California Prisoners: Mr. Kelso's VIPs?

So, I blogged about the incarcerated men in the USofA on June 25. Big time! I thought of not writing another one on the topic, but I am appalled with the news (Pasadena Star News, Aug. 14) that Clark Kelso, the Federal Court Overseer, asked a judge to seize $8 billion from California treasury to improve the medical care at state's prisons. To make it more shocking, Mr. Kelso also asked the court to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state comptroller in contempt of court if they don't allocate the money soon.

California is cash-strapped. In fact, couple of weeks ago, hundreds of state employees were in Sacramento, the state capital, to protest against the plan of the governor to lower their salaries to minimum wage rate, because there's very little money to disburse.

What is Mr. Kelso thinking? While the law-abiding constituents are having problem getting medical emergency care (with closures of many E.Rs, most have to travel many miles and wait for at least 4 hours, before they could be seen by E.R. doctors), having problem refilling their prescribed medication (many have to even cross the border to get cheaper refills), having problem convincing the state not to cut more on the educational budget and not to lower their salaries to minimum wage, he has the nerve to ask a judge for such drastic and preposterous action.

Certainly, those people at the pen needs medical care, but they should not be treated special. They are at the pen to be punished. They are there to be deterred from committing more crimes. They are there to be incapacitated. They are there to be rehabilitated. To give them best services is incongruous to these four objectives of the criminal justice system. Why not just provide them their basic needs and use that $8 billion to Californians, who are outside the pen? Thousands of law-abiding citizens can barely make both ends meet. Consequently, more and more of those outside the pen are now resorting to OTC (over-the-counter) medication, just taking analgesics for undiagnosed pain, because they are uninsured and cannot stand the travel to and long wait in emergency rooms.

Mr. Kelso should have asked the court to seize that money for the sake of Californians, who are outside the state prison. They are the ones who really need help so that they can continue paying taxes to keep felons off the street. Yes, felons in these 33 state prisons have constitutional rights for better medical services; however, the law-abiding citizens have more rights to be served better.

Rehabilitating Incarcerated Men: A Mismatch of Expectation?

Hey guys,

I am posting one of my early poems, which reflects the concern of almost all incarcerated me whom I talked with, while I was a volunteer-in-training at the Mark Stiles Unit in Beaumont, Texas.

THE CAGE AND I

The big cage chained arms were gently opened
Releasing learned bird for a crisp, fresh air
Expecting trees with welcoming spirits
Hoping acceptance;forgetting the past.

'The big cage gave me opportunities,'
Said one, 'I realized my immorality!'
Repented and treated, while at the pen,
Ready to enjoy freedom with the sage.

Indeed, for a short time, I enjoyed liberty
Soaring up the sky, chirping good old songs.
Climate changed, my spirit gloomed!
Freedom wasn't good; the cage I now longed.

Flying 'round the forest looking for a tree
To understand me. All now abhor me.
Forget-me-not closed itself completely.
All I thought before, she still needs me.

Heart yearnings for a better tomorrow
Like forget-me-not, leaves curled, became hollow.
Distance myself even to my fellow swallows..
In solitude, ended up crying in the meadow.

Comfortable niche was hard to find
Skills learned at the cage, unappealing.
No more free banana; no one's providing.
I ended up flying from tree to tree maligned.

Hunger took its toll consequently;
Dreams of the cage coming relentlessly.
Thoughts of abundant food, it pushed me...
Hit again a tree to go back in rapidly.

The big cage is surely my place to be.
Limiting, but I'm feed abundantly.
Freedom outside isn't nectar or a tea.
Trees don't want me. Please don't blame me.

(c)2007 edmund melig industan

I will never forget that day when a caucasian guy in his 40s, who's soon to be released. He tightly held my hand before I prayed for him. Then, he said," Please keep remembering me. There are times that I am afraid to think that soon I will be free. I don't know how the outside world would accept me. I am afraid that I won't survive. I learned more livelihood skills while here; however, I am afraid that nobody would give me a chance to use it and better myself."

Now, what's wrong with such feeling from a tough guy?

With rehabilitation as the goal, the American criminal justice system has been providing educational services and opportunities to the incarcerated men. Some even received their associate and baccalaureate degrees while at the pen. Don't you think there is a mismatch with what the justice system has been extending to rehabilitate those in the pen and the society's treatment with those, who has been out of the pen?

Needing More Space in Jail? Don't Make it as a Dormitory of the Privilege!

Anna Gorman, a Los Angeles Times staff writer, wrote last Sunday, June 22, 2008, that the L.A. County is expanding its screening at the county jail. The main goal is to determine who needs to be deported after serving time. The subsidiary goal is to free up jail beds.

Deportation is a good way of freeing up jail beds, but one more thing that the state has to consider is the privileges that it is currently giving to these incarcerated men and women. While ACLU/So. California's legal director reported on April 24, 2007 that the current jail conditions is inconsistent with basic human values, thereby, associating the L.A. Men's Central Jail as a version of Devil's island, my observation in the mid-90s of the American prison is the complete opposite.

I know that the condition, at least, at Mark Stiles Unit in Beaumont, Texas wasn't despicable and inhuman. I regularly visited the unit on weekends in mid-90s, as a volunteer chaplain, who later became a member of an interim committee of the unit's proposed literacy program. There was a time that all the volunteer chaplains-in-training were invited to dine with the inmates as part of the orientation. Being my first, I immediately was shocked to see the place. The entire jail and the inmates were clean, and the mess hall was excellent. As I saw the food, I forgot that I was in a pen. I thought that I was in an immaculately clean fast food restaurant. There were lots of steaming food: mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob, meat loaf, steak, fish, vegetables, and dessert. As a family man and a newly-hired Filipino teacher with the Port Arthur Independent School District, my mind immediately contrasted what I saw. American prisons are a paradise, while Philippine jails (and pretty sure, other developing countries) is a Devil's island, a place where inhabitants are deprived of food, sleep, and sanitation. American prisons are first-class dormitories, while the Philippine jails are pigpens. American prisons have five-star restaurants; most Philippine jails do not even have a closed mess hall. (Incarcerated men squat, while eating. They do not have enough food to go around, just like what people see in the TV program, Prison Break. A group of the prisoners, with the closed watch of armed prison guards, even have to push carts around town to collect any leftovers from the restaurants in mid-day.) Incarcerated men are well-fed, while averaged working people outside the pen can even hardly get by with the salary they receive at the end of the day. Incarcerated felons in the U.S. are the privileged ones; most working people, who pay taxes to keep bad people off the streets are impoverished. No wonder, most of those felons that I have dealt with on one-on-one counseling, were ambivalent in terms of getting out of jail. They knew that life at the pen is easy and care-free than life outside the pen. No wonder, recidivism is high. The Los Angeles Times reported in May 20,2008 that there were 16,000 inmates in Los Angeles county, who were rearrested ( and charged with new crimes)since the large-scale releases started in mid-2002.

Don't you think it is high time for us to really consider how to properly treat our incarcerated men and women? Rehabilitation is our main goal, but that does not mean we have to pamper them with all the 'goodies' while at the pen, that they would rather prefer to commit another crime, soon after they are released, because life outside the penitentiary is harsh and tough. Pampering them with all the amenities, that even those law-abiding citizens have been deprived of, is not rehabilitation at all. Having them realize that life at the pen is a punishment and not a dormitory of the privileged ones would surely bring them to their senses...to think twice before they'd commit another crime. This way, we might have more beds in jails.