http://www.justice.gov/pardon/actions_administration.htm#obama

http://www.pardonpower.com/2010/09/600-days-obama-in-very-rare-air.html

Tracking Obama's Petition Statistics

The post 600 Days Without Mercy appeared first on Prison News Blog.

Most Popular Posts by Michael Santos

• What Happened to Prison Reform?
• Do Longer Prison Sentences Make the Public Safer?
• The View from Inside: Prison Time Doesn’t Equal Justice
• Take Action on Long-Term Imprisonment
• Bring Back Federal Parole

And here’s a related article addressing the issue of prison lobbyists vs. prison reform: 

First Solve Prison Crisis, then Fix California’s Budget
by Dick Price‚ Mar. 16‚ 2010

 http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/First_Solve_Prison_Crisis_then_Fix_California_s_Budget_7915.html

The post Prison Lobbyists vs Prison Reform appeared first on Prison News Blog.

http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/mad_as_hell_about_the_failed_us_prison_system

Mad As Hell About the Failed U.S. Prison System

by Michael Hamden

category: Prison Reform

Published March 10, 2010 @ 05:34AM PT

Yeah, I’m angry. I’m all riled up because our misguided criminal justice policies destroy individuals, families and entire communities. I’m steamed because at a time of financial crisis worse than any downturn since the Great Depression, government throws away billions of dollars (more than $39 billion, by most estimates) on policies that have proven to be abject failures. And I’m furious that people continue to call for ever harsher sentences, penalties and the further stigmatization of offenders in the face of overwhelming evidence that current practices are counter-productive and unsustainable.

It’s especially frustrating, because we know that there are more positive, effective means of holding criminals accountable that are far more successful and far less costly.

The insatiable desire for vengeance is itself mad! The statistics are stark, and by now familiar. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, whether you consider it in terms of a percentage of the population or in absolute numbers. Yes, more than South Africa during the years of apartheid. More than the Soviet Union before its dissolution. More than China. And more even than the brutal regime of North Korea. Shameful!

Roughly 2.4 million people are locked up in this country, many for nonviolent offenses. Some reports conclude that as many as 50% of federal prisoners are serving time for drug-related offenses. (In some future article, I’m sure I’ll get around to discussing the draconian drug laws that infringe personal liberty in this “land of the free,” but at the moment there are bigger fish to fry.)

It’s crazy! It costs an average of about $24,000 a year to lock somebody up. But years of experience, social science research and common sense all point to work, education and the strengthening of family and community ties as the best way to bring criminal offenders back into the fold. And after all, given that 95% of prisoners eventually return to our communities, shouldn’t that be our objective?

Prisoners are people just like us: sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers of people we all know. And in case you don’t think you could possibly find yourself among them, staring out from a small, foul-smelling cell through cold steel bars, think again. There are more than 4,000 federal criminal laws, and vastly more federal regulations that can lead to criminal penalties. Additional laws and regulations at the state level mean that virtually everyone violates the law every day.

Don’t believe it? How ’bout on the highway? Your taxes? And, hey! Ever heard of the “honest services” law? Under that laudable piece of legislation, a person can be convicted and sentenced to prison for depriving another of “honest services.” (18 U.S.C. § 1346, just in case you’re doubtful.) What are “honest services,” you might well ask?  No one knows because the law doesn’t define them and the courts have yet to decide. The issue was heard by the Supreme Court on March 1 (Skiling v. U.S., Docket No. 08-1394), but at least until a decision is announced, don’t take anything home from your job.  Be sure to perform your work competently, and for goodness sake, be punctual. It simply wouldn’t do to be late for work or stay too long on a break. It might turn out to be criminal! So, be kind to your fine feathered friends. For a duck may turn out to be you!

We can find better ways to use $39 billion than locking people away for years at a time, especially when they pose little or no risk to the public. Instead, require the perpetrator to rectify the wrong done (if there was a wrong done). Surely crime victims are better served by being repaid for financial harms sustained or receiving compensation for injuries inflicted. Currently, they have to be content with the offender’s incarceration and an noncollectable restitution order. An offender who’s required to truly “pay” for the crime would be more likely to realize the error of his or her ways than someone who’s warehoused with more dangerous career criminals, and all without access to meaningful opportunities to work and gain an education.

