Criminal justice is probably the most fundamental responsibility of government. It’s no easy task. There is a trend, both nationwide and statewide, to reduce incarceration levels, which are the highest, by far, in the world.
National incarceration rates are about seven times higher than the world average. Mississippi’s incarceration rate is about 10 times higher than the world average. It’s about the highest in the world.
I remember back in the early ’90s when the crack epidemic was raging, I was leading the charge on increased incarceration. It seemed to work. Crime came down.
But was the cure worse than the disease? Our state and nation has created a permanent underclass of prisoners with an enormously expensive bureaucracy. We spend so much on incarceration that there is precious little for rehabilitation.
Our vast prison system has become a base for gangs which run the lucrative contraband industry. This gives gangs the power to exercise control both in prison and the free world.
This has not escaped the attention of our U.S. Congress, which took a big step toward repealing some lock-em-up laws such as mandatory sentencing and truth in sentencing. It’s a big change.
The new law, signed by President Trump, would take modest steps to reform the criminal justice system and ease very punitive prison sentences at the federal level. It would affect only the federal system — which, with about 181,000 imprisoned people, holds a small but significant fraction of the U.S. jail and prison population of 2.1 million. Surprisingly, Mississippi is one of a handful of states on the leading edge of criminal justice reform. Republican leaders have recently enacted a variety of reforms to reinstate parole and ban the incarceration of people for being too poor to pay fines.
Just last month Gov. Phil Bryant called for prison reforms, having just attended a two-day meeting in Jackson of state leaders from across the political spectrum. When the Americans For Prosperity and the ACLU are united on an issue, you can bet it has wheels.
National polls show 90 percent believe the criminal justice system is broken and 70 percent favor reducing incarceration rates. A recent Mississippi poll showed similar results, including that 61 percent of Mississippi voters are against felonies for drug possession.
This is especially true for drug addicts, which make up about 20 percent of the prison population. Half the prisoners are mentally ill. Perhaps these people need treatment, rather than prison. Drug courts, house arrest, therapy, regional mental health centers, Whitfield could be better alternatives.
We’ve seen this movie before: Recall Prohibition, which led to criminal gangs funded by bootlegging. Now we have a huge layer of criminal activity focused on the lucrative drug business. The harsher the drug laws, the higher the profits and the more gangs will kill to control the drug markets. It’s a threat to our society. Consider the unspeakable drug violence raging in Mexico. Do we want that here?
The war on drugs has failed. Harsher penalties have not decreased drug use. Instead, harsh penalties reduce supply which raises prices, making the drug trade even more lucrative. Gangs make even more money hooking people on drugs. Illegality makes it easier to lace drugs with cheaper, deadly chemicals causing more deaths.
Decriminalization is on the horizon. It’s already happening with marijuana.
Lock ‘em up and throw away the key sounds great until it hits home. Bill Waller, chief justice of our state supreme court, has been instrumental in the establishment of diversionary drug courts. In a recent talk, Waller told my Rotary Club, “There’s not a person in this room who hasn’t been directly affected by addiction through a close friend or family member.”
Is there a better way? Every developed country except ours seems to have figured this one out. Check out what Portugal has done. Rehabilitation over incarceration. Maybe it’s time to try something different.
Wyatt Emmerich is the president of Emmerich Newspapers and publisher of The Northside Sun in Jackson. Reach him at wyatt@northsidesun.com.
