Translator: Gabriela Ahearn Reviewer: Denise RQ
Good morning! I am happy to be here today.
Most people have no idea what an Inspector General does,
and that's OK.
Usually I get mistaken for the Attorney General,
and I explain, in California, we don't look anything alike.
(Laughter)
But as the Inspector General,
part of my job is overseeing programs within the Department of Corrections.
I had a unique path in getting to this place.
I started my career in criminal justice 33 years ago as an officer,
worked as an officer in basically every capacity
before going to law school and becoming a prosecutor.
And for 17 years, as a Deputy District Attorney in a very conservative county,
I was instrumental in a lot of people going to prison.
But I didn't have to be real smart to figure out, after a while,
when I was prosecuting the same person who went to prison,
got out, reoffended, went to prison, got out, reoffended,
that our system was broke, and I was part of that broken system.
So when I had an opportunity in 2005 to join the Inspector General's office,
and actually have an impact on Corrections
and have an impact on perhaps changing what was going on,
I took that opportunity.
And four years ago, I was appointed to become the Inspector General.
So now I'm in a place
where it would be easy to see the failures,
and it would be easy for those of us in the system to get frustrated.
But I am inspired by someone we celebrated this week:
Martin Luther King.
And when he was asked about
all the frustrations that he suffered, all the suffering itself,
he said, "You can either choose to turn that into bitterness,
or you can take that suffering
and turn it into a creative force for positive change."
And I'd like to think that most of us in the system want to do that.
And we've heard story after story today
about people doing that.
And so that's what I want to talk to you about today: transformation.
A lot of times, we hear words, and we think we know what they mean,
but sometimes, it takes examples for us to realize their true meaning.
Transformation in the criminal justice system
can't just take place with the offenders.
We are hearing great stories today about people transforming themselves.
But it's also got to be those of us in the system and society at large.
And I'm encouraged that it's happening.
Many of you in this room are a part of it happening.
And that's encouraging.
But we need to continue it,
because transformation doesn't happen overnight;
it's a process.
The definition is actually,
"To undergo a change or conversion in the use,
function, purpose, or nature of being."
And we need to change the way we use our prisons,
the way we have our prisons function
so that people come out better when they leave and not worse.
I would be the first one tell you that ...
it'd be naive to think that that will work for every one.
But there are certainly a lot of people out there
that it can work for.
And it is a public safety issue, we've heard from other speakers.
So, what I ask people to do
when we talk about the criminal justice system
is realize that we've been doing the same thing over and over again
the same way, and expecting different results.
(Laughter)
(Audience) That's insanity.
That is insanity.
And I am tired of being part of an insane process.
I want to see a change.
In order for that to happen however,
we need to realize what the four goals currently are,
and the emphasis that's placed on them by our system.
I teach criminal justice or had for ten years at the college level,
and today, unfortunately,
the purpose of criminal justice is in this order:
punishment, incapacitation deterrence, and rehabilitation.
And unfortunately, we as a society emphasize it that way,
but that is so short sighted;
and believe me, I've talked to hundreds of offenders,
hundreds of victims, hundreds of people in law enforcement,
and all of us will tell you that it's short sighted.
Punishment, as we've heard already,
is something that is never going to be a long lasting solution.
Yes, there have to be consequences for crime,
yes, punishment should meet the crime, but people should be allowed to change.
And if they do - and as we heard earlier, pay that debt to society -
should be accepted back into society.
So, punishment alone can't be the answer.
There has to be rehabilitation that goes along with it.
And quiet frankly, if deterrence worked,
we wouldn't have people in prison.
You know, I've never talked to an offender yet, who said,
"I thought through all the consequences of my actions
before I committed my criminal act."
(Laughter)
Are there that small percentage that we heard - some of them today -
the day they walked into prison said, "I never want to come back."?
Sure, but it's not that easy,
because transformation is a process.
The opportunities have to outweigh the obstacles.
And that third goal of incarceration -
the goal being incapacitation - is actually a fallacy.
Yes, we get people off the streets for a time being,
but as we've heard, over 90% will get out on the streets again.
And it's a fallacy also
because, if someone is really criminally minded,
and I know there are men in this room will agree with this,
all your doing
is changing their victim population when you put them in prison.
They victimize other inmates, staff,
and if they have connections to the outside,
they continue their criminal ways.
So incapacitation isn't working either.
So if punishment isn't the answer in and of itself,
if deterrence doesn't work, and incapacitation is shortsighted,
that leaves us with rehabilitation.
And that's really the only thing
that, if we can make it real, will have the longest lasting benefit
to society at large.
So what does that take?
Well, I've already told you
that the opportunities have to outweigh the obstacles,
and it's a process.
And we've heard a lot of good stories today,
and I want to tell you another one about a young man named Miguel.
And Miguel would be the first one to tell you that he was a hustler,
as we heard described earlier.
He went through his youth
selling drugs, being involved in gangs, and ultimately, ending up in prison.
And even when he got to prison he was a hustler,
but not in a good way of an entrepreneur,
he continued to try to figure out
ways to smuggle things in, and con the staff, and so on.
And he actually got himself put in fire camp
not because he wanted to learn how to be a fireman
but because he thought that would be a better way
to smuggle in tobacco and sell it.
And when he got to fire camp though, something happened.
He went through the training,
he went through the building of the Esprit de Corps
with his fellow crew members
because they are carrying heavy machinery, and you're three inches from a saw blade,
and you have to trust that guy next to you.
And they were sent to a fire in Southern California
in the Poway area.
And they were told, "You have to build this fire break
because this small subdivision is at risk, the blaze is coming towards it.
We have evacuated the houses."
And they spent 20 hours on a fire line creating a break.
And that night the fire approached,
and they watched as the break held it back, and it receded.
They spent the rest of the day mopping up the hot spots.
And then, the next morning,
as they were walking out down this two-lane road
where law enforcement was escorting the evacuees back to their houses,
something happened.
Cars stopped, families got out, and they started applauding.
And Miguel found himself crying, and at first, he couldn't understand it.
But you see, that was his moment, where he turned the lights on.
That was the time when something in him said,
"I can be more than what I am now."
And we've heard those stories all day long.
Because transformation is a process.
It starts however, with the person,
taking personal responsibility and deciding to change.
Once they've done that,
what happens when you turn on your light switch at home
and you don't have a lightbulb?
Nothing, it's dark.
So there has to be a conduit for that force,
there has to be somewhere for that positive energy to go.
Well, what he did is he went back to fire camp,
and all those other inmates that he called suckers
for wasting their free time on things like education and programs,
he got involved with.
That was his lightbulb, that was his conduit
for his positive energy.
And so, once he had that conduit,
he started doing something he never thought he'd do.
And that was reaching out to his family on the outside
whom he had burned all bridges with re-establishing those relationships.
And pretty soon, guess what? He was going to be paroled.
And he told me that he got scared because, "Will society accept me?
Will they believe that I've transformed? What am I going to do when I get out?"
Because transformation is a process, it doesn't happen overnight.
You've got to have that inspiration to change, to turn that power on.
You've got to have a conduit for that positive power.
And I want to say we're getting there; we're nowhere close to where we could be:
for every person that's in a program, there are 50 on a waiting list.
But we are getting there.
And we are moving in that direction, and that's positive.
We need to have more lightbulbs out there,
more conduits for that positive change to happen.
And then he got paroled, and what he said happened was ...
It was a particular individual - and we've heard this story today too -
that believed in him, that when he started to falter
because there will be times when people falter.
What happens when a storm rages to your lights?
They flicker, sometimes they go out.
And then who's there?
PG&E hopefully, or whoever your utility company is
to turn them back on for you, right?
Well, we as a society,
and the families that are out there, and the people out there
have to be able to be willing to see folks,
maybe stumble, but still succeed.
Because otherwise, we have a system which we've had for years,
where we think our job
is trying to figure out how to lock people back up
instead of how to keep them out successfully.
And that has to change
because the opportunities have to outweigh the obstacles.
And so, those of us in the system that believe this
are trying to make that happen.
And I know that there are people in the system
that are trying to make it happen for themselves.
So Miguel got out, and he is successful now.
Because he was able to turn on that light.
He was able to have a way to build on it, that positive energy.
And he has a way to continue, to have the utilities working,
and have the utility bill payed so that it continues to happen.
Because what happens, again, if you turn on your lights
and you have lightbulbs, but the utilities aren't there?
Your lights go off.
So transformation is a process,
the opportunities have to outweigh the obstacles.
And I want to leave you with something
that I'm hoping will resonate with all of us.
And it's an example of transformation.
It's a classic story of a person
whose life had more obstacles than opportunities,
who wasn't accepted by society, who turned to criminal ways,
but it took one moment, one realization - and in this case, a little girl -
to have this person change.
And even more so, it took a society that was willing to accept him
after he went through transformation.
I think you'll all recognize this.
(Video starts) ("The Grinch" show clip)
(Laughter)
And the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day,
and then, the true meaning of Christmas came through,
and the Grinch found the strength of ten bridges, plus two.
(Video ends)
(Laughter)
If the Grinch ...
(Applause)
if the Grinch can experience transformation,
there's hope for all of us.
Thank you.
(Applause)