Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Originally shared by Ralf Haring
"I went with Jackson to see the trailers at the Missouri River Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility nicknamed “the Farm.” Located on the rural outskirts of Bismarck, it is surrounded by cottonwood trees and backs onto the river for which it is named. There are no fences. The day I visited, the grounds were swaddled in a sparkling blanket of snow; prisoners strolled along walking paths in puffy orange jackets, their breath steamy in the cold. Some of the men were placed here for lesser crimes; others are approaching the end of lengthy sentences that began in the maximum-security state prison."
"Warden James Sayler and Joey Joyce, his deputy, were quick to embrace the Norway philosophy. They immediately began devising ways for inmates to earn more freedom—shopping excursions, day passes home, and even the right to wear civilian clothes on-site. They also scaled up an existing work-release program so more men could take real jobs. “Everybody down here is going to be out of here in a short amount of time,” Sayler says. “So how do you want ’em?” This is the crux of Norway’s approach: Once you accept that these people will one day be your neighbors, you might feel more invested in making sure they have the skills to get by on the outside."
...
"But I also heard stories of prisoners so acclimated to confinement that even small freedoms were too much for them. This was particularly acute in the state penitentiary’s administrative segregation (solitary confinement) unit, one of the first places Bertsch and Jackson set out to reform. The seg unit was previously viewed, as it still is in many states, as a catchment for the most difficult prisoners—not just those who assaulted guards or fellow inmates, but also the crazy or defiant ones. A prisoner might get thrown in the hole for tattooing, mouthing off, or repeatedly refusing to tuck in his shirt. Getting in was easy, getting out hard.
That all changed after Norway. Throughout the prison system, Bertsch and Jackson are winnowing the list of minor infractions that earn prisoners a “shot.” As Jackson puts it, “Why is this a rule? Why is that important? Is the juice worth the squeeze?” Now the only way you’ll land in the hole is by endangering somebody, Bertsch says. Solitary stints are short, with clear expectations for how to get out, and the emphasis has shifted from punishment to treatment."
(via Yonatan Zunger)
http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/07/north-dakota-norway-prisons-experiment/#
Originally shared by Ralf Haring
"I went with Jackson to see the trailers at the Missouri River Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility nicknamed “the Farm.” Located on the rural outskirts of Bismarck, it is surrounded by cottonwood trees and backs onto the river for which it is named. There are no fences. The day I visited, the grounds were swaddled in a sparkling blanket of snow; prisoners strolled along walking paths in puffy orange jackets, their breath steamy in the cold. Some of the men were placed here for lesser crimes; others are approaching the end of lengthy sentences that began in the maximum-security state prison."
"Warden James Sayler and Joey Joyce, his deputy, were quick to embrace the Norway philosophy. They immediately began devising ways for inmates to earn more freedom—shopping excursions, day passes home, and even the right to wear civilian clothes on-site. They also scaled up an existing work-release program so more men could take real jobs. “Everybody down here is going to be out of here in a short amount of time,” Sayler says. “So how do you want ’em?” This is the crux of Norway’s approach: Once you accept that these people will one day be your neighbors, you might feel more invested in making sure they have the skills to get by on the outside."
...
"But I also heard stories of prisoners so acclimated to confinement that even small freedoms were too much for them. This was particularly acute in the state penitentiary’s administrative segregation (solitary confinement) unit, one of the first places Bertsch and Jackson set out to reform. The seg unit was previously viewed, as it still is in many states, as a catchment for the most difficult prisoners—not just those who assaulted guards or fellow inmates, but also the crazy or defiant ones. A prisoner might get thrown in the hole for tattooing, mouthing off, or repeatedly refusing to tuck in his shirt. Getting in was easy, getting out hard.
That all changed after Norway. Throughout the prison system, Bertsch and Jackson are winnowing the list of minor infractions that earn prisoners a “shot.” As Jackson puts it, “Why is this a rule? Why is that important? Is the juice worth the squeeze?” Now the only way you’ll land in the hole is by endangering somebody, Bertsch says. Solitary stints are short, with clear expectations for how to get out, and the emphasis has shifted from punishment to treatment."
(via Yonatan Zunger)
http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/07/north-dakota-norway-prisons-experiment/#
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