--- Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I have been reading "I Cried You Didn't Listen"
> by Dwight Abbott. Anyone who wants to know about
> prisons in the U.S. should read this
> book. Abbott has been incarcerated for most of
> his life. He first entered the system when his
> parents were both badly injured in an auto
> accident. He was taken to California Youth
> Authority because the relative his parents had
> left him and his siblings with was deemed unfit to
> care for them.
>
> In other words, Abbott, at the age of nine, was
> incarcerated through absolutely no fault of his
> own. As he says here in an explanation of why he
> wrote the book, most people in California prisons
> have been in and out of the system since they
> were minors. (Anticipating the argument that
> Abbott's innocence is the exception, I would say
> that neither are most minors who enter Youth
> Authority for the first time dangerous threats to
> society).
[WS:] I'm sorry, but I do not find this believable. I did not read the book, so I cannot comment on the book itself, but what you wrote above simply does not seeem to be true. Foster care/children's shelters are NOT incarceration, as anyone familair with the social service system in this country knows. They have many shortcomings, to be sure, and the clients often end up in prison when they leave foster care - but that is a result of lack of proper parenting (due to neglect, abuse, or in some case death of the parents) rather than foster care being extension of the correctional system. In most states, AFIK, foster care is even run by a different agency - department of public welfare or children and youth rather than the department of corrections (otoh, in the Santa Clara County, CA where I used to work as a consultant, the children's shelter was run by the sheriff's department and there was a big uproar to transfer it to the department of social services.) Only pampered star-eyed liberals who never came even near the social service system can belive that foster care is incarceration.
But more importnatly, the very fact that the guy wrote this book (and for that matter other ex-prionsers-turned-auteurs) means that prison system works, at least in some cases. These are supposed to be correctional facilities not vacation spas, and if the harsh conditions there made the guy mend his ways and become a productive member of society - as evidenced by the fact that he became a published writer - testifies to the effectiveness of the correctional aspect of this instituion, no?
Contrary to what you may think, I do take seriously what you post on this subject. For example, I liked what you posted about the relationship between work and crime and I commented on it favorably, if you did not notice. But this "compassion for criminals" stuff just ain't cutting it. Why should I feel compassion toward those who prey on other people? Tell me. I am all ears.
I happen to share your view that our prison system is not working as advertised, in fact, it is quite counterproductive, but not because I feel any compassion toward the inmates. My far bigger concern is as about the future victims of the inmates (or perhaps a fair share of them anyway) currently hardening in prisons and then being released to (or perhaps unleashed on) the communities.
Wojtek
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