DRUG-LIFER LAW REFORMED, BUT WHAT WAS ACHIEVED?

For two decades starting in 1978, Michigan had the toughest drug law in the
nation: Sell 650 grams or more of cocaine or heroin and you got life in
prison with no parole. Gradually it dawned on lawmakers that the law was
too rigid. So it was relaxed in 1998. But apparently not enough, for now
there is a fresh move to reform the law again.

This month the House Committee on Criminal Justice takes up HB 5394 and
5395, sponsored by Rep. Bill McConico, D-Detroit. The reform bills seek to
give judges more flexibility in sentencing drug felons. It would become
easier for them to depart from mandatory minimum and consecutive sentences.

What evidence is there that the law still needs to be loosened up? For one
thing, since the previous reforms in 1998, only one of the nearly 200
prisoners convicted under the drug-lifer law has been paroled. Not all the
convicts are eligible, of course -- only those who have served at least 15
years. Yet at least 24 are eligible, according to the Department of
Corrections.

Why were no more of these convicts paroled? Because, while Michigan's tough
law has been liberalized, the state still has a tough-as-nails parole
board. Sen. William Van Regenmorter, R-Hudsonville, who chairs the Senate
Judiciary Committee, said, "It was our intention to make parole possible
and we did that. The parole board operates on its own standards, as it
should."That explains why the current reform effort is focused on giving
judges more latitude in sentencing. It is not enough to make a group of
drug lifers eligible for parole after 15 years of a life term. The
underlying problem is that a life term is too harsh. The sentencing judge
should have the latitude to give such felons something less than life in
prison.

The philosophy of tossing criminals in the Big House and throwing away the
key is neither humane nor practical. As state policy toward criminals has
become tougher, the prison populace has grown to the point of
unaffordability. Now, with the state budget seriously out of balance, the
governor has issued executive orders to cut spending -- resulting in the
closure of a Jackson prison. And the closure was not warranted because of
dwindling numbers of inmates. Rather, the prison populace continues rising,
which forced the state to deal with the problem by double-bunking inmates.
That may be appropriate in an emergency, but the long-term implications are
troubling.

Michigan's drug lifer law is only one symptom of a larger problem. Not only
could the drug lifer law use some more loosening up. In our view, it is
time to re-evaluate Michigan's prison policy, which boils down to this:
Build more prisons, and when you can't afford it anymore, pack more inmates
into smaller spaces.

The Powers That Be

JACKSON-AREA LAWMAKERS

Sen. Philip E. Hoffman, R-Horton, 19th Dist., (517) 373-2426

Rep. Clark Bisbee, R-Jackson, 64th Dist., (877) 789-6464

Rep. Mickey Mortimer, R-Horton, 65th Dist., (888) 292-1756.

Mail to these Michigan officials can be addressed to The Capitol, Lansing,
Mich., 48909