Compassion-Infused Policymaking
Issue 56
I saw something last week that tickled my compassion-infused policymaking muscle. Yes! I have a compassion-infused policymaking muscle. Its been a little atrophied of late, but I digress. What caught my attention was a report by The Marshall Project, which had teamed with Slate to conduct the “first-of-its-kind political survey of people in prisons and jails around the country.” The poll was fielded — a feat in itself — in early 2020 as the general election primary season was heating up because, they wrote, “As much as elected officials and the 2020 presidential candidates talk about people behind bars, little is actually known about what incarcerated people think about politics.” Indeed. The first reports were published in March of last year and if you’d like to read more about the breadth and depth of the survey and its results, here is a good place to start.
A follow-up survey was done, which asked this question: What services or programs would have helped to keep you from committing the crime(s) that led to your incarceration? These results, the ones I saw just last week, were actually published last October, just before the election. The work got my compassion attention for one simple reason: hearing verbatim from the people most affected by criminal justice policy — currently incarcerated people. To be compassionate is to listen and as The Marshall Project said, “Prisons are like black boxes where little information gets in and even less gets out.” How refreshing.
“What services or programs would have helped to keep you from committing the crime(s) that led to your incarceration?”
Mainstream consumers of news — or — consumers of mainstream news are even less likely to be exposed to ever hearing much at all from people directly impacted by any federal-level legislation because it’s just not a significant part of our process. We’re generally discouraged from looking too closely at “how the sausage is made,” which is why this is such a breath of political fresh air. Here’s a smattering of the voices of people who were incarcerated when they answered the question:
“…any support on trying to start my own business…”
“Vocational programs, housing programs, and actual jobs so that we can take care of ourselves and our kids.”
“I believe that counseling for returning veterans is key to keeping certain types of vets from committing crimes.”
“Better job market for convicts. No one wants to hire us which will just mean most of us will end up here again.”
“Anger Management. I wish I would have been given the option and help that I needed. I had to come to prison to take a program that the free world has.”
“Access to affordable mental healthcare. Healthcare coverage to pay for therapy/counseling.”
“Parental guidance. Love. Support. Words of encouragement and other things that a child needs in his early years.”
“Programs that really focus on helping the young Black youth. I believe that the young Black youth can succeed just like their counterparts with the real resources that really are geared towards really helping not just to show a window dressing of help.”
“Intervention not incarceration for domestic violence. In Washington state people are sent to prison or jailed for domestic violence with little focus on addressing the underlying problem.”
“Cheaper college classes. I would’ve been in college instead of outside making mistakes.”
“Mental health. It was hard for me to transition from prison to the streets. I wanted help so bad. I felt as if the world was moving way too fast.”
“Nothing can help me. Only I can help myself.”
“Don’t really know, I guess just someone, anyone to give a shit and to reach out. When I was young we didn't have anything to help us.”
“I tried to get into a residential substance abuse program when I was released on my last sentence but was denied because of my lack of insurance.”
“Some kind of program to help get reestablished in housing and assistance with childcare and transportation. Continued therapy. Emergency services for single mothers on parole.”
…conscious politics practitioners who believe that none of us is better than any others of us, that we are all connected, and that making sure everyone has a fair shot at pursuing their happiness is our collective responsibility.
Truly listening to stakeholders when endeavoring to create compassion-infused policy is a critical if not obvious part of the process because to be compassionate is to listen. But before we even get to that, before we can truly live in a compassion-infused society that creates compassion-infused policy as a matter of course, we have to do what we have refused to do since the inception of the political experiment that is The United States of America: we must also be compassionate by believing that we are all created equal. Our founding fathers declared independence from King George and Great Britain by laying claim to this value. Then, as we all know, they and we the people acted as though that was never really a thing. So here we are, almost 250 years on, with scores of millions of Americans still clamoring to be treated fairly as equals because vast swaths of their fellow Americans do not believe that they are.
“We must believe,” however, is a vacuous statement because we cannot make others believe anything. Dang! Americans believing that human beings are not equal to one another are Americans steeped in the old consciousness where the vast overwhelming majority of them are likely to stay. That’s why we just need a preponderance of the 538 officeholders at the federal level and a preponderance of the thousands of officeholders in state capitols, county seats, and city and town councils across the country to be conscious politics practitioners who believe that none of us is better than any others of us, that we are all connected, and that making sure everyone has a fair shot at pursuing their happiness is our collective responsibility. There are more than enough of us on this side of the ledger but until we are in office, we will continue to get what we’ve always gotten.
NOTE: Let’s connect to more conscious politics practitioners. What citizen(s) do you know who should read these pages? What officeholders? Staffers? Candidates? Campaigns? Organizations? Let’s inspire the creation of a new Congressional Conscious Caucus. Thanks in advance for sharing this Newsletter with anyone you think should read it.
I’m down with all of this BUT I am convinced we can make change without the burden of elected office. Look at how the elected government is following the citizens’ lead on legalizing whole plant medicine, for example. Ranked choice voting is another more progressive way that people are leading government, rather than the other way around. And dare I bring up the mask/vaccine choices that rankle both individuals and policy makers? We are in an era of potential for grass roots initiative like never before. I’m not waiting for the government to catch on, but I will be more cons ious of how I vote 🎩
All people are born equal.But family and environment create inequality.
Legislators can't make people work hard or have ethical beliefs.
Trillions have been spent by Democrats to create equality to no avail.
So whats the answer? Quality education such as charter schools for all
without unions controlling the teachers and the curriculum.
Parents who care and encourage learning is necessary.
THATS A START.....