--- title: Police Leader: ‘We’re Keeping the Wrong People in Jail' description: America’s prison system makes us less safe canonical: https://time.com/4082573/chicago-police-superintendent-were-keeping-the-wrong-people-in-jail/ author: Garry McCarthy article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T19:02:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:23.522Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Chicago Police Superintendent: ‘We’re Keeping the Wrong People in Jail' og:description: America’s prison system makes us less safe og:url: https://time.com/4082573/chicago-police-superintendent-were-keeping-the-wrong-people-in-jail/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12b7596019402157/6988695f428a9e75a9ccfb9e/mccarthy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Announces Police Dept. 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Chris Carney, an ex-convict, rebuilds a life in the real world after landing a job as a building superintendent_ by [Garry McCarthy](https://time.com/author/garry-mccarthy/) ## Garry McCarthy Oct 22, 2015 7:02 PM UTC  Chicago Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy Chicago Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Garry McCarthy](https://time.com/author/garry-mccarthy/) ## Garry McCarthy Oct 22, 2015 7:02 PM UTC From New York to Washington to Chicago to Houston to New Orleans to Los Angeles—the police leaders in the biggest cities are all on the same page: The U.S. needs to fix its prison system. I’m one of more than 130 police chiefs, prosecutors and sheriffs who are calling for a change to America’s system of mass incarceration. A blind man could see that we’re keeping the wrong people in jail. As a result, we’re not focusing enough on violent crime, which poses more of a danger to communities. In Chicago, where I’m Police Superintendent, people want us to reduce violence, but we’re caught in a conundrum. The system is producing what it’s designed to produce. And it’s not producing a reduction in gun violence. As a result of sentencing guidelines that were set during the 80s during the War on Drugs, more people are incarcerated for the low-level narcotics offenses than for possession of a loaded firearm. In 2012, 28% of inmates incarcerated at Cook County jail were incarcerated for narcotics-related offenses; less than 4% were incarcerated for illegal possession of a loaded firearm. Narcotics possessors are likely to recidivate in a short time frame because they have an addiction problem—they’re put in jail so they don’t harm themselves. Gun possessors, on the other hand, have the potential to commit violent crimes—we need them in jail so they don’t harm others. Consider the case of [Hadiya Pendleton](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-wearing-orange-hadiya-pendleton-met-20150602-story.html), who was shot and killed by somebody who had plead guilty to a gun possession two months earlier. Her shooter was back on the street because possession of an illegal loaded firearm is not considered a violent crime for sentencing purposes in Illinois. This system does not make any sense. We can do something about gun violence in this country. We’re choosing not to, and as a result people are dying. Mass incarceration breaks up families. It gives people felony convictions and makes it so they can’t get jobs. It sometimes trains them to be worse criminals while they’re in jail. It also has a bigger impact on African Americans. All of these things can be addressed and we can help shift the focus to what the community wants—fewer people incarcerated, and a system that makes sure that people who need to be in jail are in jail. That’s the bottom line. ## Transcript >> You know when you're incarcerated it's all you dream of to have is a good cup of coffee, not the instant stuff. You know what everyday something will remind you of being in prison. It can be the silliest things from the commodities in prison which is cigarettes, sugar, and coffee to getting up in the morning time with my girlfriend and my stepdaughter and I look and the coffee is running low and I'm like yes, I gotta stock up on some more coffee and it reminds me of hoarding coffee in prison and things like that. I can't lock any gates. You get all eyes on you everywhere. You know today putting the lock on the gate, you know, made me think about being in prison. My name is Chris Carney. I'm 41 years old. I'm originally from Boston, Massachusetts by way of New York, you know, being a felon there's not many employers that will employ somebody and put the keys to a multimillion dollar building in their hands. >> All the windows have a little that you can open on the top. >> Here I am enrolled as superintendent. I've got 114 apartments, an 11- storey building. We have affordable housing in the building and we have formerly incarcerated living within the building and the nice thing to say what do I see with the interaction, I see there is no barriers. >> And I'm as big are them. I don't care how small the critter is and you have to see me try to get up because it was when I was like oh no. >> You tell them get back to your garden and get out of my apartment. I picked up a gun on a Friday night. I knew a bookie that you could place bets with in the city who ran a spot out of a liquor store on the lower East side and I rolled in, robbed them. In a couple of minutes of not thinking and committing a crime, I almost put myself in prison for the rest of my life. >> Yes. >> Okay. You look just like the woman in that new apartment and that's the stuff we'd-- >> Right. >> You know I didn't advertise my history when I was meeting people, but I have some different things in the building with my picture up from different things I was involved with. I've had people pull me aside and asked me Chris, were you incarcerated? It's getting over the scare factor, you know. You don't wanna say listen. I'm your super. I was formerly incarcerated and you know I'm the guy with the keys who's gonna be coming and doing repairs at your apartment. You can't come at them like that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> It's one showing them who you are, you know. I live here with my family. My family, my daughter plays with the kids in the building you know. We're all in the same building. We're all neighbors. People that were formerly incarcerated make better employees. >> Hey, Chris. Are you with Ms. Page? >> No. Ms. Page is just separated-- Why? Because they have more to lose. They've been through it as far as knowing that they're at a stage of their life they need to keep employment. Somebody who is incarcerated, who has the ability to take job training, to take college classes, that is a person that when they get out is going to be a successful person. That is a person that is going to be a taxpayer. That is a person that is not gonna be in the front page of the paper who is reoffending going back to prison. Going up. >> Up. >> All right. >> What's up? >> You know and they look at me and they say that's one of the guys, he's never done a day in prison, you know. And I might not tell them at first when I mention that to them and you know we got something in common. We came from the same place. >> The shop. That's what I used for all of it. >> You are a success story until you have either relapsed, failed, or something's happened. So you know I don't wanna be that, you know. We used to have this super Chris here and, you know, he was doing a good job and something happened. I'm trying to do the right thing and it's basically, you know, getting up every day, you know, and realizing that I'm free. I'm out. 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