Crimes of Punishment.Prison-reform activists in Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and , have recently released a video documentary chronicling injustices in the state penal system as part of an educational project on prison issues called "Correcting Corrections." Madison artist and journalist Marshall Weber produced and directed the half-hour video, Crimes of Punishment. It relies on interviews with prisoners, social workers, state legislators, and prison staff to introduce viewers to the racism, abuse, and failure to rehabilitate re·ha·bil·i·tate v. 1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education. 2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity. inmates in the corrections system. Weber pays particular attention to the suppression of inmates' freespeech rights, focusing on the case of Wisconsin prison journalist Adrian Lomax. Lomax spent a year in solitary confinement solitary confinement n. the placement of a prisoner in a Federal or state prison in a cell away from other prisoners, usually as a form of internal penal discipline, but occasionally to protect the convict from other prisoners or to prevent the prisoner from causing for critical articles he wrote as an inmate for an alternative Madison newspaper about the institution he was in and the brutality of one of its guards. Although the documentary centers on conditions within prisons and jails in Wisconsin, Weber says the issues he presents have currency throughout the nation. "We know that, in general, our corrections systems aren't working and that they're racist, and we have to ask ourselves what we are going to do about it," he says. "To me, these issues are urgent and crucial and national in scope." Jackie Austin, one of the documentary's co-producers, is president of the Wisconsin chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. of Errants (CURE), a national prison-reform and prisoner-advocacy group. The documentary, she says, has helped publicize the group's demand for humane rehabilitation rather than incarceration Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. . "People who see the documentary are getting the message that you must treat every member of society, including prisoners, with respect and dignity or you debase de·base tr.v. de·based, de·bas·ing, de·bas·es To lower in character, quality, or value; degrade. See Synonyms at adulterate, corrupt, degrade. [de- + base2. the whole society," she says. "If you dish out only violence to prisoners, that's what That's What is one of the more idiosyncratic releases by solo steel-string guitar artist Leo Kottke. It is distinctive in it's jazzy nature and "talking" songs ("Buzzby" and "Husbandry"). they are going to bring back with them to the streets." Within the next two years, project coordinators hope to follow Crimes of Punishment with six other installments on prison issues. For more information, call CURE: (608)835-3740. |
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