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May 31, 2006

In the Black(water) (Hurricane Katrina)

by JEREMY SCAHILL
[from the June 5, 2006 issue]The Nation

Tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims remain without homes. The environment is devastated. People are disenfranchised. Financial resources, desperate residents are told, are scarce. But at least New Orleans has a Wal-Mart parking lot serving as a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center with perhaps the tightest security of any parking lot in the world. That's thanks to the more than $30 million Washington has shelled out to the Blackwater USA security firm since its men deployed after Katrina hit.. Under contract with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Protective Service, Blackwater's men are ostensibly protecting federal reconstruction projects for FEMA.

Documents show that the government paid Blackwater $950 a day for each of its guards in the area. Interviewed by The Nation last September, several of the company's guards stationed in New Orleans said they were being paid $350 a day. That would have left Blackwater with $600 per man, per day to cover lodging, ammo, other overhead--and profits.

Shortly after the hurricane hit, Blackwater "launched a helicopter and crew with no contract, no one paying us, that went down to New Orleans," says company vice chairman Cofer Black. "We saved some 150 people that otherwise wouldn't have been saved. And, as a result of that, we've had a very positive experience." Indeed. It was only days after the company arrived that it started reeling in lucrative deals.

According to Blackwater's government contracts, obtained by The Nation, from September 8 to September 30, 2005, Blackwater was paid $409,000 for providing fourteen guards and four vehicles to "protect the temporary morgue in Baton Rouge, LA." That contract kicked off a hurricane boon for Blackwater. From September to the end of December 2005, the government paid Blackwater at least $33.3 million--well surpassing the amount of Blackwater's contract to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer when he was head of the US occupation of Iraq. And the company has likely raked in much more in the hurricane zone. Exactly how much is unclear, as attempts to get information on Blackwater's current contracts in New Orleans have been unsuccessful.

"We saw the costs, in terms of accountability and dollars, for this practice in Iraq, and now we are seeing it in New Orleans," says Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky, who has been one of Blackwater's few critics in Congress. "They have again given a sweetheart contract--without an open bidding process--to a company with close ties to the Administration."

After The Nation exposed Blackwater's operations in New Orleans this past fall [see "Blackwater Down," October 10, 2005], Schakowsky and a handful of other Congress members raised questions about the scandal. They entered the report into the Congressional Record during hearings on Katrina and cited it in letters to DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner, who then began an inquiry. In letters to Congressional offices in February, Skinner defended the Blackwater deal, asserting that it was "appropriate" for the government to contract with the company. Skinner admitted that "the ongoing cost of the contract...is clearly very high" and then quietly dropped a bombshell: "It is expected that FEMA will require guard services on a relatively long-term basis (two to five years)." Two to five years? Already most of the 330 federally contracted private guards in the hurricane zone are working for Blackwater, according to the Washington Post. Another firm, DynCorp, is also trying to grab more of the action, offering its security services for less than $700 per day per guard.

The hurricane's aftermath has ushered in the homecoming of the "war on terror," a contract bonanza whereby companies can reap massive Iraq-like profits without leaving the country and at a minuscule fraction of the risk. To critics of the government's handling of the hurricane, the message is clear.

"That's what happens when the victims are black folks vilified before and after the storm--instead of aid, they get contained," says Chris Kromm, executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and an editor of Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch. "If officials really cared about protecting the people of New Orleans, they wouldn't be giving millions to scandal-ridden contractors. They would have given the city money to rebuild their levees to withstand more than a Category 2 Hurricane. They still haven't done that--and hurricane season is upon us."

Kromm alleges that vital projects that have "gotten zero or little money" in New Orleans include: job creation, hospital and school reconstruction, affordable housing and wetlands restoration. Even in this context, DHS continues to defend the Blackwater contract. In a March 1 memo to FEMA, Matt Jadacki, the DHS Special Inspector General for Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery, wrote that the Federal Protective Service considered Blackwater "the best value to the government."

While companies like Halliburton may have raked in more profits since George W. Bush took office, few have seen growth as dramatic as Blackwater's. The firm has been at the front of the line at the domestic and international taxpayer-funded feeding troughs and has recently hired some high-profile former government officials, like Cofer Black, former chief of CIA counterterrorism, and former Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz. In March Black represented Blackwater at a conference in Jordan, announcing that the company was seeking to broaden its role in even more conflict zones. Blackwater is rapidly expanding its operations, creating a new surveillance-blimp division, launching new training facilities in California and the Philippines, and increasingly setting its sights on the lucrative world of DHS contracts. It is clamoring to get into Darfur and has also hired Chilean troops trained under the brutal rule of Augusto Pinochet. "We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals," company president Gary Jackson told the Guardian. "The Chilean commandos are very, very professional, and they fit within the Blackwater system." The business magazine Fast Company recently named Jackson one of its "Fast 50," predicting that the company and its president are in for "a very strong (and long) decade."

It's hard to imagine that the cronyism that has marked the Bush Administration is not at play in Blackwater's success. Blackwater founder Erik Prince shares Bush's fundamentalist Christian views. He comes from a powerful Michigan Republican family and social circle, and his father, Edgar, helped Gary Bauer start the Family Research Council. According to a report prepared for The Nation by the Center for Responsive Politics, in all of Erik Prince's political funding generosity since 1989, he has never given a penny to a Democrat running for national office. Company president Jackson has also given money to Republican candidates. For his part, Joseph Schmitz--the former Pentagon Inspector General turned general counsel to Blackwater's parent, The Prince Group--lists on his résumé membership in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Christian militia formed before the First Crusade. Like Prince, he comes from a right-wing family; his father, former Congressman John Schmitz, was an ultraconservative John Birch Society director who later ran for President. Joseph Schmitz was once in charge of investigating private contractors like Blackwater, but he resigned amid allegations of stonewalling investigations conducted by his department. He now represents one of the most successful of those contractors.

Schakowsky charges that the Administration has written Blackwater "blank checks," saying that the internal DHS review of the company "leaves us with more questions than answers." She points out that the report fails to address the major issues stemming from deploying private forces on US streets. In her testimony this past September, Schakowsky said, "Ask any American if they want thugs from a private, for-profit company with no official law-enforcement training roaming the streets of their neighborhoods. The answer will be a resounding NO."

Blackwater's ascent comes in the midst of a major rebranding campaign aimed at shaking its mercenary image. The company is at the forefront of the trade association of mercenary firms, the International Peace Operations Association, which lobbies for even greater privatization of military operations. Blackwater and its cause have clearly found serious backing in the Bush Administration. Hiring Blackwater, says Schakowsky, "may be legal, but it is not a good deal for taxpayers and Gulf region residents in particular." Blackwater's sweetheart deals, both domestic and international, are representative of how business has been done under Bush. They are a troubling indicator of a trend toward less accountability and transparency and greater privatization of critical government functions. It's time that more members of Congress ask tough questions about Blackwater and its rapid, profitable rise.
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060605/scahill

Posted by lois at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

CA: A Policy where women spend 150% more time in jail

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jails29may29,1,4820897.story?coll=la-headlines-california

From the Los Angeles Times
THE STATE
Terms Differ in Jail Releases
Experts worry Sheriff Baca's policy of having certain prisoners serve more time for the same crime may invite `equal protection' challenges.
By Stuart Pfeifer
Times Staff Writer

May 29, 2006

Under its policy of selectively releasing criminals to ease jail overcrowding, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has routinely forced women, prostitutes arrested in Compton and certain gang members to serve more time than others convicted of identical crimes.

Prosecutors and legal experts fear the practice could be illegal and prompt lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.

"It could not be more upside down and backward," Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said.

The county lacks the resources to hold all the people being sent to jail, but at the same time Sheriff Lee Baca is under federal court order to avoid overcrowding in the nation's largest jail system.

Therefore, Baca says, he has no choice but to direct jailers to free dozens of inmates every day under a set of rules that governs which inmates get out early — many after serving less than 10% of their sentences — and which stay behind bars.

Under the policy, inmates arrested in certain crime-plagued regions are incarcerated 10 times longer than those arrested for the same crimes in other parts of the county, according to interviews and the department's two-page "Release Criteria."

For example, people convicted of prostitution in areas served by the sheriff's Compton and Century stations are required to serve 100% of their sentences, while those convicted of prostitution in the rest of the county serve 10%.

That's because the department is cracking down on prostitution in those regions, and officials believe the program would be less effective if inmates were released early, said sheriff's Chief Marc Klugman, who oversees the jails.

The department has also made exceptions for members of a Hawaiian Gardens gang implicated in the June 2005 slaying of Deputy Jerry Ortiz.

Department policy now calls for those associated with the gang to serve full sentences for any crime for which they are convicted.

The arbitrary nature of those decisions worries Cooley and others, who say the policy could violate the "equal protection" clause of the Constitution, which requires similarly situated people to be treated equally by the government.

Long Beach City Prosecutor Tom Reeves said he was concerned for other reasons. Forcing Compton prostitutes to serve their entire sentences could push them over the border into Long Beach, where prostitutes convicted by Reeves' office serve just 10% of their sentences.

"I guess it must be a much more serious crime in Compton than it is in Long Beach," Reeves said. "That upsets me a great deal because we have quality-of-life issues, just as Compton does."

There are also gender-equity issues.

Over the years, the Sheriff's Department has maintained different release policies for men and women, even for those convicted of the same crimes.

Male and female inmates are housed in separate jail sections, and sheriff's officials said their release policies are based on the amount of space available and fluctuations in arrests.

Two years ago, women convicted of all but the most serious crimes were released immediately, serving none of their sentences. But in the last year, the department required women convicted of assault to serve 25% of their sentences while men served just 10%.

Klugman said he changed the policy earlier this month. Men and women now are eligible for release after serving 10% of their time.

"You could probably go through this entire early release policy and nitpick it and find all kinds of inequities. But remember: No one has a right to early release," Klugman said.

The Sheriff's Department has released inmates early from its jails for decades to deal with overcrowding issues. Faced with steep cuts to its budget, the sheriff started closing jail facilities in 2002 and dramatically increased the practice of early release.

A staff of civilian clerks decides who is released by reviewing inmate files and the release criteria drafted by department executives.

In the last four years, the department has freed more than 150,000 inmates three or more days early. According to an investigation by The Times, nearly 16,000 of those were charged with committing new crimes during the time they would otherwise have been in custody, including 518 robberies, 215 sex crimes and 16 murders.

Last Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department announced that it would begin looking into inmates' criminal records before deciding whether they should be released early. Those with past convictions for violent or serious crimes would be held for their entire sentences, Klugman said.

That announcement underscored the difficult task the Sheriff's Department has in striking a balance between meeting a federal court order that prohibits the agency from overcrowding the jails and its duty to protect the public.

Cooley said he wants the department and county leaders to find a way to hold all inmates for their entire sentences. In the meantime, the prosecutor said, he's concerned about how the department is deciding who will be released. The decision about how much time inmates serve should be made by judges who have reviewed all relevant factors, not civilian clerks, Cooley said.

A policy that calls for women to spend 150% more time in jail than men convicted of the same type of crime appears to be "unconstitutional on its face," Cooley said.

Applying sentences differently based on where the crimes were committed could also pose problems, he said.

Prompted by questions from The Times, Cooley last week assigned attorneys to investigate whether the sheriff's early release policy is violating some inmates' constitutional rights. Although the review is just underway, Cooley said he was troubled to learn that the department is making its decisions based on geography, gender and other factors — instead of following judges' intentions.

"We need to spend more time with the Sheriff's Department and explain these concepts to them," Cooley said.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for Baca, said the sheriff would welcome suggestions from Cooley's staff. He said the department previously had been unable to get prosecutors to help devise an early release protocol.

"The sheriff welcomes his participation and looks forward to it," Whitmore said. "We believe the district attorney's office can be helpful."

Eugene Volokh, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA, said he believes the department has the right to prioritize enforcement efforts and can legally hold some inmates longer than others for the same crimes.

But he questioned the past policy of holding women longer than men.

"Having separate sentences based on whether you're a man or woman, I would say, would be presumptively unconstitutional," Volokh said. "At the very least it poses serious constitutional questions."

Duke University's Erwin Chemerinsky said, "Imagine if the Legislature said women who commit assault will serve 2 1/2 times more than the men who committed the same crime. No one would stand for that."

He suggested that the Board of Supervisors or Legislature might be better suited to establish guidelines for early release.

David Bennett, a Utah-based jail consultant who has advised counties on dealing with overcrowded facilities for more than 25 years, said the county needs to form a plan that makes sense. Leaving everything in the hands of the sheriff is unfair and ineffective, he said.

"L.A. County has to rethink its whole criminal justice plan because this doesn't work," Bennett said. The sheriff "should not have to put on a judicial robe and release people early. He's had to do this because the rest of the system is broken. It needs the involvement and leadership of the entire criminal justice system."

*------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.

Posted by lois at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

Durham, NC: Social Injustice Meeting

Social Injustice Meeting
(Lock’em up & throw away the key strategies are breaking the bank and destroying families)
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 2006
TIME: 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Place: Hayti Heritage Center
804 Old Fayetteville Street
Durham, NC 27701
IS HAS BEEN 20 YEARS SINCE THE “WAR ON DRUGS” BEGAN AND THE IMPACT HAS DISPORTIONATELY AFFECTED COMMUNITIES OF COLOR!!!!!!
YOU NEED TO ATTEND THIS MEETING IF:

1) YOU have a loved one or know someone that is incarcerated in the Federal Prison system serving a mandatory minimum sentence.

2) YOU have a loved one or know someone IS AFFECTED BY THE “WAR ON DRUGS”

3) YOU are a CONCERNED CITIZEN that would like to have a say about how your tax dollars are being spent.

4) YOU are concerned that we are spending more on PRISONS THAN on EDUCATION

5) YOU WANT YOUR LOVED ONE’S HOME!!!!!!!

The National NAACP Prisoner Rights Sub-Committee, NC-FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums), The Freedom Project, and Project R.E.A.C.H. will host this meeting to help you and your family through these trying times. Please come out and join the movement to bring our loved ones home and restore justice.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
LaFonda Jones-General at 919-530-8077

Posted by lois at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

MA: Mandatory supervision sought for people who have been incarcerated

Mandatory supervision sought for freed cons
By Michele McPhee, Boston Herald
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - Updated: 01:49 PM EST

The Massachusetts Parole Board wants to make it mandatory for all violent offenders to be released into supervised settings, a move Mayor Thomas M. Menino said could be a deterrent to convicts going back to lives of crime.
“No one should be getting out of prison without supervision,” Menino said yesterday.

“We do not want any of these convicts going back to their old ways. Without supervision, without help, guidance, that happens,” he said.
Massachusetts does not mandate postrelease supervision for the more than 20,000 cons being released each year, a legislative lapse that leaves the most dangerous population of people unsupervised,Maureen Walsh, chairwoman of the state’s parole board, said in a recent interview.
In 2005, 7,923 prisoners were released, but just 2,177 are now under parole supervision, according to statistics obtained by the Herald.
Walsh said there are roughly 2,200 convicts who served time for violent crimes being released each year and more than half of those offenders opt to serve their entire sentence rather than face supervision by parole officers.
Gov. Mitt Romney has filed a bill to take away that option.
One convict who opted to stay behind bars for an extra year rather than pay $55 a month to be paroled was Joseph Gomes, 39. Gomes, of Dorchester, was released from prison in April after serving roughly nine years behind bars for armed robbery and other charges.
“I didn’t want to be under supervision. I’ve been under supervision since I was 13 years old,” Gomes told the Herald this week.
Since his release, he has been having trouble landing a job, Gomes said.
The state, for its part, has substantially increased its budget to help people like Gomes re-enter society.
In fiscal year 2006, the state received more than $1.7 million in federal funds for re-entry programs, a huge leap over grant money awarded in years past. In 2003, the state received just $114,051 to help convicts after their release from prison, according to Donald Giancioppo, executive director the Massachusetts Parole Board.
Yesterday the Herald reported that 171 killers convicted of second-degree murder have been paroled since 2002.

Posted by lois at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2006

Article by former program supervisor at Hampden County Jail in MA

"The plans to build a new prison for women in Chicopee has sparked new discussion about an old issue. When state administrators invest in new prisons, judges will fill these new prisons with inmates. However, the state prison administrators should be increasing investment in community corrections or other alternatives to incarceration. "

http://bridgenews.org/news/062006/crimjust

Written by : Barry D'Andrea
Last modified 2006-05-27

I have worked in the adult and juvenile prisons for over 16 years. Until March 2006, I was the Program Supervisor for the Violence Prevention Program at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow. I have developed an awareness of issues of injustice and ethics in the criminal justice system.

1‹Systemic Racism and Class Oppression in the Criminal Justice System.

The criminal justice system is designed to arrest and prosecute persons who have committed "blue collar" crimes. These crimes are committed usually by persons who are poor, minority, desperate, addicted to drugs or alcohol, or mentally ill. The criminal justice system is NOT designed to arrest and prosecute persons who have committed "white collar" crimes. These are crimes of fraud and environmental destruction that are committed by persons who are wealthy, educated and in positions of power and influence in society.

For example, a policeman who wants to arrest a criminal can easily find a person addicted to drugs who is committing some kind of crime to maintain his or her addiction, such as prostitution or drug dealing or shop lifting. To find such a person the police officer simply needs to drive into poor communities where drug dealing or prostitution can be seen easily. This policeman would never consider going to banks, mortgage companies, realtors, corporate presidents to arrest them for fraud, false advertising, toxic waste dumping or environmental destruction.

2‹Prisons as Institutions for Persons with Mental Illness

When Ronald Reagan was president, he advocated the release of persons with mental illness from institutions. However, President Reagan did not ensure that programs to help persons with mental illness in the community were sufficiently funded. As a result, the prisons of America have become the new institutions for persons with mental illness. What is worse is that prisons are not designed to provide persons with mental illness with a therapeutic environment that would help them function better.

3‹Prisons as Institutions for Persons with Alcoholism or Addictions

Many persons with alcoholism or addictions end up in the prison system. Most prisons have few or no programs to assist them in their recovery from alcohol and drugs.

There should be new alternative to incarceration for persons who have committed a crime due to an addiction or alcoholism issue.

I propose that an alternative to incarceration could be mandatory treatment. That is to say, a person who has been arrested for a crime related to alcoholism or addiction should be given the option to enter into a mandatory and secured treatment facility. If he completes the treatment program satisfactorily, then he does not have to go to prison. His or her detention in the secured treatment facility would NOT be regarded as a punishment or a sentence for a crime. The record of his detention in a secured treatment facility would not be regarded as part of his criminal record. Further, if the person satisfactorily completes the treatment program, the record of his arrest and conviction is then expunged.

The purpose of this proposal is to ensure that addicts and alcoholics are dealt with as persons who have an illness that needs to be treated, not as criminals.

4‹No Methadone in Prisons

In most prisons, the medical staff do not provide methadone to new inmates who are withdrawing from heroin addiction. Persons who have been using heroin for many years may have severe withdrawal symptoms. Also, they may have other serious medical conditions (i.e. heart conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes, infections) while they are going through a difficult withdrawal. The severe withdrawal symptoms for some addicts may exacerbate other medical conditions and cause new complications or even death. Last summer a woman who was an addict suddenly died at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow. Apparently she had some kind of other medical condition that worsened as she entered into withdrawal without the support of methadone.

I propose that medical officers in prisons develop new policies and procedures so that the medicine of methadone can be provided to inmates under certain conditions.

5‹No Classification Protocols in Juvenile Detention Facilities or Orphanages

The juvenile detention centers are in chaos and full of violence. The staff are under so much stress that there is a high turnover of personnel in juvenile detention centers. Unfortunately, the children who are detained in juvenile detention facilities do not have the option to leave, as adult employees can do.

There is no effective classification of juvenile offenders into minimum, medium or maximum security facilities. Juveniles who are violent and abusive are detained in minimum security juvenile detention center where they terrorize children who are not aggressive. Due to the absence of a rational classification process in juvenile detention facilities, vulnerable and non-violent children are housed in the same facility with other juveniles who are bullies and violent. The vulnerable and non-violent children then can be easily bullied or abused by the older more aggressive juveniles.

Administrators in juvenile detention facilities or orphanages are reluctant to transfer out of their facility juveniles who are bullies or abusive to the other children because they then would lose funding. 6‹Elimination or Reduction of Treatment Programs

At the Hampden County Correctional Center, administrators have implemented a new policy that has not been approved by the superintendents or communicated to the public. This policy is to eliminate or reduce treatment programs wherever possible and to replace them with education based programs only.

Some inmates have severe emotional or psychological disorders for which the medicine of treatment and psychotherapy is essential.

The HCCC prison administrators (Thomas Rovelli, Guy Prairie and Basil
Tsagaris) eliminate the treatment based programs claiming that they are too expensive to operate in a prison. However, after eliminating the treatment based programs the prison administrators can then award themselves salary increases. This is exploitation of powerless inmates. The prison administrators harm inmates by removing from them the medicine of psychotherapy and treatment based programs. Then these same prison administrators take the money that previously had been budgeted for treatment programs and then put that money into their own paychecks.

7‹No Community Supervision of Prisons

The community members are not involved in the administration or supervision of prisons. Thus, prison administrators can implement unethical policies and procedures in secret from concerned citizens in the community.

I propose that community representatives be permitted to attend high level administration meetings with superintendents in the prisons. In a democracy, the administration of prisons should be transparent to the community and not held in secret.

8‹No Voting for Inmates

Inmates are not permitted to vote local, state or federal elections. It is impossible to lead inmates to become good citizens participating in democracy when the right to vote is taken from them.

I propose that inmates be permitted to vote and to register to vote while they are in prison.

9‹Convicted Felons Lose Professional Licenses

Persons who have been convicted of a felony often lose their professional licenses. For example, a lawyer who is convicted of a drug charge may lose his license to practice law. This hinders them from succeeding in the community as law abiding persons because they cannot return to their previous profession.

I propose that persons who were convicted of a felony that is unrelated to the duties of their profession be permitted to retain their professional license after their sentence is completed. After their debt to society has been paid in full by completion of their sentence in prison, they can then return to gainful employment in their previous profession. 10‹Cover-up of Sexual Exploitation of Inmates

At the Hampden County Correctional Center, an unqualified white female therapist sexually exploited a vulnerable black man who was her client in therapy in the prison. This female therapist did not have any degree in counseling. She was completely unqualified to work as a therapist in a specialized field. However, she was given the position as therapist because she was a close friend of Sheriff Ashe's daughter.

This man's recovery from addictions and criminal conduct was undermined by his having been sexually abused by his incompetent therapist. The man relapsed back to criminal conduct and was convicted of a new crime and sent back to prison. However, the unethical conduct by his therapist was quickly covered up by administrators at the Hampden County Correctional Center. The woman who sexually abused her client later obtained a license as a social worker.

