Pubdate: Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Bob Ewegen, Denver Post Staff Columnist
Note: Bob Ewegen is deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post.
Cited: Families Against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?244 (Sentencing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

REFORM SENTENCES FOR DRUG OFFENSES

My friends at the Indepence Institute, the local outpost of the vast 
right-wing conspiracy, have seen their share of disappointment.

They suffered a stinging rebuff in 2004 when area voters approved the 
Regional Transportation District's FasTracks plan. Worse followed in 
2005, when voters spurned pleas to drown state government in a bath 
tub and passed Referendum C.

The latest blow came last November, when voters, for the first time 
since 1958, gave Democrats control of the governor's office and both 
chambers of the legislature.

After a decade of conservative dominance in Colorado, that's a lot of 
defeat. So why did the institute's chief, Jon Caldara, look so happy 
at the Capitol last week?

At first, I figured Caldara, whose bald head and spiked beard give 
him a passing resemblance to Vladimir Lenin, was just trying to pass 
for a leftie among all the new Democratic legislators and staffers.

Then I remembered the most powerful lawmaker under the gold dome, the 
speaker of the House, just hates Lenin. (The speaker is, after all, a 
Romanoff.)

It turned out that Caldara was meeting with members of Families 
Against Mandatory Minimums to advance the one aspect of his crusade 
for smaller government - reforming our drug laws - likely to appeal 
to liberal legislators.

The free-market mavens have long decried Colorado's passion for 
locking up non-violent criminals. Mike Krause's 2005 report, "Getting 
Smart on Crime: Time to reform Colorado's drug offense sentencing 
policies," is must reading for fiscal conservatives and civil 
libertarians alike. It's available at www.IndependenceInstitute.org

Caldara realizes the new order at the Capitol is a golden opportunity 
to reform our drug laws. Democratic lawmakers may be less strident 
than Republicans were in touting "lock 'em up and throw away the key" 
policies. And Gov. Bill Ritter may not be wedded to the "peanut 
policy" toward prisons that Republican Bill Owens championed.

What's a "peanut policy?" Well, nobody can stop with eating just one 
peanut, and Colorado can't stop with building just one prison. The 
state has built 16 prisons since 1990, one a year, like clockwork.

The state now has about 18,300 men and 2,100 women in prison, and 
their ranks are rising much faster than our population. Corrections 
officials estimate we'll need to build a new 800-bed prison each year 
into the indefinite future just to warehouse all the new inmates. It 
costs taxpayers about $26,082 a year for each man in prison and 
$27,900 per female inmate.

Yet, in his final budget message, Owens urged an 8.7 percent hike in 
the upcoming budget for prisons compared to just 7.2 percent for 
higher education. Owens warned the legislators not to trim his 
proposed increase in prison funding by reforming any of the state's 
sometimes draconian mandatory minimum-sentencing laws.

That's nonsense. Instead of expanding the Colorado Gulag, fiscal 
conservatism and human decency alike cry out for a review of our 
sentencing laws, especially for drug-related offenses. It's time to 
put more emphasis on rehabilitation and treatment and less on incarceration.

Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, and Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, 
did just that in 2003 with Senate Bill 318. The bill slightly 
shortened sentences for possession of one gram or less of certain 
drugs and used the savings to treat prisoners with substance-abuse problems.

We need more such sensible alternatives to our prison mania. And 
remember that Ritter, as Denver DA, pioneered the drug court approach 
that substituted tough-love treatment programs for pitiless 
imprisonment - saving money for taxpayers and turning many young lives around.

I think he'd be glad to sign a responsible sentencing reform - even 
if it does make Jon Caldara happy in the process.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake