Another OpEd from the Macon Telegraph

August 3, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged Inmates, Macon Telegraph, OpEd

The below comes from the Macon Telegraph. Macon is not quite two hours south of the state capital, Atlanta.

Posted on Sun, Aug. 02, 2009

Human throwaways

I’m rarely shocked, one of the advantages and disadvantages of advancing age. I’ve been witness to several signs of social decline, but Friday, while listening to Warren Selby, head of Crimestoppers, he hit me and our audience on the Mix in the Morning with statistics that took be aback.Selby asked Kenny and I what nation had the highest rate of incarceration and probation? Iran, Iraq, Russia and Mexico came to mind, but I had a sneaky suspicion that it was the good old United States. I was right.

Selby then asked, “What state has the highest rate of people in prison or under court supervision?” This one was harder. Kenny guessed California. I thought New York or Texas. All good guesses, and all wrong. The answer is Georgia.

Selby then asked the coup de grãce: “What county had the highest inceration or court-ordered supervison rate?” Atlanta is first in everything else, so I thought Fulton County. Nope. Kenny suggested several rural counties. Wrong. The answer? Bibb County.

Here are the raw stats Selby gave us. The United States leads the world by incarcerating one out of every 31 citizens. Georgia leads the nation by having one out of every 13 resident under some sort of court-ordered supervision. Bibb leads the other 158 Georgia counties by having one in nine citizens either in jail or on probation. And we wonder why our new jail facility is already at capacity?

The above statistics don’t have to be viewed as a negative. The numbers could easily point to the great job law enforcement does in the nation, state and county. However, it could also point to weaknesses in our system of justice.

For far too long we have been on a “throw ‘em in jail and lose the key” mode, and we are seeing the results of that attitude.

According to “Prison Reentry in Georgia” by the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, “Between 1982 and 2002, Georgia prison population more than tripled, increasing from 13,884 to 46,534 people. The per capita rate of imprisonment… rose from 219 to 538 per 100,000 residents… between 1980 and 2000, an increase of over 150 percent.”

Things have changed since 2002. As of last week, there were 52,336 active offenders in Georgia, according to the Department of Corrections.

For many of the incarcerated, the stint they are serving isn’t the first time they’ve been on this merry-go-round. In 2002, 49 percent of released prisoners had been incarcerated before. Twenty-eight percent were on their second, third or fourth go ’round.

The Department of Corrections has programs in place to help inmates return to society, and now there is another tool each inmate should receive when they are inducted: “Leaving Prison for Good” by Bibb County commissioner, local pastor and attorney Lonzy Edwards.

In 142 pages, Edwards provides a guide for getting out of the justice system and staying out,

Self-education is at the core of his ideas. Only 19 percent of inmates have a high school diploma or GED upon their release, but Edwards gets more personal by addressing issues of growth, resonsibility and reconcilliation.

There are also systemic changes that should be implemented in our justice system. Our lock ’em up attitude puts many folks in jail when a day reporting center, where the offender could keep his job, would do just as well. Or something as simple as lowering bail amounts could ease jail overcrowding. It costs Bibb County taxpayers about $50 a day to house and feed inmates at the Law Enforcement Center.

Throwing away the keys is leading us to national, state and local bankruptcy. We must do something different.

Charles E. Richardson is the Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via e-mail at crichardson@macon.com.