Drug War Used to Fill Nation's Prisons

Drug war used to fill our nation’s prisons
by David Masciotra

The Herald News: April 9, 2008

The United States currently houses 3 million people in prison. No other nation, not even tyrannies with dreadful human rights records, place as many of its citizens in jail. Possessing the world’s largest prison population is morally outrageous and socially embarrassing enough without considering that it goes unmentioned in mainstream politics.

However, a recent slew of social critics, ranging from Noam Chomsky to Newt Gingrich, have condemned America’s "prison-industrial complex," and have advocated sweeping reforms, albeit from different directions.

There is no better place to discuss the "prison-industrial complex" than Joliet, especially given that the Will County Jail is undergoing significant expansion.

New technologies, which enable a smoother booking process, along with additional sleeping units, either have been or will soon be installed at the jail. If something is to be done, it might as well be done correctly, which makes correctional officer Kyle Hastings’ endorsement of the Will County Jail understandable. He called it "one of the most technologically advanced facilities in the country."

Lost in the expansion and booking is the acknowledgement that while public funds are poured into prisons, public schools, services and infrastructure struggle to function properly and are less likely to become "technologically advanced."

Prisons are big business. Congressional representatives refuse to question prison policy because building a new jail in their districts requires a lot of money, and pork for their districts brings them votes. Besides, one never wants to appear "soft on crime."

Prisons also help the local economy by providing a need to open new motels, add new restaurants and bring in other types of businesses.

As long as prisons keep being built, the cells need to be filled, and this nation’s political leadership has predictably and flippantly decided that the best way to do so is to incarcerate young, black men for victimless crimes.

The Herald News recently reported that "drug-related cases account for about 40 percent of all the felonies charged by prosecutors in Kendall and Kane counties." Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti said the "No. 1 felony crime his office charges right now is unlawful possession of a controlled substance."

Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis added that most drug-related crimes are committed by "younger people." Both of these men are simply doing their jobs and are not responsible for America’s public policy failures.

Meanwhile, the Justice Policy Institute reports that although white and black people use drugs at similar rates, blacks are more likely to be arrested on drug charges, more likely to be tried and convicted and ten times more likely to go to prison than whites.

After the power structure has denied inner city blacks the opportunity to attend a good school or find stable work, they are granted some institutional support: food and shelter at Stateville.

The "War on Drugs" is a useless failure that is racist in its execution. Draconian sentencing laws used to fight the war are unfair and harmful to this country’s population and police, who have to dedicate too much time and funds to bang down doors in poor neighborhoods looking for troubled people addicted to self-medicating.

This war should be brought to an immediate halt, taking away the need for hyper prison construction and providing funding and attention for such novel concepts as good schools and workable public support for struggling people. Had such entities existed long ago, perhaps prison expansion would not be necessary and a "war on drugs" would not have seemed worth fighting.

David Masciotra