tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post515501571632198353..comments2024-03-20T19:17:02.285-07:00Comments on IN THE NEWS: Abuse rampant in California prisonsKaren Franklin, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-49232625440811484402010-09-24T12:27:10.233-07:002010-09-24T12:27:10.233-07:00Thanks Karen,
I meant to post this to Linkedin ACA...Thanks Karen,<br />I meant to post this to Linkedin ACA group where I saw it but am glad it went directly to your blog so don't be surprised if you somehow see it again. I am a neophyte at all things internet but appreciated your article and so posted even though the profile think confused my aging brain! Please connect with me on Linked in at Thomas J. Bryant in case I don't find you there. Hpe to read more. Cheers TUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10845199950179333755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-74383224338921264272010-09-23T13:31:48.982-07:002010-09-23T13:31:48.982-07:00Mr. Bryant,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. ...Mr. Bryant, <br />Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I agree completely. There are some fabulous people working in corrections. However, they are not getting the necessary support from the system to effectuate positive change. And, as you say, the realities of prison are largely hidden from the outside world. I recommend to my forensic students that they do some time behind bars because it is great experience, but that they don't become lifers because, as Karl Marx said, "being determines consciousness."Karen Franklin, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01032855743077403199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2361358365193630538.post-88442169178548101682010-09-23T06:59:20.825-07:002010-09-23T06:59:20.825-07:00Having worked in the Canadian penitentiary system ...Having worked in the Canadian penitentiary system and having earlier seen an example of the state system for men, and also the vastly poorer conditions for women, while studying in the US, the entrenched and continuing issues you describe are certainly disturbing. Let's guess Dostoyevsky would have rated California's civilization quite low. <br />It is hardly an honor to be mentioned in this regard and based on raw numbers as barely above the seven darkest penal systems in the world. However, I suspect the changes will have to come from the very very top in this country and there seems little will politically to force that in our generation. Even in Canada it required strong action when a commission was ordered by the PM's office( see link below for Justice Arbour's 1995 response on certain events at the Prison for Women in Kingston ON.) http://www.justicebehindthewalls.net/resources/arbour_report/arbour_rpt.htm <br /><br />Corrections is a world in which very little light enters from the parallel societies they adjoin and very little personal light can remain consistently without support from the highest levels of the system. Having said that there are some very very good people who work in every correctional system in the world - at all levels- but with the power issues at play, power corruption is a daily possibility and requires an independent examiner and a real grievance system to have any hope of change. <br />Respectfully<br />Thomas Bryant<br />Risk Consultant<br />former Parole Officer- CSC PAC Region<br />now living in Greater Boston area<br />Linkedin id (Thomas J. Bryant)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10845199950179333755noreply@blogger.com