Silicon Valley Icon Joins NAACP, Conservatives to Call For Reduction in Incarceration, Unveil Report

31-Mar-2011 | News-Press Release

April 7th National Press Club; 1:30 p.m

(Washington, DC) – Lotus 1-2-3 founder and philanthropist Mitchell Kapor will join NAACP President & CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous, as well as a group of liberal and conservative reformers, to call for a reduction in incarceration. The April 7th press conference will feature the release of an NAACP report, Misplaced Priorities: Under Educate, Over Incarcerate, which examines escalating levels of prison spending and its impact on states’ education budgets and our nation’s competitiveness.

 

Misplaced Priorities tracks the steady shift of state funds away from education and toward an ever-growing criminal justice system. During the last two decades, state spending on prisons has grown at six times the rate of state spending on higher education – 127 percent to 21 percent. The report finds that high levels of incarceration have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable, often minority communities, limiting opportunities for many young people and stifling potential future leaders. For instance, in Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, more than 65 percent of the lowest-performing schools are in neighborhoods with the highest rates of incarceration.

 

The report is part of the NAACP’s “Smart and Safe Campaign,” an initiative designed to reform the nation’s criminal justice system. It offers recommendations that would help policymakers downsize prison populations and shift the savings to education budgets.

 

The April 7 press conference will feature a growing bipartisan coalition of reformers. In addition to Kapor and Jealous, speakers will include:

 

- Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush;

- Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform and a board member of the National Rifle Association.

- David Keene, former Chairman of the American Conservative Union, first vice president of the National Rifle Association, and “of counsel” with The Carmen Group, a Washington-based governmental affairs firm;

- Pat Nolan, of Prison Fellowship, who worked with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich to establish the conservative Right On Crime coalition;

- Mike Jimenez, a member of the executive committee of Corrections USA, which represents 80,000 corrections officers nationwide, as well as president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association;

- Lindsay McCluskey, President of the United States Student Association.

 

 “We need to be ‘smart on crime’ rather than ‘tough on crime’ and address soaring incarceration rates in this country,” stated Jealous. “Failing schools, college tuition hikes and shrinking state education budgets are narrowing the promise of education for young people all across the country. Meanwhile, allocations for our incarceration system continue to increase, sending our youth the wrong message about their future. We must focus on creating an environment for success and achievement.”

 

A billboard campaign will accompany the report’s release. It will be displayed in airports around the United States, including Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The ads will feature jarring statistics about our nation’s criminal justice system. One message will read: “Welcome to America, home to 5% of the world’s people and 25% of the world’s prisoners. There is a better way.”

 

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

 

Contacts: Ben Wrobel

(202) 463-2940 ext. 1012

bwrobel@naacpnet.org

 

Leila McDowell

(202) 463-2940 ext. 1018

lmcdowell@naacpnet.org


 

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