Freedon Now!

“Especially for the incarcerated, the mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
May — June 2004
Freedom Now!
Prisons Foundation Bi-Monthly Digest of News You Can Use

Highlights of This Issue:

Prisons Install Research Computers for Inmates; Music Project in Prison Gets Rave Review; College Students Form Group to Aid Inmates; Poll Shows How Public Feels About Prisons; Prison Union Wants Factories for Inmates; Inmates to Paint Murals for Schools; Telemarketing Offers Employment for Prisoners; Learning in Prison Called Essential; Activists Around Country Seek Felon Voting Rights; Commission Aims To Reduce Inmate Population; Inmates Reimbursed for Lost or Stolen Items.

Published bimonthly by Prisons Foundation, 1718 M Street NW, #151, Washington, DC 20036. Website: PrisonsFoundation.org; Helen Thorne, Publisher; Dennis Sobin, Editor (Dennis@PrisonsFoundation.org); J.B. Pruitt, Researcher and Webmaster (Jim@PrisonsFoundation.org);James P. Gormley, Esq., Legal Editor; Board of Advisors: Bill Frohlich, Editor-in-Chief of Northeastern University Press; Howard Zinn, Author of A People's History of the United States; Robert D. Kephart, International Entrepreneur and Supporter of Restorative Justice; Ashanti Witherspoon, Radio and TV Talk Show Host; Walter F. Sullivan, Bishop of the Archdiocese of Richmond; Kathleen O"Shea, Author of Women on the Row; Paul Krassner, Publisher of The Realist; Tom Lagana, Editor of Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul; Michael Newton, author of Over 150 Books; Philip Berrigan, in Memoriam, Board Member from 1999 to 2002.

Annual Subscription Rates for conventional mail delivery: Individuals in Prison $19, Other Individuals $29, Libraries and organizations $49, Foreign $59; Annual Subscription rates for electronic access $25.

Graduation Ceremony for Inmates Brings Hope

Education makes sense anywhere, but in prison it’s especially important. In this story from the Portage Daily Register, a graduation exercise in a Wisconsin prison is the focus:

Graduation ceremonies are often a time of change, where many of the students collect the symbol of their completed education before going their separate ways. The inmates who took part in a recent commencement ceremony at the Columbia Correctional Institution don't have that luxury just yet.

Having spent the last 11 years in prison for taking hostages during an armed robbery, Benjamin Luttrell III has five more years before he's eligible for parole. At the ceremony, he read one of his poems before a room filled with more than 50 fellow graduates, prison officials, educational staff and tutors.

"Some will say that a GED means nothing at all today; they will say that it is just a waste of time," Luttrell read. "Time wasted, or wasted time?

"Whatever this educational thing is, it is mine. I worked hard for it," he continued. "Time did not waste, and I wasted no time."

"With an education, you get options," Luttrell said, after accepting his vocational diploma for the custodial program. While serving time earlier in his sentence at the Boscobel "Supermax" prison, he earned a high school equivalency degree and took a small-business program.

As a member of the kitchen staff, he prepared 100 frosted doughnuts for the reception, an experience so fulfilling it helped secure his desire to continue his education by entering a culinary arts program and, eventually, finding work after prison. There will, undoubtedly, be challenges along the way before he reaches those goals.

"But at the same time, I think it's difficult for people to get a job now," Luttrell pointed out. "If we allow ourselves to say it's difficult and we're not even going to try, we'll never do anything."

While acknowledging that some people might question why prisoners deserve to pursue dreams like these, Luttrell said education is the best way to escape the patterns that brought people to prison in the first place. "If we just keep warehousing people without an education, what's going to happen?" he asked. "It'll keep on bankrupting the people of Wisconsin."

"Education in prison has proven to be one of the few and most effective tools for turning the lives of offenders around," agreed Janie Wimberly, an associate dean with the Madison Area Technical College. Speaking before the graduates, she praised their hard work and dedication before happily noting their perseverance had paid off. "There's no doubt in my mind many of you have had false starts," Wimberly said, observing that many students encounter obstacles along the way. "In the end, that doesn't matter; you have accomplished your goal."

Colleen James, the prison education director, recalled inmates who had expressed concern about their progress or struggled with lessons along the way. "But guess what?" she smiled before handing out diplomas. "You're here today."

The education of these men also serves the greater good, by giving future parolees the tools they need to support themselves and provide meaningful contributions to the rest of society. "To be successful, whether here or out on the street, they need to be educated," said teacher Mark Terpening. "Education is important, whether they're here for six months or five more years." Allowing these prisoners to leave with a better chance at success may also help future generations, he said.

