Highbrow Magazine - prison https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/prison en The Development of the School-to-Prison Pipeline https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5771-development-school-prison-pipeline <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 04/24/2016 - 16:12</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1racistcop_1.jpg?itok=WbXub9gg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1racistcop_1.jpg?itok=WbXub9gg" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>On Tuesday April 20<sup>th</sup>, 1999, events in a small town in Colorado forever altered our national understanding of school violence. That was the day when two young men, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, opened fire in their high school, ultimately killing 12 students and 1 teacher and injuring 21 additional people before killing themselves. The attack was meant to be much larger – explosive devices intended to kill hundreds more were littered throughout the school and inside Klebold and Harris’ abandoned cars. Years later it was reported that the duo hoped to rival the Oklahoma City bombings in scope and scale. As <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html">reported</a> in <em>Slate</em> by Dave Cullen, author of the book <em>Columbine</em>, “their vision was to create a nightmare so devastating and apocalyptic that the entire world would shudder at their power.”</p> <p> </p> <p>According to Cullen, “Harris and Klebold would have been dismayed that Columbine was dubbed the ‘worst <em>school</em> shooting in American history.’ They set their sights on eclipsing the world's greatest mass murderers…” Although Cullen might be right that Harris and Klebold would be disappointed in what they might have seen as their failure to carry out their full plan, the Columbine massacre had a much larger impact on American culture than this analysis really allows for. The Oklahoma City bombing certainly rattled the country when it happened, but it didn’t really impact our national conversation in any long term way. We wouldn’t allow ourselves to have an honest conversation about domestic terrorism because the perpetrator was a white man and that does not fit into our narrative of who the enemy is.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the Columbine shooting <em>did</em> change the conversation. It made us view our schools as possible warzones, and students as the potential perpetrators. It brought us to where we are today in 2016. There have been countless school shootings – largely committed by white men – yet our response has been to place police officers in inner-city schools in lower-income neighborhoods. The results have been predictable yet incredibly unsettling.</p> <p>This past September, the video of a school resource officer (SRO) in Columbia, South Carolina forcibly removing a 16-year-old female student from her desk and flinging her across the room before arresting her went viral. Officer Ben Fields was ultimately removed from his post but the implications of his actions, and the conversations they have spurred, have continued.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/us/south-carolina-school-resource-officers/">According to the National Center for Education Statistics</a>, during the 2013-2014 school year about 43 percent of all US schools – 63 percent of middle schools and 64 percent of high schools - have SROs. Our public school system employs about 46,000 full-time and 36,000 part-time officers across the country. In theory, these officers supervise lunchrooms, coach sports, teach drug and alcohol awareness and, in many situations, become confidants to kids who need an ally at school or don’t have the support they need at home due to myriad different reasons. But, as the incident in South Carolina indications, the existence of SROs in schools is not always positive.</p> <p> </p> <p>For some groups, the presence of police officers leads to a feeling of safety. Following the school shootings that seem to be increasing exponentially over the past nearly two decades since Columbine, it seems to make sense that police officers would be in school to act as a deterrent to crime, decrease response time if a crime is committed, and offer a sense of security and order to students, educators and parents alike.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2racistcop_1.jpg" style="height:417px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The reality, however, can be very different. As we have learned over the past few years with the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and countless more, having a positive relationship with the police is more a luxury than a given. While white parents oftentimes tell their children to seek out police when they find themselves in a dangerous or scary situation, parents of black and Hispanic children teach their children to exercise caution. Even Bill de Blasio, the current mayor if New York City, chimed in on the issue when a jury failed to indict the white police officer who was involved in the choking death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner, a black man.</p> <p> </p> <p>De Blasio spoke about teaching his son Dante, who is biracial, about how to deal with the police. De Blasio said, “What parents have done for decades who have children of color, especially young men of color, is train them to be very careful when they have ...an encounter with a police officer.” He continued to explain that even something as simple as reaching for a cell phone, keys or a wallet for identification can have tragic results.</p> <p> </p> <p>For many, the presence of SROs in the schools was a way to combat some of these problems, hopefully resulting in a more trust-filled relationship between police officers and young people of color starting at a younger age. But the results in many instances have been the opposite, with community members contending that SROs are actually <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/01/30/are-school-resource-officers-part-of-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-problem">contributing to the school-prison-pipeline</a> by doling out harsh punishments for petty offenses such as tardiness.</p> <p> </p> <p>Much of the problem with police in schools is that, in many instances, their hands are tied. Once a police officer has been called in to handle a problem in the classroom, the damage has essentially been done. Rather than sending a student to the principal when they are misbehaving which has historically been the teacher’s approach, police officers are bound by policy to respond using their role as law enforcement. This means that rather than getting detention or being suspended, many kids are arrested and entered into the criminal justice system – an experience that could lead to difficulties later on in life.