American Jail - A Matter of Luck?

americanjail3.jpg

There are 2.3 million people in American jails and prisons.

Another 7 million are on probation or parole…

“Why are we spending 80 billion dollars on a prison industry that we know is failing, when we could take that money and reallocate it into education, into mental health treatment, into substance abuse treatment and to community investment so we can develop our neighbourhoods? It costs 109,000 dollars in some states to lock up a teenager for a year, with a 60 percent chance that that person will return to the very same system. That is a terrible return on investment.”

Adam Foss

Last Thursday I visited the Humanity House in the Hague (definitely worth a visit) to watch a documentary called “American Jail” by Roger Ross Williams about the injustice in the criminal justice system in the US. Six years ago I watched a TEDTalks that sparked my interest in the topic, this was given by David R. Row who spoke about “Lessons from death row inmates” and I never forgot the moral of the story, to place more emphasis on the education and child care at an earlier stage to prevent crimes before they happen.

“Well, you can pay me now or you can pay me later. What we're doing in the death penalty system is we're paying later. For every 15,000 dollars that we spend intervening in the lives of economically and otherwise disadvantaged kids in those earlier chapters, we save 80,000 dollars in crime-related costs down the road.”

David R. Row

american jail4.jpg

Not only is it interesting to consider the economical aspect, but also other factors such as politics. The documentary introduces a unique historical angle, where politicians use mass incarceration as a form of social control, by associating hippies with drugs and coloured people with violence and criminalising more activities. It was a way to prevent rebellions, protests and revolutions against the system.

From my perspective, we’re all people and everyone has a story. It’s insane to think how your entire future is (almost) as good as fixed before you’re even old enough to speak. Had I not been adopted or had it been different parents, who knows where I might’ve ended up. Same goes for everyone and it’s heartbreaking to think how dependent our futures are on luck or the chance of being born in the right place and circumstances. Additionally, it’s also distressing to think how one wrong choice could change your entire life and is dependent on a such a biased system.

Unfortunately six years later, regardless the constant development in SDGs, discussions and emphasis placed on equality and poverty alleviation, the problem persists. In the documentary, Roger interviews a prosecutor, Adam Foss, with a very unique perspective, namely the role of the prosecutor in the criminal justice system and their lack of appreciation for the impact of their decisions, regardless of their intent. On the bright side, people like Adam Foss also have the power to help people in an unlucky situation get out of it and give them new opportunities, as well as educate other prosecutors and have a positive impact on reforming the system.

Prosecutors are the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. Our power is virtually boundless. The decision to arraign Christopher and give him a criminal record was exclusively mine. I would choose whether to prosecute him for 30 felonies, for one felony, for a misdemeanour, or at all. These are decisions that prosecutors make every day unfettered, and we are unaware and untrained of the grave consequences of those decisions.

Adam Foss

Of course, it’s all a very complicated system but to some extent the solution seems quite simple. The amounts of money that they are talking about seems like enough money to send the same person to university in the US. In the documentary they compare the American system to the Dutch system, where prisons are closing due to lack of inmates and are aimed at reintegration rather than punishment. System reformation could reduce crimes and institutionalisation and improve education and equality. So there’s economic and societal benefits, what’s to lose?

If you’re interested in the TEDTalk by Adam Foss click the image above or here or click here for the TEDTalk by David R. Row.