I am often asked to contribute to a variety of projects. I was particularly honored to be asked by Halley Miglietta who is an artist, activist and photographer to contribute some words to her project which she ended up calling “Ceilings of Oppressions.”

I am a big believer in the importance for organizers to rely on art as well as other mediums to convey our messages. Art and social justice are inextricably linked. Imagine using these photographs in your high school class to engender conversation about the cradle to prison pipeline. I am certain that young people would have so much to say about their own experiences while also reflecting on the ways that they can help to dismantle the pipeline.

Here are some words from Halley about her work:

The focus of this project was to capture the oppressive relationship between humans and institutions, as each photograph is inextricably linked in portraying the interconnected, wicked pipeline of injustice. The function of the text on top of each image is to provide clarity and knowledge – coming from scholars, journalists, and hip-hop artists alike.

The project begins with an image of the old Cook County Stroger Hospital – a representation of life’s beginning. What follows is an image of the last standing, recently vacated Cabrini Green housing project. Housing projects were originally constructed to board the massive migration of families and individuals coming to Chicago for jobs in the height of industrial booms. These became the people of Chicago’s working class in whose children were bred in public schools to stay within the confines of their social/economic class and skin color as a means of sustaining the status quo. Thus the image of the school, which highlights the role our educational system has played in a system of organized miseducation and class tracking. The next image, the factory, depicts a mighty employer of immigrant populations and blacks who migrated from the south for machine-based jobs. When the economy globalized, industry shut down, as did jobs for the working class. What happens when the jobs are gone but the people still exist? Our country has used criminalization as a solution. Which brings us to the next image, the Cook County Jail, the landing spot for many victims of systematized marginalization. The final image of the cemetery is an acknowledgement of life’s end, and a gateway to the second part of the series entitled Acts of Resistance (coming soon).

This project is in collaboration with the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce

Click on each photograph to see a larger image…

Ceilings of Oppressions - Halley Miglietta - Cook County Hospital

Birth symbolizes the possibility of everything.
In the United States, a black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
So for me, a visit to the maternity ward at Cook County Hospital carries with it a decided feeling that possibility is constrained by a ceiling of oppression.” — Mariame Kaba

Ceilings of Oppressions -- by Halley Miglietta - Cabrini Green

“…some of this land I must own
outta the city they want us gone
tearing down the ‘jects creatin plush homes
my circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones
surrounded by hate yet I love home.” — Black Star “Respiration”

Ceilings of Oppressions - by Haley Miglietta - School

As Carter G. Woodson declared, when you can control a person’s thinking you can control that person. Colonial education in America was designed to control, pacify, and socialize subject people. The education of Black Americans has always been inextricably connected to state politics and the labor market.—William H. Watkins

Ceilings of Oppressions - by Halley Miglietta - Factory

There has been a process of manufacturing and other businesses leaving the city of Chicago. As a result there has been no concern to meet the question of hardcore unemployment in the inner city. Federal funds designated for that use have been put to work reorganizing the city for its new white, middle-class look. –Keep Strong Magazine, Chicago 1980

Ceilings of Oppressions - by Halley Miglietta - Cook County Jail

“…the only crime you’re guilty of is the color of your skin
police put you in a cell
then throw away the key
and it don’t matter who you are — it could be you, it could be me
because the system is a business
the inmates are stocks, the wardens are the CEOs callin all the shots
for private investors, corporate oppressors, who pay the police to harass and arrest us.
We caught up in a justice system with no justice.” – Sticman “On the Hunt”

Ceilings of Oppressions - by Halley Miglietta - Cemetary

“The struggle for justice is always in the balance of life and death.
Through critical analysis and action,
our task is to create spaces that support the work we have committed to do.
At times, the duties & responsibilities in this process are difficult.
In the end, we do this work because our lives depend on it.
Death can be untimely, rapid, and finite.
The task at hand is to ensure that our struggle will continue
to live in the hearts and minds of those who will replace us.” — David Stovall

I have received a few e-mails over the past few weeks asking me to post a chart about Hispanic/Latino imprisonment rates. I had offered a similar chart depicting top Black imprisonment rates. I have the sneaking suspicion that that I am unofficially working as a research assistant for some industrious high school and college students who are supposed to be doing their OWN research about the criminal legal system. I will start charging for fulfilling such requests starting next week :).

