4A -Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
C74 fIdiigQan Bjaly
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Talk is easy, talk is cheap. It is the
doing that's hard."
- Former Massachusetts Gov. MITT ROMNEY announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination
for the 2008 presidential election yesterday in Dearborn.
JOHN OQUIST |
r -I'
KARL A. STAMPFL
EDITOR IN CHIEF
IMRAN SYED
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOF
JEFFREY BLOOMER
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Don't throw away the key
Treatment for mentally ill shouldn't just include prisons
Timothy Souders, a mentally ill inmate at Jackson prison,
died of dehydration last August after being chained to
a steel bed for almost four days. After Souders's death,
a judge ruled that Michigan needs far-reaching mental health
reform. In response, Gov. Jennifer Granholm reluctantly created
a commission to investigate the state's prison system at the end
of 2006 and made general mention of prison reform in her State
of the State address last week. However, few reforms have mate-
rialized, and the state's prison system is still wedded to a deplor-
able ideology that neglects mentally ill inmates and focuses on
punishment rather than rehabilitation.
DAMMIT...THAT GUY HAS HIS LAPTOP OUT
AND HE'S INSTANT-MESSAGING PEOPLE.
SO, THE TEACHER DOESN'T
KNOW. BESIDES, YOU'RE
USING YOUR LAPTOP.
YEAH, BUT I'M TAKING NOTES. I DIDN'T
WAKE UP AND COME TO CLASS ON TIME
FOR ONCE TO BE MADE TO LOOK BAD BY
A GUY WHO HAS TO CHECK HIS FACEBOOK
ACCOUNT SIX TIMES IN AN HOUR-
LONG LECTURE.
ONE TEACHER SEES THAT AND ASSUMES
THAT ALL STUDENTS WITH LAPTOPS
DO THAT. I'M GOING DOWN THERE-
DUDE SIT DOWNI
te
w+
4
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Law and order?
Suicidal and suffering from manic
depression, the 21-year-old Souders was
sent to the Jackson facility - which has
just one psychiatrist - after being booked
for shoplifting. He was left to guards who,
as the judge noted, tried to torture him
into reformation. Although Souders' death
is a telling example of despicable condi-
tions in Michigan prisons, it isn't an iso-
lated incident.
A report last sunday on CBS's "60 Min-
utes" highlighted numerous cases of simi-
lar treatment of the roughly 24 percent of
Michigan's 50,000 prisoners with histo-
ries of mental health problems. Among the
numerous incidents, the most prevalent
were cases of extended restraint, dehydra-
tion and failure to treat and protect men-
tally ill prisoners - who, in some cases,
gouged out their own eyes or disembow-
eled themselves.
Aside from being an issue of individual
neglect and under-equipped staff, the
problem is also structural. A large part of
Michigan's incapacity to deal with men-
tal health patients has precipitated since
former Republican Gov. John Engler
closed state-run psychiatric hospitals in
the 1990s. In a 10-year period, Engler shut
down 10 of Michigan's 15 state-run facili-
ties, justifying the policy with rhetoric
about the ability of private facilities to
provide superior treatment.
But private facilities never filled the gap:
Engler's policy effectively threw mentally
ill patients out on the street. Many ended
up in prison, transforming the correction-
al system into an asylum. The situation
worsened with the closing of the inde-
pendent Corrections Ombudsman's Office
three years ago. For 25 years, the ombuds-
man's office monitored prison standards
and budgets, but it was abolished by the
state legislature to save $500,000 per year
in state spending.
These issues regarding mentally ill
inmates are compounded by Michigan's
generally dysfunctional corrections sys-
tem. With a recidivism rate of 48 percent,
almost half of all paroled prisoners in the
state end up back in prison.
The most important thing for the state
to do right now is to reinforce the pre-
ventive programs cut in recent years.
It's obvious that Engler's privatization
policies were ineffective. Revamping the
state-run psychiatric hospitals should be a
priority. Also, a recent study of Michigan's
repeat offenders found that nearly half
of all parolees who committed another
offense lacked a high school diploma, were
unemployed or were substance abusers.
strengthening programs that aid in these
three areas is crucial to keeping prisons
from overcrowding.
Along with preventative measures, the
state needs to move from an ideology of
punishment to one of rehabilitation. Gran-
holm's $2 million increase to the Michigan
Prisoner ReEntry Initiative in her bud-
get proposal last Thursday is a solid start
toward reformation. It provides prisoners
with both a job and a support system upon
parole. Since the program started in 2005,
it has a recidivism rate 21 percent below the
state norm. However, in order to reform the
internal system, the state must recreate an
ombudsman's office that can oversee prison
standards and maximize the limited bud-
get. Michigan lawmakers have a responsi-
bility to both the community and inmates
to reform the state corrections system.
We have become so accus-
tomed to law enforcement
successfully convicting sus-
pectsthatoneofthecountry'score prin-
ciples - innocent until proven guilty
- no longer holds. Instead, with the
24-hour news cycle, tabloid magazines
and "Judge Judy," it seems as though
our countryoperates on the principle of
guilty until proven innocent.
