Pubdate: Fri, 31 Dec 2004
Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY)
Copyright: 2004 Watertown Daily Times
Contact:  http://www.wdt.net
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792
Author: Brent Staples, New York Times
Cited: Prison Policy Initiative http://www.prisonpolicy.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

BULGING PRISONS BRING POLITICAL POWER, CASH TO UPSTATE REGION

The mandatory sentencing fad that swept the United States beginning in
the 1970's has had dramatic consequences - most of them bad. The
prison population was driven up tenfold, creating a large and growing
felon class - now 13 million strong - that remains locked out of the
mainstream and prone to recidivism.

Trailing behind the legions of felons are children who grow up
visiting their parents behind bars and thinking prison life is
perfectly normal. Meanwhile, the cost of building and running prisons
has pushed many states near bankruptcy - and forced them to choose
between building jails and schools.

Seldom has a public policy done so much damage so quickly. But changes
in the draconian sentencing laws have come very slowly. That is partly
because the public thinks keeping a large chunk of the population
behind bars is responsible for the reduced crime rates of recent years.

Studies cast doubt on that theory, since they show drops in crime
almost everywhere - even in states that did not embrace mandatory
minimum sentences or mass imprisonment. In addition, these damaging
policies have done nothing to curb the drug trade.

Changing prison policy, however, is no longer a simple matter. The
business of building and running the jailhouse has become a mammoth
industry with powerful constituencies that favor the status quo.
Prison-based money and political power have distorted the legislative
landscape in ways that will be difficult to undo.

These problems are on vivid display in New York, which started mass
imprisonment when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller persuaded the Legislature to
pass the toughest drug laws in the nation at the start of an
ill-starred "war on drugs" 30 years ago.

The Rockefeller laws introduced the country to mandatory sentencing
policies that barred judges from deciding who goes to jail and for how
long. Instead, the laws required lengthy sentences - 15 years to life
- - for nonviolent, first-time offenders, many of whom would have
received brief sentences, drug treatment or community service under
previous laws.

Nearly all of the prisoners ended up in upstate New York, where
failing farms and hollowed-out cities offered a lot of room for
building. Politicians in these sparsely populated districts caught on
quickly and began to lobby to have the new prisons located in their
communities. As a result, nearly 30 percent of the people who were
counted as moving into upstate New York during the 1990's were prison
inmates.

The influx of inmates has brought desperately needed jobs to the
region and resulted in districts whose economies revolve around prison
payrolls and whose politics are dominated by the union that represents
corrections officers.

The inmates also helped to save political careers in areas where
legislative districts were in danger of having to be merged because of
shrinking populations. Inmates, as it turned out, were magically
transformed into "residents," thanks to a quirk in the census rules
that counts them as living at their prisons.

Although people sentenced under the drug laws frequently serve long
sentences, many prisoners remain behind bars only briefly before
returning to homes that are often hundreds of miles away.

Felons are barred from voting in 48 of 50 states - including New York.
Yet in New York, as in the rest of the country, disenfranchised
prisoners are included in the population counts that become the basis
for drawing legislative districts.

An eye-opening analysis by Prison Policy Initiative's Peter Wagner
found seven upstate New York Senate districts that meet minimal
population requirements only because prison inmates are included in
the count.

New York is not alone. The group's researchers have found 21 counties
nationally where at least 21 percent of the "residents' were inmates.

The New York Republican Party uses its majority in the State Senate to
maintain political power through fat years and lean. The Senate
Republicans, in turn, rely on their large upstate delegation to keep
that majority. Whether those legislators have consciously made the
connection or not, it's hard to escape the fact that bulging prisons
are good for their districts.

The advantages extend beyond jobs and political gerrymandering. By
counting unemployed inmates as residents, the prison counties lower
their per capita incomes - and increase the portion they get of
federal funds for the poor. This results in a transfer of federal cash
from places that can't afford to lose it to places that don't deserve
it.

Lately, polls have shown growing support for drug law reform. In
November, prominent New York Republicans ran into trouble when they
faced candidates who made Rockefeller reform an issue. In response,
the State Senate endorsed a plan that cut sentences for drug
possession crimes, which was the easy part.

But it stonewalled on the crucial change, which would have returned to
judges the discretion to sentence at least some offenders to drug
treatment instead of prison.

While other political forces support the mandatory sentences - most
notably the powerful local prosecutors - prison rights advocates have
recently begun to argue that prison district politicians are more
concerned about keeping the prisons full than about crime.

The idea of counting inmates as voters in the counties that imprison
them is particularly repulsive given that inmates are nearly always
stripped of the right to vote. The practice recalls the early United
States under slavery, when slaves were barred from voting but counted
as three-fifths of a person for purposes of apportioning
representation in Congress.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin