UNINTENDED CASUALTIES APLENTY IN DRUG WAR

Prison populations now total more than 11,000, compared to about 2,500 in 1990.

Since long before Richard Nixon coined the phrase "War on Drugs," our
country experienced a sharp increase in the penalties associated with
illegal drug possession, distribution and trafficking. In
Massachusetts, as in many states, more than a dozen minimum mandatory
sentences were added to the books.

The demand for "truth in sentencing" was answered by a series of laws
enhancing or restricting parole eligibility in 1980s and 1990s. But
in the political shuffle, sentencing guidelines were unfortunately
left on the sidelines.

Prison populations have more than quadrupled since 1990, now totaling
more than 11,000, compared to approximately 2,500 in 1990. All
Massachusetts prisons and jail facilities are overcrowded. The cost
of running these systems is nearing $1 billion annually.

Are we getting much bang for our buck? The answer is a resounding
"No." Crimes of possession have not been reduced by the threat of
longer sentences. Without effective parole, an increasing number of
prisoners are being released from medium and maximum security
prisons, unsupervised, uneducated and untrained. Recidivism rates are
more than 50 percent in the three years following prisoner release.

The failure of the corrections system to reduce recidivism is a
guarantee that there will be a continuing stream of victims.

The failures in the corrections system can, in large part, be traced
to a few misguided policies.

First, education and training programs do not meet the needs of
prisoners. Most inmates lack a high school diploma, have substance
abuse problems and have few, if any, job skills. Yet education,
training and treatment programs have been slashed. The budget for
such programs is roughly 3 percent of the entire prison budget. As a
result, General Education Development (GED) diploma completion rates
are down and waiting lists for the few existing treatment programs grow.

The concept of rehabilitation in our state prisons has all but been
abandoned, which presents more opportunities for the negative effects
of idle prisoners to build, heightening the threat to other prisoners
and prison guards alike.

Second, mandatory minimum sentences prevent inmates from having any
parole, and from entering training opportunities or re-integration
programs. Other sentences, with only slight differences between the
minimum and the maximum (for example, a sentence of 10 years to 10
years and one day) diminish or eliminate any opportunity for parole.
Mandatory minimums should be revisited to create sentences that
preserve parole as a means for a successful transition from prison
back to society.

The poster child for the need for mandatory minimum sentencing reform
is the school zone offense, which mandates a two-year sentence for
the sale of even the smallest quantity of drugs within 1,000 feet of
a school, or in the proximity of a church, park or day care center.
The vast majority of convictions for school zone offenses are
unrelated to schools or the students who attend them.

In urban areas, almost all of the city can be considered a school
zone. Therefore, the law has a disparate impact on urban areas and on
minorities. If someone sells drugs in Lynn, he or she goes to jail,
while the same offense in the suburbs may result in probation.

Now is the time to advocate for meaningful reform, especially given
the Legislature's current appetite for change.

However, such action will be incomplete if we fail to restore
meaningful programs to the prisons, including education, job training
and treatment for addiction and mental illness. To ensure a more
harmonious transition from the cell block to society, we need to
expand and improve our existing parole system.

Meaningful reforms will ensure improvements to only better society.
These include reducing crime, restoring families and communities and
cost savings to taxpayers. Our citizens deserve nothing less.