes to jail and who doesn’t”.

As well, tolerance of poverty creates conditions that lead to incarceration. “Since the early '80's many local politicians—Bill Weld, [Senator and former state police officer] James Jaguga, Pete Blute, Matthew Amorello—cut their political teeth on welfare mothers. In his first months in office Governor Weld ended the General Relief Program, a 200 year-old welfare program for poverty-stricken single men and women. Assistance to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) has been replaced with Transitional Assistance and welfare rolls have been slashed.”

Like prisoners, the remaining “workfare” mothers provide sub-minimum-wage labor, losing more than $6.85 per hour to a market that requires $12 for a living wage. Deprivation of economic rights—defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—is a human rights violation. With no access to resources people turn to the underground economy to feed themselves and their families.

“By engaging, knowingly or otherwise, in rights violations, we create prisoners,” Mortimer says.

The prison system feeds on a steadily expanding U.S. Social control apparatus.

Round ups of immigrants and non-citizens, who in 2003 already were 40% of federal prisoners, are on the rise. Cell capacity was recently increased by 20,000 and now “Homeland Security” is seeking money for 35,000 more. States and counties receive $75-100 per day per detainee.

Local law enforcement has been para-militarized, youth criminalized by “zero tolerance” policies, and behaviors and conduct that would not have led to arrest a generation ago are now criminalized.

Minimum-security prisons have been replaced with more and higher security prisons, while there have been severe cuts in public detox beds and treatment programs.

High bails and overburdened courts, mandatory minimum sentencing and denial of parole—it all adds up, says Mortimer. “State and federal elected officials are aware of the horrific conditions inside our prisons and jails but remain silent. No one wants to appear weak on crime. So we have beatings, daily humiliations, inadequate food and water, sensory deprivation torture and racist and homophobic guards who are out of control.”

Medical neglect and “extreme, wanton, and malicious abuse of prisoners”—leading in the worst cases to death or suicide; rape, both of women and men—and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment are violations of more than a handful of international treaties and conventions the U.S. has signed onto, including the Convention Against Torture and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners

Educational, vocational and peer programs, proven to reduce recidivism, have been decimated. Furlough no longer exists and GED teachers have been eliminated. Severe cutbacks in library and gym access have been instituted as well as elimination of good time for all but two of the remaining programs. The cruelty of guards and staff remains a primary problem. In addition to physical violence, those in prison are subjected to verbal violence and ridicule for anything from participation in programs, to sexual preference and gender identity.

Behind the walls

“What happens to those behind the wall should matter to anyone and everyone who cares about justice, human and civil rights and dignity, and especially true public safety,” says Mortimer. “I cannot tell you how disturbing it is to hear progressives say that fairness to women is to confine them to shiny, new, state of the art jail cells rather than making sure they have what they need in their communities. We’re willing to spend $43,000 a year to lock someone up, more than we pay for four families on welfare now.

“What about funding human needs, which after all are human rights? What about funding treatment on demand so that folks who cannot afford it do not have to go to jail for help? Those are just two examples of strategies for alleviating overcrowding. Let us remember that, as Sheriff DiPaola embarks on his crusade to sell us unnecessary jails.”

Suggested Reading

Defending Justice, Political Research Associates, www.defendingjustice.org Disproportionate Minority Confinement, ACLU, www.aclu.org Prisons as Social Control, Sisters Inside, www.StopChicopeeJail.org Post Incarceration Syndrome and Relapse,Terence T. Gorski, www.StopChicopeeJail.org Immigration & Incarceration Post 9/11, compiled by APICAW, CA Prison Moratorium Project, et al, www.prisonact.org