Forum on black imprisonment seeks solutions

A forum on Thursday in Des Moines will seek solutions from the public on how to prevent African-Americans from filling Iowa’s prisons.

“The main thing is for people to have a voice in coming up with solutions in our community, as opposed to looking for leaders to come up with the answers or other people,” said Genie Bundy, forum organizer.

The two-hour forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 29 at Amazing Grace Church, 1500 23rd St. Discussion topics will include housing, programs and employment opportunities for ex-offenders and tips on how to urge the Iowa Legislature to act on the suggestions. Forum-goers will have one minute to provide their solutions.

Wallace Kipper, whose son is in prison in Rockwell City, said he’s not sure that community forums have been effective so far at sparking real change. Even so, making sure offenders can get good jobs when they return from prison is one sure way to help lower the number of blacks in prison, he said.

“A lot of times when the kids get out, they try to get a job and they have to put down they’ve been in trouble,” Kipper said. “But they don’t get the job because of that — even though they might be qualified for it. I think that’s wrong.”

Several forums held recently across the state have addressed why Iowa tops the nation for imprisoning blacks, at a rate that is 13.6 times that of whites, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group. Disparities are also present in the juvenile justice system.

“We’ve got to change our thinking as a race of people or else we’re not going to survive,” Bundy said.

The goal of the forum is to “come to a consensus” around a list of solutions that if implemented would help lower the numbers of prison inmates within a year, she said.

A report released this month by the non-profit JFA Institute in Washington, D.C., “Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population” suggested four ways to decrease the nation’s prison population, including:

  * Reducing the length of prison sentences.
  * Alternative punishment for parole or probation technical violators.
  * Shorten parole and probation supervision periods.
  * Decriminalize “victimless” crimes, particularly those related to drug use and drug abuse.

Bundy, a family support worker at Primary Health Care, wants to focus on action.

“I don’t want our future to continue down this road of hopelessness — of being treated as second-class citizens,” she said.

This is the third forum Bundy has organized since September. Twelve people attended the first forum. At last month’s forum, attended by about 100 people, much of the time was spent discussing why the problems exist. Participants cited racism, broken families, ineffective schools and other factors.

Bundy said she considers herself an “ordinary person” who is fed up with a lack of action on the issue. She doesn’t have a lot of connections or know all of the key players working on the issues, but said she feels deeply compelled to do her part to help bring change.

“People are tired of talking about the problem — they want solutions,” Bundy said. “I’m giving them some information on working toward the solutions.”

Kipper agreed. Talking won’t help his son Tarik who is awaiting an opening in a work-release program, he said. Kipper said he believes racism played a role in why his son wasn’t offered parole instead. Kipper also fears the situation is happening to other blacks, but simply talking about it won’t change things, he said.