COME ON BACK AND MAKE SOME SENSE

It was one of the good things in a bad year. It was a serious attempt
to put some fairness and common sense into a system sadly lacking in
either.

It was an attempt to keep people who shouldn't be in prison out of
prison. It was hopeful.

And it was shot down by Governor Carcieri, who apparently wants to
keep the ACI running at full capacity and then some.

So on Wednesday, people gathered across from the ACI in Cranston to
point out how really shortsighted the governor has been.

They are people who know the cruel ease with which the prison can hold
on to its prisoners, even when there is ample evidence that some of
them belong on the outside. And they are people who probably thought
there had finally been a break in the dull, fear-filled approach to
keeping men and women locked up.

The Rhode Island House and Senate took huge steps this year to pull
the ACI closer to reality, to recognize the injustice in applying
blanket responses to complex cases. They passed a bill that would set
alleged probation violators free if their violations are disproved.
Under the current law, if someone on probation is arrested, he or she
is sent to prison with no recourse even if they are found innocent of
the new charges against them or if the charges are dropped.

The bill seems to recognize the extreme vulnerability that confronts
people on probation from the time they set foot on the street. One
wrong move, one inadvertent turn into the wrong place at the wrong
time and they can be arrested and hauled to prison. They are far too
easily set up if someone wants to do so. They sometimes walk an almost
impossibly fine line between their old lives and the new ones the
state demands they lead to remain free.

The House and Senate tried to put an end to the archaic law, to impose
some fairness in place of an unfair and easily manipulated probation
system. It was an enlightened piece of work that would have eased the
load at the ACI without easing the responsibilities of those on probation.

In vetoing the bill, the governor cited a Supreme Court decision that
suggests that the burden of proof for a probation violation is less
than that for a criminal case and does not require commission of an
illegal act.

So what? That still doesn't justify holding people for something they
didn't do. The governor has kept a bad law on the books.

Then there's the bill meant to free the courts from the restrictions
of mandatory sentences for drug offenses.

The mandatory sentences are a dusty leftover from the knee jerk,
lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key response to the country's exploding
drug problem. They are a quick fix, an easy way to look tough instead
of thoughtful. More than anything else, they have filled prison cells
to overflowing by lumping violators into tightly defined categories of
drug crime and putting them away for often ridiculously long sentences.

The bill approved this year would have eliminated the minimum sentence
and lowered maximum allowable sentences. The governor vetoed that one
too, charging that it directs the court to ease up on serious drug
offenders.

It doesn't do that at all. It simply allows the courts to be more sane
and sensible and fair.

The people who gathered across from the ACI Wednesday want the General
Assembly to reconvene to override the governor's vetoes. That seems a
reasonable request. There is an opportunity here to make the state's
prison system better and fairer. It could save money. Go for it.