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1schoolviolence.jpg" style="height:471px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>According to a <a href="http://www.texasappleseed.net/index.php?option=com_docman&amp;task=doc_download&amp;gid=504&amp;Itemid=">Texas Appleseed report</a>, of the 3,500 student arrests in 11 Texas districts in the 2006-2007 school year, only 20 percent of those involved violence or a weapon, and in more of those cases the weapon of choice was a fist. We all had experiences growing up where kids, affected by high stress and raging hormones, got into fist fights in the hallways or the playground. Those fights almost never led to an arrest and, as a result, those involved were able to move through their lives with an unblemished criminal record.</p> <p> </p> <p>But now, with an uptick in rigid zero-tolerance policies, our schools are in some ways becoming a path into the criminal justice system. And <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/03/report-schools-should-reduce-use-of-zero-tolerance-discipline-policies">it has been shown</a> that those most likely to be caught up in this cycle are minorities, LGBT and special-needs students.</p> <p> </p> <p>So what is the answer? It doesn’t seem as though school shootings have decreased, especially considering that most of the school shootings seem to occur in middle-to-upper-class white communities, the exact communities that don’t have SROs wandering their hallways. Has the increased presence of police officers in schools led to a decrease in violence or an improved relationship between minority communities and law enforcement?</p> <p> </p> <p>If the data concerning who is being arrested is any indication, it would seem that the police presence is actually worsening an already fraught situation. Perhaps better, more nationally consistent training of SROs is the best approach. Or maybe, just maybe, we should leave it up to school systems to discipline the students, and simply keep law enforcement out of it. These kids deserve a chance to learn in a safe environment, not another way they can end up being incarcerated.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Rebekah Frank is a contributing writer at</em></strong><strong> Highbrow Magazine. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine®</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/police-officers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">police officers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/police-officers-schools" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">police officers in schools</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/police-brutality" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">police brutality</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/crime" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">crime</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/school-violence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">school violence</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/students-1" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">students</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rebekah Frank</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 24 Apr 2016 20:12:14 +0000 tara 6861 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5771-development-school-prison-pipeline#comments Obama Took a Big StepToward Ending Grotesque Drug Sentencing Laws https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5134-obama-took-big-steptoward-ending-grotesque-drug-sentencing-laws <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 07/17/2015 - 13:19</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumobamademocrat%20%28NAM%29_5.jpg?itok=nUTiwyum"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumobamademocrat%20%28NAM%29_5.jpg?itok=nUTiwyum" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2015/07/obama-took-another-big-step-toward-ending-grotesque-drug-sentencing-laws.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>A week before Christmas in 2013, President Obama sent a modest shot across the bow of the harmful, wasteful, and grotesquely racially biased drug sentencing laws when he granted clemency to eight, mostly low-level drug offenders. </p> <p> </p> <p>Obama essentially followed a lead that then Attorney General Eric Holder took when he virtually ordered US attorneys to take a hard look at who they are prosecuting for drug crimes, and why. Holder minced no words in stating the obvious. The overwhelming majority of those prosecuted are mostly poor, blacks and Hispanics, for low level, petty dealing and use. In legions of cases, those offenders were slapped with draconian sentences of 10 or more years with little prospect of parole. A clearly incensed President Obama made clear it was long past time for a change. Congress had taken one step in that direction when it passed the Fair Sentencing Act. The Supreme Court had also done its bit earlier by chopping down the sentence of a convicted cocaine peddler.</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama doubled down on that first big step he took two years later with his grant of clemency to 46 offenders who for the most part were behind bars for drug crimes this week. Their prospects of getting out without the President’s intervention would have been slim to none. The scorecard for the Obama administration on clemency for low-level offenders, for the most part related to drugs, is up to 90. Almost certainly there will be many more. He’ll drive the point home about the overincarceration of petty offenders with his presidential groundbreaking visit to a federal pen in Oklahoma.</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama’s actions are heartlifting news for the offenders and their families and it’s great news for a nation that has acquiesced far too long in the thoroughly debunked notion that the nation can incarcerate its way out of the drug morass. Yet as Obama certainly knows there’s still much to be done to dig out of it.</p> <p> </p> <p>That’s because though the drug sentencing racial disparities certainly are a national embarrassment, they are still on the books. They continue to wreak dire havoc in mostly poor black communities, as well as cast an ugly glare on the failed and flawed war on drugs. Countless studies have shown that blacks make up the overwhelming majority of those sentenced in federal court for crack cocaine use and sale. Yet contrary to popular myth and drug warrior propaganda, more than half of crack users are white, and presumably a good portion of them are crack dealers as well. But it's the heart-wrenching tales of the legions of poor young men and women that have received sentences totaling decades behind bars for the possession or sale of a pittance of cocaine or marijuana. In many cases, they are young mothers and fathers who out of poverty and desperation resorted to the use and sale of drugs. The end result of the bloated, grotesque drug war is that the U.S., with 5 percent of the planet's population, has nearly 25 percent of its inmates.