So here is a chart of states with the top Hispanic imprisonment rates (click on the chart to see a larger image):

You can download a copy of the chart here.

Starting with a serious question: How young is too young? The Colbert report highlights the absurdity of the U.S.’s treatment of children in the criminal legal system.

(h/t to my friend Gary for this information)

Interaction with the criminal justice system, even if there is no guilty verdict, may be an independent risk factor for suicide, researchers report. A study that included more than 27,000 suicides found that odds of suicide were greater after contact with the criminal justice system for both men and women. The association was true even when the cases resulted in not guilty verdicts or sentences without jail time, the researchers report in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Suicide was particularly likely for individuals with recent or frequent contact with the justice system, or for violent offenders. (Medpage Today, 2/07/11)

So apparently, West Virginia outlawed paddling and other forms of corporal punishment in their schools in 1994. But wait for it… Because the youth of today are deemed to be so damn disrespectful, one of the state’s lawmakers has proposed legislation to bring back paddling to classrooms. What I find even more distressing is that this legislator also moonlights as a substitute teacher.

The Charleston Daily Mail offered an astonishing editorial about the paddling proposal:

West Virginia has a part-time legislature made up of people who have jobs back home. They are supposed to bring their life experiences to the Capitol with them.

Delegate Brian Savilla, R-Putnam, did just that when he proposed bringing corporal punishment back to West Virginia. He is a substitute teacher.

The state banned the paddling of students in 1994.

“I firmly believe it’s led to a lack of respect,” Savilla said.

“Back when we had paddling, you did have instances, but they were on a smaller scale. When there was paddling, there was more discipline in school, and the system itself was more structured.”

There is no question that today’s youths are less respectful of authority and schools than students a generation ago.

The reasons are many – the breakdown of the family is a huge reason – but the brunt of dealing with the consequences is borne by teachers.

In removing corporal punishment from the toolbox the teacher has to maintain discipline in the classroom, the Legislature failed to replace that tool. Savilla said detention, suspension and even expulsion have failed to work.

It is like trying to feed a child who is not hungry and keeps throwing bowl after bowl of food on the floor.

Part of the problem is state courts, which maintain that education is a “right,” and have forced state officials to provide an education to a student no matter how bad his behavior may be.

Students expelled for disrupting school are now “entitled” to education, at taxpayers’ expense, in an alternative setting.

Taxpayers can’t afford that.

Schools aren’t broken. Society is.

Somehow, society must communicate, through real consequences, the fact that with “rights” come corresponding responsibilities – in this case, to respectful behavior in school.

Otherwise, the “right” to education, which kids undervalue, is forfeited.

Parents who knew their children could lose the right to attend public schools would do a better job of working with school officials.

Savilla’s proposal may go nowhere, but he has brought attention to a serious problem. Serious minds in the House and the Senate should take it up.

Orderly schools would make things easier for teachers, bring up test scores, and set more children on a productive path.

The entitlement philosophy is not accomplishing that.

Let me get this straight, the newspaper is suggesting that a student’s “bad behavior” should disqualify him/her from attaining an education through public schooling. Presumably, the editorial board is suggesting that students who “act up” should be shipped to private schools. Yet we know that the students who are disproportionately targeted by school disciplinary policies are poor, male and of color. Taken to its logical conclusion, these students once banned from attending public schools would have to find private schools to accommodate them. Can we guess about the likelihood that they would continue their education? This would lead to an increased number of school dropouts who had essentially been barred from accessing an affordable education. How early would we begin to kick children out of public schoTax payers in West Virginia would eventually be left holding the bag for a much more expensive option – they would be left paying thousands of dollars more to incarcerate these students in the future. Because closing off the path to education insures that you are opening the door to future incarceration.

