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OP EDS
May 13, 2004
Prison Torture Begins at Home
Abuse of prisoners isn't as "un-American" as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims. One need only look at everyday occurrences in American prisons.
July 23, 2002
Policing the Cops-Time for a Police Complaint Database
We alert cities to the danger of possible terrorist attack. We alert people to the presence of sex offenders in their neighborhood. Now, as the most recent police brutality case in the Golden State so clearly demonstrates, it's time to alert people to the complaint and discipline history of their local police officers, so they can better gauge the risks in their communities.
June 13, 2002
Alleged 'Dirty Bomber' and I Would Have Been Prison Buddies
I watched with interest the recent announcement of the arrest of Abdullah al Muhajir -- born Jose Padilla -- a U.S. citizen and former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and is accused of plotting with al Qaeda to explode a "dirty bomb." He and I could have been good friends in prison.
June 15, 2001
The Real Bad News about the Good News Club
A Supreme Court ruling that a religious group can meet in public school facilities after hours has many concerned about the separation between church and state. Even more troubling, perhaps, is that the ruling is just another validation of the growing practice of manipulating children.
June 11, 2001
Death Penalty Is a Sign of Moral Failure, Not Justice In A Civilized Society
Those who favor the death penalty often speak of concern for the victims. But opposition to the death penalty does not signify lack of sympathy with the victim; rather it is a call to move toward a more civilized society.
March 21, 2001
Iron Bars, Silver Screen, Golden Statuettes - Oscar Finds Heroes In Some Unusual Places
Movies have always represented both art and commerce, we are told, and that may account for an odd lineup in the "best actor" category at this year's Academy Awards. As prison-building and management are among the fastest-growing industries in the country, all the nominees are heroes who are in some way incarcerated. |
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OP ED ARCHIVES
December 26, 2000
Let Justice Be Done
The president alone has the power to grant a pardon, which erases the label and penalties attached to commission of a crime, and those pardoned are often selected to meet political obligations. Yet there are prisoners who deserve to be pardoned for the simple reason that they have committed no crime -- or, in the case of Michael Pardue, acted only to reject wrongful acts by the state.
November 3, 2000
Former Criminal Speaks Out on Bush's DUI
So George W. is a convicted criminal like myself? I must admit I smiled when I heard the news last night that 24 years ago Gov. George Bush pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol. He was 30 years old at the time.
September 19, 2000
Note to the Inside: The Outside Looks Better Than You Think
Moving from jail or prison back into civilian life is a notoriously difficult proposition. But there are signs -- in criminal justice statistics and in indicators of the popular mood -- that it might be a little easier these days than prisoners tend to think.
June 14, 2000
Corcoran Ruling May Escalate Crime Wave By Enforcers
Right in the middle of a historic national eight-year decrease in crime, those entrusted to enforce the law are experiencing a crime wave of their own. Last week's acquittal of eight California prison guards of federal charges of violating prisoners' civil rights may accelerate the trend.
March 27, 2000
Oscar's Moral View-Underneath The Tinsel, Hollywood Reflects A Darker Picture Of America
The Academy Awards more and more reveal not only ambiguity but outright ugliness. This reflects changes in our attitude toward the world -- and changes in the world itself.
February. 16, 2000
A Vote for Prop. 21 Is A Vote Against the Future
Backers and opponents of California's Proposition 21, which proposes harsher treatment of young offenders, throw statistics at each other with abandon. But the real argument has much less to do with the number of teen-age felons than with the hearts of California's citizens.
January 21, 2000
Elian's Plight
A writer whose mother died when he was nine reflects on the plight of Elian Gonzalez, and on why the majority of Americans believe the boy should be returned to his father in Cuba.
November10, 1999
When Police Hurt Themselves Or Others, We Should All Share The Blame
Police officers are far more likely to die at their own hands than from a violent confrontation, more prone to commit suicide than other civil servants, and more apt to be involved with domestic abuse. The reason -- and the solution -- have to do with the stresses of the job itself.
October 8, 1999
Letter to New Inmate-Prison Hate is Contagious
How is it that prisons have become such powerful incubators of hate -- not only racial hate but all kinds of hate? Joe Loya served seven years in federal prison where he became, in his words, a racist. In a letter to a younger friend about to serve two years in prison, he explains how hatred permeates life behind bars.
July 1, 1999
Freedom Means More Than Nothing Left to Lose
This is a time of year when public spaces resonate with the word of freedom. But how to get free and how to be free are very different issues.