"Maybe they can pass it on, tell kids, 'Maybe you should consider this, so you don't get into trouble like I did,' " Terpening said.

James Price, who has been imprisoned since he was 16 after committing murder, agreed. "I could have done this same thing if I was in the world," he said, nodding toward the society beyond the walls of the prison. "It's kind of messed up that it takes being locked up to show that."

Advocate for Humane Confinement Eulogized

Some people never give up in their quest to make prisons more civilized. The following profile, from Power One Media, concerns one such individual:

Norval Morris, the Julius Kreeger Professor Emeritus in the Law School, former Dean of the Law School (1975-1978), and founding director of the Law School's Center for Studies in Criminal Justice, died on March 18, 2004. He was 80.

Morris, a resident of Hyde Park and a Law School faculty member since 1964, was an internationally recognized expert on the criminal justice system and prison reform. "Norval was our good friend, our colleague and an extraordinary human being, and we are all the better to have had him in our lives," said Saul Levmore, Dean of the Law School and the William B. Graham Professor.

In his 1974 Cooley Lecture at the University of Michigan, Morris offered a scholarly vision of prison reform and described how an ideal prison for serious offenders might be structured. His proposal was implemented shortly thereafter by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at a new penitentiary at Butner, N.C., and other facilities, and it remains a model for humane confinement.

Morris , regarded as among the most influential writers in the field of criminal justice, was the author, co-author or editor of 15 books and hundreds of articles during his 55-year academic career.

His Law School colleague Albert Alschuler, the Julius Kreeger Professor in the Law School, said Morris' 1990 book, Between Prison and Probation: Intermediate Punishments in a Rational Sentencing System, written with Michael Tonry, is "perhaps the most-cited scholarly work in criminal justice. Norval inspired me and his many disciples in things personal and professional.”

Alschuler added, “He was who all of us wanted to be, and he made us better than we would have been without his care and shaping. Yet none of us and no one we knew came close to matching his extraordinary combination of energy, wit, insight, wisdom, adventure, generosity, compassion, dedication and loving spirit."

His frequent scholarly collaborator, professor Michael Tonry, director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, noted, "many gifted people, of whom Norval Morris was one, are generous. Not so many are genuinely modest, as he was. During the last 20 years of his life, he often said, and seemed (albeit mistakenly) to believe, that people whose careers he helped make and shape had surpassed him. He said this with a sense of joy, not sadness, in a mood of celebration, not regret. I am but one of many people whose private and public lives are different and better than they would have been had we not been fortunate to come under his influence."

Though Morris had impeccable credentials as a legal scholar, he was equally adept at fiction writing. In the 1950s, Morris had served as chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Capital Punishment in Ceylon, and he used this experience to write The Brothel Boy & Other Parables of the Law, which examined a range of ethical and legal issues. His final book, Machonochie's Gentlemen: The Story of Norfolk Island and the Roots of Modern Prison Reform, combines fictionalized history and critical commentary to tell the story of a retired naval captain's four-year transformation of a brutal British penal colony into a model of enlightened reform.

Morris was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1923. Following service in the Australian army in World War II, he completed LL.B. and LL.M. degrees at the University of Melbourne. In 1949, he received a Ph.D. in law and criminology and was appointed to the Faculty of Law at the London School of Economics. Subsequently, he practiced law as a barrister in Australia and held academic appointments at the University of Adelaide. He later taught in the United States at Harvard University, the University of Utah, the University of Colorado and New York University. From 1962 to 1964, he was founding director of the United Nations Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment to Offenders (Asia and Far East), and for his service, the Japanese government awarded him the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class.

When he took professor emeritus status in 1994, Morris volunteered as a consultant and advisor in the Law School's clinical programs. "In this capacity, Norval continued to help us teach law students how to be effective advocates for persons in institutions," said Mark Heyrman, Faculty Director for Clinical Programs of the Arthur O. Kane Center for Clinical Legal Education in the Law School. "He was completely committed to using the law to make the world a better place, particularly for persons in prisons and in mental hospitals, and generations of lawyers and scholars on at least three continents are in his debt."

Beyond his academic career and his advocacy for prison reform, Morris also was the publisher of a small weekly newspaper in Maine; a fierce amateur tennis player; a private pilot; a lifelong devotee of chess; and a participant in entrepreneurial ventures.

Morris is survived by his wife, Elaine Richardson Morris; three sons, Gareth Morris, Malcolm Morris and Christopher Morris; and three grandchildren, Madelyn Morris, Emily Morris and Gregory Morris.

Inmates Reimbursed for Lost or Stolen Items

When the government is responsible for taking care of you, it must also safeguard your property. The following story from London Free Press tells how the prisons of Canada are handling this responsibility:

Canadian taxpayers reimbursed inmates for socks, cigarettes, designer sunglasses and stereos that went missing in Canada’s prisons. Documents obtained under Access to Information show the public was on the hook for thousands of dollars last year after the Correctional Service of Canada upheld inmate claims for lost, stolen or damaged property.

One prisoner at the maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary was paid $15 for a kettle that went AWOL. A fellow prisoner got a $57 refund for a missing four-volume book set called the "International Jew." At Alberta's medium-security Bowden Institution, one inmate received $60 for a lost pair of black Arnette sunglasses. A damaged TV netted a $100 rebate, while another $507 was paid out for missing personal effects that included a video game, electric razor and gold bracelet.

John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the "unbelievable" payouts proof that crime pays. "It's really too bad the government doesn't have the same guarantee for law-abiding citizens when their property is damaged or stolen by criminals," he said.

Correctional Service of Canada policy allows for settlement of claims against the Crown when "reasonable care" has not been exercised to protect the inmate's property. CSC spokesperson Michele Pilon-Santilli said most payments stem from theft or damage within the institution, or loss of items during a transfer from one prison to another.

All claims are thoroughly investigated before reimbursement is made, she said. In 2001-02, 690 payments worth $118,558 were made out for a total 2,194 claims filed. For the 2002-03 fiscal year, 714 claims were settled for a total payout of $107,275.

Conservative Member of Parliament Randy White suggested taxpayers are being bilked by a prison "scam" with fictitious claims. "This is a money-making scheme within the system, and what management does is pacify the inmate by paying the bills," he said. Steve Sullivan of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime called it "another slap in the face" to victims saddled with a financial burden.

But advocates for inmates say that without the settlements costly lawsuits would be launched against the government for missing property. In addition, inmate unrest could lead to other problems.

Here’s a list of some of the claims accepted in 2003.

Prima TV remote control: $35
Samsung television: $100
Extension cord and black shorts: $13
Timex Ironman watch: $84.99
Stereo, clock radio and power bar: $100
Rolling papers, lighters and pouches of tobacco: $30.71
Track pants and sweatshirt: $198
Handmade jewelry boxes: $200
Single Bic lighter: $2
Computer cords, printer cables and voice recognition headset: $131.03
Air Jordans, Nike track pants, gym bag and other clothing: $365
Stereo: $287.55 Wallet with identification cards: $45
Here are some of the claims denied.
Star Trek key chain: $20
West Bend wok: $40
Diamond earrings: $699
Golden wedding band with diamond centre: $120
Eminem CD: $20.70
Seiko watch: $100
Computer: $547
Edmonton Oilers pillow cases, Edmonton Oilers fleece pants and Sunbeam kettle: $97.78
Hewlett Packard computer: $1,000
57 photos of wife and son: $117.75
Moustache trimmer: $20
Light bulbs for night light: $3

Prisons Install Research Computers for Inmates

Not all prisons are behind the times in what they make available to inmates who want to learn and perhaps expedite their release. This article comes from The Honolulu Advertiser:

Four Hawai'i prisons have installed legal research computers in their libraries as part of a technology upgrade to increase inmates' access to legal documents while reducing staff time spent researching legal texts. With the installation of the systems, prison libraries can eliminate the use of large, hardbound legal textbooks that take up space and have to be updated annually. All information is online and available for the inmates to search at their discretion.

"We thought we'd start out small and see how the program works and if it is effective," said Miles Murakami, the state Corrections Program Services administrator. Peter MacDonald, warden of the Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo said the system is in its infancy and that his staff is still working some of the bugs out. He said that the computers are facilitating inmates' efforts to educate themselves about the legal cases they face.

"We are a minimum-security facility, and we're program-intense," MacDonald said. "Inmates have more freedom to go to the law library and study their cases. The whole environment is conducive to inmates looking up their cases and studying the law."

The computers were installed in November at the Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo, the Kaua'i Community Correctional Facility, the Hawai'i Community Correctional Facility in Hilo, and the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua on O'ahu.

Facilities that use the database say the service from LexisNexis enables prisons to provide required access to legal information and do away with law books, which are more expensive, quickly outdated and easily damaged.

LexisNexis, based in Dayton, Ohio, has installed computer kiosks resistant to damage in four prisons and jails in Hawai'i and five in California. The kiosk consists of a touch-screen computer monitor covered in shatterproof glass inside a steel box bolted to a wall. Prisons had to be assured that the kiosks, manufactured by Touch Sonic Technologies in Santa Rosa, Calif., would not pose a danger of broken glass that could be used as a weapon. Touch Sonic Executives and prison officials in California tested the computers by hitting them with crowbars. None of the kiosks shattered, prison and company officials said.

