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Can Prisons
Succeed When
Society Has
Failed?
Our jails and prisons are failing . Who is to blame?
Sorne
soy
the prisons. Others, the criminals inside.
lsn't it time we examined the real CAUSE?
H
s
NAME
is James C., age
24.
He
has spenr
90
percenc of his
time behind bars since his
family broke up about ten years ago.
Today, James C. is more than capable
of blowing a safe, carving a spoon
inro a dagger, smuggling dope inco
prison, and srealing cars by crossing
the ignicion wires. He says there is no
crime he cannot now commic with
considerable finesse, thanks ro che in–
service craining he received from
ocher inmares in prison.
Look at the Record
Most prisons, inscead of helping
correct criminal behavior, have
become breeding grounds of crime
and violence. The whole prison sys–
rem is, in rhe words of Presidenc
Nixon, "a convincing case of failure."
Whar are che reasons for their fail–
ure?
Who is ar fault - rhe prisoners,
che guards, che prison administracors'
PLAIN TRUTH September-October 1972
society itself!
by
Will iam R. Whikehort
Photography
by
Don Lorton
Or, have we been focusing on rhe
ejfects
in prison when we should have
discovered che
causes
in sociecy thac
produce a criminal in the first place?
Have we asked the prisom to do what
society outside has fai/ed to
do?
It's rime we soberly faced rhe faces.
Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind
For mosc people, che minoricy
behind bars is ouc-of-sight, our-of–
mind - ouc-of-mi nd, chat is, uncil
dramarically chrust inco rhe public
spotlighc by a rioc or revele such as
occurred ac Attica, New York, where
43 men lose cheir lives.
Yec, mosc prisoners evenrually
rerurn to sociecy where (in sorne
na rions) up ro cwo out of chree are re–
arrested for another crime wichin five
years of release. This vicious cycle
speaks for icself. Mosc of rhose put
behind prison walls are already sig–
nificandy lacking in self-concrol and
personal responsibiliry. Mosr who are
released are srill unable or unwilling
ro discipline their minds, emocions,
and behavior.
Acrually, prisons are attempting ro
accomplish a seemingly impossible
task: roocing out ingrained characcer
defecrs formed over years in a faulty
environmenc.
Experiment in Responsibil ity
In an unprecedenred efforc co
accomplish behind prison walls what
sociecy has fai led ro do on che our–
side, Washington Scace Penicemiacy
decided co cake a scep forward. Our
readers should know abouc chis
remarkable cxperimenr in responsi–
bilicy.
Last year,
che
scare's largesr prison,
locaced on che outskircs of Walla
Walla, granted its convicts a measure
of self-governmenr unparalleled in
prison history. To view che innova–
rions firsrhand,
The
PLAIN
TRUTH
senr sraff members ro visir che insriru-
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