Keep up the good work
We were very pleased with Lance Tapley’s article about Bo Lozoff (“We’re All Doing Time,” August 31), and with the way it included matter-of-fact commentary on the harsh treatment of prisoners, specific causes for increased incarceration, etc. It’s a really profound article.
Thanks deeply for writing about legislative flip-flopping between harsher sentencing as a knee-jerk reaction to a specific crime versus the stated goal to alleviate overcrowding in Maine’s jails and prisons. We’re also glad that Mr. Tapley brought in the “spiritual Reaganomics” phrase that Bo Lozoff uses to illustrate the need to help people now rather than waiting until we possibly “get our own lives together...”
Mr. Tapley’s pessimism is entirely realistic. Reading the most recent plans being floated in Maine’s newspapers for dealing with our overcrowded prisons and jails — none of which seem to include moving toward more humane treatment and real restoration — is almost too much to bear. That’s why we commend reporters at the Portland Phoenix for continuing to write articles about these issues when it would be so much easier to sit on an island somewhere and turn out lightweight fiction — though we suspect that wouldn’t actually be easier for socially conscious reporters.
Maybe now that we’re reading in the larger media about Mother Teresa’s problems with feeling joy (or an attachment to her religious beliefs) during her decades of selfless work, we can relax if we don’t always feel personal satisfaction in serving society and continue on in spite of depression about the situations we see around us.
It was also inspiring to read the Portland Phoenix article about the Black Bird Collective plans (“Group Seeks to Hold Maine to UN Standards,” by Jeff Inglis, August 31). Their work is perhaps inspired by your articles on Deane Brown. We’ve learned that these folks will send petitions to anyone around the state who would like to assist with their commendable goals. This is one more area in which Maine can lead the way toward restorative justice, improving mental health for prisoners (and thus everyone on the outside, too), and dramatically lowering recidivism rates.
Judy Garvey
Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents
www.jailvolunteers.org
Blue Hill
Related:
Three years and counting, Letters to the Portland editor: May 4, 2007, Letters to the Portland editor: August 4, 2006, More
- Three years and counting
For the past three years, Portland Phoenix contributing writer Lance Tapley has been the only reporter in Maine to pay attention to the appalling conditions suffered by inmates in the Maine State Prison
- Letters to the Portland editor: May 4, 2007
God bless the First Amendment.
- Letters to the Portland editor: August 4, 2006
To quote Utah Phillips: "The earth is not dying. It is being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses."
- An insult to justice
Portland Phoenix freelancer Lance Tapley was given the Maine State Bar Association's Excellence in Legal Journalism Award last week at the association's annual meeting.
- Letters to the Portland Editor, February 24, 2006
Lance Tapley is my hero; he has the guts to reveal the stories of the abuse and oppression of the poor, disabled and elderly once again.
- Letters to the Portland Editor, January 20, 2006
Readers react to Lance Tapley's MCLF story
- Stickin' it to the poor
The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing Portland think tank, has been bragging in news releases about how state leaders have followed its advice, approving a two-year state-government budget that, among other cuts, slashes school aid, programs for the needy, and state-employee pay.
- Phoenix freelancer honored by Maine lawyers
Lance Tapley, a longtime freelancer for the Portland Phoenix , has been honored with the Excellence in Legal Journalism Award from the Maine State Bar Association, recognizing his work investigating inmate abuse at the Maine State Prison.
- Letters to the Portland editor: July 28, 2006
As members of the Steering Committee of the Blueprint Project, we were disappointed that Lance Tapley’s portrayal of the project ignored the positive goals, strategies, and vision of Blueprint.
- Instead of cuts: guts
Let’s assume, reader, that you’re concerned about economic and social justice. For those in real need — people who are poor, sick, old, mentally ill, addicted, disabled — you want decent care. You’re concerned, too, about proper funding of schools, community colleges, and university campuses.
- Tax break heaven
As the economy sours, state taxes are bringing in less than expected.
- Less
Topics:
Letters
, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Prisons, United Nations, More
, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Prisons, United Nations, Mother Teresa, Bo Lozoff, Hold Maine, Less