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4prison.jpg" style="height:349px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Federal prosecutors and lawmakers in times past and, in far too many cases today, justify the racial disparity in drug jailing with the retort that crack cocaine is dangerous and threatening, and leads to waves of gang shoot-outs, turf battles and thousands of terrorized residents in poor black communities. In some instances, that's true, and police and prosecutors are right to hit back hard at the violence. However, the majority of those who deal and use crack cocaine aren't violence-prone gang members, but poor, and increasingly female, young blacks. They clearly need help, not jailing.</p> <p> </p> <p>The drug warriors have and will continue to resist any effort to scrap the blatant and deliberate racial disparity in drug sentencing laws. In an odd way, they have to take their hard stand. The public scapegoating of blacks for America's drug problem during the past two decades has been relentless. A frank admission that the laws are biased and unfair, and have not done much to combat the drug plague, would be an admission of failure. It could ignite a real soul-searching over whether all the billions of dollars that have been squandered in the failed and flawed drug war -- the lives ruined by it, and the families torn apart by the rigid and unequal enforcement of the laws -- has really accomplished anything.</p> <p> </p> <p>This might call into question why people use and abuse drugs in the first place -- and if it is really the government's business to turn the legal screws on some drug users while turning a blind eye to others?</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama took yet another giant step on the path to fair and equitable drug enforcement and treatment with his mass clemency grants and prison visit. But make no mistake, it’s a step in the right direction that many after Obama must follow before we’ll ever attain real and lasting drug sentencing reforms in America.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent MSNBC contributor. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM 1460 AM Radio Los Angeles and KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2015/07/obama-took-another-big-step-toward-ending-grotesque-drug-sentencing-laws.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-sentencing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug sentencing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama-clemency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">obama clemency</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama-pardon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">obama pardon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-sales" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug sales</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/illegal-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">illegal drugs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/drug-dealers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">drug dealers</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:19:55 +0000 tara 6188 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5134-obama-took-big-steptoward-ending-grotesque-drug-sentencing-laws#comments 40 Years Later: African-American Men Still Face Mass Incarceration, Job Losses https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4216--years-later-african-american-men-still-face-mass-incarceration-job-losses <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 08/14/2014 - 10:26</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1blackemployment_0.jpg?itok=gPNylCdN"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1blackemployment_0.jpg?itok=gPNylCdN" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From the <a href="http://www.louisianaweekly.com/black-men-show-little-signs-of-progress-in-40-years/">Louisiana Weekly</a> and reprinted by our content partner New America Media: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Black men are no better off than they were more than 40 years ago, due to mass incarceration and job losses suffered during the Great Recession, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Chicago.</p> <p> </p> <p>Derek Neal and Armin Rick, the co-authors of the study, found that reforms in the criminal justice system at the state-level largely contributed to disparities in arrests and incarceration rates that ultimately stifled educational and economic progress for Black men.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The growth of incarceration rates among Black men in recent decades combined with the sharp drop in Black employment rates during the Great Recession have left most Black men in a position relative to white men that is really no better than the position they occupied only a few years after the Civil Rights Act of 1965,” the co-authors wrote.</p> <p> </p> <p>The report cites research conducted by James Smith and Finis Welch published in 1989 that showed, “the Black-white gap in completed years of schooling among males ages 26-35 fell from 3.9 years of schooling in 1940 to 1.4 years in 1980.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Blacks also experienced “dramatic economic and social progress” during that time period. That progress slowed for Black men during the 1990s, and in some cases, reversed course entirely.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Today, Black-white gaps in math and reading scores among youth and Black-white gaps in overall educational attainment among young adults are quite similar to the corresponding gaps observed around 1990,” stated the report which also suggested that “relative to whites, labor market outcomes among Black men are no better now and possibly worse than they were in 1970.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Neal, an economics professor, said that he was surprised that the rise in our nation’s prison population, which correlated with the fall in employment rates for Black men, really was a policy choice and that the war on drugs was just a small part of a much bigger story.</p> <p> </p> <p>Beginning in the 1980s, in an effort to get tough on crime, states eliminated discretionary parole, established independent sentencing commissions, and crafted “Three Strikes and You’re Out” enhanced sentencing guidelines for repeat offenders.</p> <p> </p> <p>Truth-in-Sentencing (TIS) Incentive Grants Program gave states money to build prisons and indirectly encouraged state officials to adopt policies “requiring sentenced offenders to serve large portions of their sentences.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Neal said that it wasn’t one or two types of crimes that we got tougher on, it was across the board.