Waking Up to a Failed Drug War

by Matt Kelley

Published July 04, 2009 @ 06:06AM PT

As the U.S. celebrates its 233rd independence day today, there's a feeling in the air that we're nearing the end of one of the most devastating failures in the history of our democracy - the war on drugs.

The media and the public have raised the level of drug policy discussion in recent months, perhaps sparked by a perceived opportunity for progress under the Obama administration. The summer issues of both Mother Jones and the American Prospect feature the war on drugs on their covers - and both take the positions we'd expect from these publications: fighting drugs by building prisons has been a failure, and the time has come to shape the policy of the next three decades. The political obstacles to drug policy progress are great and it will be extremely hard to forge a humane drug policy that prioritizes treatment over incarceration. I think we're up to the challenge, and now is the time.

Eli Sanders writes in the American Prospect, under the headline "The Last Drug Czar," that "one gets the distinct impression that (current drug czar Gil) Kerlikowske is positioning himself as a caretaker who can put an old model out to pasture while a new discussion is initiated."

It's a new day in the drug war. But can we end it?

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Friday Tweets: Gambling, Lobbyists and a Foiled Sandwich Plot

by Matt Kelley

Published July 03, 2009 @ 04:47PM PT

Happy July 4th weekend to readers of the CJ blog in the US of A. For those of you outside of the U.S., happy July 4th weekend to you as well. (You don't need a holiday to have a happy weekend, right?)

Thanks for your emails and for joining in some great conversations on the blog this week. You can find me on twitter @mattjkelley and always feel free to email me at matt [at] change.org. Here's a quick roundup of some crime and punishment stories you may have missed during another busy news week:

States cut $1.5 billion from mental health care spending in 2009 and will cut $3 billion more in 2010. Georgia has found that a 24-hour hotline helps address problems before they get serious.

An investigation by Texas Watchdog found that lobbyists for private prison giant GEO Group are quite cozy with the state's leading lawmakers.

A post and podcast from Feministing explains the details of sexual assault exams and points to the need for every college in the country to have a sexual assault response team.

A woman was arrested in Chile for bringing a sandwich into a prison on visiting day stuffed with marijuana. (Article in Spanish)

Obama heads to Russia next week. Human Rights Watch is urging him to address the Russian government's lack of response to a spike in neo-Nazi violence. Join the call here.

Meanwhile, also in Russia, gambling suddenly became illegal at midnight on Wednesday - casinos are now quarantined in four distant corners of the country. Moving it underground?

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Some Troubling Numbers on Racial Profiling

by Matt Kelley

Published July 02, 2009 @ 02:24PM PT

The ACLU has submitted a new report to the U.N. on racial profiling in the criminal justice system, and the findings ain't pretty. The report points out that the international community defines racial profiling as a human rights violation and alleges that the U.S. isn't fulfilling its obligation under a U.N. treaty to end racial discrimination.

"Racial profiling remains a widespread and pervasive problem throughout the U.S," said Chandra Bhatnagar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), lead author of a new report sent to a U.N. rights body this week.

The report points out to Operation Front Line, an anti-terrorism program aimed at deterring and uncovering terrorist plots among immigrant groups in the U.S. in the months before the 2004 presidential election. A review of the program found that "foreign nationals from Muslim-majority countries were 1,280 times more likely to be targeted than similarly situated individuals from other countries."

But the U.S. isn't the only country breaking the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Some new numbers from France paint a similar picture on the other side of the Atlantic.

A new report from the Open Society Institute finds that black people are six times more likely to be stopped by French police than whites, people who look to be of Arab descent are seven times more likely to be stopped.

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Out of State, Out of Mind

by Matt Kelley

Published July 02, 2009 @ 08:31AM PT

Thousands of people convicted of a crime in California or Alaska could soon be headed to Michigan to serve their time.

Michigan has succeeded in shrinking its prison population in the last year through a novel idea that shouldn't be so groundbreaking - releasing prisoners who are ready for release. But rather than building on this positive move, Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants the state to profit on the overcrowding of other states without progressive parole practices.

