Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 2002
Source: Illinois Times (IL)
Copyright: 2002 Yesse Communications
Contact:  http://www.illinoistimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/206
Author: Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Note: Hutchinson is a columnist and the author of The Crisis in Black and 
Black.

WASTING AWAY

The Problem With The Federal Prison System

For decades federal prisons were repositories for a relatively small number 
of mostly white, white-collar embezzlers, tax cheats, racketeers, and 
swindlers. But that drastically changed in 1994 when then President Clinton 
shoved through Congress the most punitive crime bill in American history. 
The law created a parade of new federal offenses and lengthened prison 
sentences. This virtually assured a swell in the number of those jailed in 
federal prisons.

According to a recent Bureau of Justice report, the rate of increase of 
those that now stuff federal prisons more than doubled the rate of increase 
of those in state prisons in 2000. The leap in federal incarceration comes 
at a time when state prison numbers are dropping due to increased emphasis 
by state lawmakers on drug and alternative sentencing reforms.

The Clinton crime bill further contributed to the federal prison swell by 
reducing funds for drug rehabilitation and prevention programs, and, worse, 
keeping intact the racial inequalities in federal drug prosecutions. The 
Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C. based-criminal justice reform group, 
confirm that while far more whites use and deal drugs including crack 
cocaine than blacks, the overwhelming majority of those prosecuted in 
federal courts for drug possession and sale-mostly small amounts of crack 
cocaine-and given stiff mandatory sentences are African-American. Attorney 
General John Ashcroft vehemently defends the feds tough lock-em'-up policy, 
and insists that most of those whom the feds slap behind bars are not 
non-violent, drug petty offenders but the big time drug kings. But a recent 
study of federal drug offenders by Ashcroft's own Justice Department 
refutes this. Nearly half of those charged in federal courts for drug 
offenses had no prior convictions.

For a significant number of drug offenders it was their first arrest. Less 
than one percent of those jailed and prosecuted by the feds fit the profile 
of drug lords.

Eventually Clinton gave belated and tepid support to eliminating the gaping 
racial disparities in the drug laws. But when Congress balked at dumping 
the disparities, Clinton did not fight for the change. His only public 
protest was a controversial, ill-conceived grant of clemency during his 
waning days in office in December 2000 to a top drug dealer, Carlos 
Vignali. The clemency was horribly tainted by charges that Vignali's father 
used cash and influence peddling to get his release. The clemency and the 
rotten publicity it got probably hardened public opinion against softening 
federal policy toward drug offenders.

During the presidential campaign, President Bush vaguely promised that he'd 
take a hard look at the nation's drug policies. That promise went out the 
window fast when he picked John Walters as his drug czar. Walters publicly 
claims that there are no racial disparities in the drug laws enforcement, 
and that incarceration is still the best way to deal with the drug scourge. 
The fed policy of putting thousands of black men behind bars for mostly 
non-violent drug offenses has wreaked massive social and political havoc on 
families and communities. At present, thirteen states permanently ban 
ex-felons from voting. More than half of those disenfranchised are black 
men. Women convicted of felony drug offenses are also barred for life from 
receiving welfare benefits. This puts thousands of women and their children 
at dire social risk and increases the likelihood that they will commit more 
crimes.

The scapegoating of blacks for America's crime and drug problem began in 
the 1980s. The conservative assault on job, income, and social service 
programs, a crumbling educational system, and industrial shrinkage dumped 
more blacks on the streets with no where to go. The big cuts in welfare, 
social services, and skills training programs during the Clinton 
administration dumped more young black males and women on the streets.

Fortunately, the grudging change in drug policy by some states may save 
many of them from becoming permanent prison fodder. In California, first 
time drug offenders now receive treatment and counseling rather than an 
automatic prison cell. Other states have also modified their tough lock-up 
approach to the drug plague. But this new enlightenment on drug sentencing 
has had little affect on federal policy.

A bill introduced by Alabama Democrat Jeff Sessions in December 2001, which 
takes a stab at reforming federal drug laws, only marginally reduces the 
disparity in drug sentencing. But it does not eliminate the racial 
disparity. More states have finally woken up and realized that jailing 
mostly, poor, desperate small time black drug offenders squanders billions, 
deepens the cynicism among many African-Americans about the law, and 
perpetuates the public delusion that the nation is somehow winning the war 
against drugs. The pity is the feds won't wake up to that same grim reality.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and columnist. Visit his news and 
opinion website: www.thehutchinsonreport.com.  He is the author of The 
Crisis in Black and Black (Middle Passage Press).
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