Reimagining Prison
October 2018
Executive Summary
Background the ways in which prisons—how they have been used, the
purposes they serve, who gets sent to them, and people’s
The United States holds approximately 1.5 million people experiences inside them—are intimately entwined with
in its state and federal prisons. Although this number the legacy of slavery and generations of racial and social
has declined since its peak in 2009, mass incarceration is injustice. Built on a system of racist policies and practices
hardly a thing of the past. Even if the nation returned to the that has disproportionately impacted people of color,
incarceration rates it experienced before 1970, more than mass incarceration has decimated the communities and
300,000 people—approximately one per 1,000 residents— families from which they come. It is time to acknowledge
would still be held in U.S. prisons. And the conditions of that this country has long used state punishment generally—
that confinement are dismal. Prison in America is a place and incarceration specifically—to subordinate racial and
of severe hardship—a degree of hardship that is largely ethnic minorities.
inconceivable to people who have not seen or experienced The recent prison incident in South Carolina that left
it themselves or through a loved one. It is an institution seven dead, as well as prison strikes across the country in
that causes individual, community, and generational pain 2016 and 2018 protesting inhumane treatment, serve as
and deprivation. For those behind the walls, prison is tragic wake-up calls that something is fundamentally wrong
characterized by social and physical isolation, including inside America’s prisons. With a few limited exceptions,
severe restriction of personal movement, enforced idleness, correctional practice today remains underpinned by
insufficient basic care, a loss of meaningful personal contact retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation. These realities
and the deterioration of family relationships, and the denial beg the question: isn’t there another way? We have failed
of constitutional rights and avenues to justice. Those who to ask this question with sufficient seriousness and
work in prisons suffer too, with alarming rates of post- thoroughness. The time for us to do so is now. And so, to
traumatic stress disorder and suicide compared to the take a truly decisive step away from the past, America needs
general population. a new set of normative values on which to ground prison
Beyond the walls of prison, incarceration’s impact policy and practice—values that simultaneously recognize,
is broad: mass imprisonment disrupts social networks, interrogate, and unravel the persistent connections between
distorts social norms, and hollows out citizenship. Over this racism and this country’s system of punishment.
country’s long history of using prisons, American values of In this report, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera)
fairness and justice have been sacrificed to these institutions reimagines the how, what, and why of incarceration. And
in the name of securing the common good of public in so doing, we assert a new governing principle: human
safety. But the harsh conditions within prisons have been dignity. This principle dictates that “[e]very human being
demonstrated neither to ensure safety behind the walls nor possesses an intrinsic worth, merely by being human.” It
to prevent crime and victimization in the community. applies to people living in prison as well as the corrections
The story of American prisons is also a story of staff who work there.
racism. We as a nation have not yet fully grappled with
For more information
To read the full report, visit www.Vera.org/reimagining-prison-print-report. For more information about this report, contact Ram Subramanian,
editorial director, at [email protected]. The Vera Institute of Justice is a justice reform change agent. Vera produces ideas, analysis, and
research that inspire change in the systems people rely upon for safety and justice, and works in close partnership with government and civic
leaders to implement it. Vera is currently pursuing core priorities of ending the misuse of jails, transforming conditions of confinement, and
ensuring that justice systems more effectively serve America’s increasingly diverse communities. For more information, visit www.vera.org.
© 2018 Vera Institute of Justice. All rights reserved.
Basing American corrections practice on the principle largest racial or ethnic group subject to incarceration.
of human dignity both acknowledges and responds to this This disproportionate representation happened by choice,
history of racial and ethnic oppression and the role formal not chance. It was the result of centuries of practices that
state punishment systems have played in creating and targeted black people and criminalized the experience of
perpetuating inequality. The United States’ stain of legal being black in America. Prison also disproportionately
slavery and its denial of the personhood of black Americans impacts other marginalized populations: people who are
have direct ties to the disproportionate representation of poor, those who have mental illnesses or substance use
people of color among prison populations today. Grounding issues, those with lower levels of education, and those who
our prison system on the concept of human dignity is one identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
step the country must take to come to terms with its history What is life like for people in prison? With few
of racial and ethnic subordination. exceptions, the prison experience today is harsh, restrictive,
But a system grounded in human dignity does more: and dehumanizing. Prison life results in the loss of each
it benefits all of us. Indeed, a society rooted in fairness incarcerated person’s sense of self, autonomy, and capacity
and justice demands it. As improbable as this may seem to control his or her own destiny. In its place rises a new
to the skeptic, it may be persuasive to know that America “carceral identity”—one reinforced by the strict social
would not be the first country to atone for its past of brutal, arrangements inside prisons and the power imbalance
unforgiveable dehumanization by embracing human dignity. between corrections officers and incarcerated people. These
Post-war, post-Holocaust Germany enshrined human dignity defining characteristics are fostered by the features that
in its 1949 Basic Law, which states: “Human dignity shall be make up the prison experience:
inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all
state authority.” We need look no further. ›› the design and physical layout of prison buildings, which
contribute to dehumanization and institutionalization;
The American prison experience today ›› the twin experiences of overcrowding and isolation
(through the use of solitary confinement for punishment
The report begins in Chapter 1: Examining prisons and control and the siting of prisons in rural areas, away
today by looking at who is in prison in the United States from family, friends, and community supports);
and what they experience. What we find is that those ›› a lack of basic necessities, including adequate and
imprisoned are disproportionately people of color. This is healthy food and essential sanitary items;
most visible in the number of black Americans behind bars, ›› a dearth of meaningful activities and opportunities
although other groups—such as Latino and Native American for paid work, vocational training, or educational
people—are also overrepresented in prison in comparison programming;
to their presence in the general population. Today, black ›› limited connections to the outside world and obstacles
men and women make up just 13 percent of the country’s to maintaining personal relationships with family and
population, but they represent more than 35 percent of friends;
those in American prisons—making black Americans the
"
Despite the lowest crime rates in decades, we have 1.5 million
people behind prison bars. One and a half million—2.2 million
if you count jails. Let those numbers sink in. We have lost
generations of young men and women, particularly young men
of color, to long and brutal prison terms.
