With the public eye still holding fast to the abuses of prisoners at Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq, a national commission of criminal justice experts, inmate advocates, practitioners, legal professionals and others has been formed to look closer at conditions in correctional facilities in the U.S.

With the Abu-Ghraib scandal as a backdrop, commissioners said last week that they plan to take advantage of the increased public interest in prisons and jails to explore both problems and successes in the American system.

"It's a good time to do this job. There is a confluence of things that makes it the right time, not the least of which is the revelation about the treatment of prisoners at Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo. Following those, people began to talk about what goes on in American prisons," said Alex Busansky, Executive Director of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons and a consultant for Vera Institute of Justice. The commission's activities are organized by the Vera Institute of Justice and funded through private foundations and major law firms.

Busansky is quick to emphasize that while the incidents at Abu-Ghraib have raised awareness of American corrections practices, he believes there is no direct correlation to how American prisons are run.

"This is not a 'beat up on corrections officers, inmates or the system' commission; this is what we call a consensus commission. We are going to look at examples of where things are working and look at models for doing business. There are a lot of good, hardworking people who are doing things right," said Busansky.

The commission plans to hold four public hearings in locations throughout the country over the next year where it will gather testimony about a number of subjects. The first hearing, to be held in Florida next month, will focus on inmate issues. Subsequent hearings will focus on larger, systemic problems that affect corrections agencies and issues related to correctional staff.

"This is not about apportioning blame or finding scapegoats. We are concerned about prisoners and those who guard them," said Commission Co-Chair and former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas de B. Katzenbach.

On the commission's list of topics to investigate are sexual abuse, prison violence, overcrowding, treatment of the mentally ill, national standards for corrections facilities and insufficient support for those who work in corrections.

Commissioners acknowledge that existing commissions and organizations are doing work in some of these areas, such as the National Institute of Corrections, the American Correctional Association and the Council of State Governments, and say they will be interfacing with them as well.

"There are people who have been working on these issues for a long, long time. [One of] our goals is to make the public aware of their writings and their scholarship. The goal is to make the work more widely known," said Busansky.

Corrections practitioners on the commission also hope to educate other panelists about the work of administrators and others in the field and, from their viewpoint, where some of the problems originate.

Commissioners Plan to Educate

Commission member Tim Ryan, who is Chief of Corrections for Orange County, Florida and a Past President of the American Jail Association, said he has a number of personal goals for the new body.

"I'd like to bring the practical side of how you run a facility today and balance it with the concerns of others. It appears they want to come in without an agenda with the end result being, 'Here's what we found out. What can we offer to help us better address the daily operational needs in making a jail or prison successful," said Ryan. "We're all trying to figure out this stuff; this isn't new."

Ryan said often times the general public only hears about the violence or other incidents in a correctional facility and not the positive aspects of the work being done there. As a commission member, he hopes to educate other commissioners and the public about the good work that has been done and continues in corrections and set the record straight about how prevalent abuse is behind prison walls.

"There is a small amount of adverse activity that goes on in relation to the sheer volume of people who are incarcerated," said Ryan. "No one goes in to work and says, 'I'm going to beat up someone today.'"

The desire to create balance on the commission was also a reason for Iowa Department of Corrections Director Gary Maynard to join the commission.

Maynard said that others in the group will need to fully understand the responsibilities and barriers to running a facility or running an entire agency if they are to make informed recommendations to the field.

"I have had confidence in the Vera Institute of Justice and their work from the beginning and in order to study the issue of prison conditions in the U.S. there needs to be a balance -- from advocates for prisoner rights to administrators who deal with the every day operations and have to be accountable for everything that happens," Maynard said.

Maynard said he is not uncomfortable with the statement that there are problems in corrections that need to be solved

As a corrections administrator who has worked in four states, a former warden, and a prison psychologist, Maynard said he has seen both the treatment and the custody sides of corrections and is familiar with the issues that the commission has set out to investigate.

