Regarding "Spitzer ends charge on inmate collect calls" [News, April 15]: Gov. Eliot Spitzer did the right thing in ending the major ripoff of families of those incarcerated. They were forced to pay enormous amounts of money to telephone companies to keep them in touch with their imprisoned loved ones. My mother used most of her Social Security checks to pay for the collect calls I made to her while serving a 15-to-life sentence under the Rockefeller drug laws. [continues 135 words]
With grim humor, some doctors in New York call them "frequent fliers" - -- addicts who check into hospital detoxification units so often that dozens of them spend more than 100 nights a year in those wards. Through its Medicaid program, New York spends far more than other states on drug and alcohol treatment, including more than $300 million a year paid to hospitals for more than 30,000 detox patients. One reason for the high cost is that $50 million is spent just on the 500 most expensive patients, at a cost of about $100,000 a person. These patients check in and out of detox wards, on average, more than a dozen times a year -- a practice that experts say would not be tolerated in most states. [continues 1430 words]
THERE IS ONE SUBJECT BEING forgotten in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the major candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed "war on drugs" -- a war that has morphed into a war on people of color. Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African-Americans make up an estimated 15 percent of drug users, but they account for 37 percent of those arrested on drug charges, 59 percent of those convicted and 74 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The United States has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70 percent) of them are black or Latino. [continues 894 words]
Democratic Presidential Candidates Crave the Latino and Black Vote, but Ignore the Drug War's Unfair Toll on People of Color. THERE IS A subject being forgotten in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the major candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed "war on drugs" -- a war that has morphed into a war on people of color. Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino. [continues 890 words]
So here's New York, more than two months into a new gubernatorial administration in which all was supposed to be quite suddenly different. True, Governor Spitzer and the leaders of the Legislature can point to lots of progress in prevailing upon what long had been government by paralysis. But where is the commitment to reform the Rockefeller era drug laws, on the books for coming up on 34 years now? Mr. Spitzer was just beginning his campaign for governor, in December of 2004, when the collective injustice and futility of those laws were last addressed. It was a modest step that ended life imprisonment for the most serious drug offenses but ignored the plight of all those doing time for less severe drug crimes. [continues 462 words]
It didn't take long for New York's new governor, Eliot L. Spitzer, to emulate his predecessor's action in proposing the establishment of a commission to accomplish something he knows will be controversial. The governor wants a commission to study the possibility of closing some of the state's correctional facilities. Former governor George E. Pataki did succeed in getting approval for a commission to study the possible closing of some hospitals in the state, and it recommended closing at least 20 of these facilities. The report also suggested the shrinking or merging of many other hospitals. The final report of the Pataki hospital commission has evoked cries of anguish around the state and has resulted in some legal actions designed to thwart the recommendations of the commission. [continues 527 words]
Village of Hempstead officials teamed up with churches, civic activists and educators yesterday to call for the repeal of New York's Rockefeller drug laws. The Rev. Sedgwick Easley, of Union Baptist Church in Hempstead, said the laws have hurt minority communities such as Hempstead, which recently has seen a spike in crime related to turf wars between youths. The laws, though well intended, have kept many minority men in prison for too long, leaving their children fatherless and creating a cycle of violence, activists said. "We're here to hold politicians' feet to the fire," Easley said at a meeting of more than 100 at the church. [continues 198 words]
New York's Eliot Spitzer, the tough ex-prosecutor turned governor, wants a commission to examine closing some of his state's dozens of prisons. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pressing for $11 billion in bonds to add 78,000 beds to California's already burgeoning and overtaxed system. What's going on here? Partly, it's what both men inherited. New York's prison population peaked at 71,000 inmates in 1999 but has dropped by 8,000 since. Major explanations: dropping crime levels (especially in New York City) and increased efforts to find alternative treatment for nonviolent offenders. [continues 776 words]
Ideas Surface For A 'Just, Affordable' Correctional System Gov. Eliot Spitzer has Big Ideas like redirecting school aid, tax relief and health-care spending. But his proposed budget also touches on other aspects of public policy including crime and punishment. Spitzer plans two new commissions one to target excess prison facilities, the other to consider sentencing reforms. In both these areas, enlightened policies could save the state and its taxpayers money. The state prison population has dropped by some 8,400 inmates since 1999, so it's time to cut back on prison cells. After a decade of declining crime rates, as many as 106,000 more inmates are due to complete their sentences in the next four years. Spitzer promises "the evolution of our entire criminal justice system into one that is effective, just and affordable," and sensibly plans to focus on community re-entry for those inmates. [continues 346 words]
In the end, all it took was the word of the governor to get rid of a prison phone system that exploited the families of prison inmates. That's what Eliot Spitzer did on his eighth day in office. After years of public protests, intense lobbying in Albany, marches to the office of former Gov. George Pataki, introducing bills that went nowhere and a lawsuit that is still wending its way through the state courts, the governor took decisive action. He announced last week that he was directing the state's budget division to no longer count on the $16 million in yearly commissions it has been receiving out of the phone company's excessive profits. [continues 645 words]
