STUDY ARRESTS PRISON MYTHS:
MANDATORY SENTENCING NOT OVERCROWDING JAILS

The commonly held notion that Bay State prisons are bursting with
non-violent drug offenders is false, an extensive new report set for
release today claims.

``There is no reason to believe that our prisons are full of people
who don't belong there,'' wrote the authors of ``Prisons and
Sentencing in Massachusetts - Waging a More Effective Fight Against
Crime,'' a 42-page assessment of the state's prison system by a
non-partisan think tank. The report skewers the contention that
mandatory sentences are responsible for prison over-crowding in
Massachusetts.

``If every one of the 1,851 mandatory minimum offenders in state
prison were released tomorrow, the Department of Correction's
population would still be 1,000 inmates above current capacity,'' the
report states. It adds that two violent offenders are sent to state
prison for each drug offender. The findings by the non-partisan
Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) comes amid a
call from some quarters for elimination of the state's mandatory
sentencing rules, which force judges to incarcerate people convicted
of certain crimes for set terms. Marie Russo of Revere, head of the
state's chapter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said strict
sentencing rules strip judges of important discretion.

``Not that (offenders) shouldn't be punished. They should,'' she said.
``But let the punishment fit the crime."
``I don't think the judges are too soft,'' she added. ``I think the
judges look at all the mitigating factors.''

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts also opposes mandatory
sentences. ``What's happened in a lot of places is that violent criminals
who do
not have mandatory sentences have been let out of prison in order to
stuff the prisons with people who have mandatory drug sentences,''
said Norma Shapiro, an ACLU issues specialist.

But Robert Keough, author of the MassINC report, said mandatory
sentences are useful.

They grew out of ``a concerted and legitimate push to give real teeth
to punishment of crimes,'' he said in an interview.

But Keough conceded that there are ``instances of miscarriage of
justice that should give us pause about mandatory-minimum sentences.''
He advocates the creation of ``safety valves'' that on rare occasions
would let judges deviate from otherwise mandatory sentences. Opponents
of mandatory sentences also maintain that people with little criminal
history end up spending decades behind bars for one drug offense. The
MassINC report calls that argument ``dubious at best.'' The average
state inmate serving time for a drug conviction in December 1997 had
10.1 prior convictions as an adult and 1.5 as a juvenile, the authors
found.

While supporting mandatory minimum sentences, the MassINC report
suggests changes in the state's corrections approach. One big one
would be expanding programs such as using half-way houses to help
inmates make the transition back into society.

The state has only 150 beds in such facilities now, down from 400 in
late 1980s, even though the inmate population at state Houses of
Correction has doubled in that time, he said.

Department of Correction Commissioner Michael Maloney declined through
a spokesman to comment, saying he wanted to wait until he read the
report. The MassINC report also states that Massachusetts needs to
begin planning the next phase of prison construction.

Overcrowding persists, even though the state and its counties have
spent almost $1.5 billion on new prisons since 1985. There are 10,000
prisoners in state houses of corrections built for 8,130, the report
states, and 12,000 in county facilities meant for 8,356.

``We have been focusing, and rightly so, on putting prisoners behind
bars, especially the bad guys,'' said MassINC Policy Director Michael
Gritton. ``But what we haven't been focusing on enough is the crime
control goal of when they come back out.''

The report recommends that the state:
* Build more lower security prison cells and phase inmates out
of maximum-security units prior to release.

* Increase the capacity of specialized treatment centers dedicated to
issues such as substance abuse and anger management.
* Fine-tune mandatory-sentencing guidelines to give inmates incentives for
taking part in educational programs.

* Expand the use of parole.

The report concludes the state has done a ``woefully inadequate'' job
compiling data on prisons and inmates for review by policy makers. ``With
millions, even billions, of taxpayer dollars at stake, not to mention
public safety today and in the future, the haphazardness of correctional
record-keeping is simply
unacceptable.''