IT'S ALL THE RAGE

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Col. Writ. 6/19/02]

Fashion, though Folly's child, and guide of fools, Rules e'en the wisest, and in learning rules. -- George Crabbe (1754-1832) 'The Library'

            One wonders, what rules the vast and impersonal machinery of the State, its punitive arm, the prison, which gobbles up millions into its bottom-less maw?

            Is it reason? Is it revenge? It is surely, one supposes, one of these factors.

            Is it the result of learned studies by the deepest scholars in the land, who have pierced the dark veil of penology, and gleaned the keys to the hidden kingdom?

            About a decade ago, the media joined with politicians to promote its answer to youth offenders: boot camps. The pitiless trend took off like wildfire all across the country, and tens of thousands of youths found themselves subjected to all of the trappings of military discipline; reveille, marches, officers barking in the faces of boys, and orders for push-ups when a rule was breached.

            As it gained in media and political popularity, this writer wrote words critiquing the trend. To him, it seemed little more than a kind of legalized child abuse against the poor.

            Now, at least one state has acknowledged that its boot camp idea was a bust. According to the Boston Globe, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is closing its first boot camp at Bridgewater. The unit, which cost some $7.5 million to open some 10 years ago, was found to not have reduced recidivism among youths, nor opened up prison space. In short, it failed. It will be recycled into a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center.

            It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the very idea was ridiculous in the first place. A first-year psychology student could've demonstrated that the trappings and structure of boot camp applied to youthful offenders makes very little sense, for it ignores the fundamental purposes of boot camp, as well as the crucial factor of human motivation.

            Boot camp works because young men are conditioned and motivated to become part of something greater than themselves, for which they are reinforced and rewarded in their home communities. When's the last time you've seen a guy wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the name of the prison he was caged in?

            In military boot camp, men are encouraged to develop loyalty to their unit; in correctional boot camp, young men are discouraged from unit loyalties (for prison officials fear unity).

            Finally, after a decade, boot camp is an idea whose time has passed.

 

© copyright 2002 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.

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