By Garry Lenton
The Patriot-News
HARRISBURG, Penn. — Most people don’t care what happens inside prisons, and that’s too bad, the authors of a book on prison culture say.
Prisons can affect the quality of life in surrounding communities positively negatively, said Don Hummer, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Harrisburg and co-author of “The Culture of Prison Violence,” published in May.
“Ninety-five percent of people in jail come back out, and they can overly represent certain neighborhoods,” he said.
Hummer, along with co-authors James M. Byrne, a professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell; and Faye S. Taxman, a professor in the school of government and public affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, spent three years poring over records from prisons across the United States. The study covered local, state and federal facilities.
They found that the health of a prison environment is influenced by how content prison employees are with their jobs. If there is distrust between labor and management, for example, problems are more likely, said Hummer, who serves on the Citizens Advisory Board of Dauphin County’s Schaffner Youth Center for juvenile offenders.
Their research indicated that jails can reduce conflicts and the number of repeat offenders by keeping inmates occupied and by offering educational and drug and alcohol programs.
In the last two months, prison officials in Dauphin County have stepped up efforts to expand drug and alcohol treatments for inmates, as well as provide job placement assistance and family counseling to ex-inmates who plan to live in Dauphin County.
The potential impact prisons have on society can be seen in the number of people behind bars: more than 2.2 million, or 1 percent of the population, Byrne said.
“More people go to prison today than did 30 years ago,” he said.
“That means more people who are going to become either offenders or victims in prison, and they will bring that experience back to the community.”
Communities most affected by former inmates are usually the neighborhoods from which they came, which tend to be poor and more accustomed to violent behavior, Byrne said.
District Judge Robert Jennings agrees. He works with community organizations and churches in Harrisburg’s Allison Hill to build support systems for children to keep them out of jail.
“If you come from the mentality that you have to shoot and fight, that’s the way you will develop,” he said. “We have to show them that there is another way.”
A report on the nation’s prisons released last year suggests taxpayers should pay more attention to the nation’s prison system, which costs some $60 billion a year to run but has a recidivism rate of 67 percent.
“If that was the success rate for hospitals or public schools, we would have a national outcry,” said Alexander Busansky, executive director of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons.
The Rev. Mim Harvey, who runs Stop the Violence Help Center in Swatara Twp., said many who come out of jail have no new skills to help them succeed.
“I think there can be jobs created using state or federal grants,” she said. “There are things that perhaps you can get done at a cheaper price. Then, as they prove themselves, maybe they can move up.”
Copyright 2007 Patriot News