What to do about hyperincarceration and prison reform

March 15, 2010 10:58 AM

Inspired by this thread about hyperincarceration in America (plus associated human rights issues, and the related injustice and inequality in society), I'd like to try and do something to make a change. But what?

Basically I'm a freelancer in my day job and don't work every week of the year, so I have both time and money to put into something. That said, I don't really work in the right field to be of much direct use, and my degree is in a fairly appropriate field (philosophy) but not close enough I think to do any serious intellectual legwork. That said, I'm a fairly good writer, so maybe there's an avenue to explore there.

I'm open to all suggestions here - charities to donate to, tasks to do, organisations to join, books to read. Anything basically that could make a difference, however small.

My small caveat is that I'm in the UK. Perhaps I shouldn't even be sticking my nose into the business of how another country works? I'm interested in worldwide prison reform too, but it seems like the USA is the world leader in the prison-industrial sector and a fair target?

posted by iivix to Society & Culture (9 answers total)

Many US activist organizations without an international law component may view involvement of non-resident foreigners as anomalous, if not downright undesirable. You may have a voice here, but it isn't a political one, and non-citizens telling citizens what to do can come off as preachy at best.

The UK has plenty of its own criminal justice issues, e.g. surveillance cameras, etc. There's even an Office for Criminal Justice Reform, which seems like a good place to start (or get pissed about, depending on what they're doing and what you think about that). But this sort of cross-border "meddling" with domestic issues is likely to cause more problems than it's worth.

There is, as far as I can tell, no such thing as "worldwide prison reform," because there's no such thing as a worldwide prison system. Criminal justice has been very intimately connected to sovereignty, national or otherwise, as long as it's been around. Maintaining public safety is perhaps the oldest duty of government. As such, messing with other people's approaches to this would historically have been considered something tantamount to an act of war. Probably not so much anymore, but still in rather bad taste.

Unless, that is, you're involved in a field which professionally engages this subject. UK academics routinely analyze US practices and societal structures, and no one thinks this is odd. They're even sometimes invited by activist groups to speak as experts. But they're rarely consulted in direct efforts to effect change. Not their role.
posted by valkyryn at 11:29 AM on March 15, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the speedy reply.

> Many US activist organizations without an international law component may view involvement of non-resident foreigners as anomalous, if not downright undesirable. You may have a voice here, but it isn't a political one, and non-citizens telling citizens what to do can come off as preachy at best.

I thought that might be the case, but don't international charities use non-residents to support causes across borders, e.g. the work of Amnesty International?

> The UK has plenty of its own criminal justice issues, e.g. surveillance cameras, etc.

I'm aware of that too, but for the purposes of this thread I'm particularly interested in the situation in the States.
posted by iivix at 11:40 AM on March 15, 2010

Response by poster: > Many US activist organizations without an international law component may view involvement of non-resident foreigners as anomalous, if not downright undesirable.

Sorry, I misread that first time round, so do you mean that activist organisations with an international law component would be amenable to help from non-residents? And if so, any suggestions?
posted by iivix at 11:45 AM on March 15, 2010

There's even an Office for Criminal Justice Reform, which seems like a good place to start

The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is actually a government department - an attempt to join up police, prosecutors, courts and prisons so they actually work together rather than cutting across each other. So while an excellent thing, it's not the place to seek advice on criminal justice reform in other countries, as it will take the UK Government line (which will almost certainly be that what happens in the US criminal justice system is none of the UK's business).

My advice would be to get in touch with people at a few charities and thinktanks with an interest in the subject within the UK, and see what they recommend. Give them a call or e-mail them and ask whether they have anyone who looks at international issues:

- Howard League for Penal Reform
- Prison Reform Trust
- Justice
- Centre for Crime and Justice Studies

All of the above are big hitters when it comes to UK criminal justice issues, and all of them take an evidence-based approach, so you can expect them to hopefully have some good ideas on where to turn.

