Pubdate: Wed, 15 Nov 2000
Source: Poughkeepsie Journal (NY)
Copyright: 2001 Poughkeepsie Journal
Contact:  PO Box 1231 Poughkeepsie, NY 12602
Fax: (845) 437-4921
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Website: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/
Author: Mary Beth Pfeiffer, Poughkeepsie Journal
Note: Part 1c of a 3 part series

The Prison Explosion, Part 1c

PARTY LABELS AFFECT LEADERS' VIEWS ON DRUG LAW REFORMS

Two key legislators on both sides of the political fence agree the time may 
be ripe for amending New York's drug laws. But that's all they agree on.

On one side, Sen. Michael Nozzolio, chair of the Senate Corrections 
Committee, wants to increase drug treatment programs and allow appellate 
courts to roll back only the stiffest sentences. He calls assertions that 
drug laws have filled prisons with low-level drug offenders ''overinflated 
hype.''

On the other side, Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry, chairman of the Assembly 
Corrections Committee, wants to repeal mandatory prison sentences for drug 
offenders in lieu of letting judges decide. The laws, he said, ''induce 
plea bargains whether you are guilty or not.''

One sees the laws as beneficial, the other destructive.

''We're starting to get a professional prisoner community,'' said Aubry, a 
Queens Democrat, referring to the large, drug-law driven increase in the 
inmate population. ''That's how we filled up the prisons. It hasn't stopped 
the drug trade.''

''There are no more than 500 felons under Rockefeller drug laws'' serving 
the longest sentences of 15 years to life, said Nozzolio, a Seneca County 
Republican. ''These laws certainly should be reviewed. I support 
modification of them, but frankly we need to continue the criminalization 
of drugs.''

Reform advocates contend the laws have also imprisoned thousands of others 
for shorter periods; about 22,000 people are currently serving prison terms 
for drug offenses.

At the heart of the debate over drug laws is a clear philosophical split on 
issues of crime and punishment. Indeed, the two legislators split on other 
trends in the prison system, including parole and opportunities for 
rehabilitation while behind bars.

In many ways, the views are shaped as much by the legislators' party 
affiliations as by an upstate/downstate dynamic: Nozzolio represents a 
predominantly white rural district in the Finger Lakes region; Aubry's is 
urban, with a far greater minority population and far more likely to suffer 
the scourge -- not of drugs, Aubry says, but of drug laws.

''I have seen the impact of New York City enforcement,'' said Aubry. ''You 
get less stable families, you get less voters. You get less male images (in 
the community). It's a cavalcade of social ills that run out of this process.''

Nozzolio, meantime, maintained the state's incarceration buildup has ''a 
direct relationship to reducing the crime rate,'' in particular when 
violent felons are held in prison longer.