PRISON REFORM REMAINS CHALLENGE FOR 2012

LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com) - Mandatory minimum prison sentences
ranked high among issues in prison reform for 2011 and the battle
against inhumane prison policies remains critical in 2012, advocates
say.

A major piece of prison policy reform was the U.S. Sentencing
Commission's June vote to apply the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010
Amendment to Federal Sentencing Guidelines retroactively. The act
reduced the disparate sentencing ratio for crack/powder cocaine, which
disproportionately affected Blacks. The difference in sentencing for
crack cocaine was 100 to 1 to powder cocaine. Powder cocaine was more
often associated with White defendants. The change did not eliminate
disparity but reduced it to 18 to 1, which eventually made some 12,000
offenders eligible to seek reduced sentences.

Some reforms occurred on the state level and in some cases, prison
populations have begun to drop, according to Jennifer Seltzer Stitt,
director of Federal Legislative Affairs for Families Against Mandatory
Minimums. But at the same time, people understand that old policies
are expensive, unfair, inhumane, and must end, she said.

"While the changes to mandatory minimum sentences have not yet been
applied retroactively, we have seen at least some of the changes
really making a difference in people's lives. Families are united
earlier. Birthdays are celebrated together as opposed to being
separated by bars but there's still a lot left to do," Ms. Seltzer
Stitt said.

Advocates view mandatory minimums as a primary driver of America's
growing prison population and are heavily monitoring some laws on the
books and new laws proposed by Congress and the Obama
administration.

A 2011 bill includes the Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent Offender
Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 223), sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-Texas). It would mean earlier release for non-violent inmates who
are 45-years-old.

Another is the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2011 (H.R. 2242),
introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.). It aims to eliminate
disparities in crack cocaine sentencing by eradicating mandatory
minimums and bringing the 18 to 1 disparity to 1 to 1 sentencing for
cocaine.

Advocates say with mandatory minimum sentencing, punishment does not
necessarily fit the crime and some sentencing discretion should be
left to judges.

Meanwhile, bills that contain mandatory minimums and illogical
sentencing, or that disproportionately affect one group should not go
forward, they argue.

"We can't ignore the fact that when we look at prisons, the majority
of people who are serving time are Black and Brown. So anytime you see
one of these laws passing, you have to raise your voice and call your
member of Congress," Ms. Seltzer Stitt said.

A significant reform in New York was elimination of the Rockefeller
Drug Laws and recognition of drug addiction as a disease and not
criminal behavior, according to Attorney Soffiyah Elijah, director of
the Correctional Association of New York.

"The next challenge is implementation of the new sentencing structure
on drug charges. We have been successful in getting the public
discourse to shift regarding prison reforms," she told The Final Call.

Reform in the lives of prisoners must include dialogue around
brutality they suffer at the hands of guards, often for small
offenses, such as rolling their eyes, said Elaine Brown, activist and
former Black Panther Party leader.

Reforms dealing with the number of people in prison have to address
the parole process, fingerprinting process and fundamental laws
enacted under former President Bill Clinton, she continued. The year
2011 and previous years have been impacted by Mr. Clinton's Omnibus
Crime Control Act that authorized mandatory minimum sentences in the
first place, she said.

The prison population literally doubled over 10 years and people
served extraordinary terms that snowballed into other challenges, she
said.

"As a result, we've got this three strikes crime bill, which we didn't
have before. We've got this trying juveniles as adults bill, and
mandatory time, and these three issues have locked up so many of our
men," Ms. Brown said.

She is eyeing for repeal a "Two Strikes" crime bill in Georgia, which
sends felons convicted of very serious crimes to prison for life
without parole, and a bill that allows the state to try children as
adults.

People can argue these are criminals but crimes yesterday did not
carry the extreme time sentenced today, she said.

"This was not a solution. What it has done is not only affected our
communities in terms of reducing the number of men that live and work
and are reproductive, but when you talk about the breakdown of the
Black family, all of this comes with this Clinton legislation," said
Ms. Brown. She is part of a coalition supporting Georgia inmates who
went on strike to press for improved education, health programs and
payment for work.

Nation of Islam member Henry Leonard's right to receive Final Call
newspapers in the David Wade Correctional Center in Virginia
represented a victory for inmates seeking religious freedom, noted
Abdullah Muhammad, National Prison Reform student minister for Nation
of Islam.

Claiming The Final Call published offensive content, the Louisiana
Department of Public Safety and Corrections issued a statewide ban on
the publication in 2005. Mr. Leonard sued and, in 2010, a federal
judge ruled that the restriction was a violation of Mr. Leonard's
First Amendment rights.

The state appealed and, in November 2011, a three-judge panel from the
U.S. Fifth Circuit upheld the decision. His determination caused the
American Civil Liberties Union and the Nation of Islam to become
allies in the struggle for justice and the ACLU of Louisiana backed
his charges that the prison violated his right to free exercise of
religion, Mr. Muhammad said.

"The prison officials attempted to stop the Honorable Minister Louis
Farrakhan from fulfilling Isaiah 42:7, 'He will open blinded eyes and
bring the prisoner out of the prisons and those that sit in darkness
out of the prison houses. Verse number one says he, Minister
Farrakhan, will not fail," Student Minister Muhammad said.