REPORT FINDS RACE DISPARITY IN DRUG INCARCERATION RATE

In 14 years of the war on drugs, Michigan and several other states have
imprisoned more nonviolent, young, black drug offenders than rapists and
murderers, according to a study released Thursday.

A yearlong Justice Policy Institute study of prison data supplied by 37
states shows that all put black drug offenders in prison at greater rates
than whites, especially those ages 15-29. The institute is a research and
public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.

According to "Poor Prescription: The Costs of Imprisoning Drug Offenders,"
Michigan jailed 27 times more black males ages 15-29 than whites the same
age in 1996. Nationally, blacks were admitted to prison at 14 times the
rate of whites, according to the study, which also found that increased
incarceration did not curb drug use in those states.

The study showed there are 458,131 drug offenders in the nation's prisons
and jails, more than the total prison and jail populations of 1980.

"There are elements of the war on drugs that are a miserable failure," said
Vincent Schiraldi, one of the study's three authors.

Schiraldi said the data, supplied by states to the National Corrections
Reporting Program, showed a deliberate targeting of black males by law
enforcement. "It's a lot harder to go into a frat party where the white
kids buy and sell drugs, than it is to sweep a local street corner,"
Schiraldi said.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Detroit, was among legislators who
announced plans Thursday to introduce legislation this fall supporting
increased treatment programs instead of mandatory minimum sentences for
nonviolent drug offenders.

In 1998, taxpayers spent about $30,000 to house a prisoner for one year,
while a year in a residential drug treatment program cost about $8,000
then, according to various studies. A year of outpatient drug treatment
cost about $1,800.

"The drug war is a war on people, and the majority of people involved are
people of color," Conyers said.

The institute's study found that more prisons house nonviolent drug
offenders than whites and blacks convicted of violent crimes.

But Michigan Sen. William Van Regenmorter, R-Georgetown Township, said the
drug trade contributes to violent crime, causing murders, assaults and
burglaries, creating "a downstream effect that creates a lot of violence."

Van Regenmorter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Michigan
typically imprisons drug dealers, not users, reserving the most severe
sentences for those found with at least 225 grams of cocaine or heroin. The
study did not compare incarceration number between drug dealers and users.

The Legislature last year amended one of the nation's toughest laws, called
the 650 Lifer Law. Passed in 1978, the law mandated automatic life
sentences without the possibility of parole for anyone convicted of
possession of more than 650 grams of cocaine or heroin. Parole is now
possible after 15 or 20 years.

"The only people going to prison for any meaningful term are dealers," said
Van Regenmorter. "We want to reserve our prisons for those who are violent
or cause violence."

But critics said many of the dealers arrested are really low-level couriers
unable to provide significant information to stop the flow of drugs onto
U.S. streets.

Sarita Fluker's father, Rubin Fluker, was a cocaine addict when he was
approached by undercover officers looking to buy drugs, she said.

Four times, Fluker said her now 70-year-old father arranged larger and
larger buys of cocaine, until finally, he arranged for the officer to
purchase more than 650 grams. He was sentenced in 1990 and is serving a
life sentence in the Muskegon Correctional Facility, in Muskegon. He will
be eligible for parole in about seven years, she said. Fluker said her
father should have gotten treatment and a shorter sentence.

"As addicted as he was, in some sense he knew what he was doing was wrong,"
said Fluker, who lives in Detroit. "But they created a criminal from an
addict."

Ruby L. Bailey can be reached at 313-222-5391 or bailey@freepress.com.