This is a case where the criminal justice system is quick to prosecute a black man who is an addict but fails to punish or prosecute a white woman who sexually exploited a vulnerable man in her care. The black man goes to prison and the white woman enjoys gainful employment as a social worker at liberty in the community.

I propose that there should be an open community investigation to determine why the administrators at the HCCC did not inform the state licensure board about the unethical conduct of this woman who sexually exploited her vulnerable client.

11‹Absence of Treatment Programs

In most prisons there are few or no treatment programs to assist inmates with their personal issues. Many inmates need the medicine of psychotherapy or group therapy in order to maintain sobriety and to correct their past patterns of criminal conduct. To deny inmates the opportunity for such treatment is "cruel" punishment (although probably not "unusual").

I propose community supervision of prisons to ensure that inmate receive group therapy and treatment specific to their needs in rehabilitation. This treatment should be compassionate but also challenge inmates to take responsibility for correcting their abusive or criminal conduct and to maintain sobriety from alcohol and drugs.

12‹More Prisons

The plans to build a new prison for women in Chicopee has sparked new discussion about an old issue. When state administrators invest in new prisons, judges will fill these new prisons with inmates. However, the state prison administrators should be increasing investment in community corrections or other alternatives to incarceration.

I propose that there be a moratorium on the construction of new prisons. During the moratorium, concerned citizens can discuss with state prison administrators new strategies for holding criminals responsible for their conduct that would be an alternative to incarceration.

http://bridgenews.org/news/062006/crimjust

Posted by lois at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

Tex. Court Overturns Convictions Under ‘Fetal Rights’ Law

NewStandard
Tex. Court Overturns Convictions Under ‘Fetal Rights’ Law
by Michelle Chen
Drawing an unlikely consensus between opposing sides of the abortion debate, a Texas court has ruled that the state cannot criminalize a woman for drug-use that impacts her fetus.

Apr. 4 – Physiologically, little comes between a pregnant woman and her developing fetus, but some officials have tried to expand the state's power to intervene in the name of protecting prenatal life.

Last week, a Texas appeals court overturned the convictions of two women who had used illegal drugs while pregnant, invalidating the prosecution's controversial reading of a state law protecting the unborn. The decision, which skirted the constitutional issues at the center of the national abortion debate, drew support from a diverse host of both pro- and anti-abortion-rights groups.

The state had prosecuted the women under the state's Prenatal Protection Act of 2003, which allows civil and criminal penalties against conduct leading to prenatal injury or death. The statute redefines "individual" in the Texas criminal code to include "an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth."

Tracy Yolanda Ward admitted to using crack cocaine while pregnant, after her newborn son tested positive for cocaine in 2003. Rhonda Tulane Smith, whose daughter was tainted with methamphetamine at birth, confessed to drug use while pregnant that same year. Both were sentenced to five years probation in 2004 for transferring drugs to their fetuses.

Prosecutors in Amarillo charged the women under Texas's Controlled Substances Act, accusing them of "delivering" drugs to their unborn children, essentially indicting them for a kind of in-utero drug dealing. The appeals court, however, unanimously struck down the convictions last week on the grounds that the prosecutor had overreached in charging the women with passing drugs to their fetuses through the umbilical cord.

A coalition of progressive groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Harm Reduction Coalition and National Advocates for Pregnant Women, celebrated the ruling as a push back against "fetal rights" laws that many states have enacted. Abortion-rights groups say such legislation threatens the Fourth Amendment right to privacy – the same provision that guided the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade establishing abortion rights nationwide.

"Inherently personal decisions relating to individual autonomy are constitutionally protected," the ACLU had written in its friend-of-the-court brief, "and women do not lose the right to privacy when they become pregnant."

In the prosecution's brief, District Attorney Randall Sims had argued, "Prosecuting these appellants impinges on their choice about reproductive matters no more than prosecuting them for theft, welfare fraud, sexual assault or any other criminal offense."

But Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, said that the court's decision affirmed that "problems women face during pregnancy should never be addressed through the criminal justice system." She added, "There should be broad consensus, regardless of people's positions on the abortion issue, that threatening pregnant women [who have] health problems with arrest is not an effective way of protecting either pregnant women or their children."

Those at the forefront of the anti-abortion-rights movement have also supported the overturning of the convictions. Adding a political nuance to the "fetal rights" debate, the group Texas Right to Life says that while the unborn deserve protection as individuals, pregnant women should receive treatment rather than punishment for drug abuse.

"We don't want an unborn child to be harmed in any way," said Stacey Emick, legislative director for Texas Right to Life, which pushed for the Prenatal Protection Act's passage in 2003. "So the preference," she continued, "is for healthcare providers to intervene and to support a woman in keeping her child."

If a drug-addicted woman faces criminal penalties for her treatment of her fetus, she told The NewStandard, "then she may have an abortion. So, we would rather her not even think of that."

The Act, primarily intended to protect pregnant women and their fetuses from violent crime and domestic abuse, explicitly exempts "conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child," as well as medical procedures to terminate pregnancies.

However, the district attorney's office has consistently argued that the Controlled Substances Act, which bars the "delivery" or "transfer" of an illegal drug to a person under 18 years old, applied to the women under the Prenatal Protection Act's definition of fetuses as "individuals." That law carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

In 2003, then-District Attorney Rebecca King issued a letter to healthcare providers advising personnel to report drug use by pregnant women to law enforcement. She stated that most of the women would "qualify for probation, which will allow [authorities] to legally mandate medical services" to treat the mother and child.

Before leaving office in early 2005, King charged eighteen women with delivering drugs to their fetuses.

But last January, after Ward and Smith had already pleaded guilty, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an official opinion declaring that the Prenatal Protection Act's exemption for pregnant women also shields them from the Controlled Substances Act. The prosecutors in the case nonetheless stood by the original charges throughout the appeals process.

Unlike litigation in other states that has challenged fetal-rights policies on constitutional grounds, the Texas appeals court ruled instead on a technical basis, avoiding the heavier issues.

According to the organization Center for Reproductive Rights, in the first half of 2005, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and Louisiana all enacted fetal-rights legislation expanding child-abuse or neglect statutes to cover newborns testing positive for drugs. On the federal level, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, enacted in 2004 amid intense political controversy, holds that a fetus that is criminally harmed or injured is a separate victim in addition to the mother, though the law does not address conduct by pregnant women themselves.

While generally acknowledging the dangers of drug addiction during pregnancy, many public-health professionals argue that intervention by law enforcement will simply instill women with the fear that those they turn to for help will end up turning them in.

In a statement accompanying National Advocates for Pregnant Women's friend-of-the-court brief, David Schneider, Chair of the Public Health Commission of the American Academy of Family Physicians, predicted: "When patients know that physicians are required to report patient behavior to the authorities... women will stop seeking necessary medical care, including drug treatment. We will have more drug-addicted babies, babies born with lower birth weights, and stillbirths."

Critics also say fetal-rights prosecutions have a discriminatory impact on minority women. In 1989, for instance, law enforcement authorities began targeting a hospital in a poor, mostly black community in Charleston, South Carolina, to root out women testing positive for drug use during pregnancy. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the intrusive testing, which had led to a spate of arrests and detentions of pregnant and post-partum women, had violated the women's civil rights.

Pointing to a stark imbalance between punitive measures and health resources, Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women said that pregnant women with substance-abuse problems too often lack access to appropriate treatment facilities in their communities. Prosecutions based on fetal-rights laws, she said, "create the illusion that there is treatment… when in all sorts of healthcare areas, patients of all kinds, and particularly ones… who have drug problems, are completely abandoned."
© 2006 The NewStandard. All rights reserved. http://newstandardnews.net
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3024

Posted by lois at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

We Are All Prisoners Now

New America Media, Commentary, Nell Bernstein, May 23, 2006

Editor's Note: Today, one in 10 American children has a parent under criminal justice supervision -- many for non-violent drug offenses. As incarceration touches the lives of more and more Americans, a backlash against the drug war may be brewing. Nell Bernstein is the author of "All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated" (The New Press, 2005).

Over the past year, 1,000 new prisoners entered America's packed jails and prisons every week, bringing the nation's prison population to 2.2 million-- a record high here and anywhere on the planet.

During much of this time, I was traveling around the country speaking in person and on talk radio about my book, "All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated." Everywhere I went, without exception, I heard the samething: My family has been touched by this, too.

Once, after a radio interview, the engineer told me that he had been arrested in front of his children. Another time, the engineer was a young grandmother trying to gain custody of her incarcerated son's children. During yet another interview, the host announced on-air that his brother-in-law had done time, leaving his children fatherless.

In reporting my book I spoke with children across the country whose families had been severed by incarceration, and particularly by the drug war, which is single-handedly responsible for the boom in the prison population. Many of these children were black: African-American children are nine times more likely than white children to have an incarcerated parent. But plenty were
white: the drug laws, while disproportionately targeting blacks (who use drugs at almost exactly the same rate as whites -- and so make up about 14 percent of the nation's drug users -- but comprise 74 percent of the nation's drug prisoners), are so broadly written that they inevitably reach beyond these targets.

When I set out to promote my book, I hoped to let those who had little first-hand experience of the criminal justice system see that system through children's eyes. I hoped to spark new ways of thinking about crime and punishment. Think of it, I imagined myself exhorting the unenlightened, as if it were your children.

This instruction, I quickly learned, was superfluous. Everywhere I went, someone told me, This is my child. This is my story, too.

A reading at a Borders Books in Phoenix quickly devolved into a tearful group therapy session. One woman -- a black child-welfare worker -- was struggling with whether to take her young son to visit his incarcerated father. Another -- a middle-age white woman who looked every inch the soccer mom -- had been visiting her daughter, a grad student picked up for her first DUI, in the county jail for the past several months, and was stunned by the hostile indifference she met as a family member.

At a university in New Mexico, a student thanked me for the book; she came to the reading, she told me, because of her younger brother, who is growing up in the shadow of their mother's incarceration. She herself, she hastened to add, was no longer affected; she was grown up now and able to care for herself. Then, in the lobby of the student center, she began to shake.

I spent five years researching my book, talked to hundreds of children; I thought I had limned the pain caused by our policy of indiscriminate incarceration. I may have tested the depth of that pain, but I underestimated its breadth.

Is it desperation that leads me to find hope in these numbers? One of the basic functions of incarceration is invisibility: We place our prisons in remote rural counties, build high walls and lock out the media. Then we fortify those walls with stigma, so that those who have been there, or seen family sent there, will keep that journey secret.

But an elephant can grow only so large before people start remarking on its presence in the living room. One in 10 American children has a parent under criminal justice supervision today -- in jail, in prison, on probation or parole. The number does not include those who have had this experience at some point in their lives, or those who will. Those who have lived or worked inside a prison, or seen a family member spirited away, have seen what we are hiding from ourselves, and they are beginning to speak out. I have to believe that it is their voices, their experience, that will turn back the tidal wave that incarceration has become.

Last month in Florida, Governor Jeb Bush signed an executive order aimed at rolling back the multiple restrictions on employment that make it virtually impossible for those leaving prison to get back on their feet. He's got occasion enough to be concerned: Each of his three children has had run-ins with the police, and his daughter Noelle has found herself behind bars, albeit briefly, because of her drug problem.

