This newsletter/blog is unusual for me. I am extremely grateful that I have no direct experience about the subject matter — recidivism. To come back to jail means that you have been in jail. And I haven’t — though every time I stand up at a nonviolent protest to protest injustice there is a part of me that wonders whether I will end up in jail.
Being arrested does not necessarily mean that you have done anything wrong. In fact, especially in current days, it may mean that you are doing something very right. Not that current protests (yet) approach the dangers of protests in the 1960s. Or the labor protests in the U.S. in the early 1900s. Being convicted does not mean that you are guilty. When discussing a person’s record, it is more accurate (and fair) to say they have been convicted of a crime.
As part of a book club in which I participate with my wonderful wife, we often read books that I would not choose. Although I would have to admit, if asked, that I sometimes verge on the edge of doomscrolling (currently very difficult to avoid without ignoring the entire outside world), in my books/movies I veer towards the opportunity to move away from conflicts, difficulties, and tragedies. But book clubs often choose such — perhaps because such topics give more to discuss. One such book is “The Many Lives of Mama Love” by Lara Love Hardin. I won’t reveal many details of the book because I hate to give out spoilers but let’s say that it is a book of “move smoothly, stop at roadblock, work around roadblock, move smoothly again, …”. And there are a LOT of such roadblocks in the book.
There are other books, and movies, about the effects of having a jail record. In the movie “Ant Man”, Scott Lang (who is this universe’s Ant Man) faces the problem of not being able to get a job because of his jail record. It doesn’t even matter if his area of conviction has no relevance to the job position. Large corporations do this for liability reasons and they are not noted for compassion. Smaller companies have more options but they, also, have the tendency to use the old adage of “better safe than sorry”. (This is, of course, from the company’s point-of-view.) This is played, in the movie, as comedy but the realities are quite tragic.
Please note that this essay only applies to middle income people and the poor. In the U.S., the rich have a different justice system (not in theory but very much in fact). Their penalties (if any) are not even close to proportionate to the penalties given to the less wealthy. Corporate penalties are often completely laughable — so much so that the companies have very little incentive to not commit crimes. A million dollar fine sounds like a lot to a poor person but it sounds like nothing when it is less than a day’s profits. A crooked con person steals millions of dollars from poorer people, destroying their lives or retirement, and goes to minimum security jail for three years. Someone poor steals a car for resale in order to have food to feed their family and goes to jail for ten years in maximum security. “Les Miserables” is not just a historic book and film. It continues to reflect the truth of society.
Assume that you were convicted based upon a law that you broke rather than for something that you had nothing to do with. Further assume that it was a law that makes sense — that the crime affected other people and, thus, would be a bad thing for you to do again. Once you have completed the required penance, there truly is a large percentage (it depends on the state, but as high as 61%) of people who commit similar crimes once again and go back to jail (recidivism). There are no statistics as to how many actually wanted to commit the crime again.
What? Why would a former convict commit a crime if they didn’t want to? Sometimes it is because it is the only thing they know how to do. A con person is best at being a con person. An embezzler can most easily embezzle. A drug addict may find themselves unable to resist the attractions of the drug. More often, however, it is because almost all legal options of earning money are denied them. What are the difficulties that they can (and probably will) face?
Forever. Google (or any other search engine) means never able to say you are sorry. Unless you have a brand new legally searchable identity, anyone will be able to track down your past. And you can only get a new legally searchable identity through a “Witness Protection: situation or via someone who is able to illegally change, and enter, records into appropriate government databases. And the “Internet is forever”. This will likely affect the ability to work, relationships, general reputation and the ability to move on from the past. And it doesn’t matter if you were innocent or guilty, whether it was a crime against injustice or a crime against people.
The “Big Net”. If the bureaucracy can use you, they will. Let’s say that you committed Identity Fraud by stealing (or buying from the Dark Web) credit information that allowed you to illegally access fund or create new fraudulent credit liens. Once arrested, there may be other unsolved identity fraud cases. The authorities need to only prove specific crimes but they can add on whatever similar crimes they wish. After all, if they can prove that you did SOME crimes, can you PROVE that you didn’t do the other similar crimes? They get to take it off their books as now having been solved and you get to pay for someone else’s misdeeds.
Finances. Who do think does the work in a prison? Yes, there are wardens, and guards, and repair people, and such. But who cleans the cells, prepares the food, does the laundry and so forth? If you guessed inmates, you win a prize. In our peculiar mechanisms of capitalism, if everyone released from prison never came back, the prison system would collapse. Taxes would have to go up to have paid labor do these jobs. Whenever, in capitalism, more money is made/saved by doing something stupid rather than doing something well — guess what usually wins out?
Also, the cost to the government (state or federal, which means taxpayers) is between $25,000 and $300,000 per inmate. How much does added educational and social support cost, and child care, and so forth to support people as they make their way in society? Yes, a lot less. Prison makes no sense within a capitalist economy and education and social support make a lot of sense. I have no solutions to propose — that is just a side-effect of U.S. capitalism and social policies.
Income. As discussed briefly in a previous blog/newsletter, prisons/jails are allowed to lease out inmates. They perform jobs at prices that go into the prison’s budget (or to stockholders for private prisons). Keeping a good supply of prisoners is healthy for the bottom line.
Employment. As already mentioned, it is hard for a person with a criminal record to get a job. It’s a circular societal problem. In theory, they want you to begin a great life free of crime. On the other hand — “not in my neighborhood” — few people are willing to take ANY risk to hire someone with a criminal record. (The rich don’t need to worry about being hired, of course.)
Bureaucracy. The system has a lot of very loving, caring individuals that want the convicted person to be released and succeed. However, the system as a whole makes it very difficult. Had trouble getting, and paying for, childcare before you were convicted? Wait until you try now. You have to attend two different meetings with two different departments 50 miles apart from each other? You have no car and they want you to meet at both places at the same time or you violate probation? Some individuals may care but the system doesn’t and they don’t want to hear excuses.
Society. Your friends all wanted you to do drugs, commit small crimes, and so forth? Stay away from them. What, they are the only people you know and if you try to make other friends, you are in a catch-22. If you tell them about your record, there is a good chance they will avoid you. If you do NOT tell them and they find out later they are likely to be mad, ostracize you, and malign you to everyone they know. So much for support groups. Family is a likely potential source of support — except, if they didn’t support you before are they really likely to support you afterwards?
Exceptions happen. People do succeed after being released. They are the exception and are a variant of the vanishing urban legend of the “rags to riches” story.
If a person really does do the penance for a crime (defined as having broken a law — or convicted of such whether you actually did it or not) then why do we keep a manacle on them for the rest of their lives?
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