Here’s an idea: Let’s reserve expensive prison cells for those who really must be punished harshly: people, that is, who pose too great a risk to public safety or social order. As for others, let’s see if we can get them to pay for their crimes in rational ways. If such an approach fails, it’s never too late to lock ’em up. To me, that makes a lot more sense. But no politician has ever lost an election by advocating the criminalization of an ever-expanding range of conduct. To many of them, I suppose that abandoning such a potent political lever would seem insane.

Someone defined the term “crazy” as doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting a different result each time. We’d be crazy to continue the failed policies of the past. They simply cannot be sustained. Sooner or later, we’ll run out of money. (Oh, wait. We already have.)

The post Michael Hamden is Mad As Hell About the Failed U.S. Prison System appeared first on Prison News Blog.

Check out: http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34p0YiSp8g&feature=player_embedded

What it’s about:

1. Alienation of people: We are creating refugees amongst our own people. Inmates come back not feeling like they are part of their own community; not knowing “we the people” means them too.

2. Break up of families: unreasonable prison policies and a culture of oppression is further tarring up families and communities. How can this system support fathers in taking responsibility?

3. Transparency in government: We are turning one group of people to another (great majority of inmates are minorities) With Media barred from facilities and no independent oversight there is no accountability in Massachusetts DOC. Why isn’t media allowed in? If they want to investigate abuses and mismanagement why are they are constantly denied access.

4. President’s Leadership needed: How can President go and see Guantanamo Bay but doesn’t look into his own prisons? Can he assume that everything is right here? How come he can address schools, Middle Eastern countries, but will not address prisons?

5. System accountability: Every prison is different; there is no “system.” So who is responsible for outcome? Each State should be accountable about its prison system to the President. Focus on one place at a time. Find what’s wrong in MA to pass it on to another institution.

http://obamaanswerthis.com/

The post President Obama… Answer This appeared first on Prison News Blog.

The Second Chance Act of 2007 provided federal prison administrators with the authority to release prisoners to halfway houses one year before their sentences expired. That Act also urged administrators to expand programs that would help prisoners build stronger family and community ties while the prisoners served their sentences. For whatever reason, the current BOP Director Harley G. Lappin chooses not to abide by the letter or the spirit of this Congressional legislation.

Director Lappin has led this agency since the Bush years. I am hoping that President Obama will soon appoint a new Director to lead the Bureau of Prisons. That new Director ought to embrace the Obama vision of enlightenment. Certainly, I understand that our country struggles through tough economic times. The BOP would not require additional funding, however, to implement the changes authorized by the Second Chance Act. It simply needs leadership that would advance prison policy from the dark ages.

President Bush signed the Second Chance Act longer than one year ago. It is inconceivable that during the past 12 months the Director could not have made changes within the BOP budget to provide more resources for community confinement centers. In the prison where I am held, where we have had a steady population in excess of 500 prisoners, only one many has been authorized for 12 months of halfway house placement during the past year.

Besides the BOP restrictions on halfway house placement, Director Lappin has kept policies in place that render it more difficult for prisoners to nurture family and community ties. The most blatant example of abusive policies that separate prisoners from family members is the 300-minute limitation on monthly telephone access for federal prisoners.

Prior to the George W. Bush presidency, federal prisoners could use the telephone to communicate with family much more freely. Monthly telephone limitations did not exist. The limitations began in 2001, and Director Lappin has kept them in place. That telephone restriction ought to be rescinded at once.

Congress did not pass the Second Chance Act haphazardly. The law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support because Congressional leaders recognized that prisoner recidivism rates were abhorrent. Those prisoners who built strong networks of support, who succeeded in finding employment, and who had time to decompress through halfway house placement stood the best chance for successful reentry.

America needs new leadership within the Bureau of Prisons. At the very least, it needs a Director who will embrace the enlightened prison reforms authorized by the Second Chance Act.

The post Bad Leadership in the Bureau of Prisons appeared first on Prison News Blog.

The radio news broadcast reported that Attorney General Eric Holder decided to drop the case against Senator Stevens, which effectively nullified his conviction. Although the evidence against Senator Stevens seemed overwhelming, government prosecutors relied on dirty tricks to convict him. Rather than focusing on the imminent sentencing hearing, the judge was concentrating on the prosecutorial misconduct. He even held the prosecutors in contempt for their failure to follow his order.

The Attorney General reviewed the case himself. Mr Holder’s inquiry led him to conclude that the Justice Department could not defend the manner in which prosecutors tried the case. Taking the defendant’s age into consideration, along with the fact that he is no longer a U.S. senator, Mr. Holder decided to send a message to other prosecutors that he would not tolerate misconduct and then dropped all charges against the former senator.

As a long-term prisoner, I had been hoping to serve time alongside the former lawmaker. I wanted him to experience the prison system and to share his experiences with his former colleagues. As Justice Kennedy reportedly told Senator Jim Webb, few judges have any idea about the culture of confinement. I suspect the same may be said about law makers, and even taxpaying citizens.

I write with hopes of shedding light on the need for prison reform. Although I may write volumes that describe the millions of lives that languish inside prisons, someone like a former U.S. senator could truly advance the call for prison reform. Once a man of power stands beside the ordinary citizens who serve years for nonviolent offenses, he sees more clearly the injustice in America and the need for immediate prison reform.

The post Senator Stevens Escapes Justice appeared first on Prison News Blog.

In the Second Chance Act, Congress made specific findings about appalling recidivism rates that cost taxpayers billions each year and threaten public safety. The Act cited the prison system’s own metrics suggesting that prisoners who maintained strong family and community ties were the most likely to succeed upon release. Congress charged the Director of the BOP to create programs that would help prisoners nurture family and community ties during the course of imprisonment. Despite the passing of a full year since Congress overwhelmingly passed the legislation, neither prisoners nor their family members have observed changes that would help them nurture family and community ties.

One terrible disruption to the possible nurturing of family and community ties began during the era of former Attorney General John Ashcroft. It concerned changes to the inmate telephone system. The telephone represents one of the essential links prisoners have to society. Prior to John Ashcroft’s leadership over the Department of Justice, inmates could use telephones freely to communicate with family members and friends. Since 2001, however, telephone policies have limited prisoners to 300 minutes of telephone access per month.

Besides restrictive telephone limitations, under Director Lappin’s leadership, the Bureau of Prisons places severe limitations on each federal prisoner’s ability to nurture family and community ties through visits. In the prison where I am held, for example, a rigid point system prohibits prisoners from receiving more than one visit per week. Prisoners who cannot visit during Friday work hours face even more restrictive time limitations; they may visit only two Saturdays per month. Such restrictive policies hinder rather than encourage the nurturing of close family and community ties.

The Director even authorizes policies that restrict federal prisoners from nurturing strong family and community ties through correspondence. In the prison where I am held, for example, policies prohibit inmates from using e-mail, or even typewriters for social correspondence. Those policies threaten disciplinary action against prisoners who use typewriters to nurture family ties; they may not even type letters to open relationships with prospective employers.

I may have only been in prison for 21-plus years, but as far as I know, prisoners have no more than three mechanisms through which they can nurture family and community ties. Those mechanisms include the telephone, visits, and correspondence. Congress published findings indicating that close family and community ties were the most important links that can lead prisoners to post-release success. Under Director Harley Lappin’s leadership of the federal Bureau of Prisons, however, restrictions exist to block rather than nurture those ties.

In this era of government transparency, the incongruity between Director Lappin’s statement to a Congressional committee and the policies he enforces should not go without notice. Telephone, visiting, and correspondence restrictions represent but three of the troubling policies that afflict all federal prisoners. Those policies belie any ostensible mission to assist prisoners with post-release success.

As a prisoner who struggles daily to hold his family together in spite of the Bureau of Prisons stifling restrictions, I found Director Lappin’s misrepresentation to Congress patently offensive. I would have preferred the direct honesty of my former unit manager, Ms. Ortega, who told me point blank: “We don’t care anything about what you’re doing to prepare for release. All we care about is the security of the institution.”

