Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jan 2004
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2004 News-Journal Corp
Contact:  http://www.n-jcenter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/recidivism

OUT OF PRISON

Too Few Find A Helping Hand After Release

There are more than 2 million people in prisons and jails in the
United States -- a quarter of the world's total number of prisoners,
even though the United States accounts for just 5 percent of the
world's population. Every year, 600,000 inmates -- or 1,600 a day --
are given back their freedom, such as it is. It isn't much. Here's
what released prisoners are denied:

- - Voting rights. Almost 5 million ex-prisoners, or 2.3 percent of
the voting age population, are barred from voting unless they submit
to an arduous and usually futile process to regain their civil right.
In Florida, 7 percent of the voting-age population, the highest
proportion in the country, is without a vote.

- - Housing assistance. Ex-felons and their families are forbidden
from applying for federal housing grants, or from living in federally
subsidized housing.

- - Welfare and food stamps. This only applies to those convicted of
buying or selling drugs, or roughly 150,000 ex-inmates a year. The
1996 welfare reform bill forbids those ex-inmates from applying for
welfare or food stamps--for life.

- - Student aid. The Higher Education Act of 1998 forbids former drug
offenders from ever receiving federally backed student loans.

- - Many states forbid parolees from employment in several
professions, from education to health care to engineering to real
estate. Even in circumstances where state laws don't interfere, it is
prohibitively difficult for ex-inmates to convince employers that they
are worth hiring.

With obstacles like these, it's no wonder the recidivism rate -- the
rate at which ex-inmates commit fresh crimes and are re-imprisoned --
is so staggering: According to the Justice Department, two-thirds of
parolees are re-imprisoned within three years.

The rate at which Americans are imprisoned is a scandal. Harsh drug
laws, mandatory minimum sentences and three-strikes laws are a chain-
link of injustice and disproportion (some inmates are locked up not
because of their own misdeeds, but because a spouse might have been
dealing drugs). The warehousing of inmates is another scandal. Minor
efforts and perpetual pilot programs aside, there are no systematic
attempts to rehabilitate drug offenders through prison-based programs,
where success is likelier (because the program's audience is captive).
Prison health programs are equally indifferent. Lock-ups not only
don't rehabilitate. They harden criminals and breed resentment and
diseases.

Government indifference chases ex-inmates out the door, which is the
crowning scandal of the lock-up culture. A newly released prisoner has
no hope beyond a one-way bus ticket. He can't even bank on a little
help from his overloaded parole officer to scale those many obstacles
to a normal life outlined above. So there's reason to welcome
President Bush's recognition of the problem, belatedly, in his State
of the Union Address last week. "America is the land of second
chances," he said, "and when the gates of the prison open, the path
ahead should lead to a better life."

He is proposing to spend $300 million over four years on
rehabilitation programs. Sounds good -- until you do the math. The sum
computes to $1.5 million per state per year, compared with an average
of $1 billion per state per year spent on building prisons and
imprisoning inmates.

The financial source of Bush's newfound compassion is also suspect.
New, bigger, bolder and recklessly unfunded programs are a hallmark of
the Bush administration. A prison rehabilitation program wouldn't be
as reckless, because it would very quickly pay for itself by reducing
the much higher costs of recidivism. But there are ways to pay for it,
and for a more generous program. Scaling back mandatory sentences is a
start. Give back to judges the discretion they lost, let them decide
who should spend more or less time in jail -- and reap the benefits in
fairer sentences and emptier prisons, then spend the savings on
rehabilitating ex-felons. The same can be said of drug laws, which
indiscriminately punish the casual marijuana user as they do the crack
dealer (even if actual sentences vary).

Most significantly, give ex-prisoners their civil rights back. Those
4.7 million votes can go a long way toward reforming a criminal
justice system out of touch with justice. The president's compassion
is the right idea. But $300 million over four years will barely pay
the cost of his compassion's ad campaign.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin