tim14smith's blog: "paris hilton"

I?m sorry to say this, but I followed Paris Hilton?s jail-time woes quite closely. This isn?t something I wanted, believe me. But I?m now working with a prison-reform organization called the Pennsylvania Prison Society, so when Hilton became one of the 2.1 million people imprisoned in the United States, she became part of my constituency. (Someone at the organization suggested we send her a membership envelope, but we?d have to change the dues to?as she would say?like, a gazillion dollars.)

When I first heard she was going to jail, I?m ashamed to admit I felt a satisfaction that runs counter to my mission of fostering a just and humane correctional system. If I want others to be treated fairly, I suppose I should?ve advocated for her as well. But since most people are treated like shit, I kind of wanted her to be treated like shit too?just so she?d know what it?s like, especially for women.

Women in prison have a rough time of it. While men in prison often have mothers, grandmothers, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends at visiting hours, women?s friends and relatives have a tendency to slip away, perhaps because it?s not cool for a woman to be in prison; it?s just sad. Seventy-five percent of the women in prison have children, but those visitations fall off too?an inevitable but crushing disappointment.

Women imprisoned in the U.S. are often supervised by male guards (against international standards), and are subject to harassment?a depressing follow-up to childhoods fraught with physical and sexual abuse. There are women in jails who remain shackled and handcuffed all day for months at a time?even if they?re sick, even if they?re pregnant, even if they?re in labor. And women in prison lack sufficient access to mammograms, pap smears and other gross and painful things women need access to.

In Pennsylvania 19 percent of the women in state and city prisons are serving time for a drug-related offense?the kind of time Hilton neatly avoided despite magazine photos of her indulging a penchant for substances. (She should also have been imprisoned for not wearing underwear when she knew she?d be photographed by paparazzi?more evidence of the legal system?s failings.)

The only thing Hilton has in common with most women in prison is that she?s part of a growing trend of incarcerating higher numbers of female offenders. Between 1990 and 2002 the number of women behind bars rose 121 percent?almost double the rate for men.

Welcome to the party, Paris!

Even if I wanted to ignore her jail time and enjoy a Paris-free month, such hopes were dashed when, three days after she went in, she was released?albeit with a clunky GPS system attached to her leg. The reason for the release was some vague medical problem, which was trumpeted on TMZ.com as attention deficit disorder.

Poor girl wasn?t getting her meds, they said. Paris Hilton may or may not have ADD, but given the amount of drinking she does (hence the jail term), the medication can?t be having much of a salutary effect.

Another wrinkle is that her ADD medication is Adderall?the stimulant hard partiers take to enable them to drink longer. I?m not surprised she has a prescription for that.

Sniping aside, what?s most upsetting is that Paris Hilton wept a few cranky tears and received immediate help, while the truly mentally ill languish. Bureau of Justice Statistics research shows that fully half of state prisoners have a mental health issue, the tragic result of an inadequate healthcare system and a lack of funding for community resources.

In March the Boston Herald featured a piece by Jamie Fellner, the U.S. program director for Human Rights Watch. Writing about the mentally ill in solitary confinement, Fellner noted, ?Why are mentally ill prisoners in segregation? Because prisons have become this nation?s mental health facilities.?

Most people agree solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment for the mentally ill, who are three times more likely to commit suicide than their counterparts in the general inmate population. But last year New York Gov. Pataki vetoed legislation against it, and it looks like Gov. Spitzer is poised to do the same. In fact Spitzer?s only concession has been to cut solitary for the mentally ill from 23 hours a day to 21?not exactly a boon for someone whose illness worsens under those conditions. It?s no wonder people with mental health issues are more likely to cycle in and out of prisons and jails.

I have a feeling, however, that despite her alleged mental problems, this was Paris? last stay in jail. Having now found a sense of herself as a serious person, the self-described blond icon will perhaps become the Princess Diana of the incarcerated set, taking up the cause of, for example, the people of color who are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. After all, some of her sort-of best friends are sort of black.

Perhaps incarceration will complicate her cartoonish image, like sticking a swizzle stick into a cup of axel grease. Maybe she?ll join Bill Gates and Bono and Angelina Jolie as the newest charter member of the Hollywood U.N.

Last week her father told Greta Van Susteren, ?She sees the light at the end of the [23-day] tunnel.? Just another thing that made her different from the rest of the prison population.

[Image of Paris right after her release from jail.]