The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"If they go back home having left environments that were just punitive, they’re going to take out their anger and rage on the citizens once they get back out into the community," he said.

Clarke, a 56-year-old who grew up in Panama and has run state prison systems in Nebraska and Washington state, says reducing recidivism is his top goal and the reason Gov. Deval Patrick hired him last month to take over Massachusetts’ prisons.

Clarke is one piece of Patrick’s vision to overhaul portions of the criminal justice system to emphasize rehabilitation and re-entry programs over policies of the 1990s, when then-Gov. William Weld boasted of reintroducing prisoners "to the joys of busting rocks."

Patrick, a former civil rights lawyer in the Clinton administration, advocates for reforms of mandatory minimum sentences and has filed legislation requiring post-release supervision and support for prisoners. He says half of the 20,000 inmates released from incarceration annually are back in jail within a year.

Clarke’s first few days in office came amid controversy over how the state prisons and courts system handled the release of Daniel Tavares Jr., who finished a 16-year manslaughter sentence for killing his mother this summer.

Prison officials tried to have him held on charges he assaulted two prison guards, most recently in 2006. But a Superior Court judge released him on personal recognizance, and now he’s accused of murdering a Washington state couple last month.

No one knows if Tavares could have benefited from additional re-entry programs.

But Clarke said even the worst criminals can be helped.

"Not speaking specifically about Tavares," he said, "I have seen in my experience many violent offenders who have committed heinous crimes that have left prisons and never returned, became law-abiding productive citizens."

The DOC has 10,000 inmates in 18 facilities — mostly prisons as well as a hospital and substance abuse center. It is a smaller operation than in Washington, where Clarke spent more than two years after working his whole career in the Nebraska prison system, rising from counselor to a 15-year stint as commissioner.

His Washington experience produced mixed results. Clarke helped develop a $30 million re-entry program that took effect this summer and is credited by many as a national model.

It requires each inmate to have a re-entry plan, ideally from the moment they are incarcerated. It authorizes two-year college degrees, financed by family, outsiders or loans. It also would link the ex-convicts with community services, coordinate tracking by the criminal justice system and impose stiffer penalties for repeat violations of probation.

Washington officials hope to reduce recidivism rates by 30 percent and avoid building new prisons.

But Clarke’s administration was criticized for releasing felons from overcrowded county jails before they served full sentences for violating their probation. And Washington’s Republicans have made public safety a campaign issue against Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire.

But Washington Sen. Mike Carrell, a Republican who authored the legislation that included Clarke’s reforms, credited him with pushing necessary changes.

"It’s not easy to come into a system that’s been going in one direction for a long time and change the rudder," he said. "I appreciate his support for what we did in the Legislature."

Former Massachusetts DOC commissioner Kathleen Dennehy also talked reform, but became bogged down in battles with the powerful Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union.

"For too long the union has run the department," said Leslie Walker, head of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, an advocacy group for prisoners.

Walker’s organization has filed a federal lawsuit against the state claiming poor treatment of prisoners with mental illnesses — in part leading to a high suicide rate behind bars. She said top brass in DOC also were averse to change.

"Mr. Clarke has his work cut out for him," she said. "There are a lot of people who have been there for a long time. They’re going to wait out Mr. Clarke."

Steve Kenneway, president of the 3,800-member correctional officers’ union, said union members aren’t obstructionists. He said the Romney administration and Dennehy were too quick to discipline officers, leading to protracted legal battles.

Kenneway said he’s already met with Clarke, who is in his second week on the job, and was impressed with the new commissioner’s willingness to establish good lines of communication.

"He’s going to bring some new ideas and that’s what we need," he said.

Kenneway sounded a note of caution about rehab programs that are implemented without union input, but agreed that simply warehousing people until their sentences are up won’t work either.

Clarke noted there are some ongoing re-entry programs, but they are not widespread in the state.

"I got a clear message from the governor that he wanted to have a progressive correction system ... to take it to a place beyond where it’s at right now, and that’s what I like to do," he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view.bg?articleid=1049010