GOP support for early release in AZ legislature this year...

Shocking. Even the GOP in the Senate isnt completely on board with Chuck Ryan's plan for new prisons...

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GOP legislator pushes Arizona bill to relieve prison crowding

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By Associated Press,   |  KTAR NEWS

February 6, 2015 @ 2:00 pm

 

PHOENIX -- A Republican state senator is pushing a bill to release thousands of non-violent inmates early in a bid to save money and ease pressure on crowded prisons.

Sen. Steve Pierce, R-Prescott, said the legislation would expand an existing Department of Corrections program to help prisoners transition into daily life with services including counseling, case management and substance-abuse treatment.

The bill comes at a time when Gov. Doug Ducey's executive budget calls for $40 million for a new prison with 3,000 beds. Pierce said the size of the project could cost $70 million per year.

Arizona housed more than 42,000 inmates last year, and the Department of Corrections expects to add nearly 1,000 prisoners per year through 2016.

During that time, the Department of Corrections released 943 inmates through its three-month transition program and saved nearly $1 million, according to an annual report by the agency.

Senate Bill 1390 seeks to increase the number of inmates placed in the program to a minimum of 3,500 prisoners in the first year, and 5,000 in the second year. The program would serve low-risk, non-violent offenders and exclude those convicted of driving under the influence, sex offenses, arson or domestic violence.

Pierce said his bill would save the state money and avoid having to build another prison.

"We are spending an awful lot of money putting people and keeping people in jail that are non-violent criminals," he said. "I think more people need to be in treatment than in jail." 
The program has already proven to reduce the rate of return offenders compared with the general population, Pierce said.

When asked if the bill would provide a cost-effective alternative to building a new prison, the governor's office said it had not yet reviewed the legislation.

Corrections Department spokesman Doug Nick said the agency is aware of the legislation and monitoring it as the bill moves through the Legislature, but did not provide further comment.

Overcrowded? Don't build new prisons: Send low-risk elders home.

Vikki Law is the author of several publications, including Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women." and "Don't leave your friends behind: Concrete ways to support families in social justice movements and communities." She also compiles art and literature from women in prison for a zine, "Tenacious". Here she examines some of the different strategies being used to address the large number of elderly people behind bars in America. I wish AZ legislators would take a lesson from this. AZ DOC director Chuck Ryan himself has a lot of discretion right now to release certain low-risk prisoners and suport sentencing reform - his preference is to build more prisons, instead.

And no, neither the governor nor the legislature has shown they have any intention of implementing an early release bill or modifying the Truth in Sentencing law this year, sorry to say. Vote in a new batch next year and we might have better luck.

--------from Truthout.org-------

"If the Risk Is Low, Let Them Go": Efforts to Resolve the Growing Numbers of Aging Behind Bars

Sunday, 19 January 2014 00:00  
By Victoria Law, 
Truthout | News Analysis

Imagine your grandparents and great-grandparents in shackles or dying behind bars. By 2030, the prison population age 55 and over is predicted to be 4,400 percent more than what it was in 1981. Some state and federal prison systems look at alternatives.
 
The recent release of 74-year-old Lynne Stewart has made headlines. Stewart, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, was granted compassionate release December 31, 2013, after a protracted struggle by Stewart and supporters across the country. Stewart, whose cancer has spread to her lungs, lymph system and bones, will spend her remaining months with her family in Brooklyn.

But what about the aging and infirm people incarcerated nationwide who lack Stewart's fame and support? The United States has some 125,000 prisoners age 55 and older, quadruple the number in 1995. Various human rights groups, including the ACLU, Human Rights Watch and the Vera Institute of Justice have issued warnings about the increased numbers of aging, elderly and incapacitated behind bars. In response to these increases, several states, such as Kansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, are in the process of building hospice and geriatric units within their prison systems.

But what other solutions are there?

"If the Risk is Low, Let Them Go"

In New York, advocates - including formerly incarcerated people - have launched the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) campaign. More than 9,200 people (nearly 17 percent) imprisoned in New York are 50 or older. While the state's prison population dropped this past decade - from 71,466 in 2000 to 56,315 in 2011 - the number of people 50 and older has increased by 64 percent. Lead organizer Mujahid Farid knows the obstacles facing people seeking parole. Farid was arrested in 1978 and sentenced to 15 years to life for an attempted murder. By the time he was eligible for parole in 1993, he had earned four college degrees as well as certificates for numerous other programs. None of these accomplishments mattered. He was denied parole based on his 1978 conviction. Farid appeared before the parole board ten times over the next 18 years before he was granted parole in 2011.

"I realized it wasn't personal," he told Truthout. "They're not looking at your personal development. They're simply looking at your conviction." After his release, Farid met with advocates, including other formerly incarcerated people, to discuss how to overcome the hurdle within the parole system. Out of these discussions came RAPP.  Under the slogan "If the risk is low, let them go," RAPP mobilizes to change the routine in which parole and compassionate release are denied to those who have spent decades in New York's state prisons.

Laura Whitehorn spent 14 years in the federal prison system. "I've had friends who have died in prison," she told Truthout. "It's heartbreaking." Because the federal Bureau of Prisons is under no obligation to house prisoners close to their communities, family members often are unable to see dying loved ones incarcerated across the country. Those able to make the journey have limited visiting - and always with an armed guard in the room. "Kids need to be pat-searched to visit their parents and grandparents," Whitehorn remembered.
Farid and Whitehorn note that, in New York state, releasing many aging prisoners does not require new legislation. A 2011 executive law directed the parole board to begin using risk-assessment tools when making decisions, but the Division of Parole did not post new regulations complying with the law until December 18, 2013. "The risk of committing a new crime is about 5 percent for older people, compared with an overall recidivism rate of nearly 40 percent," Farid stated. "If the parole board followed the law, many of the men and women would safely be released, saving millions of dollars a year in unnecessary medical and custodial costs."

One of RAPP's first initiatives has been a public education campaign. "A lot of activities going on with parole are so outrageous, but [parole board members] get away with it because the public doesn't know," Farid said. RAPP volunteers have visited churches and community boards. The response has been positive. The Queens Federation of Churches has agreed to support RAPP's campaign. Churchgoers have attended RAPP's monthly meetings and invited RAPP volunteers to theirs. Whitehorn approached her local community board, which has a committee on aging. "I thought they'd say, 'Oh, no! Not another thing to take on!' But they jumped at it," she recalled. Another time, she spoke about RAPP at a panel on the Affordable Care Act at a geriatric home. People flocked to her table to sign RAPP's petition to the parole board. Whitehorn distinctly remembers one woman with a cane, who told her, "I don't like the idea of people like me being in prison."

The California Elderly and Elderly-Lifer Alternative Custody Program

In California, Jane Dorotik has been pushing for an elderly alternative custody program. Inside its prison system, prisoners age 55 or older increased by more than 500 percent between 1990 and 2009. According to Human Rights Watch, that number is projected to increase to 15 percent of California's prison population by 2019.

In 2012, having seen the effects of keeping aging people in prison, Dorotik, who has been incarcerated since 2001, drafted a proposal for an elderly and elderly-lifer alternative custody program. Dorotik notes that lifers (those serving life sentences) now represent one-fifth of the state's prison. She also notes that many, particularly those in the women's prison population, have been sentenced for a single action committed many years ago and that lifers have an 18 percent chance of being granted parole.

Unlike RAPP, Dorotik is not pushing for parole. Instead, she is advocating that people 55 or older be released under supervision, including ankle monitoring. They remain under the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and can be returned to prison at any time. Dorotik proposes a pilot program at the California Institute for Women, where she is housed, for those age 55 and older. In addition to age, women must:

- Have been incarcerated for at least seven years or 50 percent of their sentence (whichever is greater).
- Have no previous history of felony convictions.
- Have had no serious disciplinary actions against them in the last five years.
- And have secured placement in the community.

Dorotik notes that nearly 140 people at CIW are over 55. Each costs $138,000 per year to keep behind bars. The vast majority of these "Golden Girls" meet the above criteria.

But it's not just the financial cost that concerns Dorotik. She's seen the human cost of keeping the aging people imprisoned. In 2006, Dorotik wrote an open letter to state legislators urging them to expand the use of compassionate release. "Compassionate release is an available alternative to dying alone and isolated behind prison walls," she wrote, "but it is almost never granted by the CDCR bureaucracy." She pointed to the (then-recent) death of 63-year-old Annie Castiglione, who had been sentenced to Life without the Possibility of Parole. "She was a model prisoner and spent her years behind bars helping others. She died the other evening alone and overlooked in the prison's skilled nursing facility. ...

"Take a moment now and remind yourself how it must feel to die alone," Dorotik urged. "In fact, take only slightly more than a moment - take 93 seconds of silence. That is one second for every day Annie waited hoping compassionate release might be granted."

More recently, Dorotik has described other women languishing behind bars in their 70s and 80s. Seventy-one-year-old Doris, for example, recently spent 61 days in administrative segregation (a punitive form of solitary confinement) after an officer found an additional two to three rolls of toilet paper in her cell. "As Doris got up to placate the yelling [correctional officer], she may have touched the CO's arm. After all," Dorotik reflected, "balance at age 71 is sometimes a problem. All the women in the hallway verified there was no 'assault,' and the CO continued to search for excess toilet paper for another ten cells and half an hour before alleging the assault." When he did, Doris was sent to segregation. An assault charge was placed on her record.

That assault charge now eliminates any chance that Doris may have had when appearing before the parole board, increasing the chance that Doris may die behind bars. Dorotik also recounted the story of Helen, another Golden Girl whom the parole board refused to release. Sentenced to life for transporting money for her son, Helen spent the last years of her life with failing kidneys. "She was taken out twice a week for dialysis treatment, hands and feet shackled, a guard on each side of her." When Helen, at age 85, appeared before the parole board, the board deemed her a risk to public safety because she "didn't have firm enough employment plans." The following year, at age 86, Helen died alone and unnoticed in prison.

Unlike RAPP's efforts, Dorotik's Alternative Custody Program will require new legislation. She has reached out to and been working with advocacy groups such as Californians United for a Responsible Budget, JusticeNow and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children to push her proposal. Advocates from these groups have met with California legislators, including Senator Carol Liu, who drafted California's first Alternative Custody Program.

How Connecticut Is Addressing Its Aging Prison Population

Currently and formerly incarcerated people and prisoner rights advocates are not the only ones pushing for releasing elderly people in prison. As of January 6, 2014, Connecticut's Department of Correction (DOC), which is responsible for its local jails and state prisons, held 387 people ages 60 and over. "Many have cognitive impairments," described Dr. Kathleen Maurer, DOC's director of health services, at the Health Behind Bars conference in October 2013. Some require round-the-clock care.

Instead of building assisted-living or nursing homes within its prison system, Connecticut lawmakers passed legislation in 2012 allowing the DOC commissioner the discretion to release the severely incapacitated for "palliative and end-of-life" care. Faced with the challenge of where to place people whose lengthy sentences had eroded family ties, the state's Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) partnered to contract with a privately run home specifically for their populations. The result was 60 West - a 90-bed nursing home in Rocky Hill, a city south of Hartford.

Although 60West accepts patients only from DOC and DHMAS, Maurer is quick to point out that 60West is not a prison. "It's not run by DOC," she emphasized during her presentation at the October 2013 Health Behind Bars conference. "A parole officer supervises the people [released from] DOC, but there are no correctional officers. It's run exactly like any other nursing home in the state."

To qualify for release into 60West, an incarcerated person must meet one of these criteria:

- Be at the end of his or her sentence with no other option for housing or care.
- Have a prognosis of six months or less.
- Have served half of his/her sentence and have a terminal or incapacitating illness.

Each person also must pass several assessments, including a medical evaluation and a criminogenic risk assessment, including a review of the need for a nursing-home level of care with the expectation of requiring long-term placement; a review of historical factors requiring placement at 60West; and the ability to be safely managed in a nursing home. The DOC commissioner makes the final decision on release. "Once they leave the facility, they're not prisoners. They're residents of the nursing home," Maurer said.

In addition to allowing people to live their last months or years outside of prison, 60West has enabled the state to transfer the cost of care from DOC to Medicaid. "Eighty to 90 percent of our incarcerated population would be Medicaid-eligible," Maurer stated. However, because jails and prisons are required to provide medical care, incarcerated people are not eligible for Medicaid coverage unless they undergo treatment in an outside medical facility for 24 hours or longer.

Beginning in April 2010, Connecticut extended Medicaid benefits under the Medicaid for Low-Income Adults (LIA) program. "Eligibility for LIA was 56% of the federal poverty level and there was no asset test," Mary Mason, the DMHAS public relations manager, explained in an email to Truthout. "Since April 2010, many individuals being discharged from prison were able to access expedited LIA eligibility. This allowed Connecticut to receive 50% reimbursement for services that had previously been 100% state funded."

Given that the patients at 60West are no longer incarcerated, Connecticut is able to apply Medicaid funding to their care. "The level of care being provided by DOC in infirmaries can be more appropriately and less expensively provided in a nursing home setting," Mason pointed out. Since its opening in spring 2013, 30 people have been released from Connecticut's prison system to live their last days at 60West. There are currently ten patients who had been DOC prisoners at 60West. Despite concerns of Rocky Hill locals, Maurer added, there have been no incidents.

"By 2030, the prison population aged 55 and over is predicted to be 4,400 percent more than what it was in 1981," Laura Whitehorn pointed out. "Everyone should picture their grandparents and great-grandparents. Now imagine them in shackles. Imagine them handcuffed to their walkers. Imagine them dying behind bars."

AZ early release bill: Rep Gowan- hear HB2521!

AZ SENTENCING REFORM BILL (HB2521) needs HELP!

Good article by Bob Ortega re: 

Sentencing reform (OCT 9: AZ Republic

--------from the AFSC in Tucson-----

ACTION ALERT

Tell Rep. Gowan to Hear HB2521!

Arizona is long overdue in implementing safe and cost-effective sentencing reform.  Despite recommendations by the Auditor General, testimony heard by legislative committees, and the best practices of numerous other states, serious obstacles have been placed in the path of several sentencing reform bills this session.  The House Speaker has assigned them to two committees, plus Rules.  The bills must pass out of their first committee by February 17^th or they are effectively dead.

One bill which has the potential to have huge budget savings as well as positive impacts on public safety, is HB 2521, which would afford non-violent offenders the opportunity to earn credits toward early release faster than is currently the case. 

The bill’s first committee is Military Affairs and Public Safety (MAPS), and the Chair is Rep. David Gowan (District 30).  His district includes parts of Tucson, Green Valley, and Sierra Vista.  If you are a constituent, it is particularly important that you contact him.

Take Action!  Tell Rep. Gowan to give HB2521 a Hearing!

Please call, email, or fax the Chair of the House Military Affairs and Public Safety (MAPS) Committee, David Gowan, and tell him to allow sentencing reform bills a fair hearing in his committee!  dgowan@azleg.gov 

If you are a constituent of any of the other members of MAPS, please also contact them:

Terri Proud District 26, Vice Chair   tproud@azleg.gov

Jeff Dial District 20  jdial@azleg.gov

Ruben Gallego District 16   rgallego@azleg.gov

Albert Hale District 2  ahale@azleg.gov

Jack W. Harper District 4   jharper@azleg.gov

Richard Miranda District 13 rmiranda@azleg.gov

David Burnell Smith District 7   dsmith@azleg.gov

David Stevens District 25  dstevens@azleg.gov

Toll-free phone number to reach any state representative or senator:  1-800-352-8404.  Press #3 for the Senate and #4 for the House. Then just ask the operator to connect you to the office of the person you want to talk to.

Tell Them To Give HB 2521 A Hearing Because:

·         It targets nonviolent offenders.  They would be required to follow the rules and participate in rehabilitative programming in order to be eligible, and the Department of Corrections would still have the final say in whether or not an individual prisoner could be released early to community supervision.

·         Average annual cost for minimum security is $20,000 a year, while average annual cost for community supervision is $3,000 a year.

·         Arizona has the highest incarceration rate of western states.  In 2002 Arizona spent 40 percent more on universities than corrections.  TODAY WE SPEND 40 PERCENT MORE ON PRISONS THAN UNIVERSITIES!

·         Similar reforms have been very successful in other states, saving hundreds of millions of dollars and improving public safety.  Mississippi revised its earned release credits formula for nonviolent offenders and saved $200 million.

**If you can blind copy or cc us, we will have a better idea how effective this initiative is.  If you receive responses, even boiler-plate ones, please forward those to us, if possible.

BACKGROUND:

Currently, regardless of whether the offense is violent or nonviolent, no one can get released earlier than 85% of their sentence, even if they are a model prisoner.  This bill would offer a highly motivating incentive for inmates convicted of a nonviolent offense to stay out of trouble and participate in rehabilitative programs, by giving them a release credit of one day for every three days served instead of one day for every 7 days.

This would not apply to prisoners convicted of serious, violent or aggravated felonies as defined in Sec. 13-706.  They would be required to follow the rules and participate in rehabilitative programming in order to be eligible, and the Department of Corrections would still have the final say in whether or not an individual prisoner could be released early.

The Arizona Auditor General estimates that such a change could result in significant cost savings for taxpayers.  According to the Arizona Department of Corrections the average cost per prisoner for minimal incarceration is $20,000 a year, while community supervision costs less than $3,000 per year.

A similar effort in 2008 in Mississippi—hardly a liberal, soft-on-crime state—resulted in an estimated $200 million savings in corrections costs (though Mississippi adopted a more aggressive change than is proposed here).

