People who understand you

I'm a Visa person myself, but I love this new Mastercard commercial.



I'm a newbie in Cincinnati, still looking for a regular crew.

Recognizing the problem

...is the first step toward recovery. But prison administrations would rather fool the public and congratulate themselves. GED classes, vocational training, substance abuse counseling, mental health care, and pre-release programs all look fantastic on paper. Problem is: Many of them, perhaps most, simply do not exist. People move from prisons to homeless shelters. They don't get enrolled in Medicaid before their release. It's one thing to claim to provide education to inmates; it's another to squeeze 25 rowdy guys with varying academic abilities into a single classroom.

The ineptitude stems partly from poor management, partly from inadequate budgets, and partly because prison overcrowding has transformed prison facilities into humanitarian aid camps, obsessed with the basics: food, housing, safety. Ohio prisons hold 50,404 people, but have the capacity for just 38,320. How can they possibly provide education, health care, training, etc.? I know U.S. prison administrators feel under siege. I just wish they wouldn't lie about it.

From a personal "perspectives" piece in the Denver Post:

According to the Colorado Department of Corrections, almost all Colorado prisons have a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous, and at least half offer Narcotics Anonymous. "We also have mental health staff in each facility," said Katherine Sanguinetti, spokesperson for the corrections department. "Every incoming inmate goes through an initial assessment, followed by appropriate treatment." Education is a high priority of the prison system, too. Inmates who lack a high school diploma or GED are required to go to class. For those with more education... educational and vocational programs are tied into the community college system, meaning prisoners can leave the facility and slide right into a classroom. And there are many job opportunities.

This perspectives piece sounds like an infomercial for the department of corrections. Do they have to lie so blatantly? It's infuriating. How can we convince the public to invest more money in prison rehabilitation if correctional departments apparently have everything they need?

"Our focus has shifted toward offender re-entry from day one," she said. "We're giving them every opportunity to change their lives."

Implication: If prisoners don't reform, it's their own damn fault. Ugh.

See these images of overcrowding from California prisons:

Murphy was an African

If there's one way how Southern Africa affected me, it's this: I now expect things to go wrong. In Maryland, Rhode Island, New York, etc., I'd become used to a smooth punctual life. But while traveling, I was lucky if the public bus wasn't full or late or smelly or even broken-down. I started reviewing my notes from the summer, and came across this snippet from my first day, the NYC-London flight, when the airline attendant placed a meat lasagna dish on my tray.

"Sorry ma'am, I ordered a vegetarian meal."

"Sir, we do not provide vegetarian meals."

"At all?"

"At all." She turned to walk down the aisle.

"Then how could I have signed up for one when purchasing my ticket?"

"Sir, meal requests do not transfer from discount websites."

"Excuse me?" [Discount websites? Why not simply "other websites"? Was she intentionally demeaning, or did she deduce that because her airline had no veggie option, I had purchased my ticket elsewhere?]

"You cannot assume the airline is informed of those particulars."

As if it were my fault.

I let loose. "That's not the problem; the problem is that vegetarians aren't some marginal fringe group of radicals. It's a popular widespread choice, including clearly among your clientel."

She seemed to concede my point. Then conceding hers, I ate a lettuce-tomato salad for dinner.

Two months of travel later, I faced a similar problem on the flight home. I shrugged.

Home sweet home

CNN's Campbell Brown's great "free Sarah Palin" segment (YouTube, text), highlighting the McCain campaign's sexist treatment of its very own candidate, has finally inspired me resume this blog. But I'm going to resist wading into presidential politics in favor of a brief update.



I now live in Cincinnati, Ohio, working for an inspiring prison reform NGO as a "mental health advocate" (exact job description in process), on an effort to improve "discharge planning" for soon-to-be-released mentally ill prisoners. It'll help them prepare for the return home. I've spent the last few weeks trying to understand the mental health and criminal justice "systems."

I returned in late August from travels in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. I began in Cape Town to visit my brother at the Treatment Action Campaign, an impressive HIV/AIDS activist organization. I backpacked overland to Zambia via public buses, minibuses, rikkis, taxis, and hitchhikes. I started days not knowing what city I'd land in, much less where I'd sleep. I spent some nights under the stars. I lived out of a backpack with only a few pairs of clothing and stayed constantly on the move, sleeping in 29 different places over 56 days.

I am thinking about revamping this blog, including its name. Suggestions welcome.