By Julie Stewart
The Federal Bureau of Prison’s “compassionate release” program is wasteful and cruel.
Read full entry »It could be the most ambitious proposal of the Corbett administration: pass prison reform in the next three weeks, says the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
The governor’s Justice Reinvestment Working Group adopted recommendations yesterday that could save the state more than $263 million in the next five years. That would be a dramatic U-turn in savings from one of the fastest-growing state budget expenses of the past decade.
Gov. Tom Corbett congratulated the group for coming up with recommendations that focus on rehabilitation, efficiencies in the system and reinvesting money in public safety. The proposals would send millions to counties for improved policing and probation at the local level, and offer millions more to counties that reduce the number of people they send to prison with less than one year to serve. “Pre-release” policies would be abolished, half-way houses would be limited to parolees only and state agencies would have to become more efficient. Corbett called on the Legislature to pass the reforms “by the end of June.” Legislative leaders plan to leave for summer recess by June 13.
Should a white-collar criminal be banned from seeing cable television? That's an issue in the case of Robert Rainey of the Memphis area, who pleaded guilty in a $700,000 bogus-check scam. The Memphis Commercial Appeal says Rainey is contesting the cable TV ban imposed by a judge during a three-year supervision period after his says his 37-month prison term.
U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla told Rainey: "I'm going to require that you do a few things, like cancel cable TV. The whole United States and your neighbor and every other taxpayer and every other premium payer can't understand why you have got cable TV." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said Rainey could challenge the ban later.
Read full entry »Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail in a case of webcam spying that drew national attention to issues of online...
Read full entry »To make room for more inmates, the Norfolk County, Ma., jail’s gymnasium has been transformed into a dormitory and is filled with rows of skinny triple-bunk beds. Inmates have also had to sleep on the floor in temporary plastic beds known as “canoes,” reports the Boston Globe. Every prison and jail in Southeastern Massachusetts is operating over its capacity, and overcrowding is an issue facing every correctional institution in the state. Correction officials are bracing for an even bigger shortage of beds in the coming years as more prisoners arrive and more stay behind bars longer, due to tougher mandatory minimum-sentencing laws. The state Department of Correction projects the incarcerated population will grow from about 11,892 in 2011 to 14,753 by 2019.
In Bridgewater, the Old Colony Correctional Center was built to house 480 medium-security inmates but houses 809. At the Bristol County Jail and House of Correction in Dartmouth, every cell is double-bunked, and beds have taken over the gymnasium there, too, as the occupancy rate has skyrocketed to 384 percent. “It’s getting steadily worse,” said Leslie Walker of Prisoners’ Legal Services, a Boston-based advocacy group. “I don’t recall the numbers ever being this high.”
Read full entry »Fix inefficiencies in Pennsylvania's corrections department that keep prisoners behind bars for months after they’ve been paroled and that cost...
Read full entry »Three years after a jury convicted Houston grandmother Elisa Castillo in a conspiracy to smuggle at least a ton of cocaine on tour buses from Mexico to Houston, the 56-year-old first-time offender is locked up for life without parole, reports the Houston Chronicle. "It is ridiculous," said Castillo, who is a generation older than her cell mates, and is known as "grandma" in prison. "I am no one." She is serving a longer sentence than some of the hemisphere's most notorious crime bosses - men who had multimillion-dollar prices on their heads before their capture.
The drug capos had something to trade: the secrets of criminal organizations. The biggest drug lords have pleaded guilty in exchange for more lenient sentences. "Our criminal justice system is broke; it needs to be completely revamped," declared Terry Nelson, a federal agent for 30 years and a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "They have the power, and if you don't play the game, they'll throw the book at you." Castillo maintains her innocence, saying she was tricked into unknowingly helping transport drugs and money for a big trafficker in Mexico. She refused to plead guilty and went to trial. In 2010, of 1,766 defendants prosecuted for federal drug offenses in the Southern District of Texas 93.2 percent pleaded guilty rather than face trial. Of the defendants who didn't plead not guilty, 10 defendants were acquitted at trial. Also, 82 saw their cases dismissed. The statistics are similar nationwide.
Read full entry »A bill designed to keep some nonviolent offenders out of prison by beefing up community supervision alternatives has been passed by the Missouri Legislature, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It keeps our beds available for the folks who truly need to be locked up," said Rep. Gary Fuhr. The bill is projected to save the state an estimated $168,657 next year and potentially more in future years. While the bill is not so far-reaching as prison-closing measures in some states, its overwhelming, bipartisan approval stands out in a legislative session marked by gridlock and election-year politics.
It garnered support from prosecutors as well as public defenders, staunch law-and-order legislators as well as social welfare advocates, domestic violence workers as well as civil libertarians. "It is one of those rare times when we can come together and do something truly significant," said co-sponsor Rep. Rory Ellinger. At the heart of the plan is more intensive community supervision. For example, probation officers could mete out immediate, 48-hour jail stays when an offender violates a rule of supervision, such as failing a drug test. Backers say swift punishment would get the message across better than the current system, in which minor violations pile up, get mired in court backlogs and then result in an offender being shipped to the penitentiary.
Read full entry »The way Georgia punishes thousands of nonviolent offenders will change when Gov. Nathan Deal signs legislation today as a first step in the governor's...
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By Ted Gest
Eight of America's leading criminal justice scholars look back over four decades of analysis--and draw lessons for future policy and research.
Read full entry »An analysis of new data on jail populations in the U.S. shows that the number of people confined in local jails is declining more rapidly than in state and federal prisons. The Sentencing Project finds that from 2007-2010 the incarceration rate in jails declined by more than three times the rate of prisons, 6.6 percent compared to 1.8 percent. The prison and jail population declines "has produced no adverse effects on public safety,” said Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project. “We now have the opportunity to free up resources for public safety initiatives that do not depend on record rates of incarceration.”
The analysis by the Sentencing Project, a non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy, is based on data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in its annual report of individuals in jail. The report shows a decline in the number of inmates for the third consecutive year. Jails are local facilities that generally house persons awaiting trial or serving short sentences, while prisons are run by state and federal governments to confine persons sentenced to one year or more of incarceration. The BJS report also documents a sharp 23.4 percent reduction in the number of juveniles housed in adult jails between 2008-2011. The practice of housing juveniles with adults has come under broad criticism.
Read full entry »"When cautions are handed down repeatedly, fines aren't paid, or community sentences aren't rigorous, a damaging message is sent to offenders," British...
Read full entry »Federal anti-crime programs are wasteful and "stupid," Julie Stewart, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums writes in The Hill. While states are making money-saving changes in sentencing protocols, federal courts forge ahead with draconian sentences--for drug offenses, for example. Stewart writes, "This isn’t tough on crime -- it’s just stupid."
Stewart says she is encouraged that some elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), are supporting reforms. Stewart concludes, "Most encouraging, the American public gets it. When asked by Pew if they agree with the statement, 'Some of the money that we are spending on locking up low-risk, nonviolent inmates should be shifted to strengthening community corrections programs like probation and parole,' a remarkable 85 percent of voters agreed. It’s time to stop wasting money on anti-crime programs and policies that don’t keep us safe, but make our tax bills higher."
Ohio State University law Prof. Douglas Berman suggests that Mitt Romney, this year's likely presidential candidate, take a "bold new GOP approach"...
Read full entry »More Oregon drivers are using ignition interlocks, which are designed to keep people from driving if they have been drinking. Use of the devices has soared across the U.S. in recent years, reports The Oregonian, as legislators, spurred on by groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, adopted laws requiring offenders to install the interlocks. Congress is considering language in a new transportation bill that would penalize states that don't adopt mandatory interlock laws.
Supporters say re-arrest rates plummet for drivers using the electronic devices while also providing a safe way for people to drive to work or ferry their kids around. Offenders must pay for the equipment. The growth of interlocks has also raised plenty of doubts and criticism. The majority of drunken drivers required to install an interlock get out of the requirement, typically by waiting out their license suspensions or by claiming not to have access to a car. The problem is that most of those offenders continue to drive anyway without a license or insurance, according to several studies and experts. It's not clear that interlocks have a lasting effect on driver behavior. Once they're removed -- in Oregon, usually after a year -- studies indicate the recidivism rate climbs back to the same rate as offenders who never used interlocks.
