INMATE IMBALANCE

More blacks jailed for drugs

A new study by Human Rights Watch suggests that black Americans are being
incarcerated for drug offenses in disproportionate numbers to whites.

Nearly twice as many blacks are in prison on drug-related charges as whites.
African-Americans represent about 62 percent of prisoners incarcerated on
drug charges, compared with 36 percent of whites. About 13 percent of the
United States' population is black.

Black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate about 13
times that of white men. On average, 482 of every 100,000 black men
sentenced to prison are sent there on drug charges, compared with just 36 of
every 100,000 white men.

These statistics are all the more startling since federal studies indicate
that white drug users outnumber black drug users 5 to 1. Experts contend
that the disparity can be accounted for in part because drug use by blacks
tends to be more chronic and involve harder drugs.

Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, claims that the higher rates for blacks reflected in the report flow
out of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.

The study was based on 1996 figures provided by 37 states that chose to
report to the Justice Department. The study did not differentiate between
individuals imprisoned for drug dealing as opposed to drug use.

"We as a nation can't afford to have such an astonishing percentage of our
population in prison, especially when so much of it has to do with drugs,"
said Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch associate counsel and author of the
report.

Fellner's point is well-taken and emphasizes the great need for more
substance-abuse treatment programs both in and out of prison. Simply locking
up drug abusers and denying them effective treatment as well as not
providing support treatment when they leave prison almost assuredly will
lead to recidivism, which the public -- white or black -- pays for one way
or another.

The solution to the inequity, as Fellner points out, is "not to incarcerate
more whites, but to reduce the use of prison for low-level drug offenders
and to increase the availability of substance abuse treatment."