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We started to lock people up for a really long time relative to what we had done in the past,” said Neal.</p> <p> </p> <p>The report said that changes in criminal justice policies accounted for more than 70 percent of the growth in the prison population between 1986 and 2006.</p> <p> </p> <p>The United States leads the world when it comes to locking people up “with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s prisons or jails — a 500 percent increase over the past 30 years” according to The Sen­tenc­ing Project.</p> <p> </p> <p>The report said that “on any given day in 2010, almost one in 10 Black men ages 20-39 were institutionalized” and “because turnover among prison populations is quite high, these results suggest that far more than 10 percent of prime age Black men will serve some time in prison or jail during a given calendar year.”</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1prison%20%28Dereskey%20Flickr%29_1.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Neal explained that the change in how we punish people in the state criminal justice system and adopted harsher penalties for all types of crimes was across the board that affected people that were arrested in roughly the same ways regardless of whether you were Black or white.</p> <p> </p> <p>“However, as a fraction of the population, Blacks have always been more likely to be arrested than whites, which is not surprising given the historical patterns of discrimination, lower earnings and labor market opportunities,” said Neal.</p> <p> </p> <p>Black men over 20 years-old still face a double-digit unemployment rate, the highest rate among all adult worker groups. According to the Labor Department, the jobless rate for Black men was 10.9 percent compared to 4.9 percent for white men, 4.8 percent for white women and 9 percent for Black women.</p> <p> </p> <p>The same economic crisis that crippled many Black families and robbed nearly half of all wealth from the Black community, also forced cash-strapped states to cut spending in the billion-dollar prison industry. The prison boom was just an unlikely casualty of the Great Recession, according to Neal.</p> <p> </p> <p>Neal also said that the “Smart on Crime” initiative proposed by Attorney General Eric Holder in 2013, that will ultimately affect the lives of thousands of nonviolent, drug offenders, was just “a drop in the bucket,” because those policies will mostly affect people doing time in federal prisons. Most offenders are locked up in local jails and state prisons.</p> <p> </p> <p>Local jails, state and federal prisons combined house close to a million Black men.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I’m not saying it’s a trivial thing, but when you’ve got a million people behind bars, a reduction of [less than 50,000] is a good start, but it’s nothing to write home about,” said Neal.</p> <p> </p> <p>Neal said that if you’re a Black man 25 to 35 years old without a high school diploma, you’re about as likely to have a job as you are to be in prison; under 25 without a high school diploma, you’re more likely to be in prison.</p> <p> </p> <p>“You have to get to the 35 and above age group, before you’re more likely to have a job than be in prison, said Neal. “I don’t think the typical person on the street or the typical congressman knows how messed up things are.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Neal added: “It’s important to know the truth.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This article originally published in the August 4, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From the <a href="http://www.louisianaweekly.com/black-men-show-little-signs-of-progress-in-40-years/">Louisiana Weekly</a> and reprinted by our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-men" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black men</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African Americans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/incarceration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">incarceration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/job-loss" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">job loss</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-communities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black communities</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/education-levels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">education levels</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Freddie Allen</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; Google Images; Dereskey (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 14 Aug 2014 14:26:06 +0000 tara 5072 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4216--years-later-african-american-men-still-face-mass-incarceration-job-losses#comments Invoice to the Taxpayer: Sex Change for a Convicted Murderer https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4103-invoice-taxpayer-sex-change-convicted-murderer <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 07/07/2014 - 11:05</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1transgenderarticle.jpg?itok=ZiJhIBjN"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1transgenderarticle.jpg?itok=ZiJhIBjN" width="480" height="240" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>A 65-year-old woman sits in Massachusetts, writhing in emotional and psychological pain. For years, she has been in medicinal and therapeutic treatment that has not cured her suffering; she has self-injured and attempted committing suicide multiple times. Recently, her caretakers and doctors have recommended a surgery that would entirely fix her mental disorder--a surgery many say she shouldn’t have.</p> <p> </p> <p>Michelle Kosilek, born Robert Kosilek, brutally murdered her own wife 25 years ago, and is serving a life sentence in a Massachusetts prison. She has a long history of hard drug use and sexual abuse. Similar to Laverne Cox’s character in <em>Orange is the New Black</em>, doctors have diagnosed Kosilek with Gender Identity Disorder (GID), a condition where the body is incongruent with the mind’s gender. To treat it, she has been in hormonal therapy, laser hair treatment and psychological therapy, but is still chronically distressed; they now recommend gender reassignment surgery which would fully alter Kosilek’s genitals to a woman’s. On May 30, a federal board ruled Medicare can no longer automatically deny coverage requests for gender reassignment procedures. Given that she is doing life in prison, it is taxpayers who would foot the bill for her gender reassignment surgery.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Is the way we look such a hindrance to our qualities of life that it becomes a medical need requiring expensive and dangerous surgery?