that barnard conference update
Apr. 17th, 2006 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkttherapy will probably suck (in a good way) again on monday, so let me get this out before i do that and then give myself a headache going to the post office's circus.
i was not expecting much. i have a history of going in expecting to be impressed and then leaving wanting for more.
this year, i was the most satisfied i've ever been. though, maybe also more depressed. i think it helped that the rain kept a lot of audience-member-types away.
the topic revolved around women and the criminal justice system. for the first time in all the years i've gone (my 4th?), the additive majority of panelists was not white women. in both the morning and afternoon sessions, the majority voice was held by black women. . . i haven't entirely cleared my thoughts on this. last year, for example, i would say held more diversity as far as backgrounds/ethnicities go. but this year, it makes sense to give voices to the group most affected by the particular topic.
i didn't hear any dissent against prison abolition. there was a (white female socialist) audience member who took her question time to recruit others to her sect of socialism.... but for the most part, everyone was in agreement, even if the agreement was shaky with regards to certain situations (i.e. chronic rapists/child molesters; racist police officers). there was disagreement on how to get there? do we work on fixing a broken system, only to irradicate it? or do we just go for the demolition? immediate? or long-long-long term (beyond any of our generations)?
i'm not necessarily sure i have any complete answers for myself. much to chew on.
but i can tell you i am angry.
i can tell you that blacks and latinas make up 80% of arrests.
and 68% of inmates enter with no high school diploma.
i can tell you that while ged programs are covered by tax payer dollars, higher education is not, thanks to bill c. this means that the several hundered college programs are now dwindled to a few dozen since private colleges have to step in to get involved and instructors frequently have to volunteer their time. because prisons are frequently in the never-never lands of most states, this means volunteer their transportation time as well. and that because many correction's officers don't have college degrees, or the money to send their kids to private schools, this adds a wedge in prisoner/staff relationships.
i can tell you the u.s. locks more of its citizens up than even that dastardly china.
i can tell you that prison brings about an added policing of genders. that mandatory arrest laws for d.v. do far more harm than good. that some high school students put up with more security to enter their building daily than they would have to endure to board an international flight. or be at riker's (short term prison).
i can tell you child protection agencies don't do their jobs when it comes to the children of inmates. and that adoption is far preferred than anything else.
i can tell you that the patriot act is actually good for something: if a pregnant women is arrested on meth charges, her sentence can be diverted to a rehabilation center.
i can tell you the state is not set up for liberation of the oppressed.
i can tell you more, maybe, just ask.
i was not expecting much. i have a history of going in expecting to be impressed and then leaving wanting for more.
this year, i was the most satisfied i've ever been. though, maybe also more depressed. i think it helped that the rain kept a lot of audience-member-types away.
the topic revolved around women and the criminal justice system. for the first time in all the years i've gone (my 4th?), the additive majority of panelists was not white women. in both the morning and afternoon sessions, the majority voice was held by black women. . . i haven't entirely cleared my thoughts on this. last year, for example, i would say held more diversity as far as backgrounds/ethnicities go. but this year, it makes sense to give voices to the group most affected by the particular topic.
i didn't hear any dissent against prison abolition. there was a (white female socialist) audience member who took her question time to recruit others to her sect of socialism.... but for the most part, everyone was in agreement, even if the agreement was shaky with regards to certain situations (i.e. chronic rapists/child molesters; racist police officers). there was disagreement on how to get there? do we work on fixing a broken system, only to irradicate it? or do we just go for the demolition? immediate? or long-long-long term (beyond any of our generations)?
i'm not necessarily sure i have any complete answers for myself. much to chew on.
but i can tell you i am angry.
i can tell you that blacks and latinas make up 80% of arrests.
and 68% of inmates enter with no high school diploma.
i can tell you that while ged programs are covered by tax payer dollars, higher education is not, thanks to bill c. this means that the several hundered college programs are now dwindled to a few dozen since private colleges have to step in to get involved and instructors frequently have to volunteer their time. because prisons are frequently in the never-never lands of most states, this means volunteer their transportation time as well. and that because many correction's officers don't have college degrees, or the money to send their kids to private schools, this adds a wedge in prisoner/staff relationships.
i can tell you the u.s. locks more of its citizens up than even that dastardly china.
i can tell you that prison brings about an added policing of genders. that mandatory arrest laws for d.v. do far more harm than good. that some high school students put up with more security to enter their building daily than they would have to endure to board an international flight. or be at riker's (short term prison).
i can tell you child protection agencies don't do their jobs when it comes to the children of inmates. and that adoption is far preferred than anything else.
i can tell you that the patriot act is actually good for something: if a pregnant women is arrested on meth charges, her sentence can be diverted to a rehabilation center.
i can tell you the state is not set up for liberation of the oppressed.
i can tell you more, maybe, just ask.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 12:31 pm (UTC)about the fact that 68% of inmates enter with no high school diploma - last I heard, California spent more on their educational system than prisons. And I have to wonder, if they would spend more on education, maybe more students would stay in school, and less folks would be in prison, and then they could spend less on prisons.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 10:01 pm (UTC)the patriot thing was a line that got slipped in by some congress person. for a change, something good came out of those slipped-in lines.
it costs 150,000USD/ year / person to incarcerate someone.
it costs 12,0000USD/ year / person to participate in an alternative to incarceration program.
it costs 9-10,000USD/ year / person to educate someone (high school-level).
it's fucking amazing.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:26 am (UTC)Oprah (or rather, one of the people she now sends out to do news stories for her show) did a two-part educational special last week that discussed prisons and one inmate educational program within a prison. I just needed to share that with you.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 10:11 pm (UTC)also, i don't know what i'd do without people reminding me of oprah's love.