It was close to midnight on Election Day and the returns in the race for County Court judge were looking pretty solid. That's when veteran Haverstraw town Justice Charles Apotheker moved outside, onto the steps at Pasta Cucina in New City, where Democrats were getting the good news on races from the village level all the way to the governor's office. The news that night included the election of Apotheker and Clarkstown Town Justice Victor Alfieri Jr. to County Court, defeating two Republicans - Karen Riley and Barbara Gionta - who had been appointed to the bench in June by Gov. George Pataki. They succeeded William Kelly, who had been elected to the state Supreme Court, and Kenneth Resnik, who had retired. [continues 943 words]
Recent opinion columns have postulated that growth in the prison population is a moral failure of society, and the expansion of drug rehabilitation programs should be paramount. But a moral failure of whom? And doesn't New York State have extensive drug rehabilitation programs? The state spends an exorbitant amount of money on rehabilitation, and the moral failure lies not with society but the individual. That is like calling the shooting of two Buffalo police officers or the murder of a nun a "mistake," thus taking the responsibility out of the hands of the offender. It is much simpler to place the onus on the system or society rather than the moral breakdown of individuals who generally have lengthy criminal records. [continues 355 words]
New Yorkers are waiting to see whether Gov. Eliot Spitzer's campaign slogan -- "Day One, Everything Changes"-- is genuine, or just a slogan. There are a number of issues that warrant the attention of the new administration, and reforming the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws should be a priority. The Rockefeller Drug Laws, passed in 1973, mandate harsh mandatory minimum prison terms for simple, low-level drug offenses. Under these laws, people convicted of first-time drug offenses receive 8 to 20 years in prison. While the state spends millions of taxpayer dollars every year imprisoning drug offenders, spending on community-based drug treatment is pitifully low. Indeed, treatment options for people with drug problems are too limited, especially for low-income people. There are more than 14,000 people in New York prisons under the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Nationwide, over 500,000 people are incarcerated on drug offenses, more than any other industrialized nation (and more than the European Union, with 100 million more residents, incarcerates for all offenses combined). [continues 529 words]
In San Francisco County Jail Number 8, the 21 orange-suited women in the SISTER program are getting a lesson in self-esteem from Jackie Gordon, a one-time heroin and crack addict who did 18 months in California State Prison and has been clean and sober for six years. "What limits you?" she asks. "You go so far and then you go back to what is familiar." A light-skinned Hispanic woman named Carolyn raises her hand. "I don't know if you guys know it, but I'm on my way out of here. It's my fourth time going into a program and I always relapse." [continues 1865 words]
Business is always good. That's what Capt. Greg P. Majoy commander of the Erie County Drug Task says when you ask him about his job. The task force may disband because of a lack of money for staffing, but the reality is if there were 100 members on it, there still would be a drug problem in Erie County and the rest of the nation. Majoy, a straight shooter, doesn't make any bones about it. Arrest one drug dealer, and someone else will step up to fill the vaccum. Major cocaine dealers (by Sandusky standards) Ladonte Skelton and Shaunsay J. Gowdy have gone to prison in the last year, and the drugs continue to flow. [continues 563 words]
The bus from Miami rolled into the Port Authority station at 6:25 p.m. Thursday, 28 hours after Marie Rose Dorismond set out for New York City, alone on her grim pilgrimage. It was not the first time she had returned to the place she fled after her only son, Patrick M. Dorismond, was killed at age 26 by the police in 2000; she comes back every Feb. 28, on his birthday, and stays through March 16, the day he was shot in a scuffle with undercover detectives only a few blocks from the bus station. He is buried in Queens. [continues 1334 words]
It's difficult to dispute that lengthy mandatory sentences for violating drug laws are unduly harsh and fundamentally unfair. Yet the required sentencing guidelines continue, without significant change. Recent election results could offer hope. Congress, in the past, has failed to act on recommendations from a federal panel to make the sentencing guidelines more consistent. Federal law requires a five-year sentence for trafficking in 5 grams of crack cocaine. It would take 500 grams of powder cocaine to warrant the same penalty. Democrats are set to take control of both houses of Congress in January, and should use their newfound power to rectify this discrepancy. [continues 335 words]
Prisons And Crime - New Data Show That Locking Up More Criminals Doesn't Always Bring Down Crime Rates It seems to be so self-evident, so intuitively correct: The more criminals are locked up, and the longer they are held behind bars, the more crime will decrease. That is the reasoning behind "get tough on crime" laws in many states that are intended to keep offenders off the streets for many years. But there's one problem with this reasoning: It doesn't always pan out in the real world. [continues 376 words]
This is part of an ongoing Gazette investigation of methadone, a drug that has the unique ability to kill if you don't take it exactly as directed, and sometimes even if you do. Methadone "can cause death" if not taken exactly as prescribed, the federal Food and Drug Administration is now warning doctors and patients who take the popular painkiller. On Monday, the FDA issued a public health advisory for methadone, titled "Methadone Use for Pain Control May Result in Death." [continues 942 words]
