But, realistically, a plea for new leadership is a plea for a chain reaction. First, those who care most about these issues should reach out to reporters and editors — and to civil libertarians, other social activists, and legal-group leaders. These people could morally, legally, and economically educate a segment of the public. Then this segment could educate the politicians, who then could educate the larger public. Politicians are followers before they are leaders.
Right now, even most liberals ignore or don’t want to touch this issue. I’m amazed at how they are far more concerned about the few hundred prisoners in Guantánamo than about the 35,000 prisoners who suffer far worse in the supermaxes next door. As for conservatives, they seem hard to crack even with the argument of financial self-interest. The billions of tax money poured into prisons buy little: The prisoner recidivism rate nationally is 70 percent. It’ll take a lot of logic and facts to penetrate the congealed harshness of the conservatives.
Even an interest in protecting one’s family seems hard to stimulate. In July, a robber released from the Maine Supermax killed three men in a store holdup.
“I reached out and told them I need medication. I reached out and told them I shouldn’t be out in society. I told numerous cops, numerous guards,” he said in publicly admitting the crime.
Our Corrections Department and the governor, a Democrat, said the responsibility for this tragedy rested solely with the criminal. I saw no public outcry about the failure of the corrections system.
But I shouldn’t end on a pessimistic note. A grass-roots prison-reform group is being formed in Maine. A group of prominent lawyers is beginning to look at reform. Suits have been filed. And a few others in the state’s news media are beginning to write stories that are more than Corrections Department news releases. Who knows? At least in this corner of the country, an education may be beginning.