June 15, 1999
A Punishment Worse Than Hell -- Life Sentence Too Harsh for Cops Who Sodomized
When ex-NYPD officers Charles Schwarz and Justin Volpe can receive the same sentence for raping Abner Louima as for killing him, we have lost our perspective. As horrible as the crime was, we still need to think about civilized gradations in our punishments.
May 24, 1999
Power of Humiliation -- School Shootings May Bespeak Not Godlessness But Misguided Godliness
Among the responses to the rash of shootings in high schools have been calls for a return to a more God-centered education. But that may be a most unfortunate choice under the circumstances.
December 28, 1998
From Prison-Looking at the New Year Through the Pain of Loss
What does it mean to wish a happy new year to someone whose new year will be exactly like the old one -- facing prison walls? The question stretches the conventional language of the holiday season.
December 22, 1998
The Trouble With the Messiah Complex
In times like these, with talk of impeachment, the moral hue and cry across the land assumes Old Testament proportions and men act like prophets in the hard wilderness. But if political leaders are going to use the Bible as their moral barometer, they would do well to acknowledge that the Good Book supports mercy as well as sanction.
June, 15, 1998
An Issue of Space as Well as Skin Color -- U.S. Prisons Incubators of Racism
The brutal murder of a black man in Jasper, Texas has drawn particular attention as a "hate crime" -- Jessie Jackson has called on President Clinton to go there on the anniversary of the "conversation on race" and talks of a deep seed of racism. But the bigotry that inspired the crime grew out of a prison culture Americans need to address if they are to take an inclusive approach to eradicating racism.
April 28, 1998
Prison Blend -- Where Low Coffee is the High Point of the Day
With the mushroom-like spread of gourmet coffee shops, each offering more exotic blends than the last, it's possible to forget how good it is to just have a cup of coffee. Joe Loya recalls a most ordinary brew in prison leading to most extraordinary pleasure.
March 11, 1998
A Beginning or an End? The Riddle for Prison Bound Teens
The much publicized assault on "youth crime" has taken a particularly harsh turn with laws that allow juveniles to be tried and sentenced as adults. This means that some very young offenders face life in prison.
February 24, 1998
Message to the Moral Majority: Take Another Look at King David
The continuing high levels of public support for President Clinton in the face of accusations of "immoral" behavior may suggest a more tolerant attitude, not confusion or equivocation. Indeed, it may show that people are more familiar with the Bible than those who wave it aloft most fiercely.
December 12, 1997
So Long Locks-California Prison Officials Declare War on Inmate Hair
California prison officials have decreed that no prisoner may have long hair or a beard on the grounds that short hair prevents disguise in case of escape. In fact, cosmetic coercion has long been the first resort of petty tyrants when dealing with intractable subjects.
August 21, 1997
How Cops Become Criminals
Prisoners note a curious change in the fresh-faced, often idealistic guards who first come to work in penitentiaries. After a certain amount of time, the guards begin to resemble -- often deliberately -- the inmates. The idea that the criminal could subvert the man of law is inconceivable to the guard, let alone the cop. Yet the process is critical, argues Joe Loya, to answering the question posed by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as his city grapples with the torture of a detainee by police: how can cops behave criminally?
July 24, 1997
When Punishment Breeds Sadism-- Juvenile Crime Bill at Cross Purposes With Megan's Law
A law now working its way through the Congress provides funds to fight juvenile crime -- but only to states that change their laws so that offenders as young as 13 can be sent to prison. Given the reality of life in prison, and the public's extraordinary concern with sex offenders, this legislation represents a rather biting irony.
July 1, 1997
Minor-League Cannibalism -- Tyson's Violence Represents the Beast Within All of Us
Disgust and a chilly superiority have marked the response to Mike Tyson's use of his teeth in a boxing match. This may be reassuring, but Joe Loya, speaking from direct experience, suggests we might be better advised to realize that there is something of all of us in Tyson's action.
June 4, 1997
Business Professor Transforms the Way Prisoners Imagine Themselves
Pat Little taught a course in business to a roomful of convicted felons, but what they learned was a different view of the world -- a view that allowed them to imagine a place for themselves. Joe Loya recently had lunch with his former professor -- far from the prison campus -- and explains why cutbacks in prison-based education programs can rob inmates of far more than a college degree.
May 1, 1997
A Brujo Admits Future is Too Murky to Foretell
As ripples of fear spread through Los Angeles' immigrant communities on the eve of drastic changes in welfare and immigration laws, a writer decides to consult a " hechicero "-a Mexican sorcerer. The seer admits his skills have become clouded, but he knows the future is worse on the other side of the border, and discrimination everywhere is on the rise.
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