Treating Inmates as Commodities in Louisiana Is a Local Government Ethics Problem
<a href="http://www.nola.com/prisons/" target="”_blank”"><i>Louisiana Incarcerated</i> is an
investigative series</a> that ran recently in the New Orleans
<i>Times-Picayune</i>. It is a story rooted in an extremely poor ethics environment
that, despite vaunted ethics reforms (that many, including me, have
criticized), does not seem to have changed.<br>
<br>
The series has introduced into popular culture the term "honey
hole," one sheriff's description of the cells in his prison, which
is the sheriff's biggest revenue generator.<br>
<br>
The words "revenue" and "prisoner" should not be spoken in the same
sentence, as we saw <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/many-ways-which-lawyers-can-do-nothin…; target="”_blank”">in
Luzerne County, PA</a> and as could be seen for decades in the
prison plantations of many U.S. states. It is no accident that
Louisiana has, by far, a higher incarceration rate than any other state.
When it is in the direct financial interest of local government officials
to have more people incarcerated, there will probably be more people
incarcerated. That's why the subheadline of the series is "Sheriffs and politicians have
financial incentives to keep people locked up."<br>
<br>
I believe that the public trust in government being run for the
public rather than for officials' private interests is enough to
justify a comprehensive, independent ethics program. But for those
who need a stronger justification, and for whom such things as
millions of dollars in savings relating to procurement is
insufficient, here as in Luzerne County is the most horrible price
possible of a poor ethics environment: the incarceration of
individuals who do not belong in prison, the ruining of lives in
the short term and often the long.<br>
<br>
This is not solely a government ethics problem, but it would
likely not have occurred without making sheriffs' and others'
financial interests in opposition to the interest of those who
come into the criminal justice system. Take this paragraph from
one of the investigative articles:<ul>
Like hotels, prisons operating on per-diem payments must stay
near 100 percent occupancy to survive. The political pressure to
keep beds full is a contributing factor to the state's world-leading
incarceration rate. No other state comes close to Louisiana's 53
percent rate of state inmates in local prisons, and few lobbies in
Louisiana are as powerful as the sheriffs association.</ul>
The per-diem funding process is flawed, but it is not the result of
poor judgment. It is the result of local government officials'
lobbying. Not only do these per-diem rates lead to
over-incarceration. They also mean that, in order to profit from the
inmates, sheriffs provide very little in the way of educational and
vocational programs. Not to mention food.<br>
<br>
It also means that any attempt to close a prison is opposed by the
sheriffs association and even by each community, which has an
interest in the money and jobs the prison generates, and little in
the inmates, who are mostly from elsewhere, due to a thriving
statewide market in inmates.<br>
<br>
Here's a frightening description of the prison program from <a href="http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/05/addicted_to_its_prisoner…; target="”_blank”">a
column by Jarvis DeBerry</a> about how to solve the problem:<ul>
The state's sheriffs are treating inmates as chattel. ... An inmate
can be sent to another prison not because the facility is the best
fit but as a gesture of collegiality.</ul>
Collegiality. That is, good feeling between officials, bad feeling
by officials toward citizens. This is the essence of a poor ethics
environment. It means that everyone inside government is working
together to make life miserable for citizens. Preferential treatment
is the norm, but it is not directed toward family members, business
associates, or major contributors, it is directed toward one's
colleagues, at the expense of citizens.<br>
<br>
Treating people as commodities is the worst thing possible. And
thousands of people not only accepted this worst thing, but
contributed to it. And hundreds of thousands of people put the
economic value of the system to their community above the effect it
had on inmates. Any ethics reform that did not deal with this
situation was not only ineffective to the point of meaninglessness, but
also deeply dishonest.<br>
<br>
Louisiana is effectively a state without empathy. How does a
community gain empathy?<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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