Decarcerating America
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To help unions navigate the thicket of criminal justice reform, I offer these prospective recommendations when closures seem imminent. The goal is to protect union staff without creating needless roadblocks to reform. These ideas come from my time working at the Service Employees International Union, which represents corrections officers as well as many other professions in the public and private sectors.52
Close Private Prisons First
This is an obvious demand that unions can make as prison populations shrink. It is consistent with the AFL-CIO resolution, and it is fiscally and morally prudent. Private prisons don’t save money, have a history of performance problems, and create conflicts of interest.53 Indeed, the only advantage of private prisons is that they don’t create the same long-term commitment to the workforce. Declining prison populations are the time to use that advantage.
Create a Soft Landing for Employees
If jobs will be lost as a result of prison downsizing, create exit options for affected employees. For more senior employees, offer buyouts or early retirement packages. For the staff at large, offer training options, transfers within the department of corrections, or favorable consideration for other public jobs within the jurisdiction. The goal is to soften the transition.
Allow Unions to Help Choose Which Prisons to Close
Unions should be at the table when decisions are made about which prisons to close and which to retain, offering their perspective and representing the interests of their members. The Pennsylvania Corrections Officers Association has made the case for commissions like the ones used when military bases are shut down to be used when closures are being considered.54 Such a commission can consider prison population projections and security requirements while also considering “the human impact . . . [and] possible economic, environmental, and other effects on the surrounding communities.”55 Indeed, staff in Pennsylvania’s Cresson prison learned of its impending closure from inmates who heard about it on television. That’s no way to ease either personal or community transitions.
Fight for Those Grants
Unions should be at the forefront of asking to create redevelopment grants and transitional assistance for the affected community—not just in any particular closure but as a policy matter for all closures. That’s a better use of effort than fighting closures.
This discussion raises as many questions as it answers, but still, it’s a start. Some of those questions are presently missing from the reform agenda. We can’t decarcerate by changing the justice system alone. As a policy matter, we need alternatives for the prison community in the same way we need alternatives for the sentencing judge and jobs for people coming home. As a political matter, reform will come easier if host communities are allies of change, not enemies. It will be hard to fix the push unless we also work on the pull.
Notes
1. Felicia Krieg, “Hundreds Rally Against Chateaugay Prison Closure,” Press Republican, October 6, 2013.
2. Paul Egan, “Bill Would Allow Private Prison Near Baldwin to Reopen,” Detroit Free Press, April 23, 2015.
3. “Petition Drive Held to Keep Tamms Correctional Center Open,” KFVS-TV, Marion, IL, February 25, 2012.
4. Ryan S. King, Marc Mauer, and Tracy Huling, “Big Prisons, Small Towns: Prison Economics in Rural America,” The Sentencing Project, February 2003, www.sentencingproject.org/doc/inc_bigprisons.pdf.
5. Tracy Huling, “Building a Prison Economy in Rural America,” in Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, ed. Marc Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind (New York: The New Press, 2002).
6. Dan Strumph, “With Fewer to Lock Up, Prisons Shut Doors,” Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2013.
7. States spend $48.7 billion and the federal government spends $9 billion. Counties spend another $26.3 billion on local jails, but they don’t affect rural development in the same way. Tracey Kyckelhahn, “Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts, 2012—Preliminary,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, NCJ 248628, February 26, 2015.
8. “Say No to Closures,” Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 7, 2003, www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/opinion/editorials/2013/08/say-no-to-closures.
9. Ben Jacklet, “Prisontown Myth: The Promise of Prosperity Hasn’t Come True for Oregon’s Rural Communities,” Oregon Business, April 1, 2008; Gregory Hooks et al., “Revisiting the Impact of Prison Building on Job Growth: Education, Incarceration, and County-Level Employment, 1976–2004,” Social Science Quarterly 91, no. 1 (March 2010): 228–44; John Wiley, “Prisons May Not Be Economic Boon,” Spokesman Review, July 18, 2004.
