Prison Violence Can Heighten Public Danger

June 7, 2006 — -- Every year, more than 13 million people enter U.S. prisons and jails, and 95 percent of them will eventually be released -- sometimes angrier and more violent than they were when they were incarcerated.

Making prisons safer isn't just a matter of simple humanity, it's a matter of public safety, prison officials and state and federal authorities say. Congress will hold a hearing Thursday on prison violence and abuse.

A congressional panel will hear from prison reformers -- both liberal and conservative -- who cite a new report from the National Prison Commission that contends "what happens inside jails and prisons does not stay inside jails and prisons."

Every year, an estimated 650,000 inmates -- a population larger than the city of Boston -- are released. Two-thirds of them will be re-arrested within three years, and half of them end up right back behind bars.

That cycle creates new crime victims and costs taxpayers millions of dollars for courts and correctional facilities.

Experts say overcrowding, overuse of solitary confinement, and budget cuts are among the main causes behind prison violence.

Congress also will hear allegations of medical neglect.

Victoria Wright says her husband, Jay Wright, died in a California prison after failing to receive the medication he needed. Wright was three months into a three-year sentence.

"I believe they murdered my husband," Wright said. "When you deny someone medicine -- heart medication -- didn't they think he was going to die?"

In less than two years, Michael Buie will walk out of Ellsworth Correctional Facility in Ellsworth, Kan., and into society. His rap sheet shows he has been in and out jail for 15 years. Much of that time, he says, was spent in violent conditions.

"And I'm fighting and I'm stabbing people, and I'm trying to, you know, to survive," Buie said.

When Buie was released, he'd ultimately commit more violent crimes -- like robbery and assault -- and go right back to prison.

"I know prison is for punishment, but would you put a pit bull in a cage and poke him with a stick and let him out in a classroom full of kids," Buie asked. "That's the same thing you're doing to inmates."

Sam Cline, Ellsworth's warden, says the system, which "is here to correct, not only punish," is slowly starting to change.