MORE FEDERAL PRISONERS JAILED UNDER CLINTON THAN REAGAN AND BUSH COMBINED,
STUDY SAYS

President Clinton stole the "tough on crime" issue from Republicans by
locking up more criminals during his eight years in the White House than any
other president in recent history, according to a study by a criminal
justice think tank.

The Justice Policy Institute says in a study to be released Monday that more
inmates were put in federal prisons under Clinton than under Presidents
George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan combined.

About 58 percent of federal prisoners are serving time for drug offenses.

Justice Department statistics show the total state, federal and jail
population has grown by 673,000 since 1993. By comparison, the number of
people in prison increased 448,000 during Reagan's eight-year term.

There are now 2 million people behind bars in the United States and 4.5
million under the control of the criminal justice system through probation
or parole.

"President Clinton stole the show from 'tough-on-crime' Republicans," says
Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, which
supports increased spending for preventative and treatment programs as an
alternative to prison.

The most dramatic increase in the last eight years came in the number of
federal prisoners, largely as a result of convictions on federal drug
crimes.

Under Reagan, the number of federal prisoners grew from 24,363 to 49,928.
Under Bush, the number increased to 80,259 by 1992. That more than doubled
to 147,126 when Clinton left office last month.

Jason Ziedenberg, who worked on the study, says one cause for the change was
the 1994 crime bill, which set mandatory prison sentences, and increased
spending for new prisons and federal investigators. "It's no surprise when
you have more police officers ... They arrested more people," he said.

One impact of the crime bill was that in 1995 states were spending $2.5
billion on prison construction, compared to $2.5 billion spent on university
buildings.

In 1995 the U.S. Sentencing Commission recommended Congress give judges more
discretion in sentencing and also urged a change in drug laws that had
resulted in a large number of inner-city residents being jailed on crack
cocaine charges.

Under current federal laws, someone convicted of distributing five grams of
crack cocaine faces a mandatory five-year prison sentence, while it takes
conviction of trafficking in 500 grams of powder cocaine to trigger the
five-year mandatory sentence. The Congressional Black Caucus backs
equalizing the sentences for either form of cocaine, contending the crack
cocaine laws discriminate against blacks.

Although Clinton last year called the mandatory sentencing laws
"unconscionable" and said he supported equalizing penalties for possession
of powdered and crack cocaine, he did not send a bill to Congress proposing
any changes.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush said he wanted to
examine the disparity of sentences between those sentenced for those
convicted of possession of cocaine, and those convicted of crack possession.
During the campaign, Bush also supported spending $1 billion on
crime-prevention programs.