Interior of San Quentin Prison (1950s)

Malcolm Braly spent almost 17 years in several prisons including San Quentin and Folsom State for various burglary convictions. He wrote three novels while incarcerated. After he was released from prison in 1965, he wrote On the Yard, False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisons. The following is an excerpt from False Starts which describes his incarceration experience:

The hardest part of serving time is the predictability. Each day moves like every other. You know nothing different can happen. You focus on tiny events, a movie scheduled weeks ahead, your reclass [reclassification by the prison staff], your parole hearing, things far in the future, and slowly, smooth day by day, draw them to you. There will be no glad surprise, no spontaneous holiday, and a month from now, six months, a year, you will be just where you are, doing just what you’re doing, except you’ll be older.

This airless calm is produced by rigid routine. Custody doesn’t encourage spontaneity. Walk slow, the Cynic says, and don’t make any fast moves. Each morning you know where evening will find you. There is no way to avoid your cell. When everyone marched into the block you would be left alone in the empty yard. Each Monday describes every Friday. Holidays in prison are only another mark of passing time and for many they are the most difficult days. Most of the outrages that provide such lurid passages in the folklore of our prisons are inspired by boredom. Some grow so weary of this grinding sameness they will drink wood alcohol even though they are aware this potent toxin may blind or kill them. Others fight with knives to the death and the survivor will remark, “It was just something to do.”

I have been planning to write about the Mock Prison Riot phenomenon ever since I learned about it last summer while attending my first and only American Correctional Association conference. Below is a commercial about the Mock Prison Riot experience which is described as follows:

The Mock Prison Riot is a FREE four-day, comprehensive law enforcement and corrections tactical and technology experience, including 44,000 square feet of exhibit space, training scenarios, technology demonstrations, technology assessments and evaluations, certification workshops, a Skills Competition, and unlimited opportunities for feedback, networking, and camaraderie on a global scale. The Mock Prison Riot is the only venue of its kind where law enforcement and corrections practitioners can touch, see, and actually deploy technologies from the showcase under real-world conditions, utilizing the grounds of the decommissioned West Virginia Penitentiary to maximum advantage. All of our services are offered free of charge to attendees. Visit us at www.mockprisonriot.org.

Basically, this “experience” is one big trade show to sell products to stakeholders within the prison industrial complex. Examples like this are why I cannot think of a better term than “prison industrial complex” to describe what we are seeing in terms mass/hyper incarceration in the U.S. One of the arguments against using the term is that the 100 billion dollars devoted to corrections at the federal, state and local levels are dwarfed by the over 700 billion dollars spent on the U.S. military. To me, the fact that the PIC gobbles up less resources than the military is immaterial. The point is that the profit motive does come into the prison system and the Mock Prison riot phenomenon underscores this fact.

The paramilitary aspect of the mock prison riots is also worth underscoring. I have written in the past about my aversion to boot camp for many reasons but chiefly because of the inherent militarism that permeates the experience. The same is true about the mock prison riots.

Promoters of the Mock Prison Riots have developed the following 3D application that allows individuals to take a virtual tour of the defunct West Virginia Penitentiary:

I recently wrote about the phenomenon of touring old prisons. Well it looks like we’ve found still another use for these structures…

From Good Magazine:

Click here for the full sized infographic.

by Billy Dee - sketch for upcoming PIC zine

I was sent a book called “What Will Happen to Me?” this week.  It is about children whose parents are incarcerated.  The first thing that struck me were the 30 color photographic portraits of beautiful children that are featured throughout the book . The pictures  are poignant and affecting.  These are all of our children.  Along with the photographs, we can read the children’s thoughts and reflections about their experience of having a parent in prison.  One young woman’s portrait particularly called out to me.  Her name is Maranda and she looks just like my little sister did as a child. Here is the text that accompanies her photograph:

“I would be thinking about my mom before I went to sleep.  I had a counselor, but I didn’t talk to her.  I just talked to her about problems with my friends ’cause I don’t like spreading that around about my mom.  It makes me sad.  It felt good when my mom came back.  And when my dad comes back, I want to take him out to eat and go swimming and do other things.  Go to the movies.”