Arizona is way behind the curve on this issue.  Over half of US states have taken action in recent years to reduce their prison populations.  And many of these states saw greater reductions in crime rates than Arizona.

Arizona has some of the harshest sentencing laws in the nation, our incarceration rate is the 6th highest, and we are spending over $1 Billion on prisons every year.  The bloated corrections budget was the only state agency that saw an increase last year—of 10%!  Why should Corrections grow while education, healthcare, and social services get slashed? 

Caroline Isaacs,

Program Director,

American Friends Service Committee, Arizona

103 N. Park Ave., Ste 111

Tucson, AZ  85719

520.623.9141

520.623.5901 fax

Visit us on the web at:  Tucson, AZ | American Friends Service Committee

Find us on facebook

Read our blog, Cell-Out Arizona

TX may parole elderly early...why not AZ?

The Texas legislature seems to be a little smarter than the AZ legs, these days...

Go figure.

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Medical expenses could create elderly parolees

Parole debate points to rising medical costs.

By Renee Lee/

Houston Chronicle

Updated 11:56 p.m., Sunday, May 15, 2011

A growing population of elderly inmates is driving up prison medical care costs to the point that some Texas lawmakers would like to see more of those who are feeble and chronically ill released early.

In the last decade, the number of inmates 55 and older has spiked as much as 8 percent each year, growing to about 12,500, while the general inmate population has remained fairly flat.

In prisons throughout the country, inmates grow old serving longer sentences and enter prison at an older age. Between 1999 and 2008, the number of inmates 55 and older in state and federal prisons increased by 76 percent to 76,400 inmates, according to the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. The general population grew by 18 percent.

With rising medical care costs and dwindling state budgets, policy-makers and prison officials have struggled to keep pace. Elderly inmates in Texas make up 8 percent of the state's prison population, yet they account for more than 30 percent of prison hospitalization costs.

In fiscal year 2010, the state spent more than $545 million on inmate health care. It paid $4,853 per elderly offender for inpatient and outpatient care compared with $795 for inmates under 55, according to the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee.

Legislators this session considered a bill that would have required release of certain elderly and sick inmates to community settings, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Outside prison, many inmates would qualify for Medicaid, lessening the state's financial burden.

The legislation died after failing to make last week's calendar deadline. But lawmakers grapple with the issue every session. Inmates are constitutionally entitled to receive medical care, so states must balance the quality of care with its cost.

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said he would like to see prison space freed up for more dangerous criminals and the cost savings used for law enforcement.

“We certainly need to continue to be sensitive and smart about who becomes old and invalid and doesn't pose a public danger,” Whitmire said. “In times of fiscal concern, we're spending $1 million or more on inmates who can't get out of bed or are really sick individuals. It's just nuts.”

Research shows that most elderly offenders experience an average of three chronic illnesses while incarcerated. Among the most common are arthritis, hypertension, ulcers, heart attacks, diabetes, hepatitis C and cancer, according to the National Institute of Corrections.

Many prisons are not properly equipped to care for the elderly, said Robert Aday, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and author of a book on aging prisoners. Some states group them in special needs facilities or in centralized geriatric wings to reduce medical costs, he said.

“The sheer numbers are overwhelming them,” Aday said. “A convergence of trends, including enhanced sentencing, more prisons built, and the graying of American people, it's created this crisis.”

In Texas, more than 1,000 offenders are identified each year as being eligible for medical parole, according to a Legislative Budget Board report. About a third of those are processed and presented to the state parole board, which approves 25 percent of those cases each year. Since 1991, 1,287 offenders have been released under the program — about 64 prisoners per year, the report said.

Arizona Prisoners: "Early Release" 2010.

A lot of people have been looking for information lately about the "early release" of state prisoners - specifically hoping that some will be paroled after serving only 65%, instead of the currently mandated 85%, of their sentence. I'm sorry to say, that doesn't appear to be what the deal is. That would require major sentence reform that the state legislature hasn't been willing to undertake in recent years.

It appears as if during one of the special sessions this past year, however, the legislature passed a bill which gave the Az Department of Corrections' Director, Charles Ryan, considerable leeway to release low-risk prisoners early as a means of easing the pressure on the budget. On October 1, 2010, Ryan issued a memo in response to this which details who might be eligible under what circumstances for what the rest of us tend to call "early release".

Here's the link to that memo, (also known as a Director's Instruction): DI#288. As best I can tell, no one's sentences are getting cut short, but you need to read it for yourself to determine how it applies to the situation you're involved in. It looks to me like the ADC is just cutting a handful of people loose from their parole tail so they go straight into their receiving county's hands for a term of probation, but I could be missing something.

Try using the current ADC Constituent Services Guidebook as a supplement to figure this out - if nothing else, it will direct you to the folks at the ADC central office who can better answer your questions.

Getting sentencing reform legislation next session is going to be hard. If you're the friend of family member of a prisoner, or otherwise interested in organizing with others on the issue of sentence reform and reduction, contact me soon. We have a better shot at it if we work together and draw in other members of our communities being decimated by the practice of mass incarceration and the lack of meaningful "correctional" programming going on during or after one's term of imprisonment. My contact info is in the side column of this page.

Sorry I don't have better news and didn't get this in your hands sooner. If anyone learns different from investigating this further, please contact me. If you write it up for us I'll post it as a guest blog.

Thanks,

Peg

Prisoner and Family Allies Needed: House Sentencing Committee

Thanks to my friends and families for the heads up on this, which is coming up this Thursday...mail or your testimony for the committee in this week, or come sign up and talk to them. I can't imagine it would be that difficult if we're there early enough.

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House Sentencing Committee Agenda for 2/4/2010

Thursday, February 4, at 2:00p.m.

