If there is someone who knows the criminal justice system – from both ends – it is Bernard Kerik. A one-time beat cop in New York City’s 14th Division, Kerik rose through the ranks to serve on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s security detail in the early 1990s.
Park Avenue. Soho. Chelsea. Midtown.
Rikers Island?
When one thinks of exclusive addresses in New York City, the first thing that likely comes to mind is a penthouse overlooking Central Park, or perhaps an historic brownstone in a trendy part of town.
These are difficult days to be a prison official.
As prison populations have exploded in the last decade, many departments of corrections have had to deal with budgetary cutbacks and fewer resources in their attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and to prepare them for release.
“How do people forgive a crime like murder?” The headline from a BBC News Magazine story asks a question that most of us hope we never have to answer, but it is a question that we would all be wise to ponder.
“[The] vast prison-industrial complex has succeeded in reducing crime but is a blunt instrument,” National Review columnist Rich Lowry writes in a recent online article. “Prison stays often constitute a graduate seminar in crime, and at the very least, the system does a poor job preparing prisoners to return to the real world.”
Speaking to a gathering of the American Bar Association in San Francisco on August 12, Attorney General Eric Holder announced sweeping changes to current sentencing practices that will allow for greater flexibility and eliminate “mandatory minimum” sentencing for many non-violent offenders.
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Every year, over 700,000 inmates are released from state and federal prisons across the United States. The joy of their new freedom, however, is tempered by the realization that substantial roadblocks remain to successful reintegration. The stigma of being an ex-prisoner makes it hard to find regular employment or housing, and the temptation to return to old friends and old habits is always present.
The total number of inmates in state and federal prisons in the United States decreased by 1.7 percent in 2012, according to a new report issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. It is the third consecutive annual decrease, following three decades of growth.
Sandow Birk is an artist specializing in 19th Century landscapes, particularly of his native California. For a recent exhibition, however, Birk has turned his attention from bucolic vineyards and peaceful coastlines to a somewhat unexpected subject – the landscapes of the state’s prisons.
More than 12,000 prisoners in the California correctional system have entered into a hunger strike to protest solitary confinement practices in the state’s prisons. The hunger strike is the largest of its kind in California history, nearly doubling a similar hunger strike in 2011.
The long-running PBS children’s show Sesame Street has added a new character.
On a recent show, Alex, a young boy, reveals to his friends that his father is in prison. “All this talk about my dad and where he is got me really upset,” he tells them, “… [I’m upset] because of where he is … he’s in jail.”
How important is it for inmates to foster and develop artistic creativity behind bars? In a recent article for philly.com, Stephanie Ogrodnik asserts that in-prison art, landscaping, and writing programs serve an important role in preparing inmates for release, changing the way they see the world around them, and even facilitating reconciliation between prisoners and victims.
On a broadcast of PBS’ Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, PFM Senior Vice President Pat Nolan offers his thoughts on the incarceration of mentally ill inmates, and the Christian obligation to reach out in love to those in need behind bars.
“You know, Jesus said, ‘I was naked, and you clothed me.
What impact does imprisoning young offenders have on their development and maturation? A new study by economists Anna Aizer and Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. indicates that juvenile detention is not the deterrent desired by law enforcement officials, but actually increases the odds of recidivism while reducing the possibility that they will graduate from high school.
Being a father is hard work. Today’s dads have to be part counselor, part confidant, part disciplinarian, part encourager, part teacher, and part advocate. A good dad has to be aware of all the things happening in his kids’ lives, and be available when those kids have questions, concerns, or fears.
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