Pat Fin is the These Days Producer at KPBS, a PBS member station that is owned by San Diego State University. Recently Finn visited the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, one of California’s state prisons. Here is what she reported learning from her contacts with convicts:
“Not only is prison a fundamentally sad and scary place, but in California it is also deeply counterproductive. Sure there are people who are actually pernicious and evil, and we all should be grateful to those who keep them away from the rest of us. But I believe that most of those in Donovan or San Quentin or Las Colinas are not really like that. I believe that if taught to read, or taught a trade, or discover that hope and parole are not empty words, that good behavior and self-improvement can mean redemption and that rehabilitation is a reality, then most of them -- some of them -- will become what we all want to be -- constructive and productive Americans."
How naïve! Finn, an obvious weeping willow, got conned by a bunch of convicts, something they’re really good at.
6 comments:
I once spent 7 hours discussing the animals in the San Diego Zoo, and I happen to own two cats, which makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject.
More recently, I actually toured the zoo. It is situated on 500 acres of land within the City of San Diego. It ain't the wilds of Africa, but it ain't the Roman Colliseum either.
I observed the animals interacting with each other and theri keepers.
I am firmly convinced that most of these animals....if given potty training....some socialization skills...maybe just a little more affection....would make excellent house pets, especially for families with young children.
I mean....it's like....real expensive to keep them in the zoo and all.
Oh yeah. Those zoo keepers. They deserve every penny they earn.
Maybe Pat is viewing the problem with rose colored glasses; but, comparing inmates to animals in the zoo just exacerbates the problem, not help.
It is this sort of dehumanization which supports the, "lock'em up and through away the key," mindset which has caused the fiscal turmoil that is currently being experienced in California due to spiraling prison costs. Proposition 83-Jessica's law is another example of the consequences of such ideology.
Most of us would agree that we must protect our children but, this law is not accomplishing those goals.
I have to believe that both BarkGrowlBite and Centurion would agree, removing a sex offender from his family home, because he lives too close to a school, and depositing him in a fleabag motel where there are many children, who with their parents, are residing there with vouchers from local welfare agencies because they are homeless.
Where is the safety net? This is what occurs when you dehumanize the offenders, you end up with nonsensical propositions and decisions without the benefit of thorough assessments.
DEFINITION OF PARODY
- amusing imitation: a piece of writing or music that deliberately copies another work in a comic or satirical way
- parodies in general: parodies as a literary or musical style or genre
- poor imitation: an attempt or imitation that is so poor that it seems ridiculous.
Here's another one, from Wikipedia"
A parody (pronounced /ˈpærədiː/; also called send-up or spoof), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon (2000: 7) puts it, "parody … is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text."
I was poking fun at the naivete of the writer, not comparing the inmates to animals Reentrycons. At the notion that nearly all of these poor misunderstood people could, with just a little training, become productive members of society.
Most of our inmates have been arrested several times, have pled down to multiple misdemeanors in the past, and have allready gone through diversionary programs several times before finally being sent to The Big House. I am not making this up. I have seen the rap sheets.
The notion that we, with the right programs, with the right "rehabilitative mindset", can somehow change these people's lives, is laughable.
Inmates in California prisons return at a rate of 70%. For most, it's not a matter of if, but of when they will reoffend.
Blaming society....supposing that with proper education, job training, maybe an anger management class, some forced drug rehabilitation, and Whala....we will produce a productive citizen, is hoplessly naive, and is one of the reasons why incarceration is so expensive in this state.
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