April 8, 2015 – RI Future

Susan Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union who is in Rhode Island today to speak at a panel discussion on policing, said she is not surprised to learn that a white police officer shot a Black man in South Carolina.

“I wish I could say I was surprised,” she told me. “Unfortunately it’s not news that a Black man was shot by a white police officer. That’s happened 100 times since March. What is news is that the system actually responded and the officer will be charged.”

A constitutional law professor who has headed the ACLU since 2008, Herman said the response in South Carolina compared to the response in Ferguson is encouraging.

“It’s a sign that an awareness has been sparked by the troubling events in Ferguson, and that awareness is starting to bear fruit,” she said. “It’s possible that South Carolina is being so responsive because the American people have woken up to the fact that Black lives do matter.”

Herman said more and more of the ACLU’s work is being focused on racial issues, such as those related to the Black Lives Matter movement, because people of color much more frequently have their civil liberties curtailed. “Ever since Ferguson there has been tremendous interest in stories like this,” she said. “I think prior to Ferguson, a lot of people thought there wasn’t a problem.”

Nationally, she said, the ACLU is focusing attention on mass incarceration and voter suppression laws, both of which disproportionately adversely affect people of color. “What’s special about the ACLU is we connect the dots,” she said, invoking the famous ACLU catch phrase – ‘defend everybody.'”

She termed the amount of money the United States invests incarcerating its citizens as “staggering,” adding, “We’re stripping money from schools so that we can lock people up. It’s a great big societal mistake.”

And Herman referred to voter ID laws as “voter suppression laws,” saying, “if our public servants are not accountable to the people, there’s no limit on what they can do.” I asked her if she was surprised that a nominally liberal state like Rhode Island has such a law and she said, “It’s really just a political tool and there’s not just one party that tries to give itself an advantage.”

I asked her to give the Ocean State a grade on defending Rhode Islanders civil liberties, and she declined saying instead, “If even one person in Rhode Island is searched because of their race, that’s bad.”

They say when we someone is sentenced to prison it is for rehabilitation. Yet I will be eligible for parole before I am eligible to participate in one of the vocational programs at the ACI. Here in medium security, there is a carpentry, HVAC and barbers’ apprentice program. But prison policy says only inmates with fewer than three years left on their sentence can participate and I’m serving a seven year sentence on a drug charge.

We know vocational programs reduce recidivism, but I must wait four years before I can enroll in such a program. I can go see the parole board, get parole, and not have learned a trade or skill before re-entering society. Where’s the rehab?

The three-year-and-under policy denies crucial opportunities for job training. When inmates, like everyone, are properly trained, it becomes easier to attain steady employment. This will help us not walk back through this revolving door. By not coming back and working, we can provide for our families and become a positive role model for our children, and also become a better person, father, husband, son, brother, uncle, and law abiding citizen to our family, friends, and community. Vocational programs should be expanded to include electrical, plumbing, welding, culinary arts, fitness training, auto mechanic training.

But the three-year-and-under policy also denies a critical opportunity to show we are ready to reenter society. Parole is sometimes contingent on participation in prison programs, and some inmates aren’t eligible for prison programs until after they are eligible for parole. How else do we show the Parole Board, which represents society, that we are ready to reenter?

Staff members’ efforts are being made within the bounds of the existing policy. A counselor may push for an inmate to participate in some programs, like mine did. Right now I am currently in General Sociology, Men’s Trauma and a few other programs that don’t give so called ‘good time credit’ that anyone may attend. To his credit, Lieutenant Lanoway does a good job at handling the programs, but the three-year- and-under policy makes it impossible for inmates like myself to participate in a vast majority of programs.

This post is published as part of the Prison Op/Ed Project, an occasional series authored by CCRI sociology students who are incarcerated at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. Read more here:

‘Prison Op/Ed Project’ teaches civic engagement, writing – Meghan Kallman
Does racial injustice still exist? Look at our schools – Aaron Carpenter
Rhode Island charges felons absurdly high court costs – Christopher Nemitz
Public school students and inmates need more vocational training – Darnell Hie

Day: April 8, 2015

ACLU president Susan Herman on civil liberties, South Carolina and Black Lives Matter

Prison policies put probation and vocation training at odds