Poverty Stress Disorder, Crime And Pri$ons
An Interview of Dr. Asar Amen, PhD, by Mary Hamer, M.D.
08 October, 2012
Countercurrents.org
MISSION STATEMENT: Dr. Amen's & my goal is to raise consciousness & to cause a paradigm shift in thinking regarding prisons & criminal justice. We will investigate the basic forms of criminal justice (Retributive, Reformative & Transformative justice), the Human potential for Violence, Mercy & forgiveness, Human rights abuses in prisons, the Prison Industrial Complex, Root Causes of Crime, the Death Penalty, NonViolent Education, the Human Breaking Point and Ex-Cons & Unemployment. Dr. Amen & I focus on 3 main topics in our interview: #1. Poverty Stress Disorder: Overall, we discuss the social factors that foster crime, including poverty. #2. Dr. Amen & I talk about: Racism in American society & prisons. & #3. We discuss Prisons as a money making machine.
#1. ASAR AMEN , PhD BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Amen, please tell our audience about yourself; Please give us a brief background so we can understand what qualifies you to be interviewed on this topic, including: A. your PhD & B. your incarceration & C. Any other qualifications.
*Dr. Amen: My name is Asar Amen, PhD. I'm a 45 year old African-American from the San Francisco Bay area. I'm presently serving a life sentence for murder. I grew up originally in Pittsburgh , PA in a lower middle-class family. I had a very unstable childhood which resulted in my being sent to foster homes, along with other juvenile placements. While inside these institutions I completed high school, Jr. College & most recently a doctorate in African American studies via correspondence courses. I believe what qualifies me to be interviewed on the prison problems of America is that I've spent a long time in prisons & I have 1 st hand knowledge of what goes on in them. In addition, my ongoing spiritual consciousness has allowed me to see reality on a much deeper level.
#2. RETRIBUTIVE Justice –vs- REFORMATIVE & TRANSFORMATIVE Justice: What do you think of the current 21 st Century Prison system whereby Punishment is used as society's method of executing Justice for people who have been convicted of crimes? Why do people want to punish “Criminals”? Are Justice & prisons a form of Revenge? Does the Justice system & society engage in Schadenfreude (i.e. the pleasure in seeing other people suffer) -- with respect to incarceration? Please comment on the Biblical eye for an eye philosophy & the If you punch me, then I will punch you back mindset. Do you believe in Transformative justice & Reformative justice – whereby both the victims/families, the offender & society can heal with highly supervised programs, conducted by professionals? (1) (2) (3)
*Dr. Amen: Our society punishes “Criminals” for convicted crimes because the justice system & culture believe in Retributive justice. The values that underlie retribution are: Judgment, punishment, exclusivity & lack of forgiveness. On a deeper level, Our society is based on aggressive principles such as Capitalism, competition and divide & conquer tactics which results in Anger & retaliation among the dominant & oppressed forces. So in large part the justice system with it's prisons – is about Revenge. And sadly there does seem to be an element of Sadism in society that derives a sense of pleasure from torturing other human beings in it's so-called “Correction” system. The Biblical eye for an eye philosophy is dangerous because such a philosophy teaches us to be angry Avenging people who (retaliate) & blind each other in the name of “Justice”. I believe in Transformative justice & Reformative justice – which shifts the definition of crime from: A breaking of legal codes -- to acts of harming another person or community. The real question is: “How do we heal the harm?” – rather than: “How do we punish the criminal?”. It is important that restorative justice practices shift the goal away from punishment & retribution & replace it with a healing approach that addresses the needs of victims, offenders & the community. Restorative or healing justice is a new paradigm – a new framework for handling violations of the social order. Alternatives to the current broken prison system such as restorative justice will only be successful if a Root cause analysis is done to understand: Why the offender committed the crime? What are the causes of violence?. Also, It is important that the society accept responsibility for broken social structures that foster violence -- & that society work to correct these dysfunctional features of communities that contribute to violence. It is time for prison reform.
#3. HUMAN POTENTIAL for VIOLENCE: Please comment on Regush's statement: “Everyone is capable of causing harm or murder”. (4)
*Dr. Amen: *Indeed “Everyone is capable of causing harm or murder”. In fact, white, black, yellow & red people (and men & women and young & old) -- commit crimes against others. Bad relationships develop when a dominant &/or emotionally dysfunctional person or group seeks to have Power & control over others socially, politically, economically & spiritually. The scarcity of natural & other resources cause conflicts among society's members; e.g. People become angry & fearful when there are not enough jobs to earn a living. Most crimes in America are caused by social & economic inequality; Most people who end up in prison: lack jobs, lack housing & they are hungry. In other words, most so-called “Crimes” are survival related.
