May 21, 2017

Failures Too Great To Ignore

by Timothy J. Muise (author's profile)

Transcription

STATE OF CORRECTIONS AND PUBLIC SAFETY
IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
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FAILURES TOO GREAT TO IGNORE

by Timothy J. Muise

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My journey through the facilities of the department of correction has afforded me the unwanted title of "expert in correctional failure", bestowed upon me by the men and women of the free society reform movement. These true revolutionaries, revolting against diminished public safety and continual societal decay, honor me with thier decision that I am an accurate reporter of the failures of the corrections system, and in that spirit of honor it is my duty to convey to the powers who have the real ability to effectuate change in the system just how grave the failures are. These failures, which I will herein attempt to elucidate, are fully manifesting themselves in the form of stabilized drug use and crime rates, increasing decay of the sanctity of the family unit and moral direction of the citizenry, and most violently in the summer murder "sessions" held each year in the Mattapan corridor and beyond. Through these ills the respect for all human life wanes with no ebb and flow, natures rule being unbalanced.

The concept that how society treats its downtrodden plays a direct role in the health of that society is hard taught. Great societies which in their prime seemed everlasting succumbed to inattention of this core principle of life. Hard taught, but impossible to ignore. Rome burned as Nero fiddled. The time has come in the commonwealth to stop our doomed fiddling or suffer the consquence. Restoring the prison system back to one that offers real opportunity to change will not only deeply impact the fiber of society, but will have an immediate effect on the youth of a state which are anestitized to death and moral decay. Our urban areas, populated by the minority demographics which are at the top of the incarceration percentages, can only be revitalized if the men/women who reenter these communities after terms of incarceration have some semblance of hope in their hearts. Opportunities for meaningful employment, affordable housing, and relaxed stigmatization for past mistakes create an atmosphere which impacts the still forming philosophy of our youth. In order to bring real attitudinal change to any society you must change how future generations, stakeholders in the welfare of mankind if you will, see their world and its direction. When a child sees no future they act in the immediate. This shortsightedness blinds one to the needs of their peers, to anyone outside of their immediate social circle, eventually bringing us to the place where we are with many of our youth today, devoid of compassion for the human condition. This impact, from poor treatment of the downtrodden to the compassion devoid attitude of our youth, is the fertile soil from which diminished public safety, high crime rates, and murder grows.

To view the daily operations of any prison in the commonwealth is a true marvel of the absurd. The focus on benign control, as exhibited in numerous nonsensical policies, creates such an attitude of true hopelessness that men/women refuse to even investigate the few positive and worthwhile that men/women refuse to even investigate the few positive and worthwhile activities that exist. Corrections today makes access to rehabilitative opportunities as "exclusive" as it can be, which is in direct contradiction to the "inclusive" legal mandate of this state. Massachusetts is one of the few states in the nation that has made it a constitutional right of prisoners to be rehabilitated, and possibly even more importantly we have made it the right of the citizenry to be involved in that rehabilitative process. The reform law in the commonwealth (see Chapter 777 of the Acts of 1972) was inacted after true societal recognition of the importance of fair treatment of the incarcerated. This great nation recognized that the rights of the people, declared by our forefathers, shall never be infringed, and it was realized that abusive treatment bred social failure. The Attica riots beamed a light down upon how the social fabric is weakened when you treat one class of person as lower than another.

The downward spiral of this cycle of madness, and the increase of the "law enforcement industrial complex" insanity, is taking us further and further from where we need to be as far as responsible social policy is concerned. It is difficult to make the average citizen see just how great an impact the abusive treatment of prisoners has on their daily world, it can be a bridge too far; but we must break dawn for them on this fact. Health care costs are increased because disease spreads due to improper medical care in prisons. MRSA is a great example of how an ill which was unaddressed inside prison walls, was taken out by guards and nursing staff into the communities, and now plagues our hospitals and nursing homes. We locked up the crack cocaine users of the late 1980's, leaving their children fatherless, and now those children have formed gangs, searching for that missing male bonding. These gangs are ruining our cities. Summer murders, drug dealing in the streets, and a general lack of respect for life and community, are now some of our biggest problems. Prisoners are neglected when rentering society and thus forced to return to crime to survive.

