Can Orange
is the New Black, the new
weekly comedy-drama television series, focused on the American criminal justice
and prison system, do something that no one has ever been able to do
before?
For the sake
of our economy, and our society as a whole, I sure hope so. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/30/orange-is-the-new-black-season-1-review
I read Piper
Kerman’s book, Orange is the New Black, when
it first came out and found it compelling, gut wrenching, and sad but true.
Given my
experience in running Rikers Island and the NYPD, I have learned that you
cannot fix a problem that you do not know exists. Given what I observed during my own incarceration, I am convinced that our legislators, courts, criminal justice
administrators and the general public, have very little real insight, into
something that has had, and continues to have such an negative impact on our
children, economy and our country.
Hopefully, Orange
is the New Black, will bring one of America’s most important issues,
into the halls of Congress, and the living rooms of a general public, to give
them a birds-eye-view of the collateral damage that prison and the criminal
justice system can quite often have on families, children, the economy, and our
society as a whole.
Bad people
that do bad things belong in prison, and some, for a very long time. Some
forever. But there are many first time, non-violent offenders sitting in
prison, that could be punished by alternative sentencing, such as fines,
probation, community service, and other methods, which would allow them to
work, take care of their families, pay their fines and restitutions, and most
importantly build a stronger bond with their children.
Justice
would be served, and families could survive. The collateral cost of continuing
down the road we’re on, will ultimately destroy generations of our youth to
come, and our already dire economy.
Thank you
Piper Kerman for your story, and to Netflix for having the foresight, and
courage, to touch on a topic that NOT so many wish to discuss, or have the
courage to do so.
Hopefully,
in the course of your efforts, you can convince our legislators that inaction
in criminal justice and prison reform is not as much soft on crime, as it is stupid
on crime.
Without it, our children and theirs, our economy, and our society as we know it, is doomed to failure.