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›› lasting trauma from the hypervigilance required to 1980s, when the nation’s policymakers began to use lengthy
navigate the experience of prison life itself; and and mandatory prison sentences as the primary response to
›› the loss of constitutional and civic rights. offenses at all levels, leading to the era of mass incarceration.
And, although prison populations have been declining in
Staff, too, are victims of the prison environment as it the past few years, the United States is still a world leader in
exists today. Placed in a high stress environment with low incarceration, and prison conditions continue to be harsh.
pay, they suffer from job stress and poor health outcomes
while trying to maintain order with limited training. Human dignity as the guiding principle
American history, race, and prison To radically change this history will require radical changes
in prison practice. In Chapter 3: Human dignity as the
The American prison system as it stands today did not arise guiding principle, we call for a transformation in the
fully formed out of 20th century politics and policies; rather goals and experience of incarceration in this country. Vera
it is interwoven with this country’s deep and divisive history proposes that a bold but simple value govern all facets of this
of unequal race relations. Chapter 2: American history, newly shaped prison system: the value of human dignity.
race, and prison demonstrates that—though marked by Human dignity is a concept that has deep and ancient
distinct eras throughout U.S. history—incarceration in this philosophical underpinnings and is well established as a
country has long had two significant features: (1) growth in modern legal principle both in the United States and abroad.
the number of people imprisoned; and (2) disproportionate The principle of human dignity recognizes every person’s
impact on racial and ethnic minorities and others with self-worth and capacity for self-control, autonomy, and
outsider status, defined broadly as those not belonging to the rationality. It as an inherent value that inures to all human
dominant political and social community in power. beings and, in Vera’s vision, one that must serve as a cardinal
In the Reconstruction South, prisons were used to principle dictating how the prison system must organize
continue to exact control over newly freed black people itself from top to bottom. A commitment to human dignity
through brutal practices like convict leasing and prison does not undermine the fundamental correctional priorities
farms, which have been said to mimic slavery in all but of safety and security. Rather, human dignity demands that
name. In the North, during the Great Migration between everyone behind the walls—those incarcerated as well as
1910 and 1970, black people were similarly—though less staff—is kept safe and secure.
overtly—funneled into prison in racially discriminatory and Human dignity may seem an amorphous precept on
racially disproportionate ways. which to hang the implementation of a nation’s corrections
In the late 1960s through the 1990s, politicians started system. And so, to give life to this governing tenet in the
to employ a “tough on crime” message that linked protests real world of the nation’s prisons, Vera proposes the three
of the Civil Rights era to black criminality, and then further practice principles below.
in response to a surge in violent crime in the 1970s and
"
To take a truly decisive step away from the past,
America needs a new set of normative values on which
to ground prison policy and practice—values that
simultaneously recognize, interrogate, and unravel the
heretofore persistent connections between racism and this
country’s systems of punishment.
3
›› Practice principle 1: Respect the intrinsic worth of meaningful opportunities to receive furloughs for family
each human being. This principle prohibits practices events or to participate in work or educational programs
that degrade or demean a person. Instead, policies should in preparation for reentry.
serve to humanize
people in prison. A ›› Practice principle 3: Respect a person’s capacity to
system operating grow and change. The inherent dignity of a human
Respect a person’s capacity
under this practice beingtoincludes a person’s capacity for self-control,
grow and change.
principle would, for empowerment,
example, instruct staff autonomy, and
to call incarcerated rationality. This third
people by their names; practice principle
provide high quality health care at the prison; permit requires prisons to
incarcerated people to choose their own clothing; provide opportunities
provide an adequate supply of hygienic products; for incarcerated people
serve sufficient amounts of edible and healthy food; to pursue productive
and institute meaningful protection from physical and activities, grow, and develop. Prisons should work with
emotional abuse in the prison, whether perpetrated by incarcerated people to create case plans with goals for
staff or other incarcerated people. employment, education, health, and family; provide
access to high quality education at all levels; ensure
›› Practice principle 2: Elevate and support personal that reading material is available; provide behavioral
relationships. Vera’s second practice principle focuses health treatment; give people the opportunity to work
on allowing people who are living in prison to and be fairly compensated for it; offer restorative justice
develop and maintain programs; and engage incarcerated people in the creation
relationships with and enforcement of in-unit rules.
