OVERLOADED PRISONS, BUT NO MORE MONEY

The Indiana Department of Correction is caught in a Catch-22. Every year,
more and more people have to be housed by the DOC, yet this year, Indiana
lawmakers say "No more money" and tell the DOC to lower its population.

The DOC has no power to let any inmate out of prison early; only lawmakers
have this power. The DOC has no choice but to continue to accept prisoners
into its facilities. By doing so, it is violating federal laws that have
put population limits on facilities throughout the state and opens itself
to lawsuits by inmates housed in these facilities.

Lawmakers have discussed letting nonviolent drug dealers loose. Elected
officials are sending the message to drug dealers that selling is all right
because it isn't violent. Only the people who buy the drugs are violent.
Doesn't anyone see something wrong with this picture?

We need to look at first-time offenders to lower the prison population.
Many of them are given longer sentences than repeat offenders.

For the past 20 years, many first-time offenders have not been sentenced
fairly. Releasing them makes more sense than telling drug dealers that it
is all right to deal drugs or telling the DOC to initiate policies outside
its power.

Fred Brooks

Inmate

Pendleton Correctional Facility