Pubdate: Mon, 12 Oct 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A23
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Robert Gangi
Note: Robert Gangi is the executive director of the Correctional 
Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that monitors 
prison conditions.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

THE HIGH COST OF EMPTY PRISONS

LAST Wednesday, changes to New York's notorious Rockefeller drug laws 
went into effect, allowing judges to shorten the prison terms of some 
nonviolent offenders. This measure will further reduce New York's 
prison population, which has already declined, in the past 10 years, 
from about 71,600 in 1999 to about 59,300 today. (The state's crime 
rate also dropped substantially during that time.)

Nevertheless, mainly because of opposition from the correction 
officers' union and politicians from the upstate areas where most of 
our correctional facilities are, the state has been slow to close 
prisons. It was not until earlier this year that policymakers in 
Albany, confronted with fiscal crisis, mustered the will to shut 
three prison camps and seven prison annexes -- a total of about 2,250 
prison beds -- in a move that is expected to save $52 million over 
the next two years.

But the state could go further. The prison system still has more than 
5,000 empty beds in 69 prisons. What's more, there are other ways to 
lower the prison population. For starters, state lawmakers could 
repeal the Rockefeller mandatory sentencing provisions that remain on 
the books. They could also increase the number of participants on 
work release. In 1994, more than 27,000 people were in this 
time-tested program that helps them manage the transition back to 
their communities. Today, about 2,500 are enrolled.

In addition, the state could reduce the number of people -- last 
year, more than 9,000 -- who are returned to prison for technical 
parole violations like missing a meeting with an officer or breaking 
curfew. Most experts agree that for about half of these people it 
would be safer and smarter to enroll them in re-entry programs or 
provide more supervision. Also, more prisoners with good 
institutional records could be given parole. And eligibility for 
so-called merit time, which reduces prison terms for inmates who 
complete educational and other programs, could be expanded to people 
convicted of violent offenses many years ago.

Taken together, these actions could cut the state's prison rolls by 
5,000 to 10,000 more, enabling the governor and the legislature to 
close at least four prisons the size of Attica, which holds 2,100 
inmates, or a greater number of smaller facilities.

After New York passed the Rockefeller drug laws in 1973, a mandatory 
sentencing movement swept the country, raising the nationwide prison 
population to nearly 2.4 million, from 300,000. This experiment in 
mass incarceration was a failure. There is no conclusive evidence 
that it enhanced public safety, and some research suggests that time 
in prison makes people more prone to violence. It wasted billions of 
dollars a year. And it has devastated the low-income minority 
communities where most of our prisoners come from.

New York can now help point criminal justice in a more sensible and 
constructive direction -- and show other states how to save money -- 
by downsizing its prison system.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake