Opinion: Why President Obama should take on prison reform
originally published by: AOL News
17th August 2010
In an article recently on AOL News, Paul Wachter posed the question: Will Obama take on prison reform? That’s a great question. It would be hard to predict what Obama actually will do, but this is certain: President Barack Obama absolutely should take on prison reform. It is a moral and practical necessity.
The problems with today’s prisons are well documented. Conditions are deplorable. Here are a few facts:
- Federal prisons are being operated at 160 percent capacity. Mandatory minimum sentences are putting thousands of nonviolent offenders in prison, for disproportionately long terms.
- Approximately two-thirds of prisoners released each year will be back behind bars in some form before three years have passed.
- Mental health care is woefully inadequate.
- Prison rape is a moral outrage rampant across America. More than 60,500 inmates reported sexual abuse in 2007 (the actual number of rapes is likely far higher), and nearly 1 out of every 8 juveniles in custody became a victim of sexual assault from 2008 to 2009, according to a Department of Justice study.
- Most states still allow the shackling of women during labor and delivery, often causing permanent scars. This unnecessary and humiliating procedure is opposed by the American Medical Association, the Rebecca Project for Human Rights and virtually anyone else who knows about it.
In short, the system is not working.
But improving prison conditions faces two big challenges: tight budgets and the unpopularity of compassion for those in prison.