The post BOP Director’s Misrepresentation to Congress appeared first on Prison News Blog.

According to a report published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, almost half of all the people who are sent to prison lack a high school diploma. The statistics seem to show that while the poor and uneducated are saddled with lengthy prison terms for criminal convictions, our system of justice gives more consideration to the rich and well connected.

My roommate, David, is a poor young man from a Hispanic family. He did not enjoy the life of power and privilege that criminals like Madoff and Libby exploited. David did not graduate high school and he made the bad decision of selling drugs to earn an income. He did not use weapons or violence, and he sold drugs to consenting adults. Yet his lengthy sentence suggests that our system of justice held David, a poor Hispanic man, to a higher standard than it holds the rich. That is an injustice, in my eyes.

Maria Perez is a criminal justice student who asked why I worked to help prisoners like David. As a long-term prisoner, I feel as if I have a responsibility and a duty to help all of my fellow prisoners. This is my calling, my ministry, the way I serve society and serve God. I strive to live as an example inside prison boundaries, and to inspire my fellow prisoners to work toward achieving their highest potential. Also, by writing about the prison system and the people it holds, I hope to apprise citizens of what goes on inside prisons and to influence prison reforms that will improve this wretched system.

The post Poor Prisoners Differ From Rich appeared first on Prison News Blog.

There is a tremendous amount of hypocrisy when it comes to conservative viewpoints on confinement. When Republicans find themselves exposed to the wrath of the criminal justice system, they instantly find the wisdom of liberalism. Christina West, a criminal justice student, asked whether I thought prison reforms could include some kind of balance to appease conservative views that call for long prison sentences.

I do not think it is wise for American citizens to call for long prison sentences. Instead, they should call for an effective prison system. The conservative system of long-term imprisonment is one that is rife with corruption, and one that does not serve the interests of our enlightened society.

George Monbiot reported on Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. They were two conservative judges recently convicted of ordering the imprisonment of 2,000 people in Pennsylvania in exchange for bribes from private prison companies. I doubt those conservatives argued for long-term imprisonment in their cases.

As Justice Kennedy stated, America confines too many people and American prisoners serve sentences taht are too long. We need prison reforms that will change the way we measure justice. Rather than the number of years or decades that an individual serves in a cage, we ought to measure justice in terms of an individual’s efforts to reconcile with society through merit. Those who earn freedom should not remain in prison for periods that are longer than necessary.

Statistics from the Pew Report show that Americans waste billions each year on corrections. Yet the longer society exposes an offender to corrections, the less likely that indivudal is to function upon release. The only people punished by long-term imprisonment seem to be the taxpayers who fund the system. The offender adjusts. Yet citizens must cope with lost resources for education, health care, and useful social programs. They must also struggle with the high recidivism that follows the myopic management of policies managed by vengeance.

This system needs reform. Prisons should only confine those who present a threat to society. For other offenders, society ought to demand alternative sanctions.

The post Conservative Prison Policies are Ridiculous appeared first on Prison News Blog.

The United States Sentencing Commission recently released reports that show how federal offender demographics change. I think we need reforms that limit our reliance on prisons. our country should use prisons as one of many tools to respond to criminal behavior, not the only tool.

Certainly, some offenders behave in ways that warrant isolation from society. Those types of offenders come from every category. Bernard Madoff, for example, was a calculating white-collar offender who made victims of thousands. He was an educated man in a position of trust, and I feel that society ought to hold him to a higher standard than an uneducated offender who served time for having committed a crime against the public order. In every case, however, I feel that society would reap more rewards from its system of justice if prisons offered people opportunities to work toward redemption. I do not believe that warehousing human beings for decades at a time serves the interests of an enlightened society. What’s the point? As a man who has served more than 21 years, I can assure readers that the feeling of punishment diminishes over time. I’ve been in prison for so long that it feels normal to me. It does not seem to serve as an effective deterrent.

Justice means more than the turning of calendar pages. In my opinion, we ought to measure justice in terms of an individual’s efforts to reconcile with society. That is the response I give to the questions I received from Ralph Villejo.

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