At a drug policy conference in Florida after his daughter's arrest, Jeb Bush wept at the podium as he talked about his family's struggle. Critics were quick to cry "hypocrite," for Bush had previously cut state-funded rehab programs. But rather than pointing fingers, why not ask Bush to join hands with the thousands of parents whose children are locked up in his state prisons for non-violent drug crimes; the thousands of children who won't have Dad there to bail them out when they forge a Xanax scrip (Noelle's crime), because Dad is incarcerated, too.

The reasoned arguments against the drug war have been made ad infinitem, and new ones emerge every day. A study released in April, for example, found that Proposition 36, California's treatment-instead-of-incarceration
initiative, has saved the state's taxpayer's $7 for every dollar spent.

The economic argument against indiscriminate incarceration is irrefutable, but that doesn't mean it can't be ignored. What may bring it home is a river of tears, from governors and grandmothers -- the millions of Americans who have seen their families shattered by our insistence on answering addiction, and myriad other social problems, with incarceration only.

In Phoenix, I told the weeping soccer mom with the DUI daughter how powerful her testimony was, and encouraged her to share it more widely. Not now, she said; not while her daughter is still in the clutches of the state. But soon, she promised, we'd be hearing from her.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=499190e571343d35
5f79edf8130614e6

Posted by lois at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)

BJS: Prison and Jail Population Grew by 2.6% in 12 months

Bureau of Justice Statistics
SUNDAY, May 21, 2006
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs

NATION'S PRISON AND JAIL POPULATION GREW 2.6 PERCENT DURING
12 MONTHS THAT ENDED JUNE 30, 2005

WASHINGTON -- During the year that ended last June 30, the nation's prison and jail population grew 2.6 percent, reaching 2,186,230 inmates behind bars, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Two thirds were in state or federal prisons (1,438,701) and the other third (747,529) were in local jails.

The 12-month increase of 56,428 prison and jail inmates was the equivalent of 1,085 new inmates every week, the BJS report said. Other report highlights include:

* During the period, 10 state systems grew by more than 5 percent, led by Montana (up 7.9 percent), South Dakota (up 7.8 percent), and Minnesota (up 6.7 percent).
* Three state systems -- Florida (up 2,812 inmates), Texas (up 2,228), and North Carolina (up 1,482) -- accounted for more than 40 percent of the state growth.
* Twelve state systems reported population decreases, including Vermont (down 2.9 percent), Idaho (down 2.8 percent) and New York (down 2.5 percent)
* The Federal prison population rose 2.9 percent, reaching 184,484 inmates.

The Census of Jail Inmates, conducted on June 30 of 2005, recorded a 33,539 inmate increase, the largest 12-month growth since 1997.

Women make up an increasing proportion of jail inmates, reaching 12.7 percent of the population
in 2005, compared to 10.2 percent in 1995.

At midyear 2005, nearly 6 in 10 offenders in local jails were racial or ethnic minorities, which
was nearly unchanged in the last 10 years.

During the period, slightly more inmates (33,539) than beds (33,398) were added to local jail capacity. At the midyear, jail facilities were operating at 95 percent of rated capacity.

During the 12-month period, the number of women under the jurisdiction of state and federal prison authorities rose 3.4 percent (from 102,691 to 106,174), while the number of men rose by 1.3 percent (from 1,389,143 to 1,406,649). At midyear 2005, women accounted for 7.0 percent of all prisoners, up from 6.1 percent at yearend 1995.

Since 1995 the nation's prison and jail population has risen by more than 600,000 inmates. At midyear 2005 one in every 136 U.S. residents were in prison or jail.

Louisiana and Georgia led the nation in percentage of their state residents incarcerated (with more than 1 percent of their state residents in prison or jail at midyear 2005). Maine and Minnesota had the lowest rates of incarceration (with 0.3 percent or less of their state residents incarcerated).

At midyear 2005, nearly 4.7 percent of black males were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9 percent of Hispanic males, and 0.7 percent of white males. Among males in their late 20s, nearly 12 percent of black males, compared to 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males, were incarcerated.

The report, "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005" (NCJ-213133), was written by BJS statisticians Allen J. Beck and Paige M. Harrison. Following publication, the report can be found at:
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/pjim05.htm

Additional information about BJS statistical reports and programs is available from the BJS website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP is headed by an Assistant Attorney General and comprises five component bureaus and two offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime, as well as the Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education and the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy and OJP's American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Desk. More information can be found at www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

# # #

Posted by lois at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

An Appreciation: How Katherine Dunham Revealed Black Dance to the World

May 23, 2006

By JENNIFER DUNNING

Whatever else Katherine Dunham was in her long and productive life, which ended on Sunday at 96, she was a radiantly beautiful woman whose warmth and sense of self spread like honey on the paths before her.

How could anyone be stopped by the color of her skin after her invincibly lush sensuality and witty intelligence had seduced audiences on Broadway, in Hollywood films and in immensely popular dance shows that toured the world? And how could anyone cram black American dance into one or two conveniently narrow categories — or for that matter ignore the good strong roots that would one day grow green stems and leaves — with the vision of her company's lavishly theatrical African and Caribbean dance revues in mind?

Miss Dunham was one of the first American artists to focus on black dance and dancers as prime material for the stage. She burst into public consciousness in the 1940's, at a time when opportunities were increasing for black performers in mainstream theater and film, at least temporarily. But there was little middle ground there between the exotic and the demeaning everyday stereotypes.

Ms. Dunham's dance productions were certainly exotic, and sometimes fell into uncomfortable clichés. But a 1987 look at her work, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's "Magic of Katherine Dunham" program, confirmed that she also evoked ordinary lives that were lived with ordinary dignity.

Miss Dunham, as she was universally known, was by no means the only dance artist to push for the recognition of black dance in the 1940's, when Pearl Primus pushed, too, though a great deal less glamorously. But though Miss Dunham's academic credentials as an anthropologist were impeccable, including a doctorate from the University of Chicago, it was her gift for seduction that helped most to pave the way for choreographers like Donald McKayle, Talley Beatty and Alvin Ailey, who were the first wave of what is today an established and influential part of the larger world of American modern dance.

Ailey's first encounter with her, as a newly stage-struck boy in his mid-teens, says a great deal about Miss Dunham's appeal. Intrigued by handbills advertising her 1943 "Tropical Revue," he ventured into the Biltmore Theater in downtown Los Angeles, his hometown, where it was playing. There he was plunged into a world of color, light and heat that was populated by highly trained dancers with a gift for powerful immediacy, who were dressed in subtle, stylish costumes designed by John Pratt, Miss Dunham's husband. After the show, Ailey followed the crowd making its way backstage to her dressing room and was again stunned when the door opened on a vision of beautiful hanging fabrics and carpeting, paintings, books, flowers and baskets of fruit. And there was La Dunham, dressed in vividly colored silks and exuding irresistible gaiety and warmth.

Ailey returned to the show several times a week, let into the theater by the Dunham dancers who had looked so unapproachably exotic on that first backstage visit. And he was still more than a little in love with her when he invited her to create for his company "The Magic of Katherine Dunham," a program of pieces that had not been seen for a quarter-century. Miss Dunham's dancers, who remained close to her and to one another throughout her life, swarmed into the studios to help her work with the young performers.

Most of the Ailey dancers did not appreciate Miss Dunham's iron perfectionism or the unusual demands of her technique, a potent but challenging blend of Afro-Caribbean, ballet and modern dance. And she was not the easiest of women. I remember speaking with her before a public interview we were to do in April 1993. Addicted to CNN, she had just learned of the fiery, tragic end to the F.B.I.'s seige of the Branch Davidian compound in in Waco, Tex., that morning, and that was all that she could talk about, off and on the stage, despite her promises to discuss her work.

Her horror was real, as was her sense of social justice. She has been criticized for not denouncing the Duvaliers for their dictatorship in Haiti, where she owned a home. But she had also sponsored a medical clinic in Port-au-Prince, and she stayed on for many years in desolate, impoverished East St. Louis, Ill., where she established a museum of artifacts pertaining to her career and taught local children including Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic long jumper, and the filmmakers Reginald and Warrington Hudlin.

"I was trying to steer them into something more constructive than genocide," she said of the children in a 1991 interview with me in The New York Times. "Everyone needs, if not a culture hero, a culturally heroic society. There is nothing stronger in a man than the need to grow."

That idealistic, eloquent self was infused with a streak of no-nonsense practicality.

"I don't like that 'accept,' " MissDunham, still a vibrant beauty at 91, said during a Times interview six years ago in response to a middle-aged visitor who insisted on talking to her about the acceptance and embrace of old age. "I would just let the whole thing go. Just be there for it, centimeter by centimeter." Then it was time for the photo session.

Her eyes seemed to widen even more invitingly and her gaze to grow even warmer as she looked into the eye of the camera and asked, "Did you ever see photographs of elderly divas trying to look sexy?"

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Posted by lois at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Judge Steps in for Poor who are Incarcerated Since Katrina

New York Times
May 23, 2006
Judge Steps In for Poor Inmates Without Justice Since Hurricane
By LESLIE EATON

NEW ORLEANS * Hurricane Katrina took his house, his courtroom and, Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr. says, his faith in the way his city treats poor people facing criminal charges.

Nine months after the storm, more than a thousand jailed defendants have had no access to lawyers, the judge says, because the public defender system is desperately short of money and staffing, without a computer system or files or even a list of clients.

And so Judge Hunter, 46, a former New Orleans police officer, is moving to let some of the defendants without lawyers out of jail. He has suspended prosecutions in most cases involving public defenders. And, alone among a dozen criminal court judges, he has granted a petition to free a prisoner facing serious charges without counsel, and is considering others.

It is, he said in an interview, his duty under the Constitution. "Something needs to be done, it's that simple," he said. "I'm the lightning rod, yes."

The district attorney's office opposes letting defendants back out on the street, saying the court should find them lawyers. But Judge Hunter said he has had little luck finding private firms willing to take on most indigents' cases, and there appears to be no money to pay their expenses.

The public defenders' office, run not by City Hall but by a parish board, is basically broke. Louisiana, alone among the states, relies mainly on local court fees * mostly surcharges on traffic tickets * to finance its public defenders, according to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

It is a financing system that Judge Hunter and Calvin Johnson, the chief judge of the criminal court in New Orleans, have recently found to be unconstitutional because it forces poor people to pay for the system. The Louisiana attorney general's office says it plans to appeal those decisions.

In Orleans Parish, the traffic and the tickets both evaporated after Hurricane Katrina. Most of the office's 42 part-time public defenders were laid off. And they were, by many accounts, inadequate to begin with; a new study sponsored by the federal Justice Department says that the office probably needs 70 full-time lawyers, a computer system for case management, support staff and a reliable source of financing.

The study calls for scrapping the current system, which an appeals court decision recently described as "overburdened, underfunded and perhaps unconstitutional." The public defenders' office in New Orleans is slated to receive a $2.8 million federal grant on May 31 * but the study says it needs more than $10 million to get up and running and operate for a year.

The criminal justice system in New Orleans was notoriously troubled long before the storms, and if anything, it is now worse. Officials hope to resume jury trials soon for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, but still do not know if they will have enough courtrooms, jurors or witnesses to proceed.

On a recent Friday morning, in a borrowed courtroom in the Federal Building downtown, Judge Hunter listened to testimony from Ronald Dunn, 43, who was arrested on Aug. 19, 10 days before Hurricane Katrina hit, on a charge of possessing crack cocaine. Like the vast majority of the defendants in criminal court here, he cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and so would normally be represented by a public defender.