10. Tracy Huling, “Prisons as a Growth Industry in Rural America: An Exploratory Discussion of the Effects on Young African American Men in the Inner Cities,” A Consultation of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, April 15–16, 1999, www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/prisons_as_rural_growth.shtml.
11. Tracy Huling, Yes, in My Backyard, 1999, http://itvs.org/films/yes-in-my-backyard.
12. Ernest Drucker, A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America (New York: The New Press, 2011), 79.
13. Additional information can be found at the Yes, in My Backyard website, maintained by Tracy Huling, www.yesinmybackyard.org.
14. James J. Stephan, “Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, NCJ 222182, October 2008.
15. “Repurposing Prisons: One Architect’s View,” Yes, in My Backyard, May 10, 2013, www.yesinmybackyard.org/2013/05/10/repurposing-prisons-one-architects-view.
16. Michael McMillen, “Adapting Jails and Prisons,” Correctional News, September 12, 2012.
17. Denis Slattery, “Former Bronx Jail to Be Reborn as Reentry Center for Ex-Cons,” New York Daily News, February 1, 2015; Empire State Development Corporation, Economic Transformation Program, http://esd.ny.gov/BusinessPrograms/EconomicTransformation.html.
18. “Managing an Urban Prison Reuse Project,” Yes, in My Backyard, May 22, 2015, www.yesinmybackyard.org/2015/05/22/urban-prison-reuse-project.
19. “Reusing Gainesville Correctional Institution,” Yes, in My Backyard, October 2, 2014, www.yesinmybackyard.org/2014/10/02/reusing-gainesville-correctional-institution; Brianna Donet, “Former Prison to Turn into Homeless Shelter, Expand Nature Center,” WUFT-FM Radio, November 20, 2013.
20. J. Adrian Stanley, “A Transformed Fort Lyon Promises Homeless a Second Chance,” Colorado Springs Independent, September 4, 2013.
21. Ibid.
22. Tracey Porpora, “Construction on Broadway Stages Film Studio Could Start by Year’s End,” SI Live, January 30, 2015.
23. Brushy Mountain Development, http://brushymtngroup.com; “Reusing Brushy Mountain State Prison,” Yes, in my Backyard, October 3, 2014, www.yesinmybackyard.org/2014/10/03/reusing-brushy-mountain-state-prison.
24. Teri Weaver, “New Camp Georgetown Owner Wants to Open Summer Science Camp There,” Syracuse Post-Standard, May 13, 2013; Samantha Allen, “This Former NY Prison May Become a Yoga Retreat Center,” Do You Yoga, n.d., www.doyouyoga.com/this-former-ny-prison-may-become-a-yoga-retreat-center-64937.
25. “Sports Facility Planned at Former Prison,” Warwick Advertiser, September 11, 2014.
26. “File Drawers Replace Felons in Prisons,” Herald and Review, August 10, 2014. The storage facility uses far fewer staff, however.
27. Tory Cooney, “Armory Arts Village in Michigan Used to Be a State Prison. Now It’s an Artists’ Community,” Humanities, July/August 2014; “Case Study: Michigan Prison Transformed into Art Village,” Yes, in My Backyard, March 20, 2013, www.yesinmybackyard.org/2013/03/20/case-study-michigan-prison-transformed-into-art-village.
28. Kirk Pinho, “Redico Plans $150 Million Redevelopment of Former Women’s Prison Site in Northville,” Crain’s Detroit Business, June 2, 2015.
29. Fulton County Center for Regional Growth, Tryon Business Park, www.fccrg.org/parks/tryon-business-park; “Governor Cuomo Authoriz
es Transfer of Tryon Boys and Girls Center to Fulton County IDA,” news release, Office of the Governor, New York State, September 20, 2012.
30. Von Diaz, “A Unique Alternative to a Prison Economy,” Colorlines, September 23, 2013.
31. Milk Not Jails, https://milknotjails.wordpress.com.
32. Growing for Change, www.growingchange.org/reclaim-attain-sustain/site-usage.
33. Tracey Kyckelhahn, “State Corrections Expenditures, FY 1982–2010,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, NCJ 239672, December 2012; Kyckelhahn, “Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts, 2012—Preliminary.” Figures in real dollars.
34. The Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-in-Sentencing (VOI/TIS) Incentive Formula Grant Program ran from FY 1996 through 2001; www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=93. See also “Report to Congress: Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-In-Sentencing Incentive Formula Grant Program,” Bureau of Justice Assistance, February 2012.
35. Maggie Haberman, “Hillary Clinton Unveils $30 Billion Plan to Help Coal Towns,” New York Times, November 12, 2015.
36. Yes, in My Backyard is starting this dialogue, www.yesinmybackyard.org.
37. James Austin and Michael Jacobson, “How New York City Reduced Mass Incarceration: A Model for Change?” Brennan Center, January 2013.
38. Budget testimony of Anthony Annucci, New York Department of Corrections, February 5, 2014, http://assembly.state.ny.us/write/upload/files/testimony/20140205/20140205-PublicProtection-Annucci.pdf.
39. Empire State Development Corporation, Economic Transformation Program, http://esd.ny.gov/BusinessPrograms/EconomicTransformation.html; fact sheet, http://esd.ny.gov/_private/BusinessPrograms/Data/Economic_Transformation/ETAProgramFactSheetFinalforwebupdated4714.pdf; Guidelines 2014, http://esd.ny.gov/BusinessPrograms/Data/Economic_Transformation/2014Guidelines_v8_FINAL.pdf.
40. Slattery, “Former Bronx Jail to Be Reborn.”
41. “Managing an Urban Prison Reuse Project.” The ESDC is the Empire State Development Corporation, the entity in charge of the Economic Transformation Program.
42. USDA, Rural Business Cooperative Service, www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-business-cooperative-service.
43. Rural Health Information Hub, www.ruralhealthinfo.org. Formerly the Rural Assistance Center.
44. Center for Rural Pennsylvania, www.rural.palegislature.us; Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, www.iira.org.
45. Citizens Institute on Rural Design, www.rural-design.org.
46. Rebecca Thorpe, “Perverse Politics: The Persistence of Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-first Century,” Perspectives on Politics 13, no. 3 (September 2015): 618–37.
47. Prison Policy Initiative, www.prisonersofthecensus.org/impact.html. The author is president of the board.
48. Robert Scott, “The Manufacturing Footprint and the Importance of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs,” Economic Policy Institute, Briefing Paper #388, January 22, 2015.
49. E.g., Richard Freeman et al, “Bargaining for the American Dream: What Unions do for Mobility,” Center for American Progress, September 2015.
50. AFSCME Q & A, www.umass.edu/local1776/Flyers,%20Updates%20%26%20Documents_files/AFSCME%20Q%20%26%20A.htm.
51. AFL-CIO Resolution 17, 2013, “Prisons and Profits—The Big Business Behind Mass Incarceration,” www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/Conventions/2013/Resolutions-and-Amendments/Resolution-17-Prisons-and-Profits-The-Big-Business-Behind-Mass-Incarceration.
52. None of this is official SEIU policy.
53. E.g., Michigan Corrections Organization et al., “Pitfalls and Promises: The Real Risks to Residents and Taxpayers of Privatizing Prisons and Prison Services in Michigan,” National Institute of Corrections, February 2012, http://nicic.gov/library/027650. One inherent conflict is between taxpayers and free society, with an interest in lower incarceration, and a for-profit corporation with an interest in more.
54. Jason Bloom, “Pennsylvania’s Prison Workers Deserve Better,” Centre Daily Times, August 22, 2013.
55. Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, www.brac.gov.
Acknowledgments
Ernest Drucker: I would like to acknowledge my own gratitude to each of the authors for sharing their huge store of experience and knowledge about decarceration in this single volume as well as all the efforts of our New Press editors, Diane Wachtell and Jed Bickman. I’d also like to thank the many Soros Justice Fellows and OSF leadership who have made my own work possi ble for many years, and my academic colleagues at Montefiore/Einstein, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and NYU’s College of Global Public Health, who provided so much support and inspiration to me in this enterprise. To name just a few: Herb Sturz, Bryan Stevenson, Eric Manheimer, Howard Josepher, Jeremy Travis, Jeff Coots, Alice Cini, Ric Curtis, Baz Dreisinger, Glenn Martin, Vivian Nixon, Joanne Page, and Max Kenner. Finally, I want to dedicate this book to two dear friends who are no longer with us: Marianne Kennedy and Pyser Edelsack.
Judith A. Greene and Vincent Schiraldi: The authors would like to thank David Aziz, research director, NY Department of Corrections and Community Supervision; Reagan Daly, research director, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance; Brian Leung, senior operations analyst, Fresh Direct; Freda Solomon, senior research fellow, NY Criminal Justice Agency; and Eric Sorenson, population research director, NYC Department of Correction.
Michael Romano: I’d like to thank my great friend, mentor, and partner in crime data analysis, Joan Petersilia.
Judge Robert Sweet: I would like to thank my mentor, the Honorable J. Edward Lumbard, for his deep understanding and dedication to criminal justice.
Danielle Sered: My thinking is indebted to many hardworking visionaries in the criminal justice reform movement. Particular thanks are owed to the formidable team at Common Justice and to the harmed and responsible parties who have taught us in our work. While any mistakes are my own, any insights are surely shared.
Elizabeth Gaynes and Tanya Krupat: The authors extend their deepest gratitude to Jomo Davis, Emani Davis, Kathy Boudin, Ann Adalist-Estrin, Daniel Beaty, Echoes of Incarceration, SFCIPP, Ebony Underwood, Tony Lewis Jr., and many more people who light the path forward. We also thank Diana Archer, Allison Hollihan, St. James Church, and the Sills Family Foundation.
Ross MacDonald and Homer Venters: Dr. MacDonald and Dr. Venters would like to acknowledge their supportive families for tolerating their work in jail over the years as well as the contributions of countless inspiring colleagues, including, among countless others, Zachary Rosner, Elizabeth Ford, Fatos Kaba, Amanda Parsons, and Patricia Yang.
Mujahid Farid and Laura Whitehorn: We thank the countless strugglers who laid the foundation we stand upon. This foundation is the uplifting of voices of currently and formerly incarcerated people and the disenfranchised. For far too long these vital views were ruthlessly diminished. All who paved the path to uplift must be credited with bringing to light the issues we present in the RAPP perspective.
Daliah Heller: The generosity and intelligence of so many people in my life over the past two decades—in the harm reduction community, in governmental public health, in advocacy and organizing, in research and academia—helped me to develop the ideas presented in this chapter. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Contributors
Ernest Drucker is a professor of public health at New York University’s College of Global Public Health; professor emeritus in the department of family and social medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; visiting scholar at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; and a Fulbright Fellow and senior specialist in global public health. He is the author of A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America (The New Press). Drucker is a founder of the International Harm Reduction Association, founding editor of Harm Reduction Journal, former chairman of Doctors of the World/USA, and a Soros Justice Fellow of the Open Society Foundations. He lives in New York City.
Natasha A. Frost serves as associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University and teaches in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She has served as a consultant for the Massachusetts State Parole Board, worked collaboratively with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and done studies for the National Institute of Justice. Her book The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America, co-authored with Todd R. Clear, was published in 2014 (NYU Press). She lives in Massachusetts.
Todd R. Clear is provost of Rutgers University-Newark; previously, he was dean of the School of Criminal Justice. His most recent book is The Punishment Imperative with Natasha Frost (NYU Press). Clear has served as president of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice. He was the founding editor of the journal Criminology & Public Policy, published by the American Society of Criminology. He lives in New Jersey