#4. MERCY & FORGIVENESS: Do you believe that it is important for society to have Mercy on & Forgive people convicted of crimes? As Dr. Chittick states with reference to Islamic Mercy: “The goal of love is to overcome separation, to escape from the darkness and (the) pain that define our existential plight, and to enter into the light. … It is to take advantage of the universal mercy that embraces everything”. (5) Please comment on Mercy, compassion & forgiveness -- as it pertains to someone convicted of Murder. On the other hand, Is a prisoner's Apology for a crime important to the victims? How important is Offender Remorse?
*Dr. Amen: It is important for society to have mercy & forgiveness for people convicted of crimes because offenders are after all: Human being who are imperfect people & who are capable of remorse. But, society regards people who have committed crimes as being: Less than human. The truth is that many offenders have Remorse; Many offenders are sorry for their crimes; Many offenders would like to say to victims & victim families: Please forgive me; Many offenders would like to improve & change for the better. & While society dehumanizes people & fosters the pre-conditions for many crimes -- It is important that society #1. Take responsibility for socially related crimes #2. Forgive & Re-humanize those who commit crimes & #3. Bring victims & offenders together to discuss the Harm & the Healing. Important elements for a new enlightened justice system include: Truth-telling, reparations & forgiveness. Forgiveness is the actual act that enables healing.
#5. HUMAN RIGHTS: Please comment on the Human & Civil rights abuses in Prison that you have witnessed including: Lack of Legal representation, Medical disease transmitted in prison including Infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis & HIV, prison rape, Physical violence, Bullying/Gang violence, lack of psychological care, lack of medical care, lack of education, lack of activities, hygiene, etc.? Is the Justice system & prisons racist?
*Dr. Amen: There are human & civil rights abuses in the U.S. prison system that are at crisis levels. Basic fact: All prisoners have the right to be treated with humanity, dignity & respect while in prison. (6) & Yet many prisoners are treated with disrespect & shame. What is the cause of this disrespect? The Human Ego, the Domination ethic & the Me –vs- You philosophy are the cause of breakdown in human relationships & subsequent human rights abuses in American prisons, Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo Bay . Disrespect denies any possibility for mercy or compassion. Here are examples of what I have witnessed on a daily basis, illustrating the disrespect & lack of compassion for prisoners: I have seen mentally ill prisoners beaten & isolated in segregation & forced to take dangerous psychotropic drugs as a form of chemical restraint. I have seen gang members rape prisoners that were deemed weak or homosexual. I have seen prison guards spit in people's food & do all kinds of sadistic behaviors to maintain fear & control. I have seen guards overuse pepper spray as a form of torture. In addition, racism is a big problem in America 's prisons. If you are a young male of African descent (or other minority such as Latino, Asian or Native American) & If you are poor – Your bail will be set so high – You become an economic hostage. For the poor minorities, the phrases: #1. Innocent until proven guilty, #2. The right to a speedy trial & #3. A trial by a jury of your peers – does not apply. Also, poor minorities are defended by public defenders – who have large case loads -- & little time to give the poor minorities a good defense. The result? Poor minorities are convicted at higher rates & have longer sentences than the well-to-do majority. In other words, racial disparities in rates of incarceration are very significant & out of proportion to the commission of crimes by people of color. Genocide of the poor minorities is being committed in prisons. * (7) Also, I highly recommend a book titled: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. By Michelle Alexander – regarding this topic of racism in prisons. (8) Regarding the issue of prison labor: The 13 th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution did not abolish slavery; It simply transferred it into the prisons; Prison slavery in the form of involuntary mandatory labor is a human rights violation.
#6. The PRI$ON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: What is the Mission Statements of prisons: Is the goal of prisons to rehabilitate prisoners or is their goal Money & profit? Are American prisons Racist?
*Dr. Amen: The U.S. prison system is in crisis. Prisons are wrongly used as a place to warehouse people who commit crimes due to unemployment & poverty. Prisons are also used to diminish, domesticate or extinguish the radical political consciousness of the people. Also, the U.S. spends billions of dollars a year on war, but America has no money to spend on the correcting the causes of crime including poverty & unemployment. Overall, Alternatives to prison will only work: #1. If the American mindset changes & #2. When the focus of pri$ons is on people rather than money & #3. When the prison industrial complex expansion stops. When the warehousing of people, to fulfill capitalistic goals stops, then alternatives to prisons will be a realistic possibility. Overall, Each alternative to prison should be examined based on it's own merits. Some so-called alternatives have widened the net of the criminal justice system, bringing people under correctional control who formerly would have been left alone. In other cases, community based alternatives have mainly benefited white, middle-class offenders, leaving prison filled by an increasing percentage of poor people & people of color.
#7. ROOT CAUSES: Why do people commit crimes? What are the root causes of crimes? Poverty, desperation, oppression, low self-esteem, humiliation, shame, poor education, bad upbringing by parents, poor survival skills taught by parents/caregivers, mental illness?
*Dr. Amen: It is economic inequality & the unfair distribution of resources i.e. poverty -- that is one of the basic causes of crime. Also, I believe that one of the key root causes of crime is societal greed & materialism. We live in a society that is based on how much money one has, where one lives, how big one's house is, what type of car one drives, how much material items one possesses. Also, America is no longer a democracy; It is a corporate oligarchic state – ruled by powerful wealthy elite people – who decide the fates of the poor & weak. These perverted economic values, then infect the society at large & set up the pre-conditions for crime. Spiritually, most crime is the product of Desperation – despair born of poverty, community decay & a hopeless future. Fundamentally, people who are at risk for committing crimes in the future -- are associated with a constellation of suffering so hideous that it is frightening to look at the sad pre-conditions to crime. America denies these social problems, refuses to take responsibility & then hands over the “criminals” to a criminal justice system that keeps these poor, oppressed & miserable people quarantined in institutions filled with human rights abuses. In other words, America uses the penal system to remove classes of people who are a threat to the power elite & oligarchic rule. If the U.S. takes credit for the doctors & businessmen & scientists – Then it also has to take credit for those who walk another path, including the disenfranchised, marginalized, displaced & spit on people of society.
#8. DEATH PENALTY: What do you think of the death penalty?
*Dr. Amen: I believe that the death penalty is nothing but state sanctioned murder. To kill someone to show that killing is wrong -- is the most repulsive & illogical logic I've ever heard of. The death penalty is nothing but revenge plain & simple. Capital punishment is the ultimate form of injustice carried out in the name of justice. It is an offense to human decency. As a society we should decry: Lives lost through neglect, international business decisions that cut corners on product safety, the dumping of toxic waste in the “upstream” sources of public drinking water, etc.. But, these examples of lives lost are rarely considered murder & are often not even considered criminal. & Yet our current criminal justice system kills people legally such as by lethal injection -- with full media coverage & no shame. The key question is: Can we as a society: Honor the victims of crime -- without participating in unjustified violence to the offenders?
#9. NONVIOLENT EDUCATION: If you were a School system Superintendent designing a Non-violent curriculum or a Children's psychologist writing a book on crime, what type of Violence Prevention education would you include in the School system curriculum or Child's psychology book? Please include Impulse control training suggestions.
*Dr. Amen: If I were a school system superintendent designing a non-violent curriculum or a children's psychologist writing a book on crime, I would create a series of workshops which would include: Listening skills, empathy skills, conflict resolution, anger management, cultural relations, values clarification, boundaries & limits training, a community leaders forum & provide group & individual counseling. Regarding Impulse control training, I would suggest the following: Workshops & training sessions that would emphasize Stress reduction exercises, decision-making skills, communication skills, meditation training, nutrition education & family counseling. I would incorporate child psychologists, social workers & youth counselors to facilitate all of the above. In addition, I would seek the assistance of the local university system & the juvenile justice system to educated children about NonViolence & the prevention of crime.
#10. POVERTY STRESS DISORDER & the HUMAN BREAKING POINT: Do you believe that a Conspiracy/Gang/Mob of people can drive a person to crime/violence? Do you believe that PTSD or fear or stress can drive a person to crime/violence?
*Dr. Amen: I have heard about Mob psychology which studies group dynamics & social pressures such as: the Nazi movement, the slavery of Africans & the mass-murder of the Native peoples. People/Groups of people have been driven to commit crime/violence by mob pressure throughout history. I believe that PTSD or fear or stress can drive a person to crime/violence. Also, when a person is poor, with a lack of education, unemployed, etc.. -- These social inequalities can lead to a Poverty stress disorder ( PSD ) -- which in turn can lead to violence/crime. Black, brown & red Americans have been subjected to inhuman degradation. More than 40% of the U.S. 's 35 million blacks are still officially classified as poor. Ghetto unemployment is still running at depression levels. Ghetto housing is a disaster – 43% of the housing is sub-standard & overcrowded. Ghetto schools are more segregated than in 1954. Ghetto blacks are still dying on the average of 7 years earlier than whites.