From her comments, it seems that both of her parents are behind bars.  It is incomprehensible to me that this could be the case but it seems that it is.  It is truly tragic. Her words belie the simple pleasures that so many children yearn for: going swimming and to the movies with their parents.  Yet what also comes across is Maranda sense of shame; shame that she has a mother in prison.  This is an emotion that I know many other children with incarcerated parents experience.  It is our failure as a society to provide these children with love and compassion that feeds the shame.

The main thing that I appreciate about the book is that it moves beyond the statistics (which are of course important) and tells the human stories about the impact of incarceration on family members.  The book underscores the very real collateral costs of incarceration.  I dare anyone to look at the faces of the children portrayed in this book and not be convinced that what we are currently doing to millions of people through mass incarceration is inhumane and immoral.

The book also shares the stories and thoughts of grandparents who are drafted into service to become caregivers for their grandchildren as a result of parental incarceration.  “What Will Happen to Me?” includes information for family members, educators, social workers, clergy and other community members about how to support children to deal with their emotions and how to access needed resources.  The book is co-authored by Howard Zehr (he is also the photographer)  who is world renowned as a restorative justice practitioner.  As such, the book includes a “Children’s Bill of Rights” along with thoughtful consideration about how to apply restorative justice and respect for relationships in these difficult situations.

Below is an excerpt from the book that might be of interest:

Ten Questions Often Asked By Children Whose Parents Are In Prison
By Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz,
Author of “What Will Happen To Me?”

Children need time to adjust to the separation caused by having a parent in prison.  But it takes more than time.  As we have heard in their voices, children also need to make sense of what has happened to them and to their parent or parents.  Because of this, they have many questions.

Some of the questions they ask are straightforward.  But sometimes their questions come out indirectly or in their challenging behavior.  Incarcerated parents, as well as caregivers of children or other adults in their lives, often have to answer their uncomfortable questions.

Children who are present when a parent is arrested, especially young children, are usually not told where their parents are being taken, when they will be coming home, or why they have to go away.  As time goes on, the children have even more questions.

Our childhood experiences shape much of our adult lives.  Children who live with these kinds of questions, many of which are not answered to their satisfaction, experience trauma as a result.  Frequently that leads to their general mistrust of authority, especially the legal system.  Not having their questions answered can also lead children to blame themselves for their parents’ absence or to believe that they are destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Here are questions that children whose parents are incarcerated often ask, along with suggestions about how to answer them.  We will address some of the questions more fully in later sections of the book.

1) Where is my Mom or Dad?
Parents and caregivers often believe it is best to protect children by not telling them where their mothers or fathers really are.  Children may be told that their parents are working in another state, going to school, or serving in the military.  Sometimes children are told that their parents are ill and had to go away for special treatment.

Sooner or later children will realize the truth and know they have been lied to.  This tends to hurt their relationship with the persons who have told them the untrue stories and can lead to feelings of distrust that affect their other relationships as well.

While the adult who hides painful reality does so believing it is in the best interest of the child, such an action (or inaction) creates a family secret that results in children feeling ashamed.  Most childhood experts advise that children be told the truth.

2) When is he or she coming home?
The outcome and schedule of a parent’s arrest and/or imprisonment is often uncertain.  However, it is important to keep children up-to-date about what parents or caregivers do know.  Children need to have concrete information they can deal with, even if it is, “We don’t know what will happen yet.”

3) Why is she or he in jail or prison?
Sometimes an innocent person is arrested.  But when a parent has done wrong, it is important that this wrongdoing is acknowledged.  Children need to know that there are consequences when people do things that are against the law or harmful to others.

At the same time, they also need to be reassured that even if someone sometimes does something wrong, it doesn’t mean that s/he is necessarily a bad person.  While a child’s parent may be serving the consequences for something wrong s/he did, the parent is still worthy of love and capable of loving.