California is facing a crippling budget crisis and federal judges have ordered the state to address overcrowding immediately. But shipping prisoners out of sight isn't the way to fix the problem. Housing prisoners two thousand miles from their families and communities is a recipe for disaster. Many of our prisons already isolate convicts and destroy their chances at successful reentry by skimping on job training and limiting contact with support systems on the outside. This plan takes that isolation to a new level.

Ron Dzwonskowski says it well in the Detroit Free Press:

It is well established that the inmates who have the best chance of success after release are those who stay in contact with a support system of friends and family members on the outside who are truly concerned for their welfare. This gives inmates hope, improves conduct in prison and makes inmates less susceptible to undesirable influences on the inside. How many California or Alaska families are going to travel to Michigan for visitors’ weekends?

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A Marijuana Tax Hike in Oakland and Nobody Minds

by Matt Kelley

Published July 01, 2009 @ 05:42AM PT

Voters in Oakland are considering a 1500% increase in the city's tax on medicinal marijuana sales, and the measure has a group of supporters that rarely lines up behind any tax hike: everyone.

The city's four marijuana dispensaries were behind the initial proposal to put the tax increase on the July ballot, which has been mailed to Oakland voters and is due by July 21. The new law would increase the tax per $1,000 in receipts from $1.20 to $18 and would make Oakland the first city in the country to directly tax pot sales. Based on marijuana sales from 2007 and 2008, this new tax would bring the struggling city as much as $290,000 in additional revenue next year.

Marijuana sales appear to be recession proof and club operators say they can afford the new tax.

"The market for cannabis is so strong that we'll be able to absorb the cost," (dispensary operator Richard) Lee said.

Lawyer James Anthony wrote the tax law on behalf of the dispensaries.

"It's really about local government and local needs and providing access to medicine for patients in a way that works for the community and for the city," Anthony said.

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150 Years is Too Much for Madoff

by Matt Kelley

Published June 30, 2009 @ 03:55PM PT

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Bernie Madoff to 150 years in prison for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history and essentially stealing billions of dollars from thousands of people. Judge Denny Chin called Madoff’s crimes “extraordinarily evil” and said he chose the maximum possible sentence for symbolic reasons. Madoff deserves to go to prison for his crimes – but his sentence symbolizes little more than an inconsistent and broken criminal justice system. Let me explain why.

Chin cited three reasons for this lengthy sentence – deterrence, retribution, and a measure of justice for the victims. I’ll take those in order:

Deterrence: It’s important that white collar criminals know they can’t get away with their crimes. Madoff got away with it for far too long, and there was never any doubt if caught he’d get a long sentence. Investing in a stronger SEC is better deterrence than handing down nonsensical sentences.

Deterrence makes no sense once the sentence exceeds a person’s lifetime. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was doomed to fail eventually, it was brazen and incredibly arrogant – I don’t think he was gambling on a short sentence. He was just crazy and thought somehow he would get away with it.

Retribution: I’ve argued here before that retribution shouldn’t have a place in our justice system at all. It’s not eye-for-an-eye, it’s about keeping the public safe and rehabilitating people who have committed crimes.

Justice for the victims: I agree that Madoff deserved a long sentence, but the suffering of victims doesn’t diminish at an inverse rate to the length of the sentence.

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Ready for Release?

by Michael Santos

categories: Prisoner Perspective, prisoner reentry

Published June 30, 2009 @ 04:44AM PT

Paul is being released from prison today, and I’m concerned that he will find himself poorly prepared to overcome the challenges he is about to encounter. An examination of Paul’s prison file would suggest quite the opposite.

To prison administrators, Paul has built the record of a model inmate. That means he has complied with all rules, he participated in available programs, and he did not burden staff members with requests that deviated from the norm. The irony was that in adjusting to live as a model inmate, Paul conditioned himself for institutional living. The flip side of such an adjustment meant that now, as Paul was ready to walk out of prison, he lacked the resources necessary for a viable chance at success in society.

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