Bring Back the CCC!

Well folks, today is March 3, Super Tuesday is upon us.  I have done my level best to keep this blog apolitical – after all this is a family-centric blog and there are days when our politics don’t feel entirely suitable for families.  But as we gear up for what will likely be a highly partisan election cycle, I would like to offer up what I hope is a nonpartisan policy suggestion based on our tour of the parks.  Any candidate smart enough to agree with me is welcome to use the suggestion as his or her own 😉.

I would like to bring back a version of the CCC.  The CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps, was an old FDR program designed to put young men to work in the Great Depression.  The CCC “boys” earned $30 a month to improve our public lands.  To participate they were required to labor during the day, take classes at night and send a generous part of their earnings back to their family at home.  A significant part of the infrastructure in our National Parks built prior to the 40’s was built by the CCC.  Employee housing, picnic shelters, drainage ditches, trails, you name it – they built it.  And a hell of a job they did!  Much of that infrastructure stands today. The cover photo is a picnic shelter built by the CCC in Teddy Roosevelt National Park.

Before I lose my fiscally minded friends, let me briefly pause here and tell you that my proposal will save us money.  Read on…

I know two things with certainty: One, we incarcerate too many people and, moral issues aside, that is expensive.  Two, having travelled over 20K miles during the course of this past year, I can testify that we have some rebuilding to do in this country – much of our infrastructure is in bad repair.

The United States incarcerates 655 people per 100,000 population.  Compare that to 145 per 100,000 in England, 62 in Japan and 102 in France.  Our incarceration rate is problematic no matter what lens you want to apply to it (justice, morality, financial, you name it).  This proposal doesn’t address what got us into this pickle in the first place – smarter people can address that.  This proposal pertains to how we get many of those inmates back to work, to healthy self-esteem and to productivity.  After all, most of our prisoners will get out of prison in their lifetime, wouldn’t it be best for all concerned if they didn’t go back?

The cost to incarcerate varies wildly by state, but on average it is about $37K/year.  And most of that money is spent on housing and security, not on rehabilitation.  It seems like we could redirect that money for a portion of our prison population and set up a CCC 2.0.  The program would have to be voluntary – a forced labor program sounds gulag-ish.  It would have three goals:

• One, rebuild our infrastructure.  I would focus the work on our parks.  Parks need the help and the park environment might provide some free therapeutic benefits for participants.
• Two, provide vocational training for participants.  Parks need stonemasons, electricians, plumbers, etc.  For participants that show a penchant for the classroom – we could use some civil engineers, accountants, managers, etc.
• Three, provide financial stability for prisoners when they exit the system.  Part of the agreement would include a mandatory savings program.  Participants would make a stipend that would largely be funneled to an account accessible post-prison to get the participant back on his/her feet.  Frankly, I have no idea how a former prisoner avoids returning to prison.  No money, no housing and no job skills isn’t a good start.

Some back of the napkin math says that even a small reduction in recidivism would have a big tax savings.  Not to mention the increase in tax revenue that comes from those folks paying back into the system once they earn a (legal) income. 

Don’t take my word for it, here are voices from the original CCC (copied down from a display in Redwoods NP):

“I think it was the most important thing in my life…times were hard and this employment gave me an opportunity to work and to realize the responsibilities of life.”

Delmer H. Gilchrist

“I hope they make the CCC permanent, even if they have to discontinue the Army and the Navy.  It’s a great character-building institution.  They get better training than any school or college.”

William S. Nowlin

“My short tour in the CCC taught me self-reliance and discipline.  In my way of thinking, it’s the one and only government program ever initiated that was 100 percent successful.”

David P. Leaptrot

Just food for thought on this election day!  May our election year be filled with more policy discussion and less rancor.