ENGLER SHORTENS PRISON SENTENCES

9 Commutations Tied To Changes In Drug-Lifer Law

Gov. John Engler has quietly commuted the sentences of 14 prison inmates --
including nine so-called drug lifers -- this year, a flurry that nearly
doubles the prison terms Engler has cut short since taking office in 1991,
records show.

With more than two months to go before Engler leaves office, the 14
commutations are the most by a Michigan governor in one year since 1973,
when Gov. William Milliken commuted 21 murder sentences.

Another four drug cases are likely to cross the governor's desk before he
leaves office Dec. 31.

An Engler administration official said Monday the increase is due largely to
1998 changes in Michigan's so-called drug-lifer law. The revisions allowed
hundreds of inmates serving mandatory life terms in drug cases to be
considered for release after serving 15 or more years.

Many of those applications only recently filtered through the state Parole
Board, which then recommended commutation to the governor, said Susan
Shafer, the governor's spokeswoman. The governor has the final say on
commuting a prison term.

"Because of the changes in the law and what the parole board has to go
through to review those cases, it actually takes some time," Shafer said.

She said she did not perceive the 14 commutations as being unusual for
Engler. "Some years there might be a couple, some years they might spike a
little bit, but we've been pretty consistent over the years," she said.

Engler -- who commuted 15 prison terms in his first 11 years in office --
was not available for comment Monday, Shafer said.

Laura Sager, executive director of the national group Families Against
Mandatory Minimums, welcomed the drug commutations. Her group has long
opposed Michigan's drug-lifer law which, when enacted in 1978, required
mandatory life sentences for people caught in possession of more than 650
grams of narcotics such as cocaine and heroin, regardless of whether they
were dealing. The law was the nation's toughest.

"I'm not going to presume to know the governor's thinking about this," Sager
said. "From FAMM's perspective, it's commendable. . . .

"The Michigan 650 lifer-law is a very harsh sentence and often sweeps under
it first-time offenders and those who had a very minor role in the offense."

In addition to the drug lifers released this year, Engler commuted the
sentences of two murderers who served more than 25 years behind bars,
including Mary Glover. Glover, 48, was released in August after she served
26 years for helping her husband kill a man during a gas station robbery in
1976. Glover was known for being one of five inmates who, in 1977, filed the
nation's first class action seeking equal treatment for female prisoners.
They won, and improvements were made.

In 1988, Glover won a University of Michigan Hopwood Award for writing. She
wrote an essay about the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

Another murderer and an armed robber were released because they were not
considered safety risks due to poor health. The other was a lower-level drug
offender.

"They were incapacitated," said Stephen Marschke, chairman of the state's
parole board. "It's just so expensive to keep them in that kind of
facility."

The nine drug lifers range in age from 35 to 58 and entered prison between
1987 and 1989. All were convicted of drug dealing or possessing drugs with
the intent to deal them, state records show.

State officials emphasized that they were all thoroughly vetted.

"We more or less determined they were excellent prisoners," Marschke said.

The drug lifers had served "over 10 years, and they had little or no prior
criminal record." Many were so-called drug mules or couriers, and not drug
kingpins. It was "more or less a one-time thing," Marschke said.

Marschke said the board recently conducted a review of 40 people commuted or
paroled under the drug-lifer law since 1996, and found none had caused
trouble outside prison. "All of them have had excellent adjustments," he
said.

At least two of the drug lifers have been deported, Marschke said. Inmates
Samuel Potra (deported to Romania) and Maria Lopez (deported to Colombia)
agreed not to fight deportation if released, according to a defense lawyer
familiar with their cases.

Two others cooperated in law-enforcement investigations.

State officials said there has been a sharp increase in the number of
prisoners overall seeking commutation or parole. This year, more than 300
prisoners have petitioned the parole board, a three-fold increase over
recent years.

Kenneth Mogill, a Lake Orion lawyer who represented inmate Stephan Matelic,
said the explanation for Engler's actions is simple.

"What he's doing is correcting a pretty major injustice," Mogill said. And,
he added, "it can't affect his electoral chances."

Shafer of the governor's office denied that Engler's lame-duck status has
affected his willingness to release inmates.

By comparison, in Gov. James Blanchard's eight years in office, he commuted
six prison terms -- all first-degree murderers. Five of the six commutations
were granted on Dec. 27, 1990, days before Blanchard left office.

Milliken commuted 95 sentences -- all murderers -- in his term from 1969
through 1982. Eight of those came in his last year in office.

State records show 266 people have been sentenced under the drug-life law,
with 203 people still serving prison terms.