Please contact your state’s Congressional legislators and tell them to support this much-needed step toward meaningful prison reform!

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I understand that Americans are inundated with concerns—health care, two wars with no end in sight, and high unemployment rates—that affect millions of American families across the nation. I share those concerns. Yet as Senator Webb wrote when introducing his bill, our country incarcerates 2.3 million people. That’s more than any country in the world. Either Americans are the most evil people in the world, or we’re doing something wrong.

My release isn’t scheduled for about four more years. I have a responsibility to serve these four years, though I feel my country needs me now. I’d like to follow the leadership of the former governor of Alaska, and “resign” from my responsibility so I could pursue the greater vision of contributing to America. If I could resign from serving the rest of my term—as Governor Sarah Palin did—I would work tirelessly to reform our ridiculous system of justice and advance it to a smarter criminal justice system.

Public institutions that provide health care, education, and other social services need an effective voice to refute the loud voice of the prison industrial complex. As lobbyists call for more wasteful spending on the prison system, Americans who need access to social services continue to suffer. Billions of dollars that should flow to health care, education, and social services are diverted to the prison system.

If Americans understood more about the absurdity of confining nonviolent offenders for multiple decades, and if they were disillusioned from the propaganda spewed by the prison industrial complex, they would show more support for prison reform. It’s an issue that should concern every American. As the hypocritical conservatives like to quote: “For tyranny to prevail, Americans only have to do nothing.”

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As a long-term prisoner, I am grateful to all bloggers, journalists, and media representatives who help more Americans understand the complexities of confinement. During the first 21 years that I served in prison, the only talk or reports I heard about prison demanded longer sentences and harsher living conditions. We need prison reform to improve our nation’s prison system, and the climate appears right to advance the call.

On March 26, Senator Jim Webb introduced a bill in the Senate to create The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009. When enacted into law, that legislation will form a commission to bring sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system. Prison reform will follow, though the new laws that result from this Act may only bring relief to prisoners…

As Senator Webb expressed in his recent PARADE magainze article, incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1,200 percent since 1980. Most of those drug offenders do not have histories or proclivities for violence. Despite their not posing a  threat to the stability of our society, they serve sentences far longer than many offenders whose crimes left victims behind.

Our prisons now confine nearly 2.4 million people. America will benefit from the improved prison system that will result from the recommendations following the commission’s report to Congress. The act that Senator Webb initiated should not preclude additional prison reform legislation that would bring relief to the tens of thousands who languish in American prisons today. As I have, many of the nonviolent offenders have already served significant portions of their sentences in prison, and continued confinement wastes taxpayer resources.

Every day I write new content about America’s prisons, the people they hold, and strategies for growing through confinement. I publish that content at PrisonNewsBlog and on Change.org. I hope that other bloggers will join me in spreading awareness on the need for prison reform.

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The federal prisoners with whom I serve time at Taft Camp were disappointed when they read the bill. Most of those prisoners are serving relatively short sentences. They expected Senator Webb to introduce legislation that would initiate immediate prison reform. Instead, Senator Webb initiated a process that is much more comprehensive, and will last at least 18 months.

Once the commission presents its findings to Congress, in the fall of 2010, many of the prisoners at Taft Camp will have completed their sentences. Thus they feel disappointed that the prison reform coming will not offer them relief.

I am much more optimistic than many of my fellow prisoners. My optimism persists because I expect Senator Webb’s National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 will lead to significant prison reform, even if it does not advance my release date by a single day. I have nearly 22 years of prison behind me for a nonviolent drug offense. This commission shall make recommendations for policy changes designed to reduce the incarceration rate, decrease prison violence, and establish meaningful re-entry programs. Although I am nearly finished serving my sentence, I look forward to seeing prison reform that will ensure future nonviolent offenders don’t languish so many decades in American prisons.

If this act results in a report to Congress in the fall of 2010, the meaningful prison reform legislation that will follow may not take place until the 112th Congress, in 2011. The relief to prisoners, then, may only apply to those with release dates currently schedule for 2012 or beyond. From what I was able to deduce from reading Senator Webb’s bill, nonviolent offenders who have release dates after 2012 will see relief, and I suspect it will be significant. Those who have earlier release dates may not go home any sooner as a result of this reform legislation.

I am optimistic, however, because although this bill has a long lead time, it does not preclude other prison reform legislation from moving forward. Our country is in crisis, and news reports show that the cost of incarcerating nonviolent offenders cripples many budgets. We may yet see prison reform legislation that helps those in prison today.

I am conditioned to the prison experience. This development by Senator Jim Webb and others encourages me. I will work hard to advance the concept of prison reform regardless of whether my own release date changes.

The post Prison Reform Will Come appeared first on Prison News Blog.

America has too many people languishing in prisons for too many years, causing social and financial consequences that are destructive and wasteful.

 ****** Read Senator Webb’s Message to American Citizens****** 

http://webb.senate.gov/email/criminaljusticereform.html

The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 that I introduced in the Senate on March 26, 2009 will create a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the process from top to bottom. I believe that it is time to bring together the best minds in America to confer, report, and make concrete recommendations about how we can reform the process.

Why We Urgently Need this Legislation:

    * With 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses 25% of the world’s reported prisoners.

    * Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980.

    * Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.

    * Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the U.S., many of them foreign-based; and Mexican cartels operate in 230+ communities across the country.

Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society. 

America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation’s prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.

We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration. 

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Richard is a criminal justice student who wants to know what I believe we can expect with regard to prison reform. Obviously, as a long-term prisoner I do not have an inside track on information. Nevertheless, I can infer that President Obama will act decisively. I base my influence on what I have read of his leadership thus far.

Matt Kelley reported on The End of Federal Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. That change marks a decisive break from the policies that existed under Bush. It provided further evidence that President Obama would not allow politics to drive his leadership. He recognized that science trumped ideology when it came to leadership.

In speaking about his decision to provide federal funding for stem-cell research, President Obama clearly stated that he would rely upon objective data from qualified experts to influence his decisions. I feel strongly that President Obama will use that same criteria when it comes to prison reform.

The Pew Report recently published data that shows the extraordinary expenditures Americans waste on confining more than 2.3 million people. Justice Anthony Kennedy, of the U.S. Supreme Court, said that our nation confines too many people and American prisoners serve sentences that are too long. Senator Jim Webb has called for prison reform panels. Many from academia have published findings showing that taxpayers receive more benefit through community-based sanctions for nonviolent offenders.

Prison lobbyists have driven the prison boom over the past two decades. And a paucity of leadership from prior presidents has resulted in extraordinarily high costs for taxpayers. I expect to see prison reforms under President Obama’s leadership that will change these trends.

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While McCain, apparently, clings to the ridiculous assertion that incarcerating more than 2.4 million people somehow keeps our country safer, Obama is in favoring of utilizing prison resources more strategically. Too much prison time does not serve the interests of an enlightened society, and Obama has the courage to confront this problem. Along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, Obama agrees that America needs to rethink its prison policy.

Moore reported that as a state Senator Obama helped sponsor legislation intended to reduce prison sentences that unfairly discriminated against ethnic minorities. As an American of Cuban heritage, who has been incarcerated for a non-violent drug offense since 1987, I was elated to read Obama’s position. According to Moore’s article, Obama has said he would instruct the justice department to change mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses.

I have been an advocate for prison reform that would encourage offenders to earn freedom through merit since my term began in 1987. Throughout the more than 21 years I have served in prison thus far, I have worked to build a record that would convince taxpayers and legislators that our prison system needs reform. My own journey is thoroughly and indisputably documented on www.MichaelSantos.net, tangible proof of my personal commitment to reentry into society as a law-abiding, contributing citizen.

High recidivism rates show that prisons, as they operate today, waste billions of taxpayer dollars and perpetuate failure. Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) held a symposium at George Mason University in October 2008 that called for sensible sentencing and prison reform. Under an Obama administration, and with a liberal Congress, changes may come soon. Prison reform, like federal parole and opportunities to earn freedom may come into law within the first 100 days of the new Presidency. That is one reason I urge all voters to elect democrats. We need a more sensible approach to America’s prison system.

Let freedom ring!

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This report is a wonderful testimony for change and much-needed reform and relief in America’s prison system.

Overview:

Report Says U.S. Prison System In Need of Major Change

Criminology experts and practitioners gathered today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to announce the release of Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population, a report calling for wholesale criminal justice reform.

“Our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too long,” said James Austin, president of the JFA Institute and report co-author. He added that the United States is “clearly overusing” the prison system and many of those incarcerated would better benefit from alternative forms of punishment. The rate of imprisonment is “clearly is not proportional to the nature of the crime.”

Issue Area(s): Sentencing Policy, Incarceration, Racial Disparity, Felony Disenfranchisement, Drug Policy, Women in the Justice System, Collateral Consequences

The report released by the JFA Institute, is authored by nine experts in the criminal justice field including two who were formerly incarcerated including John Irwin, professor emeritus, San Francisco State University. The report finds that the nation’s prison sentences are too long, prison conditions are unacceptable and the nation is losing money by continuing to overuse prisons.

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), whose comments were taped and presented during the press conference, said that “prison growth has less to do with crime than it does with how we respond to crime.” He committed himself to working on a solution and thanked The Sentencing Project and its executive director, Marc Mauer, for working to educate policymakers and the public on criminal justice issues.

Four recommendations are offered in the report:

• · reduce time served in prison;
• · eliminate the use of prison for parole or probation technical violators;
• · reduce the length of parole and probation supervision periods;
• · decriminalize ‘victimless’ crimes, particular those related to drug use and abuse.

“The report is very timely and warrants the reading of every American and politician,” said Devon Brown, director of the Washington, D.C. Department of Corrections. “We must have a multifaceted approach toward the reduction of the prison population.”

“The current way we’re approaching this issue is not working,” said Christy A. Visher, principal research associate at the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute. “We need to be doing something different.” She added that combating recidivism is the best way to address the problem around incarceration. (From www.sentencingproject.org)

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