</p> <p> </p> <p>Jessica Pettitt, a transgender activist, says the surgery is no different than a cosmetic surgery.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It isn’t (different.) Cosmetic surgery can also be using technology and science to help anyone be and appear as they wish,” she says.</p> <p> </p> <p>Department of Corrections Attorney Richard McFarland told <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/michelle-kosilek-inmate-doesn-t-need-sex-change-prison-officials-say-1.7962903">Newsday</a> that only 5 percent of people diagnosed with GID undergo gender reassignment surgery.</p> <p> </p> <p>"The clinician [in Kosilek’s case] didn't say you must have this surgery, but that if you want it you can get it,” McFarland says.</p> <p> </p> <p>Ian Thompson, a legislative representative for the American Civil Liberties Union, says that prisoners are not currently allowed to leave prison grounds to receive medical treatment, nor are they allowed to demand a certain medical procedure. They do have a right, though, to receive treatment that is adequate to address the seriousness of their medical needs, and that in Kosilek’s case, gender reassignment surgery is “medically necessary and the only adequate treatment for her severe gender dysphoria.”</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1aclu.jpg" style="height:426px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>According to the <a href="http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/AMA122.pdf">American Medical Association</a>, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Diseases, GID is a serious medical condition where there is a persistent discomfort with one’s assigned sex and with one’s primary or secondary sex characteristics, which causes intense emotional pain and suffering. They recommend gender reassignment surgery, and assert that “the denial of these otherwise covered benefits for patients suffering from GID represents discrimination based solely on a patient’s gender identity.” According to the ACLU, for inmates, the denial of treatment constitutes a violation of the 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This is about health care,” says Loren Cannon, PhD in Philosophy from Humboldt State University. “All prisoners should receive necessary health care – when they are incarcerated their health is the responsibility of the state.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Cannon says the question of whether or not the taxpayer should pay for gender reassignment surgery assumes the procedures are unnecessary.</p> <p> </p> <p>Withholding medical care for wards of the state is “not a topic for which counting pennies is even appropriate,” she says. “It is important for society to be just – that means justice for all, not just the most privileged.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Thompson, from the ACLU, says the surgery will have a significant impact on the role of the individual in the prison community because at present, transgender people are at especially high risk of abuse in prisons because they are often assigned to cells based on their genital characteristics instead of the gender they identify with. Kosilek is in a men’s prison, and hopes to be moved to a women’s prison upon gender reassignment surgery. The Prison Rape Elimination Act requires prisons create individualized housing placements for all transgender people, which is ostracizing and non-inclusive.</p> <p> </p> <p>Cannon says trans people are routinely sent to solitary confinement because of the presence and threat of violence. Gender reassignment allows officials to assign the prisoner a more appropriate space.</p> <p> </p> <p>Kylar Broadus, Founder of Trans People of Color Coalition and Senior Policy Counsel for the Transgender Civil Rights Project, agrees, and says it should be called gender correction surgery rather than gender reassignment.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1prison%20%28Dereskey%20Flickr%29_0.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>“I think [in Kosilek’s case] you’d deal with a person that’s much more functioning because they’re happier in their body as to who they are,” Broadus says. “I think that people become much more productive because they’re much more themselves, they’re willing to engage in a more positive way.”</p> <p> </p> <p>He says the surgery is an 8th Amendment right for Kosilek, “like any other prisoner with medical needs” and that it doesn’t have anything to do with cosmetics. He says he has “tons of things that are on my face that need to be done, and other areas of my body that are not done, and those… have nothing to do with confirming my gender.”</p> <p> </p> <p>About his transition, he says “I never felt like I transitioned into anything but to me.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“With regard to gender reassignment,” Cannon says, “the harms that result from not getting this kind of care are well documented – the only thing holding back so many folks from getting adequate care is ignorance and bias.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author</strong> <strong>Bio</strong>:</p> <p><em>Stephanie Stark, a contributing writer at </em>Highbrow Magazine<em>, is a freelance writer and web producer out of New York City. Her work focuses on social, religious and gender issues in the US. Follow her at @stephanie_stark.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/michelle-kosilek" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">michelle kosilek</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/murder" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">murder</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/transgenders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">transgenders</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sex-change" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">sex change</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison-sentence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison sentence</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/life-sentence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">life sentence</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/violence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">violence</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Stephanie Stark</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; Google Images; Dereskey (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 07 Jul 2014 15:05:15 +0000 tara 4911 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4103-invoice-taxpayer-sex-change-convicted-murderer#comments From Prison to Law School: How Former Felon Shon Hopwood Dedicated His Life to Law https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2219-prison-law-school-how-former-felon-shon-hopwood-dedicated-his-life-law <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 03/04/2013 - 10:11</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumbankrobbery%20%28CaliDOTorg%29.jpg?itok=ZhZoJyTZ"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumbankrobbery%20%28CaliDOTorg%29.jpg?itok=ZhZoJyTZ" width="480" height="367" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> Like most second-year law students, Shon Hopwood will be spending most of the winter huddled over casebooks, frantically typing notes in lecture halls, and scrambling to balance academic, family, and extracurricular obligations. This juggling act may not be easy, but he is used to hard times. Less than five years ago, Shon Hopwood was an inmate in FCI Pekin, a federal prison in Illinois, serving a sentence for armed bank robbery.