3 PRISON OVERCROWDING MYTHS

Most of America’s prisons are overcrowded. Some states are under federal court orders to reduce their prison populations. And the current economic crisis is leading other states to reduce their expenditures through the early release of prison inmates, an action The Economist correctly refers to as a "state-sanctioned jailbreak."

Criminal justice "reformers" have long complained that our penal institutions are full of inmates who should never have been confined there in the first place. In their zeal to empty our prisons, these social engineers have besieged the American public with three myths on prison overcrowding.

Myth No. 1: Our prisons are full of inmates doing time for "minor crimes."

Myth No. 2: Our prisons are full of inmates doing time for mere "possession of illegal drugs."

Myth No. 3: Our prisons are full of "non-violent offenders."

The do-gooders claim that offenders serving time for minor crimes and for drug possession, as well as offenders who are non-violent, should do their time in some sort of community corrections program, instead of in prison. They are out of their minds. Here is why their positions are based on myths:

Most of the inmates doing time for "minor crimes" were actually caught and arrested for committing major crimes. Overburdened prosecutors often accept plea bargains in which the charges are reduced so that the offender will do less time in prison. Burglary charges are often reduced to felony theft. Multiple charges are often reduced to just one charge.

Furthermore, what the do-gooders don’t tell you is that most of those doing time for minor crimes have a long prior arrest record, a record which reveals that they are a menace to society. During the guilt-innocence phase of a trial, jurors are rightfully precluded from learning about a defendant’s criminal history. If the defendant is found guilty, however, jurors can be made aware of his criminal past in determining the length of sentence.

Most of the inmates doing time for possession of illegal drugs were actually drug dealers. That poor bastard doing time for possession of pot was really dealing substantial amounts of marijuana. Here again the charges were reduced in the plea bargaining process.

The same is true for those doing hard time for possession of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines. The reformers, overlooking the fact that these are drug dealers, advocate they be committed to community drug rehab programs, instead of being sent to prison.

Do-gooders claim that dope addicts steal and rob only in order to pay for the drugs they use. That is not true! Most of those addicts grew up in a criminal subculture and would have stolen and robbed even if they had neveer used any drugs. So don't shed any tears for those addicts in the joint. They are no longer a menace to society only because they are still locked up.

And what about those "non-violent offenders" who, according to the do-gooders, should be sent to a community correctional program? What a joke! Many of those doing time for a non-violent offense have been previously arrested for committing a crime involving violence.

Let me go back and repeat parts of "Today’s Non-Violent Offender May Be Tomorrow’s Vicious Killer" (9-10-09). Bob Walsh wrote: Trying to define who is and who is not a "non-violent" offender is a crap shoot. Making judgements on the basis of what box we put people in is dangerous (unless the box is a cell, or buried under 6 feet of dirt).

Bob gave this example of that crap shoot: Patrick Burris, who was shot to death in Gastonia, N. C. recently by police had a 25 page rap sheet with NO convictions for violent offenses. He shot the cop who tried to arrest him at first. Forensic evidence tied him to 5 killings in the area in the weeks prior to his death.

Here was my example: Years ago a hot-check artist, whose lengthy arrest record consisted only of bad check charges, tried to pass a bum check at a Houston grocery store. The clerk at the checkout stand dialed up TeleCheck and learned that he was paying for his purchase with a hot check. When the clerk called for the store manager and tried to keep the perp at her station, this "non-violet offender" pulled out a gun and fatally shot her.

So let’s cut out all of this crap about non-violent offenders, about minor crimes and about those poor souls in prison for the mere possession of drugs. We should not let the criminal justice "reformers" get away with perpetrating the myths of why prisons are overcrowded.