others and it prohibits
actions that serve Achieving human dignity today
to hamper such
interactions. A person’s The vision articulated in this report demands significant
inherent worth and changes in this country’s corrections systems. The sheer scale
sense of dignity is often of America’s prison infrastructure makes the implementation
bound up in relationships with others. In the context of of a comprehensive human dignity-based system enormous,
a prison, this means relationships between those living resource-intensive, and dependent on political leadership
in prison, between corrections staff and residents, and that is currently all but nonexistent. Our vision is one that
between incarcerated people and their families and necessitates a dramatic shrinking of our system of mass
friends on the outside. This principle can be put into incarceration and an honest reckoning about resources. But
practice through a focus on prison architecture and that is no excuse for helpless paralysis. Every jurisdiction
design. Prison systems can renovate old facilities or in this country—local, state, and federal—can take tangible,
build new ones that minimize noise, provide outdoor beginning steps today to begin to infuse human dignity into
recreation spaces, include dayrooms for group activities its correctional operations.
and personal interactions between staff and residents, Chapter 4: Achieving human dignity today shows
and have kitchens where incarcerated people can prepare how this is already occurring in several places around the
food for themselves and others. Relationships also must country. On five separate visits over the last five years,
go beyond prison walls, and a prison system that centers Vera and the Prison Law Office, together and separately,
interpersonal relationships should house incarcerated introduced officials from at least a dozen states to several
people in facilities that are as close as possible to their different Northern European corrections systems where
homes and loved ones. Prisons should also develop human dignity plays a central role. Those who participated
generous in-person, phone, and email visitation in these trips came back with a new outlook on the role and
policies and provide people who are incarcerated with purpose of corrections. Many states, including Connecticut,
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Idaho, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania, have since taken began a partnership with the Middlesex County Sheriff’s
steps—both big and small—to introduce human dignity into Office in Massachusetts, which opened a similar young
their corrections systems starting now. adult unit in its jail in February 2018. Shortly after that,
Connecticut’s experience is particularly instructive. through a competitive application process, South Carolina
There, in partnership with Vera, the Cheshire Correctional was selected to join these partners in transforming custody
Institution piloted a young adult unit based on human for young adults.
dignity tenets. Called T.R.U.E. (an acronym for Truthfulness, Though T.R.U.E. is an enormously promising model,
Respectfulness, Understanding, and Elevating), the unit it does not completely reimagine prison in the way this
houses men aged 18 to 25 living under many of the report envisions. The unit, however altered, is a slightly
conditions proposed in this report, including elements renovated wing of a larger facility. It still looks and feels like
of autonomy and personal choice, freedom of movement, the quintessential American prison. Only one age group
individual responsibility, goal-setting, mentorship, and is eligible for its benefits—an advantage that doesn’t go
therapeutic programming. The environment fosters unnoticed by the rest of the prison’s population. The people
interpersonal relationships among those incarcerated, as in the unit still wear uniforms, and the food and hygiene
well as between them and their families, their mentors, products that are offered remain the same as those offered to
and prison staff. The impact on both the young men who the rest of the prison. But it is emphatically a place to begin.
reside there and the prison staff who volunteered to work The T.R.U.E. experience highlights that reimagining prison
on the unit has been tremendous. In 18 months, there have in America need not wait until total prison population
been no acts of violence. Solitary is no longer used. Young declines or more prisons are built closer to where the
adults report feeling safer, more prepared to succeed, more incarcerated population lives. Reimagining prison is possible
connected to family, and more fairly treated. Staff report now. This report provides an aspirational vision, one that
greater calm and satisfaction. While still too early to be systems can consider, debate, and experiment with today,
definitive, recidivism is lower. These are changes wrought with the hope that by laying the necessary foundation
when practices reveal the humanity of those on each side of inalienable human dignity something new and wholly
of the equation to the other and allow them to meet in different will come tomorrow.
that space, communicate with respect, and move toward But this work must go beyond the corrections sphere.
common goals. This is an American issue, and one that all Americans should
Inspired by the success of its T.R.U.E. program, care about. To truly effect radical change will require all of
Connecticut opened a similar unit in May 2018 at York us to take action, not just those who administer and work
Correctional Institution, the state’s only prison for in our nation’s prisons. Policymakers, advocates, the media,
women, and plans to create another one at Cheshire. Other criminal justice system stakeholders, and even members
jurisdictions are also joining the movement to reimagine of the public must join together to shine a light on current
the purpose of young adult confinement. In fall 2017, Vera practices and to say, once and for all, that they cannot stand.
"
We call on ourselves and others to reshape the practice of imprisonment
by grounding it in the foundational principle of human dignity.
This project was made possible in part by the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust. Both during his
lifetime and currently through his charitable trust, Mr. Wilson supported Vera’s work with government
partners around the country to reduce our nation’s reliance on solitary confinement and improve
conditions of confinement.
233 Broadway, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10279 212 334 1300 vera.org