I know it is not answering your question but if it's hyperincarceration, penal populism, call it what you will that you are interested in, then there are potentially enough issues related to the UK's justice system that you really should reconsider what you can do within the UK. The prison population has nearly doubled since the 1980s and the question of what to do about it is one that all political parties would have to grapple with were they to be elected. The answers are not easy, are not cheap and will not be popular with the public, but with enough public lobbying they may just happen. If you have time and skills to spare, I'm sure any one of the organisations above would be delighted to make use of them.

Or alternatively, if you want to get involved directly with prisons themselves and make a difference there, there are lots of opportunities. You could be a:

- prison visitor
- independent custody visitor
- member of a Youth Offender Panel

But good on you for wanting to get involved. I work in the justice system and it relies to an astonishing degree on the goodwill of volunteers and activists, whether that's jurors, victim supporters, appropriate adults for young offenders, or people lobbying at national level.
posted by greycap at 11:59 AM on March 15, 2010

Donating to a non-profit that deals with this sounds like a good idea, if you have change to spare.

Here's a list of interest groups that are working on criminal justice reform. You could also get involved in something like Books for Prisoners. I work for in this area, funnily enough, so while I don't want to push my own agenda I can assure you that any monetary contributions or memberships are a helpful thing.

A lot of the non-profit volunteering you could do would require you to be in the country, unfortunately.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:04 PM on March 15, 2010

Realistically, the best thing you can do is join with an international group that has some degree of reach and exposure, like Human Rights Watch. There are a smattering of local organizations with more radical aims, my assumption is you were looking for something like this? Odds are you won't be able to accomplish terribly much, being across the pond, but presumably they could give you some ideas. Prison reform in the US is still very much a patchwork business.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 12:10 PM on March 15, 2010

do you mean that activist organisations with an international law component would be amenable to help from non-residents?

I suppose so, but the International Criminal Court notwithstanding, the vast majority of criminal law--and as far as I can tell, almost all law relating to incarceration--implicates very little if any international law. Amnesty International does look at more traditional incarceration, particularly in China, but their ability to influence was is generally considered a purely domestic issue is less than their ability to influence things like the conduct of armed conflict.

It may be a little counter-intuitive, but a lot of governments consider their prison system to be just as purely a domestic issue as, say, their health care programs, i.e. absolutely no one else's business. This is more true of the US than many other countries. I made a post about this a while back, referring to a United States Supreme Court case which essentially held that the International Court of Justice has no say whatsoever over domestic criminal matters. A lot of European countries make noise about not liking that very much, but I know of no country who would voluntarily surrender their ability to prosecute and punish crimes as they saw fit, even in Europe. Wars have been fought over less.
posted by valkyryn at 12:15 PM on March 15, 2010

That list in solon and thanks' link is a scary one. A number of those groups are influencing the criminal justice system in exactly the opposite way from what you want.

Here are some groups that I would support for U.S. prison reform and that are explicitly working to end mass incarceration:
The Sentencing Project
Critical Resistance
ACLU
Justice Policy Institute

I recommend reading Michelle Alexander's new book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness

I am less familiar with international groups, other than Human Rights Watch. I don't know that there's any reason why someone in another country couldn't donate to a US non-profit. It's not a political campaign.

As someone who works in this field, I think that more international attention and scrutiny can only be a good thing. Although this country is somewhat impervious to international pressure on these things (see: death penalty), it does help somewhat. And we are certainly the world leader: we have 5% of the world's population but 25% of all prisoners in the world.
posted by gingerbeer at 7:28 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone for your answers and insights so far, and for proving once again that metafilter is full of helpful and intelligent people. I won't mark best answers, because I'd just end up marking them all... There's a fair bit to digest here, but there are some interesting paths to start exploring, and I definitely appreciate the suggestions to get involved in the UK side of things too. I don't know why this issue moves me as much as it does, but for some reason it does, so it's nice to know that there could be something I can do about it.
posted by iivix at 2:50 AM on March 16, 2010