Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jan 2002
Source: Jackson Citizen Patriot (MI)
Copyright: 2002 Jackson Citizen Patriot
Contact:  http://www.citpat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1190

DRUG-LIFER LAW REFORMED, BUT WHAT WAS ACHIEVED?

For two decades starting in 1978, Michigan had the toughest drug law in the 
nation: Sell 650 grams or more of cocaine or heroin and you got life in 
prison with no parole. Gradually it dawned on lawmakers that the law was 
too rigid. So it was relaxed in 1998. But apparently not enough, for now 
there is a fresh move to reform the law again.

This month the House Committee on Criminal Justice takes up HB 5394 and 
5395, sponsored by Rep. Bill McConico, D-Detroit. The reform bills seek to 
give judges more flexibility in sentencing drug felons. It would become 
easier for them to depart from mandatory minimum and consecutive sentences.

What evidence is there that the law still needs to be loosened up? For one 
thing, since the previous reforms in 1998, only one of the nearly 200 
prisoners convicted under the drug-lifer law has been paroled. Not all the 
convicts are eligible, of course -- only those who have served at least 15 
years. Yet at least 24 are eligible, according to the Department of 
Corrections.

Why were no more of these convicts paroled? Because, while Michigan's tough 
law has been liberalized, the state still has a tough-as-nails parole 
board. Sen. William Van Regenmorter, R-Hudsonville, who chairs the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, said, "It was our intention to make parole possible 
and we did that. The parole board operates on its own standards, as it 
should."That explains why the current reform effort is focused on giving 
judges more latitude in sentencing. It is not enough to make a group of 
drug lifers eligible for parole after 15 years of a life term. The 
underlying problem is that a life term is too harsh. The sentencing judge 
should have the latitude to give such felons something less than life in 
prison.

The philosophy of tossing criminals in the Big House and throwing away the 
key is neither humane nor practical. As state policy toward criminals has 
become tougher, the prison populace has grown to the point of 
unaffordability. Now, with the state budget seriously out of balance, the 
governor has issued executive orders to cut spending -- resulting in the 
closure of a Jackson prison. And the closure was not warranted because of 
dwindling numbers of inmates. Rather, the prison populace continues rising, 
which forced the state to deal with the problem by double-bunking inmates. 
That may be appropriate in an emergency, but the long-term implications are 
troubling.

Michigan's drug lifer law is only one symptom of a larger problem. Not only 
could the drug lifer law use some more loosening up. In our view, it is 
time to re-evaluate Michigan's prison policy, which boils down to this: 
Build more prisons, and when you can't afford it anymore, pack more inmates 
into smaller spaces.

The Powers That Be

JACKSON-AREA LAWMAKERS

Sen. Philip E. Hoffman, R-Horton, 19th Dist., (517) 373-2426

Rep. Clark Bisbee, R-Jackson, 64th Dist., (877) 789-6464

Rep. Mickey Mortimer, R-Horton, 65th Dist., (888) 292-1756.

Mail to these Michigan officials can be addressed to The Capitol, Lansing, 
Mich., 48909
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