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Today, Hopwood is a happily married father of two. He re-connected with a high school acquaintance named Annie, who provided emotional support during his toughest days behind bars. For financial support, Hopwood has received one of the few, coveted full scholarships awarded to University of Washington students through the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation in the name of the Microsoft titan’s father, a law school alumnus. Hopwood’s remarkable story has been catalogued in the <em>New York Times </em>and<em> Harper’s</em>, and is now the subject of the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Law-Man-Robbing-Winning-Redemption/dp/0307887839"><em>Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption</em></a>, which Hopwood co-wrote with Dennis Burke.</p> <p>  </p> <p> While many of his classmates may experience a taste of the law from a summer internship in a prestigious law firm or networking with attorneys, Hopwood has prepared several briefs for the Supreme Court, helped reduce the sentences of inmates, and counts among his friends such high-powered national figures as former Solicitor General Seth Waxman. Hopwood’s experience helping win Supreme Court cases has given him firsthand legal experience beyond the imagination of even the most accomplished attorneys.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As he recounts in <em>Law Man</em>, Hopwood grew up in a loving but strict Nebraska home. With his tall frame, he excelled at basketball and won a scholarship to a small Nebraska college. His basketball skills proved merely average at the college level, and he was not interested in his studies. This led to “something similar to clinical depression” and Hopwood washed out of school in his first year, then enlisted in the Navy. Hopwood did well in the Armed Forces, even winning a promotion, but also ran with a hard crowd that drank too much. He was discharged after two years and returned home. He grappled with his own sense of failure, considered re-enlisting in the Navy, and continued partying. Through a combination of poor bookkeeping and desperation, Hopwood passed several bad checks and was facing criminal charges. His father helped him financially but insisted his son return to the Armed Forces. Due to the pending court case the Navy turned him away.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hopwood had been spending time with one of his closest friends, Tom, who was also suffering through a rough patch. The two began strategizing a dramatic way out of their predicament: robbing banks. The pair first identified a target, Petersburg State Bank in Nebraska. After stashing a stolen car at a nearby farm, the pair spent one night in a hotel.  The next morning, they sat on a hill overlooking the quiet, peaceful town. When Tom reconsidered and wondered aloud about just going home, Hopwood gave him to option of leaving him to go it alone. Without the money, Hopwood felt certain he would go to jail for the check-passing charge. With the money, he might have the chance to afford an attorney. “With or without you, I’m doing it,” he declared. Tom insisted on helping his friend.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumhopwood.JPG" style="width: 400px; height: 600px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Having passed on the last chance to turn back, the pair began their lives as bank robbers. Dressed as a construction worker, including a mask to cover his nose and mouth, Hopwood walked in the front door, dropped the toolbox he had been carrying as part of his disguise, reached into his coveralls, pulled out a rifle and announced “This .. is .. a .. robbery!”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Met with disbelieving stares, he yelled for everyone to get down. Tom covered the door, and after emptying the tills down to the change, the pair locked the witnesses in the vault, hopped in their getaway car, and sped to a gravel road. The pair then abandoned the stolen vehicle and took off in a grain truck. Monitoring a police scanner on an earpiece, Hopwood sat in the truck’s bed and listened as local cops informed each other they had arrested 18-year-old twins for the crime. The twins were later released, but had unwittingly provided a diversion for the real perpetrators. Hopwood and Tom split $50,000 from the robbery.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Tom put his share to good use, eventually going back to college and, ironically enough for a bank robber, majoring in criminal justice. Hopwood, meanwhile, found other partners and pulled off several additional robberies. At the height of his criminal career, Hopwood had a stash of over $130,000, making him “Midwest rich.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Even as he counted his money in his hideout on his friend’s mother’s property on an Indian reservation, Hopwood’s time was running out. The FBI had Hopwood’s palm print, had heard from numerous witnesses, and one of his cohorts was already in police custody on a separate charge. His life of crime ended abruptly when he was tackled in the lobby of a Doubletree hotel in Omaha.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hopwood was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in Pekin. He soon experienced what he calls the “grinding routine of boredom.” For relief, Hopwood began working in the prison library, retrieving and reshelving books. He had a natural affinity for the work, and the job gave his life a renewed focus. He had ample opportunity to read between grabbing books for prisoners, and started familiarizing himself with the law. Working without access to the online resources that have made legal research unimaginably easier for law students, Hopwood began memorizing cases. Without the money to even pay for copies, he pieced together cases from, as he puts it, the “puzzle pieces floating around” in his mind.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/3mediumhopwood.JPG" style="width: 395px; height: 600px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> This led to Hopwood’s unlikely involvement with the Supreme Court of the United States. Hopwood was developing a reputation for helping fellow prisoners as a “jailhouse lawyer.” As he recounts in his book, he was “helping others and enjoying it.” Eventually John Fellers, a friend of Hopwood’s, asked him to help petition the Supreme Court. Fellers persuaded Hopwood by hinting it might even help impress his high school crush Annie, who was intermittently in contact with Hopwood but drawing interest from free men as well.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In 2003, the Supreme Court accepted Hopwood’s petition for writ of certiorari (known as a “cert. petition”) asking for review of a lower-court ruling in Feller’s case. The court received thousands of petitions from prisoners and other indigents that year, and agreed to hear less than 10 of them. At that point, Seth Waxman agreed to take the case, but only if Hopwood stayed involved. “It was probably one of the best cert. petitions I have ever read,” Waxman said of Hopwood’s work. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed officers had crossed a line when, after Fellers had been indicted by a grand jury, they asked him questions in his home after entering to arrest him, and the information he provided was later used against him. Fellers eventually had several years shaved off his sentence.</p> <p>  </p> <p> When Hopwood’s release date finally arrived in the fall of 2008, he had served 10 years of his 12-year sentence. He moved to a halfway house, where his movement and activities would be strictly controlled for a few months, and any indiscretion would land him back in prison. Hopwood’s combination of a criminal record and the Great Recession left few job options on the table, but his unique experience made him an excellent fit at Cockle Printing in Omaha. One of the few companies to specialize in printing Supreme Court briefs, Cockle’s staff noticed Seth Waxman’s name on Hopwood’s resume and gave Shon a shot.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As he flourished at Cockle, Hopwood’s improbable journey from Prisoner #15632-047 was nearly complete. He had the confidence to consider law school, but faced the same daunting financial picture as many law school applicants. Hopwood applied for the William H. Gates Public Service Law Program, he was selected, and began school in 2011.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Recounting his story today, Hopwood sounds like a man who has grappled with his past and come to terms with it, and doesn’t want to dwell on its sensationalism. Hopwood feels bank robbing has been “romanticized.” He recalls speaking in front of a group of students at Harvard, and the best and brightest students in the country only wanted to hear the lurid details of his crime. His real passion now is reforming the system. “My sentence was fair,” he says, which he attributes to having a good prosecutor. Unfortunately, many other offenders aren’t so lucky, he feels.  Due to society’s “short-sighted thinking” he says, prisoners often don’t get the help they need, either on the outside or behind bars.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hopwood believes change must be comprehensive. "We incarcerate too many people for too long," he says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Prison is almost like the default," he argues, and alternatives to incarceration are short-changed. Hopwood is opposed to mandatory minimum sentences, and he bemoans the "short-sided thinking" that robs support from programs that might give prisoners the skills to contribute after their release. He points to the success of programs like the Post-Prison Education Project, which result in much lower rates of recidivism. "The taxpayer reaps the rewards of that," he says. Above all, Hopwood says society and prisoner alike will benefit from fighting the "feeling of hopelessness" that settles in all too easily behind bars.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hopwood acknowledges change will be difficult. The prison industry has a strong lobby, he says, which further complicates the already sluggish federal reform process. "Reform will be on the state level" he says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As a law student, Hopwood now has access to the legal resources that behind bars he could only dream of. “I love it,” says enthusiastically, though he also concedes he occasionally misses the physical nature of books.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hopwood is juggling not only his speaking and book duties, but also his role as a dad to his two children, a daughter, Grace who is one, and a son, Mark, three. While he has a unique edge over many law students with his extensive legal research experience, Hopwood says between family, class, and media obligations he is never bored.</p> <p>  </p> <p>             In <em>Law Man, </em>Hopwood is very frank about struggling with his inner demons, such as his depression. The story is also permeated with his love for his wife. Hopwood discusses her struggles with anorexia, at one point requiring in-patient treatment and approaching life-threatening consequences. While his wife was nervous about the revelations in the book’s discussion of some things she is ashamed of, she was relieved to receive support from readers.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Readers have likewise been supportive of Hopwood since the book’s release, with a few exceptions. A small but steady vein of anger and resentment runs through the reaction to Hopwood’s press coverage. Similarly, while Hopwood says his classmates are aware if his background and have generally been supportive, he is aware of some resentment, including anonymous posts on websites discussing his story complaining about a convicted criminal winning such a valuable prize as a full scholarship to law school. Hopwood says the “barrage” of media attention may have contributed to some of the ill will, but any perception that he is profiting from his misdeeds is incorrect.</p> <p>  </p> <p> He says the book has not made his family rich, especially with his co-author and agent receiving a share of the profits. He tries his best to ignore any backlash and to maintain his juggling act of family, school, and media obligations.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Looking ahead to career plans, Hopwood says he has a range of interests in addition to criminal justice and defense. He is also interested in immigration and civil litigation, and in working with groups such as Public Citizen and the ACLU National Prison Project. He hopes to remain involved in both litigation and appellate work. Above all, Hopwood says he is driven to “help those who can’t usually afford it.