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 Tracy Ingle: Another Drug War Outrage; from Reason Magazine (US), 5/7/08 |
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Tracy Ingle: Another Drug War Outrage; from Reason Magazine (US), 5/7/08 |
Toni Thomas
Rockford, Illinois E-mail Toni Recent Drug War news items from Illinois April 19, 2006 - Rock River Times (IL)
Guest Column: Bill To Reinstate Federal Parole Gathers Momentum
By Toni Thomas
Public and organizational support is growing daily for the passing of Bill H.R. 3072: Reinstating Federal Parole. We at Advocate4Justice are releasing the first of several press releases about this growing support. We want the government to hear what its voters want. People are signing on in droves for the support of this bill. The list grows daily.
An Open Letter to the Members of the Judiciary Committee:
We, the undersigned, have seen the U.S. prison population increase year after year, with great financial and social costs.
Today, our country is the world's leading jailer, with increasing community instability because prisons cannot solve the problems of poverty, hopelessness, lack of education and job opportunities that persist. They compound for growing numbers of people disenfranchised and carrying the stigma of felon.
We write to urge the House Judiciary Committee to study the merits of re-establishing a system of earned, early release of federal prisoners. One bill, H.R. 3072 to revive parole, is one remedy before you today.
Harsh, determinate sentencing reforms of the mid-1980s were enacted by Congress with the hope of curbing illegal drug and associated crime, and creating evenhanded punishment. These goals have not been met. Instead, we have a system that cannot be properly monitored, lacking in transparency, without the balance of judicial discretion.
The continued institutionalization of millions of people will not rehabilitate people, or change society for the good. Over-reliance on prison to solve problems has failed us. There are fresh ideas to replace locking people up in human warehouses, cages, then expecting them to function normally in society after years and decades of wasteful imprisonment.
H.R. 3072, To Revive Parole, was introduced by Danny Davis June 27, 2005, with 10 co-sponsors to date. National prisoner advocacy groups are finding growing support for earned, early release for federal prisoners, all evidence that suggests rewarding offenders for model behavior in prison is agreeable to the public.
We respectfully request an opportunity to present to the House Judiciary Committee a panel of experts and citizens intent on introducing ideas that will reduce the federal prison population while increasing public safety.
Respectfully, Garry L. Jones, President and Founder of Advocate4Justice
Toni Thomas is an Advocate4Justice researcher and regional volunteer for the November Coalition. She is a local resident.
Copyright 2002-2006 - The Rock River Times
On Sunday, May 22, 2005, I was given the opportunity to speak at a unity rally, special thanks to Brother Steve Muhammed. I spoke on minimum mandatory sentencing in front of a crowd of about 300 people. As I began learning information about minimum mandatory sentencing and I began discussing it with people, I would become frustrated because of their lack of knowledge of the War on Drugs. I was told that these men walk around with their pistols and cause trouble. Then, once incarcerated, they want help.
So I spoke on the incarceration rate that is caused by minimum mandatory sentencing. I explained that as African Americans we are not educated as to what is really going on. I explained the concept of nonviolent offender. I also explained that prisons are on the stock market under the CCA. I asked why is crime at an all time low, yet incarceration at an all time high. I concluded by telling them that we need to start contacting our elected officials and demanding change.
May 15, 2005 - Rockford Register Star (IL)
Harsh Nonviolent-Offender Laws Breed Violent Criminals
By Toni Thomas - Special to the Star
I sat in disbelief on Friday, April 29, 2005. I watched a man get sentenced to 262 months in the Bureau of Prisons. For those of you who don't know, 262 months is 21 years and 10 months. He will have to serve 85 percent of his time. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell cocaine, or a cocaine base. If he wouldn't have pleaded guilty, and gone to trial and lost, he would have received life in prison. The federal government has a 98.9 percent conviction rate. A co-defendant in the crime is expected to receive 25 years in the Bureau of Prisons; the other co-defendant received a downward departure for his cooperation with the government.
Earlier in the week, I read about a man on trial for murder. He accepted a bench trial over a jury trial. The reason was, if he is found guilty, he can't receive a sentence greater than 20 years, in which he could receive time for good behavior and parole. The nonviolent offender gets 21 years and 10 months, the violent offender no more than 20 years.
Better yet, let's talk about the sex offender who was in the Ogle County Jail with him. He received 10 years for rape. Did I mention it wasn't his first offense? Nonviolent offender: 21 years and 10 months, violent offender: 10 years.
The judge also ordered the nonviolent offender a fine and said he was sure this man would get a job while incarcerated. That's funny because the starting salary [for working inmates] in the Bureau of Prisons is $5.20 a month. It's going to cost around $S88,000 to incarcerate this man for 21 years. Who is paying for it? The taxpayers and grant funding.
On April 24, the Department of Justice issued its statistics. It showed that violent crime fell more than 33 percent between 1994 and 2003. Property crimes fell 23 percent. The statistics also showed that 12.6 percent of black males in their late 20s were behind bars. The comparable rate for Hispanic males was 3.6 percent, for whites, 1.6 percent.
However, prison population continues to rise in the United States. Why is that? Nonviolent drug crimes. Most people incarcerated on drug crimes are there for conspiracy. Most of them weren't caught in the act of the crime. Conspiracy is when two or more people come together to commit a crime; that crime doesn't have to be carried out. People can change their minds about the crime, yet if the others carry it out and get caught, the one who backed out still is guilty! Why are they guilty? Because they didn't notify a law enforcement agency that the crime was taking place?
Also found guilty on the same conspiracy are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and girlfriends. Yes, if you don't tell law enforcement agencies that your loved one was involved in a crime, you can easily be incarcerated for years. Is it happening? Yes -- every day. More women are incarcerated than ever because of the War on Drugs, with African Americans having the highest incarceration rate.
How this works is, one person gets caught in the act or in possession of a controlled substance. In return for becoming a witness for the state or government, he or she receives a downward departure. In other words, for becoming a snitch, he or she receives a lesser sentence. The estimated $588,000 used on incarcerating these people could be used to educate them, provide employment or help them provide for their children over the next 20 years.
Our community can change and attack the truancy problem in our city if we get to the root of the problem: Family. With parents incarcerated, children are placed in foster homes that don't provide love, just a roof over their heads and a check for the foster parents.
The result is children growing up to become violent offenders and not graduating from high school. They don't have love for themselves, let alone the law. So when violent crimes start to rise again, don't ask why. Just think about all the nonviolent offenders who were locked up for years. They couldn't be there to keep their children from making the same mistakes they made, so in return they make even bigger mistakes.
It is time we start contacting our elected officials, letting them know we want change. That change begins with U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, 415 Mulford Road, Rockford IL 61108. The other elected officials are Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Barack Obama, 230 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago IL 60604.
Toni Thomas is a Rockford resident.
Congressman Donald Manzullo
415 S. Mulford Road
Rockford, IL 61108
(815) 394-1231Dear Congressman Manzullo:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my concerns with minimum mandatory sentencing. It was a pleasure meeting with you. Let the Judge know that I appreciate his time as well. I enjoyed meeting with the both of you.
Unfortunately, the meeting went so fast that I wasn't able to get your views and opinions, and what you are willing to do in an effort to end racial disparity in minimum mandatory sentencing for non violent offenders.
We briefly discussed a conspiracy to sell cocaine case. You did point out some information that was very helpful in understanding why non violent offenders receive such harsh and cruel punishment. You spoke saying the effect that drugs have on a person and a community. I total agree with that. However a person has a choice to choose to use any drug. A person doesn't have a choice to be killed or raped. Yet the person that takes a life or the innocence of a child receives a lesser sentence than that of someone convicted of a drug crime.
If the concern is the effect of the drugs in a community, then why would someone be watched for months, sometimes years before being arrested? Why not arrest them from the beginning, keeping drugs from the community? Instead, one to two years of drugs have already affected the lives of others. Then we wouldn't need conspiracy laws. We are taking people's lives away because of what others have said. People who have been caught in the act of a crime. That's why No More Tulias: Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2005 was introduced May 27th 2005. It would keep states from being able to receive any of the Byrne grant funding when convicting people based on uncorroborated testimony of informants and law enforcement.
There are a lot of men and women convicted and sentenced to long prison terms on conspiracy alone. They were never found in possession of anything, but the person that was caught told on them. So fearing life in prison, many take plea-bargains to get lighter sentences.
The crime rate in the United States fell to an all time low in 2004. Yet incarceration was at an all time high. The reason, non-violent drug offenders who were convicted of conspiracy. Racial disparity in sentencing was proven along with these conviction rates. It proved that there are five times more white drug offenders in The United States, yet African Americans led the incarceration rate for drug crimes.
Bill HR 1528: Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access To Drug Treatment And Child Protection Act Of 2005 was introduced saying we need to protect the children. What about the children whose mother or father or both are incarcerated for a minimum of 10 years to life in prison? Some are just first time offenders. Who is protecting them from violent offenders? What type of example and what are we telling the youth? Is locking up parents the best way to raise children and putting them in foster homes or grandparents that are elderly dealing with health issues? What type of motivation is that giving these children to succeed?
There are at least two million children who have a parent incarcerated because of the war on drugs. They can't keep their children from making the same mistakes they have made. So in return, those mistakes are much worse then those of their parents, causing a lot more damage to society.
The War on Drugs has been a proven failure that continues to ruin lives. When education is cheaper than incarceration, yet incarceration is higher, something is wrong with the picture.
In our community, change can begin by you making the first step to help pass Bill HR 3072 To Revive The System Of Parole For Federal Prisoners, And Other Purposes. Then, speaking with Judge Phillip Reinhart, find out how he feels about sentencing people to long prison terms. Asking him how he thinks we can rehabilitate and educate to keep people from being incarcerated for long prison terms? It would save the taxpayers and our children.
Sincerely
Toni Thomas, Rockford, Illinois
April 12, 2005
The Honorable Barack Obama
United States Senate
230 South Dearborn St., Suite 3900
Chicago, Illinois 60604Dear Senator Obama:
Over a year ago, on Friday, February 13, 2004, over 50 people's lives changed for the worse here in the Rockford area. Every taxpayer's life was changed as well, especially those in the Rockford area.
Those lives were changed by the "War on Drugs." At least eight people were arrested and charged with conspiracy to sell cocaine or a cocaine base. Six of those eight pleaded guilty. At least three of the eight are expected to receive a minimum sentence of twenty years in prison. It is unfortunate that they are African-American and Hispanic.
Those eight people are mothers and fathers. They are also sons and a daughter. The may have been involved in illegal activities, yet do those actions require twenty years of life in prison to rehabilitate them? There are people who commit murder and molest children that receive lesser sentences. How is it that non violent offenders receive harsher sentences than violent offenders?
These people may have been involved in wrong doing, but the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
Eric Sterling was counsel for the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary and participated in the passing of minimum mandatory sentencing. He has been outraged by the usage of minimum mandatory sentencing, and has stated that it is a waste of human life.
As the Senator for Rockford, Illinois, I ask what are you willing to do to help these 8 individuals, and others in situations similar to this? We are spending tax dollars to keep these people incarcerated for years. Why can't we rehabilitate them and educate them, so they will have other options and opportunities to support there families?
I have been speaking with churches and individuals in the community. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the near future on this travesty. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,Toni Thomas, Rockford, IL
Recent Drug War news items from Illinois
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