Handcuffed, shackled and wearing jailhouse orange, Mr. Dunn told the court that as the water rose, he spent four frightening days without food in the House of Detention, and was then moved from prison to prison, losing touch with his family.

In the nine months since the hurricane, he said, he has never even spoken to a lawyer. "I don't have a lawyer," Mr. Dunn said. "I never been to court." Without a lawyer a defendant cannot even plead guilty.

Pamela R. Metzger, the director of the Criminal Court Clinic at Tulane Law School, has petitioned the court to release Mr. Dunn and more than a dozen other poor prisoners in similar circumstances. Releasing them would not hamper the prosecution, she argued, and would give them an opportunity to try to gather evidence in their own defense. And, she said later, "to be free from imprisonment and punishment without due process of law."

But David S. Pipes, an assistant district attorney, argued against releasing Mr. Dunn, whom he described as a five-time felon. (Court documents show that Mr. Dunn has been arrested 10 times since 1990 and has pleaded guilty to previous drug and theft charges.)

More broadly, Mr. Pipes said: "The proper solution for someone who does not have an attorney is to get them an attorney. Releasing them does not cure anything and does not protect their rights."

Of course, everyone in the courtroom could describe a life turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Pipes is working out of an office in an old nightclub because the district attorney's office flooded. Professor Metzger is commuting to New Orleans from Atlanta.

And Judge Hunter is driving back and forth to Tampa, Fla., where his family fled, or Baton Rouge, where he has bought a house where he plans to live with his wife and teenage son, a cousin and a widowed aunt.

Over the years, the district attorney and others have accused Judge Hunter of being too soft on defendants, and of having too high an acquittal rate in nonjury trials. (He says he is simply fair.) But even longtime critics like the independent Metropolitan Crime Commission say that when it comes to the public defenders' office, he is doing the right thing.

"I don't have any problem with what he's trying to do there," said Rafael C. Goyeneche III, president of the commission. "He's demanding that it function properly."

The battle over indigent defendants is proceeding on several levels. Last month, Judge Hunter granted a petition for release filed by Professor Metzger on behalf of Donald Crockett, a mentally ill man accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He has been in jail since October 2003.

The district attorney's office appealed, and an appellate court found that additional procedural steps were required. Though it reversed the judge's decision, the court suggested such releases might be possible once the program completely runs out of money. Professor Metzger said she planned to appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has submitted a budget that would double, to $20 million, the appropriation for defenders around the state, and a legislative task force set up before Hurricane Katrina continues to work on the issue.

The Louisiana State Bar Association has made fixing the public defender system a priority and has paid for both another study and for the salaries of three defenders for a year, said Frank X. Neuner, president of the bar association. In Orleans Parish, the criminal court judges have appointed new directors (including Professor Metzger) to oversee the public defenders' program.

Judge Johnson, who runs the criminal court and is a former public defender himself, has been working to build a consensus for changing the system, something he said he has supported for years. He was the first judge after Hurricane Katrina to order an investigation into whether the public defenders could adequately represent the poor.

But having Judge Hunter halt prosecutions and consider freeing inmates has helped focus attention on the issue, Judge Johnson said.

"You have to have some guy out there rattling the saber, absolutely," Judge Johnson said. "I think the message was loud, clear and necessary."

Posted by lois at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

Women's Prison Assoc. New Report on Incarceration of Women

I want to add a cautionary note to new report from the Women’s Prison Association, “Hard Hit: the growth in the imprisonment of women, 1977-2004." ( http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/index.htm). The report states: “Neighboring Massachusetts is also remarkable for its equally low incarceration rate; the small share of prison beds the state devotes to women (4.3 percent); and a 9 percent reduction in the female prison population that has taken place in the last half-decade.”

While it is true that the incarceration rate for women in Framingham prison from 1999-2004 was -9%, the incarceration rate from 1977-2004 increased 382%. As the report shows, the number of women incarcerated in Framingham experienced a modest decline. However, the number of women incarcerated in jails continues to climb.

In Massachusetts women and men can be incarcerated in “county” jails up to 2 ½ years. (“County” jails in MA are distinctive not only in the length of sentences but also because county government was abolished in 1998). In Massachusetts, a new regional jail for women from the four western counties is now being constructed. The current jail was designed to hold 130 women. The jail to be completed next spring was to have 240 “beds” but due to overcrowding, the sheriff has just asked the legislature for an additional 56 “beds”, bringing the total to more than twice the current number.

It might appear that tossing jails and prison together is mixing apples and oranges; in fact, women serving up to 30 months are in jails in Massachusetts and in prison in other states. Are these apples and oranges? As the Corrections bureaucracy comes up with ever more marketable names for their products and processes---“civil commitment” for sex offenders or “secure facilities” for women in California--- it becomes all the more important that we be clear about our categories and language so as not to lend credence to progress where it does not exist. A possible consequence of the WPA report in Massachusetts is that it may be used by people advocating for more and bigger jails and as approval for policies and practices which, from the point of view of someone working to organize against the new jail and the increasing incarceration of women, should not be endorsed.

Lois Ahrens
Real Cost of Prisons Project

"Hard Hit: the growth in the imprisonment of women, 1977-2004" a new report from WPA's new Institute on Women and Criminal Justice (Part One authored by the Justice Strategies YIMBY team) see http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/index.htm

washingtonpost.com
Mountain States Imprisoning More Women

By DAVID CRARY
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 21, 2006; 2:28 AM

Oklahoma had the highest per capita imprisonment rate for women _ 129 behind bars for every 100,000 women in its population. Mississippi was second with a rate of 107. Women in those states were roughly 10 times more likely to be imprisoned than women in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which shared the lowest rate of 11.

Nationwide, there were 1.42 million inmates in state and federal prisons at the end of 2004, including 96,125 women _ up from 11,212 in 1977.

Though the overall surge of women behind bars has continued in recent years, it has tapered off in the Northeast, the report said. From 1999 to 2004, it said, the number of female inmates dropped by 23 percent in New York and 21 percent in New Jersey _ part of broader reductions that also cut the number of male inmates.

The report concurred with previous analyses attributing much of the nationwide increase in women's imprisonment to the war on drugs. The proportion of women serving time for drug offenses has risen sharply in recent years, while the proportion convicted of serious violent crimes has dropped, it said.

Bob Anez, a Corrections Department spokesman in Montana, confirmed that drug offenses _ especially related to methamphetamine _ were a major factor in the high proportion of female inmates in the state. Half the women imprisoned from January through March had committed meth-related offenses, he said.

Jerry Massie of Oklahoma's Corrections Department also said rising drug convictions were a factor in the high number of imprisoned women, but he noted that Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates for men as well as for women.

Ann Jacobs, executive director of the Women's Prison Association, said states with high rates of women behind bars should look closely at alternative sentencing, particularly mandatory treatment as an option for drug offenders.

"It's startling to think that Oklahoma incarcerates 129 of every 100,000 women, while other states can provide public safety by incarcerating 11 of every 100,000," she said. "Women in Oklahoma can't possibly be 10 times worse."

K.C. Moon, executive director of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center, said the state's high incarceration rate is linked to the types of crimes that are felonies _ including simple drug possession and relatively minor thefts.

"Those are two types of crimes that are typically committed by women," Moon said. "In Oklahoma, we choose to make lower-level crimes felonies, therefore we stand out like a sore thumb."

The Women's Prison Association and like-minded groups focus attention on female inmates in part because they are more likely than men to be primary caretakers of children, and their incarceration can place severe strains on families.

The report urged an expansion of research to identify factors that have contributed to the increase of female inmates and to develop policies which help at-risk women lead law-abiding, self-sufficient lives. Jacobs said the reduction of female inmates now occurring in some Northeast states would be worth celebrating only if coupled with investment in social programs that could reduce recidivism.

Associated Press writer Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Women's Prison Association: http://www.wpaonline.org

Posted by lois at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2006

Free Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook

CCR Pamphlets

Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook (PDF) - The Center for Constitutional Rights, in alliance with the National Lawyers Guild, has just released “The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook: How to Bring a Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Violations of Your Rights in Prison.” The handbook is a free resource for prisoners and their family members who wish to learn about legal options to challenge mistreatment in prison. It can be downloaded, or you can request a copy by writing to us at the following address:
Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook
c/o The Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10012

Jail House Lawyers Handbook Women's Appendix (PDF) - The JHL Appendix for women is a free resource geared specifically to women prisoners and their family members who wish to learn about legal options to challenge mistreatment in prison.

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/justice/docs/jailhouselawyershandbook.pdf
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/pub_resources/pub_resources_contents.asp#books_pham

Posted by lois at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)

Foundation helps return higher ed to prisons

Posted on Mon, May. 22, 2006

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Foundation helps return higher ed to prisons

RUBÉN ROSARIO

Face and eyes locked in thought, Elijah Thomas Combs strikes a contemplative pose in response to a question.

"A lot of the people on the outside might have an ill perspective of us,'' the 24-year-old Minneapolis native says as he leans against the guard desk inside Cell Hall A-West at the state prison in Stillwater.

"We're all in here, and 99 percent of us are guilty,'' says Combs, who has 10 more years to go before he is eligible for release for aiding and abetting a 1999 murder in Shakopee. "A lot may say they are not guilty, but a lot of us recognize that we are and want to change. We don't want to live the same lives that got us here. And education is one of the main ways I believe you can do that."

Say hello to Combs, Inmate No. 215445 and one of the new Joe Colleges behind bars. Combs, who obtained his GED high school diploma in lockup, is now one of about 100 inmates enrolled in post-secondary education courses at Stillwater and two other prison facilities in St. Cloud and Shakopee.

Posted on Mon, May. 22, 2006

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Foundation helps return higher ed to prisons

RUBÉN ROSARIO

Face and eyes locked in thought, Elijah Thomas Combs strikes a contemplative pose in response to a question.

"A lot of the people on the outside might have an ill perspective of us,'' the 24-year-old Minneapolis native says as he leans against the guard desk inside Cell Hall A-West at the state prison in Stillwater.

"We're all in here, and 99 percent of us are guilty,'' says Combs, who has 10 more years to go before he is eligible for release for aiding and abetting a 1999 murder in Shakopee. "A lot may say they are not guilty, but a lot of us recognize that we are and want to change. We don't want to live the same lives that got us here. And education is one of the main ways I believe you can do that."

Say hello to Combs, Inmate No. 215445 and one of the new Joe Colleges behind bars. Combs, who obtained his GED high school diploma in lockup, is now one of about 100 inmates enrolled in post-secondary education courses at Stillwater and two other prison facilities in St. Cloud and Shakopee.

Politics, public backlash, swelling inmate populations, rising costs for basic upkeep and steep budget cuts wiped out government funding for higher-ed prison courses throughout prisons in Minnesota and most other states in recent years.

But they're back now after a nearly three-year absence. Classes began in March and there's a waiting list of more than 100 inmates. This time, however, the offering is not costing taxpayers or the government one red cent, thanks to the little-known Minnesota Correctional Education Foundation.

The St. Paul-based foundation, established two years ago, was the brainchild of like-minded educators, prison officials and others who felt strongly about the benefits of bringing back such courses to eligible inmates.

Since December, it has managed to raise $85,000 in donations. Contributors range from corrections officers to deep-pocketed philanthropists. It has also aligned itself with an educational consortium of higher-education entities such as Augsburg College, Inver Hills Community College and St. Cloud State University. The institutions are providing instructors, mostly through contracts and in-kind donations. The courses can lead to an associate of arts degree.

Although the adult reoffense rate is more than 60 percent nationally, most studies have found that recidivism rates drop significantly the more education an inmate achieves while in prison. Those who took post-secondary education record the lowest reoffense rates.

One study in the late 1990s in Alabama found that only 1 percent of inmates who completed college degrees while incarcerated returned to prison, compared to a 35 percent reoffense rate that year in Alabama's general population. Minnesota was included in a three-state study in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Education that reported similar findings. The report concluded that society saves more than $2 for every dollar spent on prison education programs.

"I truly believe in this effort because I know it will lead to much safer and healthier communities when they return,'' says Liz Evensen, the foundation's executive director, lone staffer and chief fundraiser. "I am so proud of being a part of this, because I see the value and I also see the big picture in this.''

Evensen has the kind of can-do personality needed for a fundraising job that one Stillwater inmate said is about as tough as "selling ice cubes in Alaska.''

Evensen acknowledges the challenge. She knows there's intense competition for donations, and that the immediate beneficiaries are not cuddly kids or animals.

"You get a range of reactions, from those who express some understanding to others who are very direct and tell me that I won't get one penny from them and not to ever contact them again,'' she says.

A major and notable contributor is Bruce Johnson, the St. Paul native and inventor who came up with the enormously successful Breathe Right nasal strips.

"I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is,'' says Johnson. "I believe in this, that post-secondary is a void that needs to be filled and that this is a good way to reinvest in our community.''

Two other inmates taking the college courses at Stillwater are Elizer Darris, 22, of St. Louis and Quentin Starin, 24, of Little Falls, Minn.

Darris, who joined a traveling carnival at age 14 and was functionally illiterate, has another 10 years at least to serve for the 1999 murder of a carnival colleague in Polk County, Minn. He was 15 at the time of the slaying. He has since obtained his GED and said a turning point in his life came a few years ago when he watched a documentary about the Holocaust as part of a now-defunct post-secondary course while at the St. Cloud prison.

"It just opened my eyes,'' he says. "I had no idea. I felt compassion for somebody else, something I had never felt before."

Starin, serving a 12-year term for possession of methamphetamine, actually had his family bankroll college correspondence courses through Louisiana State University after higher-ed courses at Stillwater were wiped out two years ago.

He recently completed work for a degree and was accepted to the state prison system's Challenge Incarceration Program in outstate Minnesota for nonviolent offenders.

Tim Eling, 57, stood a few feet behind Combs as he spoke last week. The convicted cop killer and lifer will leave Stillwater in a pine box. A gang member who smuggled drugs into prison, Eling was perhaps among the most troublesome of prisoners until the light bulb went on 10 years ago.

He is a holder of a community college degree, a tutor to other inmates and the editor of the Prison Mirror, the award-winning prison newspaper. He says he has seen the faces of "thousands'' of inmates walk out of prison, only to return.

"The hope is that they don't end up like me,'' Eling says as he nods toward Combs and Starin nearby. "This is what I hear: 'I'm going to make it. Everything is going to be great. It's all good.'

"Unfortunately, most of them don't learn anything while they are here,'' Eling continues. "They got no education. So what are they going to do when they get out? The same thing they were doing when they left. If you don't learn something while you are here, you are still the same person when you get out. So what's going to change? Nothing is going to change."

Rubén Rosario can be reached at rrosario@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5454.

Online

Learn more about the Minnesota Correctional Education Foundation at www.mcef.info.

Stillwater prison inmate Aldridge Smith, left, is tutored during a spelling and phonics lesson by fellow inmate John Sims, 53, in a Literacy 1 class. Smith, 23, is serving an eight-year sentence for accessory to murder, while Sims is serving 13 years for attempted second-degree murder. The class, which meets daily for three hours, is funded by the Minnesota Correctional Education Foundation.

© 2006 St. Paul Pioneer Press and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

Posted by lois at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)

MA: Women in Hampden County Jail's Death Puts Focus on Dangers of Detoxing in Jail

Inmate's death puts detox in spotlight
Monday, May 22, 2006
By PATRICK JOHNSON and DAVID REID
Staff writers

LUDLOW - As many as six of every 10 inmates arriving at Hampden County House of Correction, either to await trial or to begin a sentence, are addicted to drugs or alcohol and need immediate detoxification, jail officials said.

In the past year alone, the jail has had to sort out about 3,800 of the 6,392 inmates entering the gates of the county facility in order to give them immediate detoxification treatment, or detox, according to official estimates.

Those inmates are given medications, mostly tranquilizers, to help them cope with the physical symptoms, such as vomiting, nausea, lethargy and confusion, resulting from going cold turkey in the hands of law enforcement, officials said.

One of those detoxing inmates, said jail superintendent Jay Ashe, was Cynthia Brace.

Brace, a 41-year-old Holyoke woman and longtime heroin user, died Aug. 20, one day after she was sent to the Ludlow facility following her arrest on drug charges.

"Was that a detox case? Yeah. Yeah. It's not that hard to guess with these numbers," said Jay Ashe, the brother of Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe, during a recent interview. "Unfortunately, she died during the treatment."

Brace's lawyer, Shawn P. Allyn of Holyoke, said her death was more than unfortunate, it was unnecessary.

"This death could have and should have been prevented," said Allyn, who also represents Brace's husband, Cecil, who is awaiting trial in Hampden Superior Court on drug and other charges.

Allyn said he has asked the state attorney general to investigate Brace's death, and charged jail officials with failing to provide proper care while she detoxed. He said that was, in effect, cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of his client's constitutional rights.

Allyn, who represents Brace's estate, said he intends to file a wrongful death suit against the county facility, the Hampden County Sheriff's Department and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

"Requiring an inmate to go 'cold turkey' clearly demonstrates a deliberate indifference to the serious health risk and potential of medical harm this may have on a given inmate," Allyn said.

The state medical examiner ruled Brace's death was the result of natural causes, and District Attorney William M. Bennett told The Republican there is no indication of foul play.

So far, jail and county officials have not provided The Republican with the autopsy reports or detailed records of her treatment, citing laws relating to inmate privacy.

Prior to an April hearing on Beacon Hill about inmates with mental illness, Sheriff Ashe said the jail could not have done anything differently in Brace's case.

Jay Ashe said her death was investigated internally, by the Massachusetts State Police and by the Hampden County district attorney, and Ashe expressed confidence that jail staff followed all proper procedures.

"We're very comfortable with it," he said of the jail's response.

Brace was arrested by Holyoke police on Aug. 18 in connection with drug charges and allegations of elderly abuse of a city man.

Two days later she was dead.

Brace was brought to the jail on a Friday afternoon after a Holyoke District Court judge ordered her held without bail.

According to a timeline issued by the jail shortly after Brace's death, she was seen twice by medical staff on the first day and put through the standard orientation procedure.

According to a heavily redacted, eight-page account of Brace's stay at the jail - released recently only after The Republican filed a public records request with Sheriff Ashe - jail officials, nurses and other medical staff had numerous, regular contacts with Brace.

The report, released by lawyers representing the sheriff, detailed regular 15-minute checks throughout the night and the following morning, although all medical references were blacked out. Brace reportedly was alert and conversant between periods of sleep, was given two showers and her bedclothes were changed several times.

The last contact between Brace and medical staff was noted at 10:55 a.m. on Aug. 19, shortly after she was given medication and placed on a stretcher in a hallway near the nurse's station, according to the report. At about 11:20 a.m., a registered nurse noticed that Brace "was on her left side but that her head was turned awkwardly."

Emergency life-saving steps were taken after the nurse found that "she wasn't breathing" and that "she didn't have a pulse, no respiration."

Earlier, officials said Brace had been vomiting and was brought to the jail's medical unit for treatment.

At 11:55 a.m., the report states, she was taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where she was pronounced dead at 11:59 a.m.

Lawyer Edward J. McDonough Jr., who represents the sheriff, stressed that all references to Brace's specific medical condition were blacked out in the report because Allyn refused to waive privacy protections for Brace.

McDonough denied the newspaper's request for the results of an internal investigation into Brace's death, citing they are the purview of "medical peer review proceedings" and specifically exempt from public disclosure.

He also refused to provide internal communications about Brace's condition, saying public disclosure of such materials "would so prejudice the possibility of effective law enforcement that such disclosure would not be in the public interest."

The district attorney and the medical examiner's offices used similar language in declining to provide similar requests for interoffice correspondence regarding Brace's death.

The Republican is considering appealing those decisions, particularly regarding the internal review of Brace's death, since the public is entitled to know how a person in state or county custody is cared for.

Allyn, who received a copy of the autopsy report, said it shows that neither Medical Examiner Dr. Joann Richmond nor consulting cardiac specialist, Dr. David L. Gang of Baystate Pathology Associates in Springfield, could definitively conclude why Brace died.

Each doctor offered cardiac arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, as a possible cause of death. Allyn said he doubts those determinations because, although she was a longtime drug user, Brace had "no prior heart problems to this degree."

The report also notes Brace had bruising on her wrists, Allyn said.

Brace is the 25th person to die in jail custody in the last 25 years, a period spanning an estimated 55,000 inmates, according to jail statistics.

Eighteen of the deaths were of inmates being held in custody, and the rest were people who died while in day-reporting or work release programs.

Eight of the deaths were attributed to AIDS-related illnesses. Four were considered suicides, and the remainder were from a variety of medical conditions, including brain hemhorrage, stroke, liver disease, lung cancer, heart disease and sleep apnea.

Six other inmates, like Brace, died within the first two weeks of custody. Three of them were suicides.

Jail officials, speaking generally about detox procedures and not the Brace case specifically, said the volume of new inmates needing detox is just one part of the bigger issue involving chronic health and mental health issues at the jail.

"They're big. That's what we're dealing with," Jay Ashe said of the medical concerns. "No one has any idea, (and) no one wants to know. The medical issues are huge, aside from the detox."

Nationally, since the declaration of the War on Drugs in the mid-1980s, county jails have seen between 60 and 70 percent of new inmates needing detox, said Dr. Scott Chavez, vice president of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

"Jails are at the front lines of (the war) on drug addition," he said.

Sheriffs throughout the state recently went to Beacon Hill to lobby for an additional $9 million to assist with treatment of mentally ill inmates.

As social service agencies have seen budget cuts in the last few years, county jails have been left to treat inmates arriving with mental, medical and addiction issues, said James F. Walsh, executive director of the Massachusetts Sheriff's Association.

The estimated number needing treatment at the Ludlow facility is comparable with other county jails across the state, Walsh said.

There has been no official study but the sense is that the problem has only gotten worse over the last decade, he said.

Officials with the Ludlow facility said roughly half of all inmates have historically needed some kind of detox, but as the jail population has grown in recent years, the number of detox cases has grown proportionately.

For the first time since the Ludlow facility opened 14 years ago, jail officials have recently begun describing the facility with a word not used since the days of the old York Street jail: overcrowded.

At the beginning of April, the jail had a record 1,642 inmates inside a facility designed to hold 962, or 171 percent above the planned capacity, according to jail officials.

The pretrial population of 814 inmates, following an increase of 17 percent over the previous three months, is now just below the sentenced population of 828.

Overcrowding complicates every aspect of running the facility, jail officials say.

Jay Ashe agreed the jails are being forced to pick up the slack on detoxing as community-based programs that specialize in addictions are losing resources.

"We have become the detox center," he said. "There are very few resources until you hit rock bottom."

As Sheriff Ashe notes, "Jails are a reservoir of illness, and no less so than in terms of the illness of addictions."

With many inmates, the addiction masks an underlying health concern that also needs to be addressed, officials said.

Terri Theroux, director of health care at the Ludlow jail, said that in addition to seeing patients in varying stages of addiction, the medical staff has to treat people suffering from illnesses such as asthma, chronic illness, hypertension and hepatitis.

"Generally, there are very sick people, and (the illness) could be exacerbated by the detoxification of one substance or another," she said.

Theroux said the detox treatments vary from inmate to inmate, depending on the substance, how long the person has been addicted and the last amount taken.

Men and women are kept separated from each other at the jail, but the detox procedures are exactly the same, she said.

The jail has no infirmary with bed space for inmates needing treatment. Instead its medical unit is run like a clinic, and inmates receive treatment and return to their cell. Those needing more serious care are transferred to local hospitals.

The Ludlow jail was given full accreditation last year by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and was named its facility of the year in 1998.

Chavez, who has toured the Ludlow facility, said its health care services are highly regarded, and are seen as a model for more than a dozen jails nationwide.

The jail's approach is to contract doctors from area health clinics and assign inmates to doctors based on proximity to the community where the inmate resides, he said.

This encourages inmates to continue going to the area health clinic after release, he said.

Medical staff check in with detox inmates daily, but it is up to corrections officers to keep an eye on them, Theroux said. A person who has been an addict for a longer period has a rougher time coming clean than a new user, she said.

Sometimes, Theroux said, inmates arrive in rough shape because they've been held in a police lockup for a day or more without a fix and with no medical assistance. "Detoxification may take several days for a person to rid him or herself of the substance," said Theroux. The jail's procedures seek only to "ease the detoxification process."

Jay Ashe said the initial detox treatments seek only to minimize the physical symptoms of withdrawal. The psychological reasons for addiction are addressed later in counseling, he said.

The jail does not treat inmates with methadone, a synthetic narcotic used to treat heroin addicts, but its use has been under consideration for the past year, he said.

Detoxing inmates are given medications used as various forms of "mild tranquilizers," such as Librium, a short-term medication used for treating anxiety associated with types of withdrawal, Jay Ashe said.

"We're trying to calm them down and deal with the detox issue," he said.

Patrick Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@repub.com

David Reid can be reached at dreid@repub.com

©2006 The Republican

Posted by lois at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

Bob Herbert Op-Ed: Justice Derailed

May 22, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Justice Derailed
By BOB HERBERT

The murder happened in snow-covered Rochester, N.Y., on New Year's Day in 1996.

As the police and prosecutors told it, a 63-year-old activist named William Beason was stabbed to death in his home by a young sex hustler and ex-convict named Douglas Warney. The case was solid, the authorities said. They had a confession.

Not only were the authorities wrong, it was almost immediately clear that they were wrong.

I wrote in a column less than a month after the murder: "The closer one looks at the case, the more it appears that Douglas Warney did not kill William Beason."

Under the headline "Slay Confession Is Full of Holes," Jim Dwyer, who is now at The Times but was then at The Daily News, wrote:

"[Warney's] confession is contradicted by virtually all the physical evidence made public, including a trail of blood apparently left by the killer, but which did not come from Warney."

I wondered then, and I still wonder, why so many seemingly decent people in law enforcement are willing to participate in the evil practice of sending people to prison — or, worse — who are demonstrably innocent of the charges against them.

The prosecutors who went after Douglas Warney were seeking the death penalty. It didn't matter to them:

That Mr. Warney was delusional.

That Mr. Warney said that he had killed Mr. Beason in a struggle in the kitchen, when in fact the victim had been murdered in his bed.

That Mr. Warney said he had cut himself during the attack, but a medical exam showed no evidence of a cut.

That Mr. Warney claimed to have driven his brother's brown Chevrolet to the murder scene, a car that his brother had gotten rid of years earlier.

And so on and so forth.

There was no physical evidence — none — linking Mr. Warney to the crime. The only evidence against him was the confession, conveniently typed up by a detective.

Mr. Warney, who was retarded and suffered from AIDS-related dementia, signed the confession. That flimsy document, which bore approximately the same relationship to reality as an episode of "Desperate Housewives," was enough to get Mr. Warney convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years.

Last week, after serving 10 years, Mr. Warney was released. More than a decade after the murder, DNA testing had led to a match between blood found at the scene and an incarcerated killer named Eldred Johnson Jr. Mr. Johnson admitted to investigators that he had, indeed, killed Mr. Beason, that he had done it alone, and that he did not know Douglas Warney.

Mr. Warney's case reminded me of one recounted by Arthur Miller in his autobiography, "Timebends."

Back in 1973, an 18-year-old named Peter Reilly returned from church to find the bloodied body of his mother, Barbara Gibbons, on the kitchen floor of their home in rural Canaan, Conn. She had been killed in what Miller described as a "fiendish" attack. Under intense interrogation, Mr. Reilly confessed to the murder. Although he quickly retracted the confession, he was tried and convicted.

Miller and others, convinced of Mr. Reilly's innocence, spent years trying to help him. It was finally proved, Miller wrote, "that Peter had been five miles from his home at the very moment his mother was murdered."

The witnesses who vouched for the alibi were considered substantial: a local police officer and his wife.

"Their affidavit," Miller wrote, "of which the state police had to have been aware, was discovered in the files of the prosecutor after he suddenly died of a heart attack."

Peter Reilly was exonerated. An investigation determined that there had been law-enforcement misconduct in the case, and that Mr. Reilly's confession had apparently been coerced.

It was ever thus. Law-enforcement officers tend to fight to the very limits of their strength against any and all evidence that would exonerate defendants or convicts.

Most people in prison have committed crimes. But it's also true that there are many, many inmates who were wrongly convicted. And the recent record of people being released from death row as a result of DNA evidence is itself evidence of horrifying law-enforcement abuses.

Don't expect much in the way of change. Indifference to injustice in the criminal justice system is so pervasive, and so difficult to counteract, as to seem part of society's DNA.

Posted by lois at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2006

MA: Growth Industry--New Jail for Women

Growth Industry
Activists protest the expansion of the new women's jail in Chicopee.

by Maureen Turner - May 11, 2006, Valley Advocate. www.valleyadvocate.com
Construction is well underway, but Jo Comerford can still picture alternatives to the women's jail being built on Center Street in Chicopee. "Just envision what that could be, that land, that $[26] million--a health center, a park," says Comerford, director of the western Mass. American Friends Service Committee, one of the local groups that have fought against the 120-cell jail.

The new jail, however, seems to be a done deal; indeed, Hampden County Sheriff Mike Ashe is now asking for another $6 million to add 56 more cells. That would require the approval of the Legislature and the Romney administration to raise the bond ceiling on the project--approval opponents concede is likely to be given. The sheriff's department says the jail will improve conditions for female inmates, who right now are outnumbered by men 11 to 1 at the co-ed jail in Ludlow. That imbalance means there's no room for women, the majority of whom are locked up for non-violent crimes, usually drug-related, to get the services the new jail will offer, such as drug treatment, classes, job training and re-entry programs.

But to Comerford, there's something wrong when those kinds of services are most readily available behind bars. "Mazel tov, Sheriff Ashe--great, you're throwing someone a bone," she says. "But a woman shouldn't have to get locked up to get healthcare, to get her addiction looked at, to get a GED. What I'm interested in is the root cause of what brought her to jail."

And that root cause, adds activist Holly Richardson of the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition, is almost invariably poverty, exacerbated by a classist and racist system that views some people as throw-always. About one-third of the women now at Ludlow, she estimates, are there waiting trial. "We're talking about poor people who can't make bail, who end up for months waiting for trial because the court system is backlogged," and therefore are more likely to take a plea bargain to get home sooner.

"If you or I are arrested, we're going to find a way to bail out, and then we're going to hire a private attorney to handle it while we're at home," she says. For a poor woman, time in jail could mean losing her job, her housing, her kids.

The jail does come with financial incentives for the city of Chicopee, which receives a $10,000 mitigation fee for each cell; the proposed expansion would boost that total to $1.76 million. The state also paid the city $1.3 million for the land and committed $2.6 million for infrastructure work on Center Street.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette says the jail is key to redeveloping that corner of his city, now distinguished by overgrown weeds, junkyards and the burnt-out shell of the old American Bosch plant. "Two years from now that entire corridor will be developed," says Bissonnette, who sees the area as "a springboard for new business."

Bissonnette, a former criminal defense lawyer, says he has sympathy for the case made by jail opponents and supports preventative programs and alternatives to incarceration. "As a practical matter, I'd rather see money spent on these types of services at a point prior to incarceration," he says. Still, he adds, the reality is that some women are going to end up in jail; now, at least, "they're going to be housed in a progressive facility that's new and clean, and hopefully will get the services necessary to gain skills, education, maybe get some guidance for post-incarceration."

Lois Ahrens, director of the Northampton-based Real Cost of Prisons Project, is exasperated by arguments that jails lead to economic development; she points to multiple studies showing the exact opposite (see www.realcostofprisons.org). "Jails and prisons are in this category of industries of last resort," she says. "Jails and prisons, toxic waste dumps, pig farms -- those are in the communities that have given up thinking there's any hope, so they settle for this."

Use our contact form to write to Maureen Turner.

Posted by lois at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual- 7th edition

JLM has published its 7th edition, and the price has changed. The JLM is now one volume only and costs $25.00. We also publish the Immigration and Consular Access Supplement for $5.00. Please see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/hrlr/ and click on "Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual" for pricing and ordering information.

A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (JLM) is a handbook of legal rights and procedures designed for use by people in prison. Prisoners are often indigent and therefore lack access to legal counsel while in prison. The JLM informs prisoners of their legal rights, shows them how to secure these rights through the judicial process, and guides them through the complex array of procedures and legal vocabulary which make up this system. The JLM also instructs prisoners in techniques of legal research and explains the need to take note of important legal developments. With the JLM, prisoners can learn to use effectively the resources available in prison law libraries. Since publication of the first edition in 1978, A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual has been used by tens of thousands of prisoners in institutions across the country. Prisoners have used the book to become informed of their rights and to address specific problems related to their treatment in prison or their convictions.

To date, more than two hundred correctional facilities across the United States have ordered the JLM, in large part due to the Supreme Court's decision in Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (1977). Bounds requires states to provide inmates with meaningful access to the judicial system, either through legal assistance programs or adequate law libraries. This influential opinion, written by Justice Marshall, and cited in over three hundred opinions in thirty-three states and eleven federal circuits, has had a dramatic impact on the ability of inmates to pursue their legal rights while in prison. Prison administrators have ordered the JLM as part of their efforts to build adequate law libraries. They have discovered that inmates find the book easy to use and relevant to issues that concern them.

The Sixth Edition of the JLM, published in March of 2005, contains chapters on the following areas: the Prison Litigation Reform Act, legal research, legal documents, discovery, freedom of information, right to learn the law, rights of pretrial detainees, appeals, article 440 of the New York Criminal Procedure Law, federal habeas corpus, New York habeas corpus, relief from violations of inmates’ rights under Sections 1983 and 1331, state’s duty to protect inmates, challenges to administrative decisions through Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law, New York grievance program, inmates’ rights to adequate medical care, AIDS in Prison, right to be free from assault, sexual abuse and sexual harassment, rights of incarcerated parents, prison marriage and divorce, special issues of female prisoners, inmates’ right to communicate with the outside world, religious freedom in prison, immigration consequences to criminal activity, rights at prison disciplinary proceedings, temporary release programs, conditional and early release, parole, search for a lawyer, and directory of legal and social services for prisoners.

With the needs of prisoners across the country in mind, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review has endeavored, to the extent feasible, to make the Sixth Edition of the JLM useful to all prisoners without regard to where they are incarcerated. The information on federal actions will be helpful to an inmate in a federal prison, or pursuing federal claims, no matter where the inmate is located. The law, procedures and forms relating to state actions vary from state to state, however. Where possible, we have provided information that is generally applicable, although we have used New York forms and procedures as specific illustrations. We regret that the size and scope of the book prevent us from providing forms and specific procedural information for all states. Nevertheless, prisoners outside New York will find the JLM a valuable research tool.

In the past few years, the United States Congress has created more obstacles to keep prisoners out of the courthouse. These new laws include the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which severely restricts prisoners’ ability to bring civil lawsuits, as well as their ability to be represented by an attorney. Similarly, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act sharply limits the availability of the writ of habeas corpus, used by prisoners for centuries to challenge unlawful confinement. Finally, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act denied judicial review in many circumstances to immigrants that are ordered deported because of past criminal activity. The Sixth Edition responds to these developments with up-to-date information about changes in the law.

In addition to the English language JLM, a Spanish-language JLM is now available to provide an accessible resource for those prisoners who speak only Spanish.

An important part of managing and revising the JLM is responding to the heavy volume of mail we receive from prisoners. We thank the many jailhouse lawyers whose helpful comments have contributed to the improvements that may be found in both books. The process of improving the JLM never stops, and we ask that readers of the manual continue to share with us their ideas and comments.

In short, we hope the books will help you to protect your rights under the law. Although the current political climate is discouraging for inmates seeking justice, jailhouse lawyers should not abandon hope. We urge you to keep standing up for your rights and enforcing your humanity against those who would try to deny it. Remember—we will be standing behind you.

JLM Pricing

For prisoners: The JLM Sixth Edition is $25 per volume, or $45 for both volumes purchased together. We highly recommend that both books be used together. However, because inmates’ finances may be limited, you may purchase them separately. Standard shipping is included in the price. If you would like your books faster, include $5 per book for first class shipping, or $10 for both volumes.

The Spanish JLM is $15. Standard shipping is included in the price; however, you may include $5 for first class shipping.

See the pricing chart on the JLM order form. Prices and availability may be subject to change.

For non-prisoners, organizations, or institutions: The JLM Sixth Edition is $90 for a two volume set. Institutions may not purchase volumes separately. The Spanish JLM is $30. Standard shipping is included in the price; however, you may include $5 per volume for first class shipping.

If you are ordering for a prisoner, follow the instructions for prisoner pricing. See the pricing chart on the JLM order form. Prices and availability may be subject to change.

To Place an Order for the JLM

Complete and send the order form (link to JLM and SJLM Order Form) (formulario para su orden) with a check or money order, payable to Columbia Human Rights Law Review to:

Columbia Human Rights Law Review

Attn: JLM Order

435 W. 116th St.

New York , NY 10027

If you send a money order, keep the receipt in case there is a problem with your order. We do not accept postage stamps as payment and also do not accept credit cards. Due to the nature of the institutional mail systems, we request that you allow up to eight weeks from the date of your order. Because our office is student run, your order may not be processed as quickly over school breaks. Orders to be sent to facilities in Michigan must be sent first class. Also, please inform us on this form of any restrictions on incoming mail that your facility may have (for example, no padded envelopes or first class mail only).

*Please note - these prices are valid as of December 2005. If this form is more than two years old, prices have probably changed. Please contact A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual for updated pricing.

Last updated January 2006

Posted by lois at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

Immigration crackdown creates new profit opportunity for CCA

Prison operator competes for federal contracts to house detainees

By GETAHN WARD, Staff Writer
Sunday, 05/21/06
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060521/BUSINESS01/605210386/1003/NLETTER01

At the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, there's a playground for children and murals painted on the walls. There's carpet on the floors of detention cells but no locks on the doors.

Only the second detention facility in the nation designed to house families, the center is part of a new push by U.S. immigration authorities to detain rather than release illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.

The location is owned and run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, which, like other private prison operators, is bracing for an increase in business from measures to curb illegal immigration. The Hutto Center opened last week under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, reversing last year's decision by CCA to shut down the then-underutilized prison.

"We do expect there'll be an increased need for detention beds," said John Ferguson, chief executive with CCA, citing the spotlight on immigration including legislation being discussed in Congress.

Opportunities being eyed by private prison operators include:

• The 2007 federal budget calls for 6,000 new detention beds for ICE, which doesn't build prisons but contracts space from county and other governments and from private operators such as CCA.

• CCA and its rival The GEO Group are among bidders vying to build and run a 2,800-bed U.S. Marshals Service detention Center in Laredo, Texas, to serve a federal court loaded with immigration cases.

• Under the second phase of ICE's secured border initiative, the agency is tracking down 600,000 undocumented immigrants who are fugitives from the immigration system. If caught, some are expected to go through the prison system before deportation.

Tougher enforcement

The broader ICE initiative includes ending a "catch-and-release" approach, under which people from countries other than Mexico who are caught trying illegally to cross the border are released and asked to return for a deportation hearing at a later date. Only 10 percent to 20 percent return. Under the new initiative, they would be detained until an expedited hearing, at which the government seeks to return them to their own countries.

CCA's 500-bed Hutto Center will house immigrant families caught within 100 miles of the border with Mexico or Canada or of a coastal border after being in the United States for 14 days or less. It addresses the lack of a facility along the Southern U.S. border to detain families that generally now are released pending a court hearing.

"Now we have a center that can hold families for removal back to their respective countries," said Ernestine Fobbs, spokeswoman for ICE, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Berks County, Pa., has the only other such center nationwide. It is much smaller.

At Hutto, families will be housed based on age or sex of children and whether they include fathers or have mothers only, Ferguson said. Most detainees are expected to be single mothers with one to two children between the ages of 6 and 12, according to CCA officials. The center requires more Spanish-speaking staff and has technology that allows for connection with companies that offer translation services.

Office space is available for government staff such as deportation officers, ICE enforcement officers and clerical staff. ICE said families can have the dignity of staying together while getting the message that those entering the U.S. illegally will be sent home.

Judith Greene, a policy analyst at Justice Strategies in New York, sees alternatives to detention. She cited a study that showed 90% of people released to a nonprofit group returned for their hearing.

While private operators are seeing benefits from the spotlight on immigration, any significant windfall from changes passed by Congress won't necessarily be immediate because immigration policy isn't going to change overnight, said Geoffrey Segal, director of government reform with Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles think tank and free-markets organization. "There's some lag time between development of new policy and implementation of it," he said. He said, however, that with access to capital and other resources, private companies are better suited to meet a need for more beds.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for CCA because they have some empty facilities," said Richard Crane, a Nashville privatization consultant and director of Houston prison operator Cornell Cos.

Room for growth

CCA, the industry's leader, has more than 5,000 beds available, including space at a company-owned Georgia prison in contention for a deal from the federal Bureau of Prisons to house 1,200 non-U.S. citizens serving crime sentences.

The company also is trying to create more room for growth. It plans to spend $38.9 million on a 722-bed expansion of its 480-bed Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, which could be expanded again if it wins the 2,800-bed U.S. Marshals contract.

Overall, private prison companies have built or proposed to add 7,000 new beds in Texas during the past two to three years, said Bob Libal, co-director of Grassroots Leadership of Austin, a group that monitors the private prisons industry. "There has been a dramatic explosion in the number of immigrant detention beds in the last several years," Libal said, adding that district attorneys in border areas have boosted prosecution of immigrant offenders, including those caught crossing the border for the first time. "It's a tremendous waste of resources to be prosecuting people, having them serve jail time and deporting them. It doesn't make sense, but companies like CCA are set to make a lot of money off this trend."

Overall, CCA generates nearly 40% of its annual revenue from federal contracts — 16% from the Bureau of Prisons, 15% from the U.S. Marshal Service and 8% from ICE. CCA's ties with ICE date back to the company's early days in 1983, when it was hired to build and run the Houston Processing Center for the agency that was then called INS.

Last year, the company housed 1,200 ICE inmates who had to be moved out of Florida because of Hurricane Wilma.

"They're our largest single customer with needs south of the border," said Damon Hininger, vice president of federal customer relations at CCA. "With all the national emphasis on enforcement on the Southwest border and more resources available for patrol, that's going to have direct correlation with the need for detention."

Posted by lois at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Growing Old Behind Bars

Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
May 8, 2006
Page: 03
Memo:GROWING OLD BEHIND BARS

GROWING OLD BEHIND BARS
THE HIGH COST OF CARING FOR AGED AND SICKLY INMATES

Large gray area for prisons

Aging inmates raise questions from health care to whether they should be sprung
DANA DiFILIPPO

GEORGE DAVID Smith's home is a 6-by-12-foot concrete cell in Graterford state prison, where his arthritis-crippled hands can barely fasten the ties on his jail-issued jumpsuit and where guards have to shout at him so he can hear.

He's 79 now, the same age as the man he shot dead in a gas-station robbery in 1953. Smith doesn't remember his victim's name, maybe because he chooses not to or because he's grown increasingly forgetful with age.
But he vividly remembers his hometown of Cleveland, Tenn., where he dreams of returning to revive his carpentry business.

After bouncing in and out of jail since the 1940s, he knows he could die here on Cell Block D.

"Me, I can get by on the outside. Most old folks like me can't do nothing - they're lucky they can go to the toilet and use toilet paper. I ain't that messed up," Smith said. "But they won't ever let me out of here."

It costs taxpayers up to three times as much as other inmates to keep seniors like Smith behind bars. As the number of geriatric jailbirds climbs each year, a controversy is brewing over what to do with prisoners like Smith.

Smith and the 2,850 other seniors locked up in Pennsylvania's prisons should be freed, some argue, because they're too old and infirm to kill or maim again, and cost too much to keep them behind bars.

"In addition to the economic burden, the incarceration of the elderly poses fundamental questions of how we as a society treat our elders," wrote Brie Williams, lead author of a study on geriatric prisoners in last month's Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. "What do we want to do with a prisoner who is so demented he doesn't remember his name, or who has had a stroke and is completely paralyzed?"

But prosecutors and victims' families say old age can't erase convicts' crimes and shouldn't earn them an early exit from jail.

"Why should they be in a nursing home where their family gets to come and comfort them and say goodbye to them at their death bed? I can't say goodbye to my loved one," said Shawn Chambers-Galis, whose brother and another man were slain by an acquaintance in 2003. "[An early release is] not what my justice system assured me would happen. I will agree with this the day they show me my brother's appeal process to get out of his grave."

The debate promises to deepen as state lawmakers take sides. Pennsylvania legislators now are considering a "compassionate release" bill that would allow judges to free infirm, elderly inmates and others crippled by chronic health conditions.

The bill comes in the wake of a growing, graying trend that has lawmakers racing to contain correctional costs.

Prisons in Pennsylvania and nationwide have more older inmates than ever, as aging baby boomers, stricter laws and mandatory sentencing put more people behind bars into their golden years.

In Pennsylvania, where life sentences don't allow parole, many elderly inmates believe a toe tag is their only ticket out of jail, since paroled killer Reginald McFadden's murderous 1994 crime spree brought commutations to a screeching halt.

Nationally in 2004, about 67,200 inmates were 55 or older - the age most states consider elderly - representing about 5 percent of prison popula