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individuals jusc as corrupr as chey are.
As one prisoner commenrcd . ·'Sociecr
can'c kid us. W/c know most crimes
are never reponed or solvcd. Prac–
cically everyone commirs fairly serious
crimes. Only wc wcre che ones who
goc caughr. ··
Crime scacisrics rcnd ro back up
such feelings. For insrance, in rhe
Unired caces. police oflicials repon
chac at leasc half of all crimcs go
unreporred, and of
rho~c
which are
reponed, police makc an arresc in
only one of Gve.
In addition. rwo billio n dollars
worch
o
f mcrchand ise is shopli fced
an nuall
y.
and
so
me
one bi
11
ion do
llars
is tmbezzlcd by· ernployccs fro m cheir
cornpanics cach ycar.
As a resu lr. mosr inmaccs scc thcir
siruarion as merely bad luck in a
sociery whtre "cvcrybody elsc goc
away wi rh ir."
How can criminals be reforrned as
long as rhe\· rcmain convinced rhar
crime is acceprable as long as you
don ·r get caughc?
Four: The "Graduare Schools
of Crime"
The ''ery narure of rhe prisons
rhemselves is rhc fourrh major cause
for producing and hardening crimi–
nals. The g roupi ng rogcrher of large
numbers of criminal ofTenders behind
prison wa ll s acwa lly inrensilies che
characrer flaws found in cach rnan
individu all y. For rhis rcason. penal
inscirurions are ofrcn rcfcrrcd ro as
"graduare schools" and ·•collcges" of
en
me.
.\'Iosr inrnares. for e:<amplc. spend
rhe berter pare of rhe da,· working ar
rasks such as cooking. rnaking license
piares and highwar signs. and prinr–
ing. Buc ar ni¡.du in rheir cellblocks.
rhey are givcn amplc opporrunir\'
ro
learn from orher prisoners rhe
"vocacional skills.. of arrned robberr .
kidnapping. srealing :turornobiles.
picking locks. and so on.
B\ rhc rime
:1
m:tn is readr for
relea~e
from prison, he is usually more
hosrile. aggrcssive. and violcnr than
when he went in.
M:my
parolees leave
44
on a virtual round-trip ricker. The
FBI recenrly reporrcd rhar 65 percenr ·
of all U. S. prisoners are incarcerated
again wirhin li\·e years of rclease.
The unnarural prison environmenr
conraining sociery's mosc dangerous
men also makcs rhe porenrial for
inmare violence extreme!
y
high- and
che potencial is increasing. Ten
years
ago. one rhird of
:111 U. .
prisoners
were rherc for violenr
crime~
againsr
other persons. Today·. che flgure srands ar
one in rwo. Fully half of all inm:m:s
in U. S. prisons are rhere for che rape.
robbery, assaulc, or murdcr of anorhcr
human being.
ls
ir any wondcr prison
riors are on rhe incrcase?
Sexual
pctver~ion
among prisoners
- male and fem:de - is also rife. Thc
degrading env ironmenr rcsulring
from many indi viduals bcing encloscd
apare frorn a normal farnily lite rnakes
rhe problem of homoscxualiry and
lesbianisrn parricularlr acure. omc
aurhoriries estimare rh:u homosexual–
in· exisrs as a common occurrcnce
among
20
ro
SO
percenr of all male
prisoners. and lesbianism runs as high
as
80
percenr among females.
B~·
rheir very srrucrure. prisons
lump rogerher sorne of sociery's mosr
incorrigible crim inals wirh rcccnrly
convicred novices of crimc. Thc
resulring conracr fosrers ncwly
formed criminal acritudes ami bchav–
io r, cherefore making rhe ncw
of(enders worse
o«.
What Prisons Can Do
For che prisons
ro
succecd where
sociecv has failcd. rhev
muse
havc rhc
.
.
powcr ro eliminare che four causes
rhar go inro producing ami hardening
criminals. In orher words. che' would
have co have
!he potar
lo cbtllll!,t:
1'1tJI
sef!.llléllls o(sociel) mu/1be rer¡
11111111'1!
o(
ma11 -
somerhing no social insriru–
rion has ever been able ro
achieve~
And yer. as rhe Washington Srar<.:
Penitenciar~·
experimenr dcmon–
srrares. prisons are capable of r:lking
sorne dcflnirc sreps in rhe righr direc–
rion.
Firsr of al!. prison adminisrrarors
(Conlimml on
f!(i,f!,f
.:¡ó)
Prison Offlcials
Caught in the
Middle
As
1:--::-!t\TE hosriliry on rhe insid<:
and public concern on rhe our·
side conrinue
ro
mounr, prison
ofli–
cials find rhc:mselves caughr in che
middlc. To discuss che growing
problcm wirhin rlteir
insrirurion~.
rl1ree
U. S.
\XI
ese
Coasr prison olii–
ciab 1-tranred rhe following
exclu~i,·c
inrerviews wirh rhe Ptt\1:-\ TRl ''l
11 .
Though inrerviewed separarelr. rhcir
answers ro rhe sarne quesrions are
grouped cogerher.
QUESTION:
To whac do you
attribuce che currenc wave of
prisoner unresc?
.NE~O=":
I fccl ir is bccau'-e of
dc"eloprnenr$ in our sociery. If we
could ger rhe curbulcnr
problem~
of
socierv smoorhed over. !'m sure
PlAIN TRUTH September-October
1972