PRISON-REFORM ADVOCATES APPEAL FOR EMPHASIS ON REHABILITATION

There should be less emphasis on building and filling prisons in New York
State and more emphasis on rehabilitation, education and revamping the
parole system, prison-reform advocates said Monday.

"Current policies and practices in criminal justice do not work," said the
Rev. Robert L. Gebhard, a member of the Prison Action Connection of the
Western New York Peace Center. "We call upon good people of conscience to
recognize the need for reform."

Gebhard, pastor of St. James Parish in Buffalo, was one of about 10 people
who called for reform - including changes in the Rockefeller drug laws that
impose lengthy mandatory sentences and elimination of the death penalty -
during a rally in Niagara Square.

"Executions do not stop crime; they take lives that are capable of change,"
said Charlotte Franz, a member of the Society of Friends, which has long
opposed the death penalty.

The rally, which attracted about 25 participants, was part of a 10-day New
York Interfaith Pilgrimage visit to 28 prisons and 22 cities and towns
upstate. The pilgrimage, which will end in Albany next Tuesday, is
sponsored by the Prison Action Connection and the Judicial Process
Commission of Rochester.

Gebhard and other speakers said that there is a need for "serious dialogue"
about prison-related issues, including education, parole and consideration
of families of inmates.

"If rehabilitation is needed, why do we allow the powers-that-be to strip
them (educational and treatment programs) away," he asked. "Our system of
incarceration has become an economic growth industry built on the backs of
minorities and the poor."

Sister Karen Klimczak, director of Hope House, a halfway facility for
former male parolees, pointed out that there is general agreement that
families are necessary support systems for people who are in prison.

But if that is the case, she said, why are inmates from Buffalo sent to
prisons "at the other end of the state." "We create hardships for their
families even though they are guilty of nothing. All we need to do is
become more humanitarian," she said.

June License, representing the United Church of Christ, called for
restoration of educational programs in prisons. "People who complete
education in prison are three to four times less likely to return to
prison, but education programs are being cut. You should let your
legislators and neighbors know," she said.

Calling for reform of the Rockefeller drug laws, Robert Heffern, a member
of the Prison Action Connection, said drug treatment is "15 times more
effective than incarceration" but often unavailable to minorities and the poor.

"If you're rich, you go to the Betty Ford Clinic; if you're poor, you go to
prison," Heffern said. "It's a race and class issue. We want to see
sentencing discretion in the judges' hands, not the district attorneys'."

[PHOTO CAPTION]

James Mang of the Western New York Peace Center delivers opening remarks to
prison-reform advocates during Monday's stop on the 10-day New York
Interfaith Pilgrimage to prisons, cities and towns upstate.