Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jun 2015
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339

LIFE SENTENCE OF HUNGER

Taking Drug Criminals' Food Stamps Makes Matters Worse

WHAT'S THE worst noncapital crime there is? Child abuse? Rape? Public 
corruption? According to at least one of our state lawmakers, the 
worst crime you can commit is possessing enough drugs to warrant a 
felony conviction . . . which, in this state could be a small amount 
of marijuana, or a second offense for possession.

Rep. Mike Regan, R-Dillsburg, wants to impose a lifetime ban on food 
stamp and Temporary Aid to Needy Families benefits to anyone 
convicted of a felony drug offense. No similar ban applies to any 
other criminal category. Those convicted of other crimes who have 
served their sentence and are in compliance with parole can receive 
benefits. Drug convictions are the only ones that would draw a lifetime ban.

Since the majority of TANF and SNAP recipients are women with 
children, HB222 has very bad implications. The bill runs counter to 
current thinking that acknowledges the damage done by the "war on 
drugs," which has locked up a staggering percentage of the population 
- - mostly black and Latino. This also runs counter to the increasing 
realization that unless we provide more help for those re-entering 
society, the revolving prison door will never stop spinning.

Regan is a former U.S. Marshal who has cited instances of arrests of 
drug traffickers who were receiving welfare benefits.

This strikes us as the kind of apocryphal story that always seems to 
rise up around those receiving benefits: like the recent account on 
Fox News of a young surfer who boasted of buying lobster with food 
stamps that went viral. Lawmakers across the land responded 
predictably, with some introducing measures that would ban food stamp 
recipients from buying steak and seafood.

Regan is not alone in this need to punish drug offenders with a life 
sentence. Congress passed a federal lifetime ban back in 1996, but 
allowed states to opt out. Pennsylvania did in 2004, an opt-out 
supported not only by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association 
but a variety of those who work with addictions, as well as with 
women and children.

They say punishing parents by withholding food and other benefits can 
undermine rehabilitation efforts, contribute to increased recidivism 
rates and undermine child health and family unity. Regan has said 
that he really wants the ban to curtail drug traffickers from 
receiving public benefits. But there are better ways to craft 
language that would better apply to that group.

The average monthly household benefit for food stamps last year in 
this state was $241.05, down from $262.61 in 2010. That $60 a week 
doesn't buy a lot of lobster, or even non-luxury food. But it can 
mean the difference between a hungry child and a healthy one - and 
can allow a mother who is trying to recover from an addiction and 
stay on the straight and narrow to succeed. HB222 is the kind of 
wrong-headed law intended to make its authors feel good and suggest 
that they're addressing a problem that many fear - poor people 
scamming the system - but in reality, rarely exists.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom