GROUP SEEKS TAXPAYERS' SUPPORT TO STOP MANDATORY PRISON SENTENCES

Post Office Has Lots Of Foot Traffic Monday

The post office on South High Street was a busy place Monday as taxpayers
hurried in and out to meet the April 15 deadline, making it an ideal place
for local folks to peddle their platforms.

Members of the local chapter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums took
advantage of the heavy foot traffic at the post office to hand out flyers
that read, "Do you know where your taxes go?"

"Basically, we are out here because there is a lot of tax money being spent
for incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders, first offenders, and it could
be a heck of a lot better for us and everyone else if we spent that money
on rehab instead," said Connie DeVore, co-organizer of the local FAMM chapter.

"What we're trying to do isn't say don't punish people, but there are lots
of ways of punishment that are more positive and cost a heck of a lot less
money for the taxpayer," she said.

DeVore said that's why FAMM chose April 15 to spread the word. What better
day to bring people's attention to the question of where tax money goes?

According to FAMM literature, it costs $22,000 per year to incarcerate
someone. But it takes only $7,000 per year to educate each American child.

DeVore said the reception Monday was good, noting that she and her four
helpers had handed out all but a few of their pamphlets. A couple of people
looked over the material and asked for more to give to their friends, she said.

"With the mandatory sentencing, there is a chart," DeVore said. "If you are
caught with so many grams of a controlled substance, you have to serve a
specific time in jail. There is no discretion for the judges; the facts of
the case can't be weighed. The sentences are just laid down."

And at $22,000 a year, those sentences are overcrowding jails and breaking
taxpayers, she said.

"Prisons have become big business," she said. "Just think, $22,000. You
could send a child to college with that amount of money, instead of just
sending him to jail."

But the cost to society is not just a monetary consideration, said Michael
Lemery, co-organizer of the local FAMM.

"The ultimate consideration is that the punishment does more harm to
society than does the offense," he said. "It hurts the prisoner, family and
friends, the prisoner's work, everyone involved."

Rehab, they said, is far more cost effective and yields better results in
terms of reducing recidivism. According to the FAMM brochure DeVore and her
cohorts handed out Monday, every dollar spent on drug treatment saves $7 in
societal and medical costs.

FAMM maintains that mandatory sentences add to prison costs by requiring
long, predetermined sentences for first-offenders.

"There are a lot of conspiracy cases, too," DeVore said, "where someone was
in the same house when a drug deal gets made and they weren't involved, but
they receive the same sentence."

FAMM also believes that low-level offenders receive harsher sentences than
drug "kingpins," because the higher-ups often trade information for reduced
sentences -- something low-level offenders can't do, because they don't
have the information to trade.

Devore said the local chapter of FAMM grew out of the Peace and Social
Justice Committee of the Quakers meeting.

"We found that others were interested in the idea," she said. "And then we
went from there."

FAMM holds quarterly meetings, she said. This Friday the group will show a
Court TV video, "Guilt By Association," at 7:15 p.m. at the Quaker Meeting
House. The public is welcome, and those who would like to come for dinner
at 6:30 p.m. can bring a dish and have some food before the show.

Info: Connie DeVore, 599-3107; Michael Lemery, 296-5980.