Citizens Commission On Human Rights RECEIVED April 10, 1980 Washington Office 4317 Fessenden Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 ⚫ (202) 797-9812 National Research Office 4872 Fountain Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90026 National Advisory Board General Counsel Lee Coleman, M.D. Psychiatrist Michael Kananack Attorney The Honorable Peter Rodino Enclosed please find a report on the inadequacies in prison reform of the House Federal Criminal Code, with recommendations. We urge you to read this and we look forward to any help you could provide as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in eliminating these critical Michael Smith, Ph.D. Chemistry inadequacies. April, 1980 The Inadequacies in Prison Reform in the House Federal Criminal The prisons in the U.S. are among the most tragic of institutional systems in the country and definately the most violent, continuing to exist through incapacitation, failing to rehabilitate, schooling in crime. The incarceration rate in the U.S. is third highest in the world (approximately 250 per 100,000), right behind South Africa and the U.S.S.R., costing us from $17,000 to $25,000 per inmate per year. year.2 Yet, according to Norman Carlson, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 70% of Federal inmates are non-violent and not dangerous.3 These inmates are "schooled" so well, however, that the repeater rate for Federal prisons is between 66% and 7584 and the U.S. continues to maintain the highest crime rate of any industrialized country in the world.5 7 The especially alarming characteristics of the prisons in the U.S. are the over-crowding and violence. The U.S. Federal prisons are currently 97.2% full and authorities estimate that 45% of all inmates live in unreasonably cramped conditions. Physical mutilation and rape accompany the over-crowding and eventually lead to rioting. A riot occurred in February of this year at the New Mexico State Penitentiary, no doubt one of the worst in history, where 1,136 inmates were packed into a space designed for 800 and young inmates in for minor crimes were housed, sometimes 5 to a cell, packed in with hardened longterm felons. The 36 hour riot that ensued, convict against convict, involved rapes, beheadings, torchings (body parts being melted) and inmates literally ripping other live inmates apart. It was determined that 33 prisoners died. 8 The tide must turn and alternatives to imprisonment must be examined and the successful programs actually utilized by the courts. Other reforms are also needed such as continued and increased rewards for good conduct, earned training, assistance in jobfinding. However, it is up to our legislators to begin to turn the tide. The House Federal Criminal Code, HR 6915, while better than S 1722, enlarges and exacerbates the current system described above. Alternatives to incarceration: With such a large percentage of inmates in the Federal system determined to be non-violent and such an extreme over-crowding problem, it would seem that the new House bill would at least encourage the examination in the courtroom of alternatives, even contain a presumption for alternatives (if you're questioning this, please read my introductory section once more) instead of a presumption for incarceration. This is not the case. The Judicial Conference, which would be setting sentencing guidelines also has been given no mandate to develop guidelines which would decrease imprisonment as the primary response to criminal conduct. Neither is there any encouragement to the Judicial Conference to lower the present long lengths of sentences (please read my statistics on overcrowding and rate of recidivism). Parole: S 1722, again, essentially the Justice Department's criminal code, eliminates parole without cutting prison sentence lengths but lengthening them in some cases. (Since parole can come after 1/3 of the sentence maximum, maximum sentences, if parole is eliminated, should be reduced 2/3s, but there is no reduction in the Senate bill.) The House bill retains parole for 5 years and then drops it. Statutory maximums re cut only 1/2 which still sums up to longer sentences. sentences with no parole will cause more overcrowding and greatly increase the likelihood of unrest and rioting. Longer Good time: S 1722 makes a severe cut-back in "good time" (days to serve eliminated from a sentence for good conduct). HR 6915 abolishes good time altogether. This violates the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution and provides prosecutors with a convenient threat to get pleas accepted (either the offender accepts the plea or the Government will appeal). A death penalty bill was passed in the same session of the Senate Judiciary committee as the Senate Code and may be tacked onto S 1722 as an amendment on the Senate floor. It is likely that a death penalty amendment will also be tacked onto HR 6915 in the Judiciary committee. Recommendations: We strongly recommend that you and your colleagues draft amendments to introduce in the full Judiciary that will remedy the above inadequacies in HR 6915 and that you alert your colleagues to the above provisions on government appeal and the death penalty likely to be offered in full committee. We also |