In addition to being resistant to damage, the kiosks eliminate the time-consuming process of inserting printed updates into law books. Inmates navigate the database by touching different parts of the monitor screen, which includes a keypad. The Internet-based public records database provides access to more than 4.6 billion documents from more than 30,000 news, business and legal information sources. The service for the four Hawai'i prisons costs about $5,000 per unit, or about $20,000 a year. The systems cost about as much as the hard copy texts do, but Murakami said the savings come in the conservation of staff time.

"Also, these data bases are updated quarterly, rather than annually," Murakami said. The service for the five California correctional facilities costs $94,400 a year, which is less expensive than purchasing law books and other legal materials. Money inmates spend at prison commissaries for candy bars and other items is used to pay for the kiosks.

Touch Sonic approached LexisNexis about offering the service to inmates, and the two companies began selling the idea to prisons. The first kiosk was installed at a prison in Hawai'i in November.

"The prisoners who have tried the kiosk use it quite frequently, and most became experts in just a few minutes of use," said Harry Fuchigami, librarian at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua. "I use the system myself because it's much easier to look up statutes using the touch screen than it is with our books."

Charles Carbone, a lawyer with California Prison Focus, which advocates for prisoners' human rights, said the kiosks are a step in the right direction for ensuring access to quality legal materials. Since the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court has mandated that inmates have access to legal information. "It would probably address one of the problems plaguing prison law libraries; they are understaffed and undershelved," he said.

LexisNexis is negotiating with prisons and jails in five other states to install the kiosks. crimes.

Incarcerating the Elderly Has Its Costs and Critics

One problem with long prison sentences is that when people get old in prison they require special, costly care. The following report from Associated Press describes what is happening in Florida:

For the past 44 years, Dennis Whitney's life has been a metal bed with a three-inch mattress, steel bars and razor wire - hard time for an inmate who's grown old in prison for killing seven people when he was 17.

Whitney, now 61, sees his last chance at freedom with a parole commission meeting this fall, but he's been turned down time after time since he first became eligible after serving 30 years of his life sentence.

"If they turn me down, I'm just going to let the state take care of me the rest of my life," he said. "I'm well fed, well clothed and well taken care of."

Whitney's an example of Florida's rapidly aging prison population fueled by get-tough-on-crime programs and an increasing number of older people convicted of sex crimes and murder. Many serving life sentences or lengthy prison terms will die behind bars.

The mounting costs of housing an aging inmate population is a nationwide problem. By 2002, the most recent year statistics are available, 121,000 older inmates age 50 and over were imprisoned, more than twice as many as 10 years earlier, U.S. Justice Department statistics show.

"It's a hidden problem in the system that's going to grow into a dinosaur soon. The cost and numbers are getting out of hand," said Herb Hoetler, chief executive and co-founder of the National Institute on Institutions and Alternatives in Alexandria, Virginia.

The average cost of housing an inmate over age 60 is $70,000 nationally, more than three times the average cost of $22,000 to $25,000 for all prisoners, said John Mills, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Across the country, states are taking steps to rein in the costs of elderly inmates. At least 16 states, including Florida, have established separate facilities to house older inmates and many are offering hospice care for dying prisoners, according to a 2001 summary in Corrections Compendium, a journal of the American Corrections Institute. In Texas, an estimated 200 inmates over age 65 require around-the-clock nursing care. Nebraska offers nursing home living for some inmates and Oklahoma is setting up a prison unit for elderly inmates.

Florida's prison system has seen its age 50 and over inmate population increase more than 10 percent in the past year to 8,625, or more than 10 percent of the total prison population of more than 79,000. Prison officials say 74 percent of the state's elderly inmate population is incarcerated for violent offenses, with about 30 percent serving life sentences.

There is a debate in corrections circles as to what age should be considered elderly. The Florida corrections department uses age 50, arguing that an inmate ages faster than the average person on the outside. The Florida Corrections Commission, which provides oversight and makes budget and policy recommendations, has suggested increasing the age to 59 and over to give prisons officials a smaller, more manageable elderly population.

Unlike many older prisoners who come to prison late in life, Whitney landed on death row at age 17. Although he admits killing seven people, Whitney was sentenced to death for the February 1960 killing of Arthur Keeler, a Miami gas station attendant, and Virginia Selby, a 62-year-old grandmother from Hialeah.

After 12 years on death row and coming within two days of dying in the electric chair, his sentenced was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional.

