If you’ve been a regular consumer of news for any stretch of the past 30 years, you know one of America’s on-going trends is the growing number of people in prison. At any one time, almost two million Americans are behind bars. In the past 20 years, over one thousand prisons have been built in this country and there are still stories about prison overcrowding. Communist China, a repressive regime with a population five times larger than ours, a regime that runs its prisons for political as well as criminal punishment, has fewer people incarcerated than we do.
I can tell you from personal experience that going to jail in America ain’t what it used to be, either. On my last visit to the penal system, in Connecticut in October, I spent some time in one facility that was housing people awaiting trial and people serving out their sentences. Maximum-security prisoners and juveniles were in the same building. A guard told me they make every effort to keep the maximum-security prisoners and the juveniles separated, but it isn’t always easy.
The political thinking on this dictates that if crime is going up, we need more prisons; if crime is going down, we need more prisons to drive it even lower. All politicians want to be tough on crime; in the last 20 years, it’s become fashionable to pass mandatory-sentencing laws, taking the decisions out of the hands of judges and packing even more people into the jails.
Here in the Green Mountain Republic, we have fewer than 2,000 people in jail, but we don’t have enough space for them all. The city of South Burlington is threatening to sue the state because of the over-crowded prison there, the governor is emptying out the state hospital in Waterbury to convert it to a women’s prison, some patients will be forcibly drugged and put on the street. Vermont also rents penitentiary space from Virginia and sends some of our convicts down there. Visiting day means a 12-hour bus ride each way. Oh, and did I mention the controversial program that furloughs inmates back into the community?
The legislature is currently sitting in Montpelier and given what I just described, some of the big brains in the assembly got together and you know that’s going to be just like watching a train wreck. Three of our lawmakers have proposed that it should be a crime in the state of Vermont to fail to return a videotape or pay your late fees within 14 days. First offense – $300 fine or six months in jail. Maximum penalty – $500 fine and 10 years in jail. Ten years in jail for failing to return your videotapes.
One of the Dracos who drafted this legislation is John LeBarge, a Republican from Grand Isle County who owns – ha! – a video store! Mr. and Mrs. America, this is representative government at its finest. To all of you listeners in foreign countries, I apologize for our foolishness and warn you to be careful if you come visit.
Personally, I think if you’re going to pass dumb laws, you should do it with a little style. People may be equal before the law, but are videos? Should someone get the same sentence for failing to return “Ernest to the Rescue” as “Lawrence of Arabia”? Depriving one’s fellow citizens of the opportunity to see “The Big Sleep” may indeed be a criminal act, but “Ishtar”? C’mon, gimme a break.
Just for fun, I went to the library – you know, the book place – and asked what their policy on non-returned materials is. It’s five cents a day for each overdue item, with a maximum fine of three dollars. They put a cap on the fine because they don’t want anyone to ever be afraid to bring something back, no matter how late it is. We’ll never get a decent police state up and running if people keep thinking like that.
Many Happy Returns
If you’ve been a regular consumer of news for any stretch of the past 30 years, you know one of America’s on-going trends is the growing number of people in prison. At any one time, almost two million Americans are behind bars. In the past 20 years, over one thousand prisons have been built in this country and there are still stories about prison overcrowding. Communist China, a repressive regime with a population five times larger than ours, a regime that runs its prisons for political as well as criminal punishment, has fewer people incarcerated than we do.
I can tell you from personal experience that going to jail in America ain’t what it used to be, either. On my last visit to the penal system, in Connecticut in October, I spent some time in one facility that was housing people awaiting trial and people serving out their sentences. Maximum-security prisoners and juveniles were in the same building. A guard told me they make every effort to keep the maximum-security prisoners and the juveniles separated, but it isn’t always easy.
The political thinking on this dictates that if crime is going up, we need more prisons; if crime is going down, we need more prisons to drive it even lower. All politicians want to be tough on crime; in the last 20 years, it’s become fashionable to pass mandatory-sentencing laws, taking the decisions out of the hands of judges and packing even more people into the jails.
Here in the Green Mountain Republic, we have fewer than 2,000 people in jail, but we don’t have enough space for them all. The city of South Burlington is threatening to sue the state because of the over-crowded prison there, the governor is emptying out the state hospital in Waterbury to convert it to a women’s prison, some patients will be forcibly drugged and put on the street. Vermont also rents penitentiary space from Virginia and sends some of our convicts down there. Visiting day means a 12-hour bus ride each way. Oh, and did I mention the controversial program that furloughs inmates back into the community?
The legislature is currently sitting in Montpelier and given what I just described, some of the big brains in the assembly got together and you know that’s going to be just like watching a train wreck. Three of our lawmakers have proposed that it should be a crime in the state of Vermont to fail to return a videotape or pay your late fees within 14 days. First offense – $300 fine or six months in jail. Maximum penalty – $500 fine and 10 years in jail. Ten years in jail for failing to return your videotapes.
One of the Dracos who drafted this legislation is John LeBarge, a Republican from Grand Isle County who owns – ha! – a video store! Mr. and Mrs. America, this is representative government at its finest. To all of you listeners in foreign countries, I apologize for our foolishness and warn you to be careful if you come visit.
Personally, I think if you’re going to pass dumb laws, you should do it with a little style. People may be equal before the law, but are videos? Should someone get the same sentence for failing to return “Ernest to the Rescue” as “Lawrence of Arabia”? Depriving one’s fellow citizens of the opportunity to see “The Big Sleep” may indeed be a criminal act, but “Ishtar”? C’mon, gimme a break.
Just for fun, I went to the library – you know, the book place – and asked what their policy on non-returned materials is. It’s five cents a day for each overdue item, with a maximum fine of three dollars. They put a cap on the fine because they don’t want anyone to ever be afraid to bring something back, no matter how late it is. We’ll never get a decent police state up and running if people keep thinking like that.