Faced with soaring prison costs, states are finally focusing on policies that would help former prisoners stay out of jail after they are released. Some legislatures are reshaping laws that land parolees back inside for technical violations that should be dealt with on the outside. More than a dozen cities and counties have taken steps that make it easier for qualified ex-offenders to land government jobs, except in education and law enforcement and other sensitive areas from which people with convictions are normally barred by law.The specific example they consider is New Jersey, but Texas has also led in throwing people into jail and now is starting to try to do something about ex-prisoners once they get out. Paying as much per prisoner as would cost to send them to college, in a time of chronic budget shortfalls, is not very attractive. Georgia could also make changes to reduce recidivism, and reduce its prison population.Still, the nation as a whole needs to do much more about laws that marginalize former offenders — and often drive them back to jail — by denying them voting rights, parental rights, drivers licenses and access to public housing, welfare and food stamps, even in cases where they have led blameless lives after prison.
Category Archives: Education
Deidra White elected to Valdosta City Council, District 2

Deidra White will fill the District 2 seat currently held by Mayor Pro Tem Willie T. Head on the Valdosta City Council.The VDT says she said:White defeated Dr. L.W. Williams in the runoff election with 56.87 percent of the vote, or 178 votes and Williams received 43.13 percent of the votes, or 135 votes.
“My main focus is to make decisions that will help and not harm the people of the community,” White said.Through the election and then the runoff White said she learned the process is very exhausting and tiring.
“No one can do it on their own, it takes many people from many different areas of the community to make something like this happen,” she said.
Here is her victory speech:
Local Thanksgiving
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A growing local food community, anchored by Jason DeLoach’s F.M. Guess Pecan Company of Valdosta, the Packhouse Market of Hahira, and of course Jim Fiveash’s Food Store of Hahira. Let’s not forget the Valdosta Farmer’s Market (1500 South Patterson Street) and Farmer Brown’s Produce. There’s even at least one local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) starting up.
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- Long distance transportation: Interstate 75 near I-10, numerous state highways, and an airport.
- Delta Airlines (I never thought I’d be writing this) for competitive airfares (except during holidays). And landing on one of the longest runways in the state.
- Railroads going in every direction carrying freight, which can also carry passengers whenever state and local people and governments get organized to do it.
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Businesses moving in to take advantage of the transportation; working towards enough good jobs that young people don’t have to move away to find one.
- County and city governments that are at least a little bit sceptical about exactly which businesses they encourage to move in.
- Moody Air Force Base, by far the biggest employer, bringing diversity to the community both in serving personnel and in later retirees.
- Two hospitals: South Georgia Medical Center and Smith Northview Hospital.
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There’s even a
Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
including the counties of Lowndes, Brooks, Lanier, and Echols, with
a combined population of about 130,000.
This is enough people to try things without waiting for Atlanta or Washington to tell us what to do.
- Valdosta State University, one of two large regional campuses of the University of Georgia System, and one so active politically that it got its own voting precinct this year, the only college precinct in the state.
- Live election results during each election, on the Lowndes County website. It’s the only county in the state that does this!
- Georgia Military College, a liberal arts junior college.
- Valdosta Technical College, or whatever it’s being called since the state reorganized it.
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Thriving downtowns in Valdosta and Hahira. First Friday, Winterfest, Honeybee Festival: those are doing more to attract attractive businesses than any number of road projects.
- Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area, preserving a little bit of the original ecosystem of the area; you know, pine trees, live oaks, wiregrass, pitcher plants, cypress swamps, alligators, great blue herons, and bobcats. Maybe you don’t. Go and see!
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Trees, for forestry, and for themselves. See Patterson Street (a little planning kept it from looking like Ashley Street), and the oldest longleaf pines in the county are on the VSU campus; older than Valdosta. There are even a few left elsewhere in the county. Protecting forests is not just the right thing to do, it’s good business.
- Rain, so trees and crops will grow.
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Sunshine, much more than Germany, for example, so we can do solar if we want to.
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Winning sports teams in Lowndes County and Valdosta high schools and VSU
caused ESPN to name Valdosta
TitleTown.
Maybe that winning attitude can carry over to
improving academics.
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Theatre at the
Dosta, VSU, and the high schools.
If theatre was a sport, we’d be winning that, too!
Dites-moi
Pourquoi
La vie est belle,
Dies-moi
Pourquoi
La vie est gai?Tell me why
The sky
is filled with music,
Tell me why
We fly
on clouds above?
Why stop with what we’ve got? Why not play up our advantages of transportation, natural environment, local culture, etc., and attract jobs for young people and make the place even better for everybody?
Valdosta Candidates at LCDP, 5 October 2009
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
More are still uploading. All the local candidate videos that LAKE took
on 5 Oct 2009 are now in the playlist, as of 10PM 25 Oct 2009.
Videos taken at the 15 Sep 2009 political forum are already online.
Literacy and Prisons
However, there is substantial evidence that low educational performance does increase likelihood of incarceration. Furthermore, parental involvement won’t be enough to deal with this, since low-education prisoners tend to have low-education parents. Hillary was right: it does take a village.
In 1994 far more prisoners had reading difficulties than did the general public: Continue reading