(after the adjournment of Floor)

Interim agendas can be obtained via the Internet at 

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/InterimCommittees.asp 

ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

INTERIM MEETING NOTICE

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

HOUSE STUDY COMMITTEE ON SENTENCING

Date:              Thursday, February 4, 2010

Time:             2:00 P.M. or on recess or adjournment of

  Second Regular and Sixth Special Sessions

Place:                        HHR 5

AGENDA

1.	Call to Order
2.	Opening Remarks
3.	Testimony on Sentencing: ·       Jerry Madden, Texas State Representative; Vice-Chair, House Corrections Committee; Member, House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee ·         Dana Hlavac, Deputy County Manager, Mohave County Criminal Justice Services ·         Robert Hirsh, Pima County Public Defender ·         James Logan, Director of Public Defense Services, Maricopa County ·         Misty Rae, President, Arizona Prison Wives Club ·         John Huppenthal, Arizona State Senator, District 2
4.	Public Testimony
5.	Discussion
6.	Adjourn

Members:

Representative Cecil Ash, Chair
Representative Doris Goodale
Representative Laurin Hendrix
Representative Bill Konopnicki
Representative Kyrsten Sinema
Representative Anna Tovar

2/1/10

jmb

People with disabilities may request reasonable accommodations such as interpreters, alternative formats, or assistance with physical accessibility.  If you require accommodations, please contact the Chief Clerk's Office at (602) 926-3032, TDD (602) 926-3241.

 Maureen Williams

Assistant to Representative

   Cecil Ash, District 18

       602-926-3695

   mwilliams@azleg.gov

Christ on Crime: the Power of Being Soft. And No Early Release.

Here's to Truth, Peace and Justice - may all prevail in the New Year.

-----------------------

I fell asleep Christmas Eve wishing I'd organized some anarchists to go caroling out at Perryville prison this week; just something to let them know they aren't alone out there. The mothers out there in particular have been on my mind lately, as have their heartbroken parents and children. Because of the tracking mechanisms on my blogs I can tap into what people are Googling for, which - as the holidays have approached - has with increasing urgency been "early prisoner release." I had all sorts of stuff up from other states, but all they kept coming up with from me on Arizona was some sidewalk chalking, pleading with legislators, and quite a bit of after-the-fact chastising of Director Ryan.

When I woke up Christmas morning they were still on my mind: all those families that had been holding their breath as states across the country began early release programs for low-risk prisoners, only to have our legislature and governor, in the end, release non-citizens so they can be deported. Our state and prisoners' families are being crushed by the cost of their incarceration - we're even taking money from education and children's health care in order to keep filling up the prisons - and that's the most creative solution anyone could come up with? Deporting a few hundred immigrants that they gave Sheriff Joe and Andrew Thomas all sorts of money to chase down and prosecute for smuggling themselves?

Cowards. They won't even release the dying. Even we (prisoners and advocates) would allow that not every ADC officer is so malicious or callous that they would be complicit in Marcia's death just because 16 on one shift were (that must be worse than the criminality of most people requesting compassionate releases). The Department of Corrections seems to think that was an isolated incident that shouldn't reflect on the rest of the gang. In light of that, our legislators should at least grant that not every dying prisoner is a Maurice Clemmons or Baseline Killer just waiting for their final spree. Nor are they molesters-in-waiting, like the latest Arizona parolee disaster, apparently. I wonder how much of the monster in him was made by prison. Most of the terminally ill - the healthy, for that matter, as well - really just want to make amends and die in peace. You never hear about them. They should not be punished for his crimes.

But they probably will be. We all will. Since they'd sooner spend our grandchildren's inheritance to make even low-risk prisoners die on mandatory minimums than take the risk of sending them home in a wheelchair to their families, why would I think our elected officials would have the courage to support an early release program for people who aren't even dying? It has nothing to do with statistics or real crime or even economics, since dying prisoners can cost the state the most. It's all about covering their own seats - which are coming up for re-election. Everyone wants to be "tough on crime," which always translates into criminalizing and incarcerating more of the poor and does nothing meaningful to address the roots of crime. That's not tough - that's just thick-headed. It's the smart-on-crime people we need to be electing here, not the ones exploiting fear at the expense of future victims...we need to stop this here.

I think we need to hammer the AG and gubernatorial candidates about compassionate release this year - and it should be coming from the cancer survivor and hospice community, too, not just the families and advocates of prisoners. Victims' rights advocates should get on board, too, if they consider how many victims are criminalized and how many criminals are victimized by the system we call justice in this state. Every prisoner dying inside who should be eligible for compassionate release is a story that needs to be told - otherwise the only story that speaks for them is the one about Clemmons - or Ladwig - and that one will be retold every election year unless we drown it out with the truth: there is more than one narrative on crime and punishment - there are better ways to prevent evil than perpetrating it.

Anyway, having failed to do anything meaningful for the state's prisoners for Christmas, I turned again to the symbolic, and decided to deliver a big Christmas card and some flowers to the women at Perryville yesterday. That place is huge. According to one of the officers, it's getting bigger: those are the great plans our legislature has made for Arizona's future - more women in prison. I drove around for awhile trying to figure out who and where to deliver it to - finally decided to take a picture of it by the prison sign, on the outside chance that no one would let me deliver to anyone there at all.

I was right - I couldn't even leave it there if I was leaving it for the warden, much less for the prisoners - I'd have to come back during regular business hours. Their supervisor even came out to see what this thing with the Friends of Marcia Powell was all about. He took down my name and gave me the phone number of someone I could call next week who would direct me to the right person to give the card to. I thought "warden" should be designation enough to get it to the person who would decide what to do with it, if I wrote it on the card instead of "prisoners". But it wasn't. What was I thinking?

I don't know how many people have tried to pull off a Christmas Day surprise like that, but "the next business day" just doesn't work. I took my card and got back into my car, stopping by my friend's place on my way home to give her the bouquet. She was out at Perryville for a couple of years; she appreciated what I tried to do.

The card, by the way, was a great big copy of the letter that the Sex Workers' Outreach Project had written to Director Ryan about improving protections for prisoner rights, among other things. A bunch of us signed it at the demonstration, and I figured that since he already got his copy (and apparently ignored it) we should give one to the prisoners so they knew they had some support out here.

I was hoping to get it onto Lumley - the maximum security unit where Marcia was last at, where the women who set their mattresses on fire were from, and where the officer worked who suicided last June. I guess I'm just lucky I got in and out of the front lobby myself without provoking anyone, though. I should probably apologize to the officers on duty last night for showing up and being a distraction. I mean, it seemed like they would be posted at the front door specifically to deal with the public - which includes me - so I didn't think it would be problematic to ask them if there was someone I could leave the card and flowers with. But I could have just taken a couple of photos outside and gone without disturbing them, so, my apologies, Lt. Farr and crew. I really wasn't there just to play with you. I hoped someone would take our card (though I admit I suspected that solidarity and encouragement from the outside might be considered contraband, even on Christmas). I guess it's probably a good thing I didn't show up singing with a bunch of anarchists instead.

Anyway, families and friends will just have to spread the word among the prisoners that Perryville had a Christmas visitor bringing tidings of goodwill and human rights, but they wouldn't let her in. You can print up the letter to Ryan from the free marcia powell archives here, though, and mail it in. Here is the report of the actual demonstration, with photos, in case you missed it. You could also print up the photo I took of the card, here:

Dear Director Ryan: Protect Human Rights.

(Since you insist on keeping your prisoners, please keep them safe.)

Since this post will probably sit here for a couple of days at the top of the page now as my holiday message, I don't want to close it on an angry or cynical note. So, I'll turn my attention to the ADC staff I don't speak much of. Just about every story I've heard from Perryville - even Marcia's - has with it the name of an officer or staff member who was the exception to the rule of mocking, ridiculing, ignoring women, and "waiting them out" until they stopped resisting or finally died. The good guys know who they are, as do all the prisoners and their families. Everyone else does, too, and I imagine some of you take a hit for being too soft sometimes. I would hope you also get promoted (though we do aim to put you out of that particular line of business). Even little things - like a smile - expose the Light in you. We need that light to see through all this - in that way, soft has more power than a lot of people give it credit for. Gentle can be more strong than tough.

In fact, for the more resilient prisoners your simple daily acts of grace and kindness can do more good than all the cruelty that goes on there can do them harm. For the respect, encouragement, insight, hope, and humanity you have shared with the most disparaged among us - whatever your position or reason for working there may be - thank you. Your presence may well have saved a loved one from another endless day of their own despair, or even from suicide. I'm sorry there clearly aren't enough of you, though. The damaged souls and successful suicides who roll out of prison are evidence of that.

Some of you have taken a hit by placing yourselves between our loved ones and violence - both state and interpersonal. You aren't afraid to speak of things like human rights, and you treat imprisoned women with basic dignity regardless of what kind of deviance they've been convicted of. You may not call it by the name I do, but you recognize the monster that feeds your family for what it is, and as law-and-order as you may be, you - like me - long for the day it outlives its apparent need. You may even be the first to help slay it then.

Those of you I speak of here are real public servants, far more committed to justice than the people who pull it out for campaigns, lynch a few bad guys, and ride fear into office so they can make new laws to better suit themselves - all the while gutting your unions with parallel (not competitive) privatization, and reducing your relative incomes and benefits to subsistence levels so you can't rise up against them once everyone finally catches on. I'm shocked at how many law enforcement unions have endorsed Pearce for that reason - he's all about busting the unions - he just thinks he doesn't have to worry about cops because they've been co-opted by his pandering and posturing. I hope you all end up proving him wrong.

It's odd that politicians so often invoke biblical references in the discourse about law and order: whatever one may think about Christ, his most beloved were the convicted and condemned, and his version of justice is the new and revised one. He embraced robbers and prostitutes and thieves irrelevant of their crimes: he recognized that the far greater danger was the injustice doled out to the powerless by the entitled than that posed by the few criminals who rose from the masses in resistance to civil society. It was the moneylenders' tables he upended, after all - he wasn't off chasing immigrants. Boy, would he have a few things to say about that today. Actually, I'm sure he already said them. Considering how many people in this state consider themselves Christians, I don't understand why we have so many prisons. I guess people call themselves Christians for different reasons. Claiming such a faith seems to have a political advantage, even if there's no evidence one really lives it.

Christ was incorrigible - a classic repeat offender, all the more "dangerous" to the state because he acted out of a politic of liberation, not self-interest or greed (thus he could not be tortured or bribed into submission). He may not be executed today, but he would be locked down tighter than a Black Panther, in total isolation so as not to spread his message to other people yearning for freedom. We'd bury him alive and alone - for sixty or seventy years if need be - in a cell that serves much like a tomb. That's what we do to our political prisoners in America. Think about it: if he was in for crimes of self-interest he'd be out in half the time. What does that say about us?

Anyway, those of you who use your power to truly help rather than hurt prisoners have paid it forward, and many people down the road will have your backs. You have done more than just your prisoners a service - the community benefits as well if they come out more intact than shattered. I hope you become the model for ADC - for as long as the beast is around - instead of the exception you appear to be. To you and your families I sincerely wish a safe and happy holiday season, a sentiment shared, I suspect, by many.

Final Answer this year on Early Relase: No.

Here's to Truth, Peace and Justice - may all prevail in the New Year.

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Only a few migrants get to leave early, folks. Sorry. Don't think we won't have influence over this 2010 campaign season, though - I've seen what kind of pounding the families can give their legislators and ADC - you do your thing, we'll do our. Between us, we can make our issues litmus tests, rank the judges and prosecuting attorneys that everyone ignores, and raise CJ reform issues at every campaign event they have - with personal, compelling stories behind them.


Heads up, those of you union members who work for the state: better get some representation on this Privatization Committee she's putting together to trim the budget...

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Gov. Brewer unveils fiscal plan

December 21, 2009 11:17 PM

BY HOWARD FISCHER, CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

 

PHOENIX — Saying more needs to be done to balance the budget, Gov. Jan Brewer directed the early release of illegal immigrants from state prisons who have committed serious crimes.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary action,'' the governor said Monday in a speech to her Cabinet, a meeting specifically open to the media. Brewer said while the Legislature needs to do more to resolve the current deficit — a figure she put at $1.5 billion even after a just-approved $194 million fix — she also needs to take unilateral action.

