| Chapter 13
Covering Prisons and Jails
By Jenifer Warren
Incarceration Numbers: A Steady Climb
The widening net of incarceration, coupled with the longer terms people are serving behind bars, have sent the nation’s prison population skyrocketing. Since 1970, the number of state and federal prisoners has grown by more than 700 percent—from about 196,000 to almost 1.6 million at the end of 2007.
The U.S. today incarcerates more people than any other nation, including the far more populous China. Our country is also the world leader in the rate at which it incarcerates its people, outdistancing nations like Russia and Iran. In the U.S., 750 people are in prison for every 100,000 adults and children. In Germany, the rate is just 93 per 100,000. (This and much data in this section can be found in the Pew Center on the States’ report, 1 in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008.
Some groups have experienced the imprisonment boom far more intensely than others. While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is in an American prison or jail, the figure is one in nine for black males in that age group.
None of this has come cheap. On average, one in every 15 state general fund dollars is now spent on corrections, with some states, such as Oregon, spending more than one in 10 discretionary dollars on the prison system. All told, overall state spending on corrections is double what it was 20 years ago.
Despite such dramatic figures, few political leaders have publicly questioned the wisdom or expense of this vast correctional expansion. Nor have they analyzed whether the return—in improved public safety—has been worth the investment. Fear of appearing “soft on crime,” or, worse yet, having a “Willie Horton” affixed to one’s resume by a political foe, has largely stifled serious discussion of the punitive approach or viable alternatives.
In recent years, that picture has begun to change. Some states, including several led by Republican governors, already are well on their way down new paths. Texas, for example, long had a reputation as a law and order state with a swelling prison population that rivaled California for biggest among the states. But in 2007, lawmakers from both parties decided it was time for a new path. Rather than spend a half-a-billion dollars on new cells for up to 17,000 more prisoners expected to arrive within the next five years, Texas authorized a dramatic makeover of its correctional system. Among the reforms: changes in parole practices, expanded drug courts and a substantial increase in drug treatment and diversion beds. In all, the changes were expected to save Texas $210 million initially, plus another $233 million if the state was able to avoid contingency plans to build three new prisons.
Other states may follow Texas and plot a course change. Because, if nothing else, the nation’s economic crisis is helping focus attention on the fact that the freewheeling incarceration patterns of the past likely cannot be sustained.
Prison Beat 101
With buyouts and layoffs becoming commonplace at our nation’s media outlets, it is unlikely most reporters will have the luxury of covering corrections as a full-time beat. Given that, preparation—and an organized approach—are all the more essential for success.
Play the Rookie
Most good editors understand that journalists new to a beat need backgrounding time. Request it, and then start where every smart reporter starts, by debriefing your predecessor.
Ask for help with introductions to sources, story ideas, background materials and tips on where the landmines lie. If no predecessor remains in the newsroom, read clips, become familiar with the history and management of prisons and jails in your region, and get up to speed on the issues currently in play.
Understanding the system is a critical first step. Most people think of corrections as prisons and jails, but nearly two-thirds of American adults are supervised in the community, as is documented by reports by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Pew Center on the States. ( See Part Three of this handbook on covering Probation and Parole.) Thus, the term “corrections” refers to a complex web of legal responses to prohibited behavior, performed by public and private organizations and involving all levels of government. All told, the American correctional system now employs more than 700,000 administrators, wardens, officers, counselors, social workers, parole agents, and other players, says the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Jails are the gateway to the system, and are run mostly by cities or counties and supported by local revenues. They house defendants awaiting trial and convicted offenders serving relatively short sentences, usually for misdemeanors. People appealing their sentences also are often held in jails, which are typically run by law enforcement officials, such as the county sheriff.
Because of the frequent turnover and mix of offenders, jail can be a highly volatile place. Often, mentally ill or homeless people wind up as part of the mix, adding an unpredictable element. Crowded conditions and a lack of programs and activities exacerbate the dangerous milieu. Reporters covering jails should keep an eye on coroner records for jailhouse deaths, and stay well connected with any oversight panels that play a watchdog role.
Prisons, which house the vast majority of American offenders at any given time, are most often run by state government and are reserved for people convicted of more serious crimes, usually felonies. (More people pass through regional or local jails in the course of a year.) In some states, prisons also are used to briefly incarcerate parolees who have violated the rules governing their supervision in the community. Prisons are typically run by a department of corrections and staffed by trained correctional officers who are sometimes represented by powerful unions.
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