Pamela Gerloff just posted at HuffPost re the dignity-based Community Model for prison reform that shows great promise in radically reducing recidivism. See her post at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-gerloff/what-if-released-inmates_b_217100.html

I visited a jail in Virginia recently that has implemented the Community Model described in Gerloff’s post. Indeed, it is as she describes. I spent 3 hours with 45 inmates locked in large room and watched as they processed events in a system of self-governance that would put most university faculties to shame. The watchword was dignity. Inmates treated each other with dignity, staff treated inmates with dignity and vice versa. Many of these men had never known dignity in their early lives, and were examples of how indignity causes indignation, which may sometimes erupt in violence. Now, in jail, they were finally experiencing what it is like to live securely in dignity with other people. The stunning drop in their rate of return upon release shows, once again, that dignity works. Chronic rankism, malrecognition, and indignity adversely affect productivity, creativity, and the bottom line of every organization or society in which they are the default state. The Community Model of Morgan Moss and Penny Patton offers America a way out of what is surely one of our largest embarrassments: our high rate of incarceration and recidivism. If anyone reading this knows how to get this message to Senator Webb, please do so. And to Governor Schwarzenegger, and President Obama. Our leaders must be made aware that there is a proven solution to the prison crisis at hand.

I’ve been trying to sort out the case of Lynne Stewart. She served as a court-appointed defense attorney for an accused terrorist, and she dared to do her best as an attorney by issuing a press release on his behalf. For her adhering to the ethics of the legal profession, she could end up serving thirty years in prison. There are multiple reasons why average citizens should be outraged over this case. First, the government gathered evidence by invading attorney-client privilege with a wiretap. Second, treating advocacy of an unpopular client as a CRIME effectively discourages legal defense for dissenters: it’s already way too difficult for unpopular people (or even invisible people – those who haven’t been able to rally the media or the public to their cause) to find representation. Third, former Attorney General John Ashcroft coordinated his arrest of Stewart with an appearance on David Letterman to “message” the public on his actions: in other words, the government is not only trying to deprive the unpopular of any legal defense, it conducts a PR strategy to MAKE the target unpopular.

One of the primary causes of the erosion of Constitutional (and Human) rights over the last few years has been the willingness of the media to spin litigation. If one of the parties in a case gets initiative in the media, then they win, no matter what the actual facts are. This has encouraged both the government and large corporations to devote their immense resources to pre-trial public relations campaigns. Worse, lawyers now engage in the practice of slipping soundbytes into legal filings in the hope that the press will pick it up. They rely on the fact that the courts themselves don’t discourage lawyer from lying: they simply assume the opposing counsel will challenge the lie. The media, however, doesn’t make that distinction: they know that any quote from a legal document will bear a special aura of authority, yet they rarely issue any sort of disclaimer. Nothing grabs an audience like a cardboard-cutout villain, and the media cares more about garnering an audience than defending the Constitution.

At least in the Lynne Stewart case, there is a serious effort to bring this scandal of injustice to light. You can’t walk two blocks in Berkeley without tripping over a pamphlet or poster. Just remember for every Lynne Stewart, there are countless victims of State tyranny who simply go unnoticed. How long before the entire U.S. legal system turns into Guantanamo? This United States will continue sliding into the abyss of autocracy until its constituent citizenry remembers that everything they value is built on equality under the law and the inalienable rights of the individual – even the unpopular individual.

Recently the U.S. has been facing significant challenges to one of the fundamental principles of our Constitution, the separation of church and state. As pundits and litigators rattle swords over beachhead issues like prayer in schools and Intelligent Design, it’s edifying to consider the logical outcome of theocracy. Afghanistan has provided a timely demonstration in the form of a Christian convert that faced the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. While the Afghan court system cheated the question by tossing the case on a technicality, Muslim religious leaders prayed for the death penalty and threatened to whip up the anger of the people to tear the man who dared to turn away from their god “to pieces”.

Because Afghanistan is a theocracy, their government may not be able to adhere to their agreement to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They can’t let all converts off on a technicality. Perhaps they will try a variation of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – though Afghan policymakers should take a hard look at how well that’s working for the U.S. armed forces first. Or should the U.S. offer amnesty for all?.

Given the collapse of the Human Rights Commission and the failure of the U.S. to incorporate Universal Declaration into its domestic legal system (not to mention our willingness to resort to torture), there may be no genuine defenders of freedom of conscience left. It may be only a matter of years before we see people on trial for their religion in the U.S., complete with lynchings, witch burnings, and crucifixions. It’s time to call on the U.S. government to restore the principle of separation of church and state in our own country, and lead by example in order to promote the wisdom of freedom of conscience throughout the world.