A child can learn to trust a caregiver who is honest about what a parent has done wrong.  This practice of honesty allows the child to believe other things that the caregiver tells her or him as they progress together on this journey.

4) Can I talk to my mom or dad?
Jails and prisons have specific and often constraining rules about prisoners talking on the phone to their loved ones.  Phone calls from prison are often quite expensive and restricted in length.  Many times a parent does not have enough money to call home because it is so expensive.

When phone calls are difficult, letters can be especially important.  Although young children may find it hard to express themselves through words, they may find it more meaningful to make drawings.  As Stacy Bouchet, now an adult, suggests in her reflections, children often treasure the notes and letters they receive from their parents, as she did from her father.

5) When can I see my mom or dad?
It is helpful to explain to children that prisons have specific times for visiting, and their caretakers will get that information so that they can see their loved ones.  If a parent is incarcerated at a distance, the child should be prepared for seeing his or her mother or father infrequently.

Some children are angry and do not want to see their parents, or at least they’re ambivalent about the possibility.  In general, though, it seems important for children to visit their parents as regularly as possible.

Before the first visit, they should be prepared for the circumstances of the visit.  The caregiver should explain the security around the prison.  The children should also know that there will be limits upon where they can visit and what they can do with their parents.

Most children want to know what their parent’s life is like in prison.  They may imagine frightening scenarios.  Giving them a sense of mundane details of everyday life in prison can be helpful.  If the child is interested, a caregiver can encourage the parent to describe his or her cell or room and tell what a normal day is like.

6) Who is going to take care of me?
Children in this situation often feel insecure.  It is important to let children know who will be caring for them.  If there is uncertainty about their living arrangements, children may need to be told that, but they also need to be reassured that plans for their care are being made and that they will not be abandoned.  As much as possible, they need stability in their living situations and their relationships.

7) Do my parents still love me?
When children are separated from their parents, they often worry about whether their parents love and care for them.  Most children need reassurance that they are loved by their parents no matter where the children happen to be living and with whom.  They also value other loving relationships in their lives, but they still want to know about their parents’ interest and love.

8. Is this my fault?
Children often blame themselves for being separated from their parents or even for their parents’ misbehavior.  They may imagine that if they had behaved better their parents would still be with them.  They need reassurance on three fronts: that what happened to their loved one is not their fault, that it happened because that person did something wrong or harmful, and that this does not mean that their parent is a bad person.

9) Why do I feel so sad and angry?
Sadness and anger are children’s common responses to a parent’s incarceration.  But most children do not understand their feelings or the origins of them.  It is helpful for them to be reassured that their feelings are normal.  Ideally, they can be encouraged to talk about their feelings of sadness or anger.  If they cannot talk to their immediate caregivers such as their grandparents, they can be invited to talk to school counselors or social workers or even friends.  Children often find it helpful to know other children in similar situations because they can understand each other’s feelings.  Children who find it hard to articulate their feelings can be encouraged to express them through their drawings or other art work.

10) Can I do something to help?
Children typically feel helpless and responsible.  They need to know that their loved ones usually appreciate letters and pictures. They can be encouraged to send them as often as they want to.
The above is an excerpt from the book “What Will Happen To Me?“ by Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

For more information please visit http://www.howardzehr.com/ and follow the author on Facebook

Reprinted from What Will Happen to Me?. © by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com).  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

It is well worth your time to read this book and even better if you give a copy of it to your school social workers, your children’s teachers, and others who might regularly interact with young people. In case you are wondering if I get a cut of the book profits, unfortunately I do not. I still recommend the book. 🙂

By Mauricio Pineda

Well folks…. It has come to this. I recently injured myself and have been trying to recuperate from that for the past few days. As such, I have had more time for blogging. I am now in the unenviable position of having to catch up on a literal mountain of work that I have not had a chance to get to because it involved actually talking to other people :).

Reality has set in and I will be taking a few days to focus and catch up on that work. This means that I will only be posting very sporadically here in the coming days. I hope to be back to regular blogging again by Tuesday.

Thanks for reading and even caring about my musings, rants, and thoughts.