Many criticize our system of government, as I often have, but we have to admit that if it was run ethically, like it was designed to be. it would in most cases work; that being to protect the freedoms of our Constitution. The states retain autonomy to afford greater protections than some of the minimalist ones of the Federal level of government. Here in the Commonwealth we have created a right to rehabilitation and community access for the prisoner. The citizens let their legislators know that they believed in the redemption of man and that they wanted laws that reflected that belief. The legislators voted in the reform laws we spoke of earlier in this piece, and it is the duty of both the judicial and executive branches of our government to protect those rights. The courts have held on many occasions that prisoners did in fact possess these rights and that there captors were violating those same rights with relative impunity. The failures of the system is that the checks and balances have been ignored to such an extent that it has created a very real conspiracy of

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Replies (2) Replies feed

Paul Posted 6 years, 9 months ago. ✓ Mailed 6 years, 9 months ago   Favorite
Seems we are seeing a huge credibility gap appearing between what #W66927 says and what is actual fact.

For years we have had to endure claims of being the "expert in correctional failure"
Seemingly he has not chosen this accolade but has had it thrust upon him. By whom we have no idea.
Perhaps it is his 'special friend' with whom he communes.

Let's examine his claim. Seems he subscribes to the urban legend of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Fiddles didn't exist till the 11 century so it seems impossible to play one in 64 ad.

MRSA wasn't born in the DOC. Definitive analysis into the origins shows that MRSA occurs in three specific groups of people: (1) persons currently in the hospital (hospital-associated MRSA), (2) persons with recent hospitalization or ongoing contact with medical clinics, dialysis units, or those undergoing complex outpatient treatments, such as chemotherapy (healthcare-associated MRSA), and (3) persons in the community (community-associated MRSA).

His claim of locking up crack cocaine users leaving children fatherless......30 years ago....
is the reason we now have gangs totally disregards the fact that in the 'persons of colour' 73% of children are born to un-married mothers.
Perhaps this illustrates that it is actually nothing to do with crack users being locked up. Perhaps some data will clarify that.

Racial or ethnic group

Percent of births considered "non-marital"
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
17 percent
Non-Hispanic whites
29 percent
Hispanics
53 percent
American Indian and Native Alaskans
66 percent
Non-Hispanic blacks
73 percent

Taking into consideration that in some cases there may be a male in the household we still have a 67% single parent family

The thought that it is some sort of Government conspiracy is simply laughable.

To sermonize, for all these years, as the 'go to' person and an address for senators, congressmen and any other DOC involved person to find out how to successfully enable re-entry of offenders has been de-bunked by his own total failure to prepare for his own imminent release.
Despite all of his claims to being an expert he is woefully unprepared having squandered thousands of dollars and the benefit of 'many supporters' and family support.......in his own words on 31st. of May........"I am angry and unprepared".

Says it all really.

Paul

Cavak Posted 6 years, 9 months ago. ✓ Mailed 6 years, 9 months ago   Favorite
Paul, have you read any of these books: Locking Up Our Own, The Death of Innocents by Sister Helen Prejean, The New Jim Crow, or Doing Time Like a Spy?

There is a bias against people who speak out against the system and by those running it. To suggest otherwise is disrespectful to these speakers too. How can you talk as if you know so much if you haven't been there to experience it yourself? You have not been charged a criminal and revoked for many "normal" rights for your livelihood, that's why.

I am not defending everything that Muise is saying since I know that he is not always accurate with some of his citations either. I admit to not always liking everything he writes either.

What I am doing is highlighting that you have been continuously nitpicking and siding with the "hard on crime" approach towards Muise without fully considering all the perspectives on the issues he presents. Dismissing his voice and accepting the norm, no matter how flawed, as the only solid truth in your view. Why not take the chance to really listen and think more about what is being said?

Muise, I hope when you get out, you will find people who truly accept you as a changed man. I hope your family welcomes you back with open arms.

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