Bianca Tylek: The multibillion-dollar US prison industry -- and how to dismantle it | TED Fellows

翻译人员: Hancheng Li 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

[SHAPE YOUR FUTURE]

[塑造你的未来]

Not too long ago, a mother told me,

不久前，一位母亲告诉我，

“I can talk to my son in the dark.”

“我能在黑暗中和我儿子聊天。”

[Operator voice: The prepaid collect call from an inmate at --]

[接线员：来自一名囚犯的预付费电话——]

Her son was in prison

她的儿子正在坐牢，

and paying for phone calls often meant she couldn't afford her light bill.

如果要付电话费， 就常常意味着她交不起开灯的电费。

See, families can pay as much as a dollar a minute

为了能和监狱里的亲人通电话，

to speak to a loved one in prison or jail.

要付高达每分钟一美金的电话费。

These egregious rates

这极高的费率

have created a 1.2-billion-dollar prison telecom industry

创造了一个价值12亿美元的监狱电信业，

and with visit costs

再加上探视费用，

forced one in three families with an incarcerated loved one into debt.

使得遭受牢狱之灾的家庭中， 有三分之一被迫负债。

Eighty-seven percent of those carrying this financial burden are women.

而承受这些经济负担的人群中，有87%是女性。

And as a result of decades of racist policies and policing,

又由于数十年来带有种族偏见的 政策以及执法方式，

they're disproportionately Black and brown.

这些人群中的黑人和棕色人种也是出奇地多。

Prison telecom corporations claim that these high rates are necessary

监狱电信公司自称高费率是必要的，

to pay site commissions to prisons and jails

是因为要给监狱付高额佣金

and provide security and surveillance.

并提供安保和监控服务。

While the government's hands are far from clean,

虽然政府确实从中克扣了不少钱，

these corporate claims are simply not supported by reality.

但这些公司的说法也完全没有事实依据。

Consider this.

思考一下，

In Connecticut,

在康涅狄格州，

where families are charged as much as 32.5 cents per minute

公司开出的电话费高达每分钟32.5美分，

and the state takes a 68 percent commission,

扣掉州政府收取的68%的佣金，

the telecom provider takes home 10 cents per minute.

电信公司能带走每分钟10美分。

Now, in Illinois, where the state takes no commission,

然而在不收佣金的伊利诺伊州，

families pay the same corporation nine tenths of a cent per minute.

同一家公司开出的电话费却只有每分钟0.9美分。

In other words, even after the government takes its cut,

换句话说，即使在政府克扣之后，

the corporation makes 10 times more in Connecticut than it does in Illinois

该公司在康涅狄格州赚的钱 是伊利诺伊州的十倍，

for providing the same service.

提供的是完全一样的服务。

And prisons in Illinois are no less secure than those in Connecticut.

伊利诺伊州与康涅狄格州的监狱相比 却是一样的安全、牢固。

These are simply corporate arguments

这只是公司找的借口，

used to justify predatory business practices

用来给自己漫天要价的行为开脱，

and distract from the very simple truth.

掩盖一个非常简单的真相：

Corporations in the prison industry

监狱行业的公司

have a financial interest in seeing more people behind bars

为了获取经济利益，会愿意让更多人去坐牢，

and for longer periods of time.

并且坐更长的时间。

In reality, providing families and their incarcerated loved ones

事实上，为囚犯以及他们的亲属

with regular communication

提供正常沟通渠道

is not just the right thing to do.

不仅是正确的做法，

It's also the most fiscally responsible and safe thing to do.

它也是财政上最负责任、最安全的做法。

If you think taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook

如果你认为纳税人不应该为

for phone calls for people who have committed crimes,

违法犯罪人员的电话费买单，

remember this.

请记住这一点：

The most expensive rates are charged in jails

收取最贵的电话费的监狱里，

where the majority of people are awaiting trial and not yet convicted.

关押的大多数人都是尚未定罪的候审犯。

Prison wages range from nothing to a few cents an hour,

监狱工资低至每小时几美分，甚至一分不给，

so it's hard working, taxpaying families that are paying for calls.

所以就得由辛苦工作、乖乖纳税的家人买单。

And maintaining strong community ties is one of the most important factors

然而与社会维持紧密联系，是囚犯刑满释放后

in a person's successful reentry upon release.

成功回归社会的最重要因素之一。

It improves housing, employment and social outcomes,

这有助于他们安置、求职、融入社会，

making it less likely that people need government support

降低他们需要依赖政府补助， 甚至重返监牢的可能性，

or end up back in prison.

The bottom line is that prison telecom corporations,

监狱电信行业里的企业，

and the thousands of others in the prison industry,

以及监狱行业里上千家其他企业，

prioritize profit as they promote the caging of people

它们的底线都是靠关押更多的人牟取暴利，

to exploit them and their families.

剥削囚犯以及他们的家庭。

See, prison telecom is just one sector in the 80-billion-dollar prison industry.

在总价值800亿美金的监狱行业中， 监狱电信业只是其中一部分。

When I say prison industry,

当我提到监狱行业，

I'm talking about food service corporations

我还指食品供应公司

that serve rotten meat to people behind bars,

给囚犯提供腐烂的食物，

health care providers that deny incarcerated people care,

医疗保健提供商拒绝给囚犯提供治疗，

and architecture firms that design windowless six-by-nine-foot cells

还有建筑公司设计出五平米大小、无窗的牢房，

for solitary confinement,

用作单独监禁，

where people spend weeks, months and even years.

囚犯要在其中度过数周、数月乃至数年。

We invest in these corporations

我们给这些企业投资的钱，

through our retirement funds, public pensions,

来自我们的退休基金、社会养老金、

university endowments and private foundations,

大学捐赠基金和私人基金，

and we celebrate their executives

然而我们却在各大受人喜爱的文化场合

on the boards of our favorite cultural institutions.

赞扬这些企业的高管。

And in all fairness, it's not just the private sector.

不过有这些毛病的可不只是私营企业。

It's also government agencies that charge excessive fines and fees

政府部门也一样征收天价罚款、费用，

and abuse free or grossly underpaid prison labor

还不断压榨无薪或者极低薪的囚犯劳动力，

to manufacture license plates,

去生产汽车号牌，

staff DMV call centers, fight wildfires

做车管局的接线员，去扑救山火，

and, yes, even pick cotton.

甚至（像奴隶一样）摘棉花。

So this begs the question,

这就引出了一个问题：

how can we address our crisis of mass incarceration

我们如何应对这种大规模监禁的危机，

if an entire segment of our economy is fighting to put more people behind bars

然而现状是有一整个行业都在 努力让更多人蹲监狱，

and for longer?

并且蹲更长时间？

We can't.

答案是：无法应对。

But we can demand and create change.

然而我们可以提出诉求、创造改变。

The key is running coordinated policy and corporate campaigns.

其中的关键是要办起有组织的 政策诉求、抗议企业运动。

That's the playbook I put to use when I founded Worth Rises,

我在创立Worth Rises这个组织时 就运用了这个策略，

a nonprofit prison abolition organization

这是一个非营利组织，

dedicated to dismantling the prison industry.

致力于废除监狱体系、瓦解相关企业。

Let's go back to prison telecom for a quick example.

让我们回到监狱电信业，提一个简单的案例。

In 2018, we led a campaign in New York City

2018年，我们在纽约市领导了一场运动，

that passed the first piece of legislation to make jail phone calls free,

推进通过了一项全国首创的法案， 使得监狱电话通讯全免费，

saving families with incarcerated loved ones,

这为所有囚犯的家属 每年总计省下一千万美金，

nearly 10 million dollars a year

and increasing communication by roughly 40 percent overnight.

而且在法案通过的当晚， 监狱电话通讯就激增40%。

In 2019,

在2019年，

we helped local advocates in San Francisco introduce a similar policy

我们帮助旧金山当地的活动家 起草了一个类似的政策，

and launched several statewide campaigns to do the same.

还在加州其他地区举办了好几场类似的运动。

That same year,

同一年，

we fought the consolidation of two major market players

我们把监狱行业两家合伙的大企业

in front of the Federal Communications Commission and won.

上诉到联邦通讯委员会，并取得了胜利。

We blocked 150-million-dollar investment by a public pension

我们阻止政府把1.5亿美元的公共养老金

with a private equity firm that owned a prison telecom corporation.

投资给一家私募股权公司， 而其旗下就有监狱电信企业。

And we removed one of the largest investors in the field

我们还把行业内最大的一个投资者

from a major museum board.

踢出了一家大型博物馆的董事会。

In just two years,

仅仅两年内，

we toxified the industry and threatened its business model,

我们就威胁到了这个行业及其商业模式，

causing an investor sell-off.

使投资者被迫变卖资产。

But more importantly,

但更重要的是，

that means millions of families connected

这意味着数百万家庭联系更紧密了，

and billions of dollars protected

还为他们省下数十亿美金，

from the predatory hands of prison profiteers.

而不是被行业的暴利者所剥夺。

It means fewer dollars invested in and promoting human caging and control.

这意味着对囚禁、控制民众的金钱投资变少了。

And it means at least one mother won't have to sit in the dark

这还意味着至少有一位母亲 再也不需要在漆黑之中

to talk to her son again.

与她的儿子打电话了。

[Operator: You may start the conversation now.]

[接线员：现在可以开始通话。]

Thank you.

谢谢倾听。