Go directly to jail. Do not pass “Go.” Do not collect $200.
In this case, jail is Proctor Terrace. In conjunction with this spring’s symposium, “Communities & Justice: Inequality and Innovation in America’s Justice System,” the symposium student leaders, Hannah Postel ’13, Hanna Mahon ’13, Nora Hirozawa ’11 and Daniel Loehr ’13, have built a simulation prison cell outside of Proctor.
“We wanted a creative and alternative method of publicity and to make the inequalities more tangible to students,” said Hirozawa. “So we decided to build a jail cell.”
The jail cell will be up on the terrace throughout the week of the symposium, furnished with bunk beds and a desk. Although it is slightly smaller in dimension, it is otherwise in line with the jail cell requirements for Vermont state prison cells intended for two people.
John Perry, one of the symposium’s speakers and the former director of planning for the Vermont department of corrections, provided the guidelines for the cell reproduction. Perry spoke on March 1 about the structure of prison, arguing that prison reform can make jail a place not merely a negative consequence to one’s actions, but a place in which one can grow and learn.
Others helped out with the building as well.
“Allison Rimmer, who does set design, has been awesome and helped us out a lot,” said Hirozawa. “Facilities is helping provide bunk beds and a desk. Everyone’s been really receptive and helpful.”
But this cell is more than a work of art. It is a way to get people thinking and talking about the issues of the American justice system.
“We want to raise awareness in general,” said Postel. “Prison is an amorphous place in people’s minds. They don’t have a sense of what it’s like to be there, but after seeing the cell they can feel and imagine being there for years. It’s an attempt to sensitize people.”
“It’s also a juxtaposition of a prison cell and an idyllic college scene,” said Mahon.
The organizers hoped the cell would draw students’ attention to the symposium itself, which focused on the justice system, criminal civil law and other ways in which people engage with the legal system.
“It’s a topic that doesn’t really get talked about at Middlebury,” said Hirozawa. “It’s not a pre-professional place, and we’re trying to show that there are all of these really important issues that a lot of people can relate to on different levels.
The symposium featured seven different speakers, each speaking on different aspects of the justice system. Paul Butler, a professor of law at George Washington University and a former federal prosecutor, is this year’s keynote speaker. He gave his talk on Sunday night, titled “A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice.”
His speech had a well-known soundtrack for college students: the musical stylings of Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Jay-Z. But what can our favorite rap artists tell us about the criminal justice system? As it turns out, quite a lot.
It is important first to understand where Butler’s inspiration is came from. After earning an undergraduate degree at Yale and a law degree at Harvard, Butler went to the Washington, D.C. Federal Court as a federal prosecutor.
“I used that power to put black people in prison,” said Butler. “And Latino people, and poor people, like a lot of prosecutors. That was pretty much all I did.”
And then, while in the middle of a case against a United States senator, Butler was arrested for a crime he did not commit.
“That really opened my eyes to the criminal justice system,” said Butler.
In his talk, Butler played various songs such as “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” by Jay-Z and “Misunderstood” by Lil Wayne, demonstrating that if one really listens to the lyrics of hip-hop music, they are actually a critique of the punishment in the American justice system.
Butler claims that hip-hop music has three main philosophies.
“One, people who hurt others should be punished, such as murder, robbery or rape,” he said. “Two, criminals are human beings who deserve respect and love. Three, communities should be restored by both crime and punishment.”
Butler and hip-hop artists want the same thing: a fair system. According to Butler, the long sentences that most African-Americans face are harmful to the community as a whole; blacks are only 12 percent of the U.S. population but they constitute 50 percent of the prison population. That means that one in every three young black men has a criminal case.
The main issue, then, becomes non-violent drug crimes. The hip-hop culture claims that the punishments for selling drugs are unfair and should be reformed.
“There’s nothing you can be worse described of in hip-hop than a crackhead,” said Butler. “But the sellers are just capitalists. Hip-hop says some sellers are pretty nice guys.”
Butler tried to open Middlebury student’s eyes, and even more so their ears, to lyrics we have all heard multiple times.
Butler is just the first of a number of speakers featured as part of this year’s symposium.
“Thursday [March 3] we have a former prisoner coming to talk about his experiences and what it actually means,” said Hirozawa. “Most prisoners often go back to prison if they’ve been incarcerated once. It’s important to focus on re-entry into society and getting people employed post prison.
“They used to have a really great program in New York state,” said Hirozawa. “You could get your B.A. in prison. Prison is often a place for people who fall through the cracks of the system and get lost in the mix of it all. It’s not always their fault they’re there — it’s the communities they were raised in.”
Since all the speakers have come from different backgrounds with different perspectives and biases, there have been myriad opinions presented to students who may otherwise know very little about the justice system.
“Our goal is to present a lot of different views and let people make up their own minds,” said Postel. “We want to give people education about this issue and let people figure it out from there.”
“It’s not what we think people should take away from it, but just what you do take away from it,” said Mohan. “A lot of it is about getting people to talk about these issues. The American justice system is something that might be uncomfortable for people to think about or talk about.”
With this goal in mind, the students have compiled a diverse group of speakers so that students can form their own opinions and hopefully take action however they see fit.
The last panel, which featured three professors and two students, was intended to help those students who have found the symposium especially interesting “see what these people have done and get involved [themselves],” said Postel.
“We’re trying to bring a bunch of different people who have different perspectives, including us, and let everyone come to their own conclusions,” said Hirozawa. “But we want to get everyone more actively thinking about it.
“With Midd’s focus on international stuff,” she said, “the symposium is aiming to bring things back home a little. We want to make things more tangible and personal. We’re citizens and inherently a part of this system; it’s important that everyone be knowledgeable.”
Unlocking the criminal justice system: Symposium prompts examination of the justice in crime and punishment
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