At the Top of Another List

Did you know that the US incarcerates more of its people than any other country in the World?
Did you also know that per capita Louisiana jails five times as many people as Iran, and 13 times more people than China? It’s true, and puts us at the top of yet another shameful list.

It’s believed that recidivism as well as the need to keep cash flowing in our modern prison industrial complex plays a big role on why we lock up so many of our own.

Below concerned citizen Bonnie James of Starks shares her thoughts on how parole and probation are a catch 22 that contributes to the problem.

If anyone has had a friend or relative who was arrested or incarcerated for any length of time, I don’t have to tell you the hoops that must be jumped through.
Prison? Piece of cake. The fun starts when you get out. Parole and/or probation is one big Catch
22.
First, get a job so you can pay the monthly probation or parole. No driver’s license? Too bad. No car? Too bad. Live in timbucktoo? Too bad. Get your family or your friends to pay it and drive you there. Oh, they have jobs and can’t take off ? Too bad.
Oh, you finally find someone to give you a job, even have a ride there? Good for you. Just don’t get comfortable with it because this is when the fun starts. Take the day off to come see your parole officer. Too bad you just started a job. Oh, your sent to the health unit for a TB test, another $100 you don’t have. Too bad. Oops, you have to take another day off to go back to the health unit two days later to read it. Your job? Too bad.
So your probation/parole is up? No, it’s not, it never will be. You see unless you’ve got a sugar daddy who has paid all your fines and kept up with all your P.O.’s money, you’re still on probation or parole. Are you seeing the Catch 22?
That’s why so many go back to selling drugs or some other illegal activity, they have their own hours that way. They can also pay their fines.
Louisiana has the highest incarceration in the world, not just the U.S. This legislative session they’ve tried to tweek it some. Why don’t you fix this parole/probation thing? Friends and family are on a merrygo-round and jumping through hoops trying to get the law breaker back into society but it seems an impossible task. Is it meant to be that way? A constant flow of cash. Fix this problem and you might find we stop having such a high incarceration rate.
Bonnie James
Starks

Can Louisiana Reduce Its Prison Population?

Below are Some Articles with Information on How Louisiana is Trying to Reduce Prison Population

NOLA .com – The Times-Picayune: Louisiana could lose ‘world incarceration capital’ title

WSJ: Change and Culture Collide in America’s Prison Capital