If you're one of-
those wide-eyed
optimists who
think that I am
in left field about,
this change in
principle, con- j
sider these two
examples - the
Duke lacrosse
rape case and the JOHN
Scooter Libby
trial. In both of STIGLICH
these cases, lies -- --
started by law enforcement officials
and then propagated by the media have
wiped away any chance of a fair trial.
Last spring, three members of the
Duke lacrosse team were at a party.
Later that evening, one of the strip-
pers from the party was admitted to
a hospital and claimed that she had
been raped by white men at the party.
Once word of this reached the media,
a liberally delicious narrative was
created: Poor black woman raped by
rich, white males in a gender, race
and class-oriented attack. Almost
instantaneously, liberal members of
the Duke faculty threw the students
under the bus and the lacrosse season
was cancelled. The problem for the
liberals in the media and Duke faculty
was that it wasn't true.
Over the past few months, we've
learned that District Attorney Mike
Nifong purposely withheld exculpa-
tory DNA evidence from the defense.
Nifong also ignored evidence that
seemed to prove that two of the sus-
pects could not have been physically
present at the scene during the alleged
rape. We've learned that the alleged
victim has changed her story about
the night's events at least three times.
The lineup Nifong arranged - during
which the victim identified her attack-
ers - resembled something out of "The
Usual Suspects." Yet the three men
charged with her rape are still under
indictment. What gives?
Sure, Nifong has dropped the rape
charges, and he has asked the North
Carolina attorney general to remove
him from the case, but the damage
has already been done. The three men
awaitingtrial mustnow decide between
paying large sums to their lawyers to
clear their names or accept a plea deal
that would make them guilty in the
eyes of the public. So much for innocent
until proven guilty.
The Scooter Libby case held even
greater promise for liberal America
when it was first being investigated by
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.
In his 2003 State of the Union
address, President Bush announced
that British intelligence had evidence
that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy
yellowcake uranium from Niger so that
Iraq could build a nuclear bomb. Short-
ly thereafter, Ambassador Joe Wilson
wrote an op-ed piece in The New York
Times explaining that he had been sent
to Niger by the CIA and had found no
evidence of the Niger-Iraq yellowcake
transaction.
Then in the summer of 2003, in an
effort to discredit Wilson, columnist
Robert Novak wrote that Wilson was
sent to Niger by his wife, Valerie Plame,
who worked for the CIA. Leaking the
identity of a covert CIA operative is a
federal crime, so Fitzgerald was dis-
patched to find the identity of the leak-
er. Liberals hoped that the leaker was
White House chief advisor Karl Rove,
so that the mastermind of Bush's presi-
dential campaigns could be publicly
discredited, but the problem this time
wasthatPlame did notmeetthe criteria
for a covert CIA operative.
Last fall, Fitzgerald announced that
the only person who would be indicted
in relation to the investigation was Vice
President Dick Cheney's chief of staff,
"Scooter" Libby. Fitzgerald indicted
Libby for obstruction of justice - lying
to investigators about a crime that was
never committed. Fitzgerald realized
that Wilson was not protected by fed-
eral statute as a CIA analyst, but he
couldn't end a three-year investiga-
tion without indicting anyone, so he
indicted Libby over a he-said, she-said
Innocent until
proven guilty
is on trial.
squabble with "Meet the Press" moder-
ator Tim Russert. This was supposedto
be the "worstscandal since Watergate,"
but the larger injustice is that even if
Libby is exonerated, he will be always
be guilty in the public eye.
How do we fix the system? Some
think the direct election of district
attorneys brings a necessary account-
ability component to the job. But over-
zealous prosecutors like Nifong have
shown how directly elected officials
can abuse the biases of the electorate to
get re-elected. Alternatively, appointed
prosecutors should be able to pursue
justice without concerning themselves
with public perception. Fitzgerald shot
that theory to shit.
With the core of our criminal jus-
tice system undermined, I guess we all
must hope for the best and prepare for
the worst.
John Stiglich can be reached
atjcsgolf@umich.edu.
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Editorial Board Members: Emily Beam, Kevin Bunkley, Amanda Burns,
Sam Butler, Ben Caleca, Brian Flaherty, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg,
Emmarie Huetteman, Toby Mitchell, Rajiv Prabhakar, David Russell,
Gavin Stern, John Stiglich, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner, Christopher Zbrozek
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
The Cossack and the cowboy
MSA's renewable energy
goals must be met
TO THE DAILY:
I was pleased to read in Friday's Daily about
the Michigan Student Assembly's unanimous
support of the resolution calling for the Uni-
versity to convert to renewable energy (MSA
to 'U': buy renewable energy, 02/09/2007). The
University needs to be a leader with regard
to climate change and purchasing renewable
energy is a step in the right direction. Consid-
ering the University's progressive legacy, I am
surprised more has not already been done to
meet this goal, even as schools like New York
University are already 100-percent renewable.
Reducing emissions through programs
like green roofs in new and renovated build-
ings (It's over your head, 02/09/2007) could cut
energy costs and allow the University to make
this important investment in renewable energy,
raising awareness in the state and the rest of the
nation as well as supporting a new industry for
the state's economy. The University mustsee the
student support behind this important resolu-
tion and work to meet the goals of MSA's Envi-
ronmental Issues Commission. It must step up
and lead the nation in environmental action.
