Last week The Discovery Channel ran a special report on the Solano Prison and the general conditions that exist in the State of California prison system, narrated by Ted Koppel.

Based on information on the Department of Correction’s website, the population of the prisons is at 204% (two hundred and four percent) of capacity, as of today. That means that facilities designed by those who are supposed to know best regarding maximum effectiveness and issues that relate to creating increased tension for inmates and staff are more than twice as full as they should be. Additionally, California has the distinction of having the highest rate of recidivism in the United States at 70% (seventy percent). That means that seven out of ten prisoners released re-offend within three years.

It was clear from the interviews that were conducted, from the Commissioner of Corrections to all program level staff people that their intentions are excellent. They want to improve the situation, reduce over crowding and therefore create a “safer” environment in the prisons and California in general.

The State has committed itself to $7 billion dollars of new construction in order to deal with the space issue alone. Right now, there are roughly 173,000 (one hundred, seventy-three thousand) inmates incarcerated in the California system. This does not include any of those on supervised release or probation. At a cost of $43,000 (forty-three thousand dollars) per prisoner, this represents an expenditure of $7,439,000,000 (seven billion, four hundred and thirty-nine million dollars) annually. Clearly, there has been a dramatic and substantial commitment of State funds to address these issues.

There are a variety of external factors that contribute to the creation of the “crisis” situation. California has a three-strike law. If you are convicted of a felony three times, you are automatically given a “life” sentence, usually twenty-five years in total time served. The goal is to get habitual criminals off the street. Originally intended for those who commit serious or violent crime, the three-strike rule is being applied to all felony sentences. Additionally, because citizens wanted to address the issue of drug use, smaller amounts of illegal substances draw longer prison terms now. Each of these decisions and the laws associated with them increase the number of people likely to be incarcerated.

The major factors impacting this situation, however, are not being addressed in the State of California, nor were they mentioned during the television special by Ted Koppel.

Not one person interviewed communicated as if they understood that the only person who can turn a person’s life around is that person themselves. One teacher said, “Our program prepares inmates for life.” No program prepares one for anything. Properly designed, programs give individuals information and experiences that allow them to make good choices and become successful in life.

Many years ago, I was asked to give a commencement address at a Job Corps program in Maine. Following the talk, a student ran up to the Director of the program, Eunice Johnson, and said, “Thank you so much! This program changed my life. It helped me so much.”

As the student hurried off, I said to the Director, “You are in big trouble.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because that student just said you and the program have turned his life around. The program just ended, so now what?”

Eunice immediately ran after the student and emphasized that it was the student not the program that made the difference.

During the program about Solano, another teacher said, “We teach them just as if this were a normal class.” It is a normal class. These are inmates, human beings, whose behavior has violated rules and in some cases (about half), done serious damage physically to other people. That doesn’t make them bad people; it makes their behaviors bad and inappropriate. If we communicate to people as if they are their behavior, we perpetuate one of the biggest factors that brought them to the prison system in the first place, that they believe they are not worthy, that they are bad people, not capable of changing.

One inmate, a 48-year-old man was followed through programs to a final day of dismissal. He was picked up by his parents, neither of whom got out of the car nor said a thing to him as he got in the car to “begin his new life.” What are the chances he will be one of those who will be back soon? If we keep doing things the way we have done them, why should we expect the results to change at all?

One of the “bright lights” in the system is a program that intends to create a smoother transition for those being released from the system into communities. Roughly 16,000 (sixteen thousand) inmates will become part of this new program. While not discussed during the Discovery program, there is a video describing the program on the Department’s website. “We will make them law abiding.”

In my experience, you can’t make anybody do anything. You can modify their behavior, momentarily. If I have a blowtorch, and I threaten you with it, tell you to dance, you are likely to dance. When the torch and I are gone, it is unlikely you will continue dancing.

“We will lengthen the period of time where they behave.” The implication of this remark is that we may lengthen the time and we know their old behavior will return.

One citizen asks, “What can we do to make them good citizens?” No one can make them that except the individual themselves.

One inmate, incarcerated under the three-strike law for stealing a bottle of beer said, “I thought it was my own cooler, in my own kitchen.” (Referring to the cooler in the store.) Clearly, no one has communicated with this inmate in a way that has yet allowed him to take responsibility for his own actions. He is still blaming circumstances. His chances of success are between slim and non-existent.

Not one piece of Koppel’s special, not one quote from it, or in the video on the website reflected an understanding of the following:

1. In order to change, people need to know

that they are loved and valuable.

2. We cannot behavior modify people into wellness.

3. People are not their behavior or their past.

4. If we communicate to people that they are not capable or able, it is likely they will make us right.

What will it take for us to understand that we cannot “correct” people’s behavior?

Should we call it a “Department of Corrections?”

Are we interested in seeing a true change in behavior or in punishing those who commit crimes?

Why are those who did not commit violent crimes treated in the same way as those who did?

Is it possible there is a reason we really don’t want to solve the problem?