"We have people in prison who are not accustomed to following the rules, or respecting others. We deal with those issues every day. If people read that there [are] problems [in corrections], I would agree. Part of our role is to solve those problems, knowing full well we can do the best we possible can and there will still be problems," he said.

Maynard also feels compelled to rectify the statements that have been made in the general media and by others who work outside of corrections about similarities between incidents at Abu-Ghraib in Iraq and facilities in the U.S.

"There were some comments made by people who didn't work in corrections that things in Abu-Ghraib were typical of how things are run in the U.S.; that's certainly not the case. That's another reason I felt compelled to be a part of this, to make sure we maintain objectivity and keep an open mind and that's what others on the commission want to do too," he said.

Ryan is also sensitive to these types of statements and plans to try to balance them through his participation on the commission.

"It's important the commission hears what people come to tell us, but we also need the opportunity to make sure it is a balanced report in what we hear and write. The document [the commission produces] has to be one in which I feel comfortable with what we heard and what we know," he said.

Concerns About Agenda Exist

Despite the good intentions espoused by those leading the commission, some in corrections are skeptical about whether it will have an unbiased look at the issues.

Commenting on the press release issued by the commission about last week's launch, New York City Corrections and Probation Commissioner Martin Horn said he was troubled.

"It sounds to me like they pre-judged the outcome before they have even held a public hearing," he said.

The press release from the commission refers to a gap between the country's "ideals about justice and the realities of the prison environment." It also suggests that the country's prisons and jails need to come "closer to reflecting America's values."

Horn takes issue with these inferences and suggests that the problems that do exist, such as the treatment of the mentally ill in prison, are directly related to decisions made at higher levels.

Busansky said he hopes that by having Ryan, Maynard and Sheriff Mark Latrell of Shelby County, Tenn., on the commission that there will be a fuller understanding of the issues.

"We are looking at this nationally and we're not going to be finger-pointing. We are a consensus commission and we are committed to trying to work together. We forget there are people out there who see it all the time," he said.

Another concern of Horn's is the lack of officer or union representation on the commission, which may affect the validity of its recommendations in the end.

"Where do you get your legitimacy? Why should people appear before you? How are you to be sure that you are not just going to repeat what is being told to you without looking into whether it is real or not," Horn asked. "How many of their staff have been in the prisons or jails lately?"

Horn also questioned how the commission planned to screen testimony before it for truthfulness and accuracy.

Busansky, however, said that although the commission may lack some representation - some of those invited declined to participate - he hopes that the commission members will be well-informed of the issues and be balanced and fair in their assessments.

"We looked at a whole host of people and one of our issues and concerns from the beginning was to have a good sense of law enforcement and have labor represented.
We are using the hearings to make sure we hear from those voices," he said.

In addition, Busansky said that those testifying before the commission will be pre-selected in consultation with the commission staff and the group will consult "friends of the commission" on background to help it to consider testimony in a constructive way.

"I don't want to have people without credibility - to just slap those people up to tell what happened. We will hear from some people who are credible, but we will move beyond that to talk with those who are struggling with those issues [they raise]," he added.

In the four hearings, as the commission focuses on inmate issues, staff and corrections officers and outside forces that influence corrections, Busansky said it plans to carefully consider the testimony it receives.

"We hope to talk with people who have direct experience and who know what the problems are," he said.

In the end, the commission will produce a report with recommendations for action. But, commissioners also realize that action will be needed by more than those in corrections agencies.

"If we do a good job, I would hope that state legislatures would see that a great deal of money is presently being spent that could be better spent," said Katzenbach.

"Certainly one of the things we will be looking at is whether a lot of money is being wasted by incarcerating people who in the overall scheme of things shouldn't be incarcerated. This is an enormous financial problem for every state," said Commission Co-Chair John Gibbons, former Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

And, for Busansky, making this fact more widely known is one of the top goals.

"We have to remember that 13.5 million [incarcerated] people go home and back into the community and the people who work there go home at the end of the day. When we understand and realize what happens in a prison or a jail, that impacts more than just the prison," he said.

Resources:
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons
http://www.prisoncommission.org/mission.asp