"It is the raw truth, filled with unpleasant facts and painful answers,'' she said of her plan.

But there may be less in her plan than meets the eye:

• One element requires the Department of Corrections to turn over to Immigation and Customs Enforce any illegal immigrant inmate who is within 90 days of his or her mandatory release date.

Some illegal immigrants already are eligible for deportation after completing half of their sentences under a plan the state has used since 2005. But that program is open only to those who have committed minor felonies and are not repeat offenders.

Interim Corrections Director Charles Ryan, however, minimized the risk for the $1.9 million in savings this year by releasing about 400 inmates who were not eligible for the half-sentence release. He said these people would have to be released to ICE 90 days later no matter what.

Anyway, Ryan said, most would be deported, though ICE could allow some to stay in this country, possibly because they have families here. But to ease legislative concerns, Brewer promised to work with lawmakers to enact stiff penalties for those who reenter this country illegally and commit new crimes.

• The governor said she is "restating'' her directive that state agencies provide benefits only to those in this country legally. That already is law, with the Legislature closing the last loopholes a month ago.

• She told state agencies to take money lawmakers gave them for special programs and instead use those funds for their core operations. Authorization to move around that cash, however, already was granted to agencies by the Legislature.

• Brewer wants "means testing'' for state programs to require a showing of need. But state agencies told Capitol Media Services that already is the case for virtually all of them, the one notable exception being services for the seriously mentally ill.

• The governor ordered a cap on enrollment in a program that provides subsidized child care for needy families. But that cap was put in place in April, with more than 10,300 already on a waiting list.

Separately, the governor directed the Department of Administration to prepare rules to allow a 5 percent cut in pay for state workers.

But gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said Brewer is not actually ordering such a move. Instead, she is paving the way for agencies to make those reductions authorized last week by the Legislature as options for state agency chiefs.

Brewer, who read solely from a script, refused to take questions afterward about the plan or why she didn't mention her demand for lawmakers to let voters decide whether to hike state sales taxes.

She also ignored a question of whether the open Cabinet meeting — the only one of her 11-month administration — was staged to burnish her image of being in command of the situation.

But there were political components to the event: In attendance were Grant Woods and Mary Peters, the co-chairs of her 2010 election bid, and Doug Cole, a hired political consultant to the campaign.

One thing made clear is that the state's finances are at a crisis point.

In a presentation to the Cabinet, John Arnold, director of the Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, detailed the rising costs of running government.

Since 2004, the state has added nearly 145,000 students into public schools, boosting the price tag of running them by more than $1 billion.

The prison population in the same time has ballooned by 11,600 inmates, to more than 40,000. And enrollment in the state's free health care program is up 475,000 — including 207,800 in the last year alone — to nearly 1.3 million as of last count.

But cuts cannot be made to K-12 education — or universities, for that matter — because the state accepted federal education stimulus dollars. These require the state to repay that cash if funding drops below 2006 levels, which is where it is now.

And the state's acceptance of other stimulus dollars for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System prohibits altering eligibility requirements.

There is no prohibition against cutting prison costs. But lawmakers have refused to alter sentencing laws to reduce the length of terms that judges can impose.

One thing Brewer ordered Monday that is within her authority is prohibit any more families from enrolling in the Kids Care program. It provides nearly free health care to about 47,000 children of the working poor, those families earning too much to qualify for AHCCCS but below twice the federal poverty level, or about $36,620 a year for a family of three.

She also established a Privatization Commission, charged with finding ways to have outside firms do the work now being performed by state employees. Done properly, Brewer said, these outside contracts "will help the state reduce operational costs, improve service delivery and quality, and lead to innovation.''

Brewer also promised to bring together legislative leaders from both her own Republican Party as well as the minority Democratic Party. There were such talks this summer about resolving the budget until the Democrats said they were no longer invited.

Gov Brewer: Early Prisoner Release.

Upcoming Events

December 10: International Human Rights Day.
December 17: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (Tucson Memorial).
December 18: Sex Workers Outreach Project Protest at the AZ DOC in Phoenix.

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An excellent letter to the governor, posted on December 4, 2009 at Prison Talk.com. Once this was up there, everyone else started writing letters and making photocopies to hand out everywhere! These folks are rocking!


--------------------------------

Dear Governor Brewer,

I am writing you today with regards to the current state of the Arizona budget and the unconfirmed request, by your office, for Arizona residents to donate financial aid to our state in hopes to relieve some of our state’s deficit.

I am flabbergasted that Arizona has resorted to requesting “hand outs” to over-come the short falls of our elected officials. I will tell you what I will do to help overcome my share of this state’s problem, if you care to listen....

                   (hit this thread at PrisonTalk.com to read the rest - it's worth it)

Sincerely,

Another loved one of a prisoner

Huckabee on the Tragedy in Washington State.

Slow on the draw, here, but this is the best coverage of the Clemmons case I've seen: said by the man who needed to say it most. Given what he knew, he seems to have done the right thing.

There will always be something like this that will horrify and discourage us. Just as we don't generalize the Fort Hood shooter or the Beltway sniper as being representative of all US soldiers or veterans, we must not let AZ politicians dismiss the possibility of early release for low-risk loved ones.

------

Washington State Tragedy

by  Mike Huckabee

12/01/2009

The senseless and savage slaying of 4 police officers in Lakewood, Washington has raised many questions as to why the alleged murderer was even on the streets. My name has figured prominently in many of the stories because I commuted his 108 year sentence to a term of 47 years back in 2000. I take full responsibility for my decision then. Unfortunately, many of my fellow conservatives don’t seem to want to take responsibility for the facts surrounding the case.

The Maurice Clemmons presented in a commutation request in the year 2000 was much different than the one who is being sought for the killings of the police officers.

The case before me was of a 16 year old who received a disproportionate sentence of 108 years for burglary and robbery charges. He had already served 11 years in Arkansas prison by that time, which is more time actually served than most similar cases would have netted in sentencing alone. Under Arkansas law, governors don’t parole anyone. The Post Prison Transfer Board does.  That board can recommend clemency, and in this case recommended by a 5-0 vote that his sentence be reduced.  This was one of 1000-1200 cases I reviewed each of the 10 and a half years as governor. Ninety-two percent of the time, any request for clemency was denied.  Most of the ones granted were for clearing a person’s record for a minor offense from 20 years previous. The trial judge in the case supported the commutation.

During the legally required 30 day public comment period before action on the case was complete, there were no objections registered by my office by any authorities, despite claims of the local prosecutor that he “was afraid something like this would happen.” Interestingly, if he was so afraid, then he has failed to explain why in 2004 when Clemmons was back in prison for a parole violation, his office failed to pursue charges and in fact dropped them, allowing Clemmons to go free, move to Washington, and for reasons beyond me, continue to avoid extradition back to Arkansas or be kept by Washington authorities as he displayed signs of psychotic behavior. I am responsible for the commutation in 2000.  I would not have commuted his sentence in 2004 after the re-arrest or in any of the years following.  I can explain my decision in 2000.  I cannot explain the decision of the very vocal prosecutor in Little Rock who seems to avoid answering the questions as to why he didn’t keep Clemmons in prison in 2004 or get him brought back to Arkansas for his repeated parole violations.

There are some glaring facts that some conservative talkers seem to miss:

1.    He was never pardoned. Amazingly, that word has been used to describe my actions 9 years ago.  He was never even considered for a pardon.

2.    The commutation didn’t release him.  It made him parole eligible.  He had to meet the conditions of parole for the parole board, who in fact paroled him.  He had been in prison for 11 years at the time of his release.

3.    Despite news reports, there are no records that the prosecutor, law enforcement, the Attorney General, or victims objected to the commutation.  The only responses my office had record of during the public comment period were support letters from the trial judge, and members of the community. 

4.    He was back in prison by 2004 and would have remained there until 2015 due to his parole violations had the prosecutor chosen to properly file the paperwork. 

5.    The Clemmons of 2000 did not exhibit traits of psychosis and the kind of behavior that he would later express during several arrests in Washington state during the past year.

6.    Religion had nothing to do with the commutation.  It’s been erroneously expressed that my own personal faith or the claims of faith of the inmate factored into my decision.  That is simply not true and nothing in the record even suggests it.  The reasons were straightforward -- a unanimous recommendation from the board, support from a trial judge and no objections from officials in a case that involved a 16 year old sentenced to a term that was exponentially longer than similar cases and certainly longer than had he been white, upper middle class, and represented by effective counsel who would have clearly objected to the sentencing.  (His race, economic status, or education level are not excuses for his behavior because many people of color who are uneducated and living in abject poverty are civil, trustworthy, and honest to a fault and many well-educated, wealthy, white people are dirtbags -- think Bernie Madoff).

  But sadly, Arkansas has had numerous instances of disproportionate sentencing in which a probation and fine would be meted out to white upper class kids whose parents were able to obtain the services of excellent defense attorneys, while young black males committing the same crimes and represented by public defenders would end up with inexplicably long prison terms.  Blacks comprise 15% of the state’s population, but 50% of the inmate population, some of which is due to the fact that their sentences are often longer and they are less likely to be paroled. 

The two professions I value most in our society are soldiers and police officers, with fireman and schoolteachers right behind. Soldiers and police officers are the line between us and anarchy. The death of the four officers in Lakewood should never have happened.  I regret that I ever saw the name of Maurice Clemmons and that I commuted his sentence and made him eligible for parole.  That is my responsibility and it was based on the evidence before me in 2000.  If presented the same facts today, I would have acted in the same manner.  But once he violated that parole and his second chance in 2004, he should not have received the treatment he appeared to have received from the Arkansas prosecutor or the officials in Washington, who failed to send him back to prison and who let him go free on bail even after repeated violent outbursts and a rape charge from this past year.  I can take responsibility for my actions, but not for the actions of others nor the misinformed words of commentators.

---

Mr. Huckabee, a Republican, is the former governor of Arkansas and a 2008 presidential primary candidate.

Early Prisoner Release. Please.

Friends of Marcia Powell's who have been able to connect this week struggled over the best message to make the case for prisoner release. This is the one aspect that seems to have received the least coverage, but it is what has prisoners and their loved ones holding their breath: the healing touch of human connections.

From Thursday, November 19, 2009. 

Arizona Capitol Grounds, Phoenix.

Prisoners have families, too.

...The best part about this action this morning was all the prisoners who got to see what we'd left on the sidewalk yesterday, and who saw me arguing with the cops after writing this today (thanks to the guy from the state who declined to press charges, by the way).

This poor guy had the job of cleaning up after us once already this morning, and now had to do it again. As he approached my masterpiece he said quietly, without looking up: "I hope you appreciate the irony of what I'm about to do." Then he smiled.

I didn't want to get him into trouble by talking to him, so we kept it short and sweet. When I apologized for the mess I told him there are more people than me working on this, and he thanked us all for our support and solidarity. He was pretty touched. It helps prisoners a lot to know there are people in the community who care what happens to them, even though we may be strangers. It validates that regardless of their guilt or crime we at least recognize their humanity, and will defend certain basic rights.

So, when you're doing stuff and taking pictures, imagine being a prisoner getting a postcard with a photo of your action on it. It may make them laugh, smile, or maybe even cry, but it should tell them that they and their families are not alone in this.

I'll have more on this morning when I get my 35mm roll developed, but that's the main thing I wanted to share for now. Oh, yeah - and a shout out to Timothy with the Grounds Department.

The legislature reconvenes Monday, but deals will be brokered this weekend.  

If you have anything to say at all about the budget, don't wait.