#11. EX-CONS & UNEMPLOYMENT: We all know that people released from prison are discriminated against & have problems getting jobs. If you were going to develop a Ballot proposal or New legislation to present to Congress – what new guidelines would you suggest to help people reintegrate back into society?
*Dr. Amen: Ex-offenders deserve to be reintegrated back into society. Ex-offenders should be legally allowed to rejoin society without prejudice or stereotyping. Ex-cons have difficulty being hired & gaining employment since employment applications ask for the criminal history of applicants & thereby discriminate against these ex-offenders for jobs. A criminal record bans many people from employment. Many ex-cons experience a sense of desperation, degradation & a downward spiral -- since they can not earn money for living expenses. Ex-offenders are suspects in the eyes of the police due to their criminal records; As a result ex-cons are detained, questioned, jailed & held at high bail in cases of unsolved crimes. Some programs from the 1990's attempted to break the cycle of poverty by providing ex-cons with wage subsidies, steering them into training programs, helping them find & keep jobs & transition back into the free world. But many of these social programs have undergone budget cuts due to the recession. As a result increased numbers of destitute & unskilled prisoners have been dumped into the already overfilled & stressed labor market.
#12. FINAL COMMENTS: Dr. Amen, Do you have any last comments to make?
*Dr. Amen: Yes, I have 2 final comments to make regarding prisons.
#1. I find it interesting that President Bush said regarding Abu Ghraib that: “The torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison is not typical Ameri c an behavior. ” He said the soldiers who carried out the torture ‘Don't represent America ' and stated ‘This is a free country. We do not tolerate this kind of abuses. … “What took place in that prison doesn't represent the America I know”. (9) & Yet President Bush was responsible as the Commander in Chief for what took place at Abu Ghraib. Disrespect & dishonor start as a mindset of the President & the Military Generals – That mindset is communicated overtly & covertly, intentionally & unintentionally to the soldiers out in the field. That mindset is abstract & unseen -- & Yet it is transferred palpably from one human being to another in conversation , emails & letters. This information may be either good information or bad information. In the case of Abu Ghraib, the sequence of moral decay was like a viral infection that traveled from the U.S. President down to the soldiers.
*Dr. Amen: Also, I would like to say that prisons are committing Genocide of the poor minorities incarcerated within them. The United Nations includes in it's definition of Genocide: “The deliberate inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about it's physical destruction”. (10) I would like to amend the U.N. Genocide definition to include: “The deliberate inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about it's physical (& SPIRITUAL) destruction”. Prisons are inflicting on all prisoners, especially the poor & minority peoples -- the conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical & spiritual destruction i.e. human rights abuses, prisoner isolation, poor medical care, poor legal counsel, poor psychiatric care, etc.
*To the Audience, Dr. Amen & I thank you for your interest in prison reform.
Dr. Asar Amen, PhD. & Mary Hamer, M.D.
Contact Information: Dr. Asar Amen, PhD.
CDCR#: H-01001, Housing Unit A1, Cell #227 up.
California State Prison. Los Angeles County .
P.O.Box. 4430
Lancaster , California 93539
NOTES & REFERENCES:
1. Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers punishment , if proportionate , to be the best response to crime . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Retributive _ justice.
2. Restorative justice … is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Restorative _ justice.
3. Transformative justice is a general philosophical strategy for responding to conflicts. It takes the principles and practices of restorative justice beyond the criminal justice system. … Transformative justice uses a systems approach , seeking to see problems, as not only the beginning of the crime but also the causes of crime, and tries to treat an offense as a transformative relational and educational opportunity for victims, offenders and all other members of the affected community.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Transformative _ justice.
4. Regush, Nicholas. The Breaking Point: Understanding Your Potential for Violence. Key Porter Books. 1997. Pg 176.
5. www.huffingtonpost.com. Chittick, William. Ph.D. The Islamic Notion of Mercy. 12/14/10 .
6. The right to be treated with humanity, dignity and respect while in detention. www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/prisoners/index.html .
7. Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch. Racism & Human & Civil Rights abuses in America 's prison system.
8. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. By Michelle Alexander. The New Press. C. 2010.
9. Abuse of Iraqi prisoners : The U.S. prison connection
www. prison censorship.info/archive/etext/.../iraq prison connections.ht... by MC17 & MC5. Referencing: MSNBC, May 5, 2004 .
10. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Genocide. Referencing: #1. See generally Funk, T. Marcus (2010). Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court . Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. #2. What is Genocide? McGill Faculty of Law ( McGill University ) & #3. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Archived 2 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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