Liz Meeks
LSA junior
ReformedSDSneeds to
start out on rightfoot
TO THE DAILY:
I was a bit surprised by the Daily's treat-
ment of the new Students for a Demo-
cratic Society (Decades later, SDS returns,
02/13/2007), especially since the Daily has
been so critical of Michigauma's racist past.
While I believe that some of the goals of the
old SDS are quite noble (civil rights, ending
the draft, etc.), the article makes no mention
of the old SDS splintering off into the domes-
tic terrorist group, the Weathermen.
A logical conclusion to the events the
Port Huron Statement put into motion, the
Weathermen was comprised of former SDS
leaders and members. If the new SDS wants
to be considered an official student group
here on campus, it has a responsibility to
the campus community to denounce the old
SDS's ties with terrorist organizations. The
new SDS must also ensure safeguards are
in place to keep its members from violently
acting out against society. This must be done
with expediency and before the new SDS
receives any financial support from the Uni-
versity.
Allen Zeitlin
LSA senior
About two months ago, I fought
off the urge to write a column
criticizing Russian President
Vladimir Putin. A prolonged period of
relative calm had dominated the dip-
lomatic airwaves between Russia and
America. A tacit compromise seemed
intact that stipulated that we wouldn't
piss in their pool
(Chechnya) as
long as they with-
held their own
piddle from our
domain. And yet,
Putin seems to
haveviolatedthat
agreement, firing g
a volley over our
bow with a stun- p
ningly hypocriti- RAF
cal critique of MAR']A
overaggressive
U.S. foreign policy.
Not that Putin's characterization of
U.S. policy is inaccurate. Indeed, only
those with delusions of an American
empire would contend that our bellicos-
ity in foreign affairs is beneficial rather
than utterly reckless. But whereas such
an indictment from the leader of a coun-
try like Canada or Spain might possess
resounding moral clarity, that griev-
ance from someone as ethically chal-
lenged as Putin somewhat confounds
my American sensibility. It leaves me to
respond: "Tu quoque, Vlad."
For those unfamiliar with Latin,
that's a fancy way of saying"Hey, screw
you, too" or in legalspeak, "You are
similarly guilty." That Putin's actions
might be tantamount in recklessness to
those of President Bush's might come as
some surprise to certain readers. After
all, what has Russia done to disturb the
diplomatic stasis?
A number of things, actually. While
Russian involvement is perhaps down-
played by diplomacy or impeccable
planning by the Russian government
(Putin is, after all, a former KGB
expert), few political observers can
deny Russian heavy-handed involve-
ment in the nuclear assassination of
a Russian dissident in London, the
litany of murders of journalists (13 in
all since Putin took office in 1999 - all
critical of the Kremlin) and certainly
not the political corruption behind the
crowning and uncrowning of Russia's
oligarchs.
How ironic that Putin should lam-
baste American disregard for inter-
national law (assassination is after all
a gross violation) or criticize "uncon-
tained use of military force" (the slew
of murders and oligarchical bestow-
ments illustrate Putin's rule as wan-
tonly arbitrary and yet shielded by an
unassailable impunity). It seems fit-
ting that Bush's cowboy foreign policy
has found its match in Putin's Cossack
domestic policy.
What both of these unsavory char-
acters share is a penchant for force as
political currency - the former on the
international level, the latter to solidi-
fy domestic power. Another common
ingredient to their rule is undoubtedly
fear - both of external threats ofterror-
ism and perhaps even a growing dismay
at the power of state. One might think
such a fearful symmetry represents a
return to the days of realpolitik were it
not for the patina of misconceived ide-
alism that guides the Bush agenda.
Still, the shrugging off of any diplo-
macy - or tact, for that matter - is
cause for concern. Bush and Putin have
fumbled their way around diplomacy
with mixed results. To invoke the liter-
ary, Putin calls to mind one of George
Orwell's greatest villains, none other
than U Po Kyin, the sly and enterpris-
ing subdivisional magistrate in "Bur-
mese Days." And yet, for all Bush's
iniquity, I don't get the same vibe. Sure,
he's aggressive and manipulating. His
actions might even be considered devi-
ous. Still, they don't fit the mold of a U
Po Kyin, but rather of a character cre-
Putin's criticism
of Bush highlights
his hypocrisy.
ated by one of Orwell's compatriots.
It was Graham Greene who first con-
ceived of the Bush archetype in the
form of Alden Pyle, the naive but bra-
zen American operative in "The Quiet
American" whose destructive idealism
causes his own demise.
It's a difference of intention, albeit
without much distinction in the harm
each brings others. The cavalier cow-
boy and the cruel Cossack. As Rudyard
Kipling wrote in "The Ballad of East
and West," "Oh, East is East, and West
is West, and never the twain shallmeet,
till Earth and Sky stand presently at
God's great Judgment Seat."
And that shall be our own demise.
Rafi Martina can be reached
at rmartina@umich.edu.
d
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