Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jul 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Diane Dimond

Crime and Justice

WHAT AWAITS INMATES FREED IN CLEMENCY PROGRAM?

Prisons Haven't Prepared Them for a Better Life

Seems like Washington is enjoying a rare political kumbayah moment 
these days. Both Democrats and Republicans now agree that our justice 
system ran off the rails with overly burdensome, mandatory sentencing 
for nonviolent drug offenders.

Convicts like Antwon Rogers of Cleveland, Ohio, who was sentenced to 
life in prison for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine - 
less than 5 ounces of the drug. But because Rogers had two previous 
drug convictions, the mandatory federal three-strikes law kicked in, 
and at the age of 22, he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life 
in prison. He's been there more than 20 years.

Francis Hayden of Loretto, Ky., also got life after his conviction 
for possessing more than 1,000 marijuana plants, growing on a farm he 
managed. Hayden also had two previous drug convictions, and that 
third one sealed his fate.

If space permitted, I could cite thousands of these over-sentenced, 
nonviolent drug cases.

Today, there appears to be unified political resolve to fix the 
problem and, thereby, help ease the prison crowding that plagues both 
the federal prison system and lock-ups in nearly every state. There 
also seems to be agreement to repair a system that has handed out 
much harsher sentences to black and brown defendants than to white ones.

The Obama administration started the ball rolling during the 
president's first term when he signed a law reducing the sentencing 
gap between those caught with cheaper crack cocaine and those who 
dealt in powder cocaine. The former being much more widely prevalent 
in inner-city minority neighborhoods, the latter often consumed by 
more wealthy, non-minority clientele.

In 2013, the president's attorney general issued new sentencing 
guidelines instructing prosecutors to steer clear of charges against 
nonviolent drug defendants that would result in over-the-top sentences.

And now, Obama is reportedly poised to commute the sentences of more 
and more low-level drug convicts who, if they were sentenced today, 
would never have gotten the draconian punishments they got years ago.

The plan is already in motion. Last December, the president commuted 
the sentences of eight drug offenders. This March, he awarded 
commutations to 22 more - eight of them were serving life sentences - 
and they will all leave prison at the end of this month. They were 
chosen out of the thousands who had applied for the new clemency 
program because, as the president put it, they had, "demonstrated the 
ability to turn their lives around."

But how many of these released prisoners will be headed for the 
straight and narrow, as Theresa Brown of Pompano Beach, Fla., seems 
to be? She was serving life after being connected to a cocaine 
conspiracy. Her attorney said she was a "very, very small-time 
street-level dealer" whose own addiction led her to fall prey to a 
big-time drug dealer who was both mentally and sexually abusive. 
Brown had broken away from him and was in rehab when she was arrested.

During Brown's more than 20 years in prison, she has been a model 
prisoner and, in a letter to her sentencing judge, she wrote, "I am 
rehabilitated ... allow me to help society with the programs that are 
out there for the youth of today. ... How would they know there's a 
better way? How would they know unless someone is sent to tell them?"

But can we all just take a breath here? One thing never mentioned as 
this drive to right the wrongs of the past rolls on: What happened to 
these prisoners while they were locked up?

Federal prison is not an instructive or nurturing place. It is crude, 
ugly and full of danger, and it sometimes forces inmates to act in 
noncivilized ways just to survive.

Will those whose sentences are commuted to time served leave prison a 
better citizen? Did the prison in which they were held provide 
continuing education or job training? During their years - and 
sometimes decades - of imprisonment, did they receive instruction on 
how to live a constructive life on the outside?

And what's been done to help those whose addictive personalities got 
them in trouble in the first place? Federal prisons are not known for 
stellar rehabilitation efforts.

I really don't want to rain on this feel-good campaign. Many convicts 
who received these harsh sentences deserve some relief. They are 
certainly ready to get out of prison. But are we ready to help them 
create better lives for themselves? I don't think so.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom