Problems with prisons

Contract debacle could expand awareness

Issues like prison's rights and the inherently problematic relationship between prisons and industry are usually the sole domain of left-wing activists. Up until now, most of the arguments against the status quo in the nation's prisons have been of a moral nature - touching on notions of justice and fairness. Unfortunately, many people have brushed these concerns off by reasoning that the notion of "prisoners' rights" is oxymoronic.

The strength of these ideological barriers has not made prisoners' advocates' jobs easy - so when the opportunity presents itself to circumvent ignorant anti-prisoner biases, activists ought to jump at the opportunity.

In the State of Michigan, at least, that opportunity has presented itself: The moral side of the scenario is that the state has awarded a $250 million contract to Correctional Medical Services Inc., a company that is facing several lawsuits alleging gross negligence in the medical attention it has given prisoners. The practical side is that CMS did not even have to win any type of bidding war to get its contract. This means that Michigan taxpayers are potentially paying millions of dollars more than they have to so that prisoners can get medical care that could very well be inferior to what they would receive at a lesser cost.

Hopefully, the CMS debacle will bring Michigan's more conservative citizens into the prisoner's rights movements - or at least open their minds to the problems that permeate the state's correctional system. After all, an isolated (presumably) bureaucratic mishap is not going to change many people's minds about justice within the state's prisons. What the CMS contract does do is highlight the fact that there are big problems within the existing system - be they fiscal or moral - and that a serious overhaul of the way the prisons operate is sorely needed.

Assuming prisoners' rights activists carefully leverage the fiscal irresponsibility that lead to awarding CMS its contract, this could be the first time many people critically think about prisoners' rights issues. Up until now, Michigan voters have re-elected Gov. John Engler three times - Engler has traded increasing funding for the state's educational system in favor of increasing funding for massive prison-building projects.

Criticism of Engler's policies has remained almost entirely strategical, with Democrats and others arguing that reallocating money away from schools and towards the correctional system does not demonstrate sound prioritizing on Engler's part. Never has anything resembling a moral critique of the way Michigan's prisons operate entered into mainstream debate.

The economically unsound nature of the CMS award offers prisoner's advocates the unique opportunity to bring the much more fundamental ethical issues surrounding the way Americans incarcerate people into popular public forums. It is unlikely that Michigan voters are simply cold-hearted - instead they are probably just skeptical of claim that prisoners are being wronged. The issues surrounding the correctional system are complex and can certainly not be communicated over the precious few sound bites activists have been able to grab in mainstream media.

Steady and persistent media coverage has the potential to change this and the fact that the CMS contract has fiscally and morally abhorrent dimensions makes it a perfect candidate for serious public debate in a political climate where the current issues are losing their ability to grab massive attention.

Not only is the CMS contract story sound bite-worthy, but it underscores one of the most pressing problems with the current correctional system - increasing privatization.

In the case of CMS, it was a private health care provider for prisoners; its goal was to make as big of a profit as possible. But this cannot possibly be compatible with the state's purported interest in keeping prisoners healthy. The more money a private health provider saves, the bigger its profit. So it can only be expected to cut corners - especially since prisoners are involved - as looking out for their best interest is not politically marketable.

On another level, the surprisingly popular, newly rejuvenated practice of private companies profiting off of dirt-cheap prison labor is also inherently incompatible with the state's interest in promoting justice. In this case, private companies stand to gain from the state incarcerating more people since this will only expand the already-massive prison labor market. In turn, this gives law-makers an incentive to build more prisons and pass punitive and draconian laws that result in more people serving longer sentences since support from the private sector is critical for winning elections.

Neither of these issues - or any of the many other problems surrounding state prisons - have been touched on in any type of meaningful, public dialogue. The economic angle of the CMS contract award gives prisoners' advocates the opportunity to bring these important issues to the public; they should not pass this unique chance up.