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Matthew Rudow is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/shon-hopwood" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shon hopwood</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/law-man" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">law man</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bank-robbery" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">bank robbery</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/law-school" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">law school</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/supreme-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supreme Court</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bar" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the bar</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/law-scholarship" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">law scholarship</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/petersburg-state-bank" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">petersburg state bank</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/highbrow-magazine" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Highbrow Magazine</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Matthew Rudow</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Cali.org</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:11:08 +0000 tara 2452 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2219-prison-law-school-how-former-felon-shon-hopwood-dedicated-his-life-law#comments FCC Finds Cost of Phone Calls from Prison Inmates Is At All-Time High https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1932-fcc-finds-cost-phone-calls-prison-inmates-all-time-high <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 01/09/2013 - 13:09</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumphones.jpg?itok=WrDqRqeq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumphones.jpg?itok=WrDqRqeq" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found that the cost of phone calls from incarcerated friends and family members is at an all-time high, and they are committed to changing that. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC brought the issue to light, finding that most inmate calls are nearly 15 times more expensive than regular phone calls.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The problem initially came to the agency’s attention after Martha Wright complained about her $200 a month phone bill in 2003. The Washington D.C. woman talked to her grandson who is in prison for 15-minutes on a weekly basis and became fed up with the costs.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Several civil rights groups joined together to back Wright’s complaints by filing a civil-action lawsuit on her behalf. However, a judge dismissed the case and referred Wright to the FCC.</p> <p>  </p> <p> FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn says that since then, “tens of thousands of consumers” have “written, emailed, and yes, phoned the commission, pleading for relief on interstate long distance rates from correctional facilities.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Although unfamiliar to most phone users, Global Tel*Link and Securus Technologies Inc. are the two companies responsible for the majority of prison phone calls.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Steven Renderos, a national organizer for the Center for Media Justice says that the companies attribute their high rates to “the security features their technology has” including monitoring calls and blocking phone numbers.</p> <p>  </p> <p> However he believes that the technology alone is not enough to add up to $15 for a 15-minute call.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumalcatraz.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> The Center for Media Justice reports that the rates for prison phone calls vary from state to state.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “For example, in Alabama the commission rate is 61.5 percent, and this translates to families having to pay 89 cents a minute on top of a $3.95 connection fee every time a family member receives a call,” Rederos explained.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Eight states have banned these commissions-California, South Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Michigan and Missouri-and in those states you see some of the lowest rates for phone calls. For example Missouri charges ten cents a minute for a long-distance phone call with a $1 connection fee. The average commission rate in states that haven’t banned these commissions is 43 percent.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The FCC suggests that a “monopoly” is created when correctional institutions partner with ICS providers in an exclusive contract rather than offering traditional payphone services. In their notice, the agency also added that while most people can choose among multiple calling services, inmates are limited to phones operated by the contracted provider of the facility.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Clyburn suggests that the public should rally behind the FCC’s action to lower rates for inmate calls in an effort to strengthen our community.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Maintaining contact with family and friends during incarceration not only helps the inmate, but it is beneficial to our society as a whole. There are well over two million children with at least one parent behind bars and regardless of their circumstances, both children and parents gain from regular contact with one another. Studies also show that those released are less likely to re-offend if they are able to maintain relationships with their loved ones while they are in prison.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The FCC will receive responses about their proposal from the public for two months.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/01/fcc-says-cost-of-prison-phone-calls-too-high.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fcc" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">FCC</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison-inmates" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison inmates</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/incarceration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">incarceration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">prison</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jail" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jail</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/phone-calls-prison" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">phone calls from prison</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Candace Bagwell</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:09:59 +0000 tara 2168 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1932-fcc-finds-cost-phone-calls-prison-inmates-all-time-high#comments