I was wandering the streets downtown yesterday, taking pics, doing outreach and waiting for an appointment when I happened upon a minister friend who was enjoying the cooler weather on a bench in front of his establishment. This particular pastor is well known to the Homeless as his establishment provides a number of services to them, including serving food and using a petty cash fund with wide discretion for "immediate needs" that are critical to the survival of the Homeless.
We chatted briefly about the change in weather, then he asked me why it was that the department of corrections wasn't sending people back onto the streets with proper ID. "Good question," said I.
One would certainly think that of all agencies, The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) would surely know the value, the essential need, the critical importance, of sending one of their inmates back into the world with a valid, state-issued picture identification. Instead, these inmates often show up at my office location (4 yesterday) with a prison ID that is completely worthless at the local DMV, and just about anyplace else that demands ID to procure services and essential goods, like food stamps and housing.
To most of us, having ID is taken for granted. We've had it since we first learned to drive and beyond the occasional pain in the ass we experience when it must be renewed, we don't give it much thought, since we've never really had to replace it, or for that matter, live without it. But make no mistake, when you're seeking assistance from the public sector, you must have ID in order to do anything once you walk through the door.
It's tough enough to get by on the streets with an ID; imagine what it must be like for folks who have spent the past 3, 5, 7 or 10 years in a highly structured, institutionalized environment and are suddenly and unceremoniously cast out onto the street with "chump change" (it's called "gate money" - funds provided an inmate upon his/her release back into society to start over - and in TN it isn't much, $25-$50 bucks for most), and an ID that isn't accepted anywhere besides the prison commissary, and you've already stacked the deck against these poor sods, who have for all intents and purposes, paid their debt to society and are now trying to start over, albeit on the rung buried in sewage at the absolute bottom of the ladder.
I realize that TDOC is a penny-pinching organization - most folks frown on spending anything on a "bunch of convicts" - but once they have done their time, shouldn't they at least be afforded the most basic of necessities for their transition back into society? Hell, we already make them pay for their "fish kits" when they come through the door (called a "Hygenie kit" by prison officials, it's a pathetic assortment of basic supplies for hygiene and includes a toothbrush and some powder toothpaste, a roll of TP and some assorted other junk that usually gets tossed as soon as an inmate can make it to canteen), if officials are that concerned, have them pay for ID, too; at least then they'd actually have something they can use for their money.
Look, if you're stupid enough to do the crime, you've got to be big enough to do the time - I think most folks in the pen get that. But once they've done their time, it just isn't fair to continue punishing them - they'll get enough of that when they start applying for jobs and prospective employers see that felony on their record. At least give them the basic tools needed to live legally and honorably while trying to eke out a living in society. They at least deserve that.
9.12.2007
What Is The Bureau Of Prisons Thinking?
I was wandering the streets downtown yesterday, taking pics, doing outreach and waiting for an appointment when I happened upon a minister friend who was enjoying the cooler weather on a bench in front of his establishment. This particular pastor is well known to the Homeless as his establishment provides a number of services to them, including serving food and using a petty cash fund with wide discretion for "immediate needs" that are critical to the survival of the Homeless.
We chatted briefly about the change in weather, then he asked me why it was that the department of corrections wasn't sending people back onto the streets with proper ID. "Good question," said I.
One would certainly think that of all agencies, The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) would surely know the value, the essential need, the critical importance, of sending one of their inmates back into the world with a valid, state-issued picture identification. Instead, these inmates often show up at my office location (4 yesterday) with a prison ID that is completely worthless at the local DMV, and just about anyplace else that demands ID to procure services and essential goods, like food stamps and housing.
To most of us, having ID is taken for granted. We've had it since we first learned to drive and beyond the occasional pain in the ass we experience when it must be renewed, we don't give it much thought, since we've never really had to replace it, or for that matter, live without it. But make no mistake, when you're seeking assistance from the public sector, you must have ID in order to do anything once you walk through the door.
It's tough enough to get by on the streets with an ID; imagine what it must be like for folks who have spent the past 3, 5, 7 or 10 years in a highly structured, institutionalized environment and are suddenly and unceremoniously cast out onto the street with "chump change" (it's called "gate money" - funds provided an inmate upon his/her release back into society to start over - and in TN it isn't much, $25-$50 bucks for most), and an ID that isn't accepted anywhere besides the prison commissary, and you've already stacked the deck against these poor sods, who have for all intents and purposes, paid their debt to society and are now trying to start over, albeit on the rung buried in sewage at the absolute bottom of the ladder.
I realize that TDOC is a penny-pinching organization - most folks frown on spending anything on a "bunch of convicts" - but once they have done their time, shouldn't they at least be afforded the most basic of necessities for their transition back into society? Hell, we already make them pay for their "fish kits" when they come through the door (called a "Hygenie kit" by prison officials, it's a pathetic assortment of basic supplies for hygiene and includes a toothbrush and some powder toothpaste, a roll of TP and some assorted other junk that usually gets tossed as soon as an inmate can make it to canteen), if officials are that concerned, have them pay for ID, too; at least then they'd actually have something they can use for their money.
Look, if you're stupid enough to do the crime, you've got to be big enough to do the time - I think most folks in the pen get that. But once they've done their time, it just isn't fair to continue punishing them - they'll get enough of that when they start applying for jobs and prospective employers see that felony on their record. At least give them the basic tools needed to live legally and honorably while trying to eke out a living in society. They at least deserve that.
Smiling does a body good
