Why aren't Democrats making ending mass incarceration a priority?
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
The nearly 50,000 people incarcerated in state prisons is one constituency that Democratic gubernatorial candidates have often ignored.
The nearly 50,000 people incarcerated in state prisons is one constituency that Democratic gubernatorial candidates have often ignored.
The state’s prison population has quintupled since the early 1980s when the war on drugs made tough-on-crime rhetoric a valuable political currency. Today, more than 5,000 prisoners are serving sentences of life without parole — more than the entire state prison population in 1968.
The extent of this problem might not be evident to Harrisburg legislators spending taxpayers’ dollars on prison expansion. But it has devastated neighborhoods like North Philadelphia. It also tears at the fabric of our city and state as a whole, and sucks resources from other budget items — like education — that could help prevent crime.
John Hanger, the only Democratic gubernatorial candidate to speak frequently about mass incarceration before he dropped out of the race in March, made legalization of marijuana a centerpiece of his campaign to end the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
Thanks to Hanger, however, all the other candidates have been forced to answer questions about the drug war. All say that it has gone too far, including Rob McCord, who wants to focus on decreasing recidivism among ex-offenders. Both he and Tom Wolf say they are open to considering marijuana legalization. That’s a start.
Many conservatives now believe that prison spending is excessive and inefficient. Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration says that it’s committed to downsizing state prisons, though it has largely failed so far to do so. Indeed,the state is constructing a $400 million prison complex near Graterford.
There is still an unprecedented opportunity for bipartisan criminal-justice reform. But voters lack detailed information on what decisions these aspiring governors would make on criminal-justice issues, including corrections spending, re-entry programs for ex-offenders, sentencing reform, establishing restitution payments for the wrongly convicted and the commutation of life sentences.
Many young people in Philly find prison a more likely destination than a decently funded school, and countless others struggle to maintain families and make ends meet with loved ones locked away. Politicians continue to ignore this city’s most marginalized residents. Only voters can make them pay a price for doing so.
