I was never excited about the Joe Biden’s potential election, not during his initial run or especially after his selection of Kamala Harris as his VP. Prior to their political union I advocated against their federal leadership as early as when they ran competing presidential campaigns. Biden Bills are stained with stench of mass incarceration. There wasn’t anything that would get the taste that ushering in the ‘New Jim Crow Era’ left in the mouths of millions of over sentenced men and women in California and across the country, many of whom are buried behind bars.
With this understanding it’s obvious that I wasn’t shedding tears or wearing pearls on Inauguration Day. However, there is an appealing element of the Biden-Harris administration that I hope constituents hold dear for the next four years when. The only thing that excites me about this administration is their combined overwhelming responsibility to right the wrongs of the mass incarceration era. Both Biden and Harris were leaders in conviction rates, making their state a leader in overcrowded prisons and setting a standard for how degrading and corrupt conditions can be for incarcerated citizens.
Knowing this it’s absurd for me to celebrate their administration, regardless of the potential impact that having a women of color in the oval office would make. I’m committed to celebrating the mass release of the hundreds of thousands of over sentenced incarcerated citizens whose lives were devastated by their policies. I’m committed to seeing a transformation in the legal and prison system that is forced to change through the implementation of edifying policies.
During this first week of this new administration Biden ordered the Dept. of Justice to, “end its reliance on private prisons” according to AP News and while this doesn’t completely eliminate the private prison industry, this stance does cater towards the steps that many states like California and Nevada have recently taken to abolish private prisons altogether. Until now the federal government has been reluctant to clarify a national posture out of fear, but with community organizers persistence we’ve shifted policymakers fears from that of losing the corporate dollar to a fear of being crucified by public opinion and Biden has been at the stake for this issue throughout his campaign. With the pandemic exposing the social and healthcare gaps that exist in places of detention, Biden’s back is up against the wall; dependance on over-incarceration is no longer a state issue of sovereignty, it has to be a federal issue. Biden demonstrated this in saying, “This is a first step to stop corporations from profiting off of incarceration.”
Private Corps Shouldn’t Profit from Incarceration, so Should the State?
Understanding our recently declared national stance against private corporations profiting off of the backs of incarcerated citizens and their families there’s a long list of money draining practices that need to be adjusted including (but not limited to): phone calls charged by the minute, emails charged by the number of characters, video visits charged by the second, visiting room lockers, exorbitantly high priced visiting room snacks & drinks, commissary foods & hygiene products as well as health care products. All of these things are necessities for the survival and well being of people in prison and for them to stay connected to their outside support networks. Knowing this, rather than the state creating pathways to reduce the cost of people in prison accessing these resources, elected officials have allowed (and even encouraged) prison officials to contract private companies to exploit these needs. The companies chosen to provide the product or service (like GTL, Jpay, SecurPak or Corizon Health) are usually the sole vendor offered at that individual facility. With that, the prison system itself simultaneously receives a kickback for facilitating that transaction between their captive audience and the vendor for their highly priced product, for which the prisoner (or their family) have no choice. For example, during a 15min phone call that costs the prisoner $2.50 , the prison would receive a percentage. In Michigan that’s around 15 cents for each call that goes into the PBF fund used to purchase more security equipment (cameras, gates, etc.). This way of business isn’t exclusive to the private prison industry, it is a main function of State Corrections Departments as a whole.
If President Biden truly believes that prisons operating independent of private corporations is a critical step towards dismantling systematic racism, then that stance must carry over into the state prisons, not just private ones. An executive order that reduces federal dependance on private prisons IS a step forward, but it’s not at all transformational. This executive order only impacts less than ten percent of the federal prison population (around 14,000 people).
To create the “whole approach” that Biden intends would include one that makes phone calls & other communication software free for incarcerated citizens trying to stay connected to their families. I would celebrate an executive order that expands prisoners’ access to effective health care in a timely manner at no cost or one that distributes medical supplies regularly that meets CDC guidelines and allocates credits towards commissary items. These are some transformative changes that would have a dramatically positive impact for incarcerated citizens in need of relief yesteryear. Now is the time to hold the Biden-Harris administration to taking these steps, let’s not celebrate an empty settlement. At this rate, I’ll need to see a criminal justice reform every week of this year in order for me to jump for joy.