Whitney said the state has paid for two angioplasty operations to clear narrowed or blocked blood vessels and he's in need of a third one. The first two surgeries cost nearly $9,000, corrections records show.

The cost of providing health care to prisoners is increasing dramatically, fueled by older inmates such as Whitney. In the past five years, the state's prison population has grown about 17 percent while medical costs have jumped nearly 26 percent from about $223 million in fiscal 1998-99 to more than $280 million in fiscal 2002-03.

Kidney failure, heart disease, lung cancer and other cancers are more prevalent among elderly inmates than among younger inmates, a House Corrections Committee report shows. To deal with the increasing number of elderly inmates and to try to reduce health care costs, the state prison system is opening special units at penitentiaries in Raiford, Zephyrhills, Miami, Lowell and Wakulla.

One of them is at Union Correctional Institution near Raiford, which also houses death row inmates. About 800 prison beds have been set aside for older inmates. Until this year, the department had only one designated prison for older inmates - River Junction Work Camp, which is next to the prison's mental hospital in Chattahoochee. Of the 480 inmates at River Junction, 370 prisoner are age 50 or over.

Reducing health case costs isn't the only benefit of housing hundreds of elderly inmates together, prison officials say. "If you add 800 older inmates to a very hard core prison, it seems to mature the population a lot and has a calming effect," Denman said.

An analysis of Florida's elderly inmates by The Associated Press using the corrections department's Web site shows that most of the inmates are imprisoned for sex crimes or murder. Of the inmates 80 and older, 20 of 42 prisoners, or about 48 percent, were imprisoned for sex crimes compared with 17, or 41 percent, for murder.

The state's oldest death row inmate is 76-year-old William Cruse, condemned for two of the six killings he committed on April 23, 1987, when he opened fire at two shopping centers in Palm Bay. Florida's oldest inmate is Daniel Sallade, a 90-year-old serving a 23-year sentence for three counts of sexual battery on a victim under 12.

Not everyone is happy with the plans to house older inmates together. Robert Doyle, a 67-year-old convicted killer serving a life sentence at Union Correctional, said many older inmates struggle to survive because "there is absolutely nothing for them to do."

"You see people go downhill. They actually give up," said Doyle, convicted in 1985 of murder and drug charges in Miami-Dade County. "This is a warehousing situation."

Doyle has served 19 years and maintains that he acted in self defense. Still, he doesn't know what he would do if he was ever released. "If I did leave early, where would I go?" he asked. "I'm comfortable here."

The following is another story about older inmates, this appearing in New Hampshire’s Portsmith Herald:

If 74-year-old Helen Garland is found guilty of assaulting her older sister Alice Keyho, she could face 10 to 30 years in prison - which could equate to a possible life sentence. Garland Hampton, has been in jail since her arrest March 26 on three counts of first-degree assault for allegedly beating Keyho repeatedly before the 85-year-old woman’s death.

She was transferred to the Hillsborough County Jail from the Rockingham County Jail because that jail is better equipped to handle female inmates. Prosecutors say age does not affect a decision of whether or not to charge a person they believe has committed a crime.

Age usually becomes an issue during the sentencing portion of a case. "Usually you start a case when you look at it, you immediately think, “Where do I want to end up in this case, what’s the point of prosecution?" Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said. "When you have someone who’s older, it becomes more pressing to decide where you want to end up with this case."

Defense attorneys with older clients usually ask the court to consider a person’s age in sentencing, Reams said. Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Delaney, who is prosecuting the Garland case, declined to comment on how, or if, age played a role in the pending charges against Garland.

A prisoner of Garland’s age is not as unusual as some might expect, according to state jail officials. A 78-year-old woman is currently serving a 10- to 20-year sentence in the state women’s prison in Goffstown, state prison spokesperson Jeff Lyons said.

For statistical purposes, anyone over 50 years old is considered an elderly inmate, Lyons said. "Fifty is an age in general when certain issues start happening no matter who you are," he said.

Of the 2,475 total inmates now in the state prison system, 13 percent are over the age of 50. "We don’t really treat them a lot differently than the general population inmates," he said. "Someone with a cane may be on the lower level."

Dr. Robert MacLeod, administrative director of medicine and forensic services for the state Department of Corrections, said the age demographics of the prison system are changing. Inmates who have been in jail on lengthy sentences are aging and younger inmates are getting longer sentences.

"The stereotypical young inmate is becoming someone who’s middle-aged or older than that," MacLeod said. "If we were to talk five years from now, we would even be talking about this to a greater extent."

The population of older women in the state prison system is growing more than the population of men, he said. Rockingham County Jail Superintendent Gene Charron said the county jail also has its share of older inmates. "We’ve had folks come in here after they’re sentenced in walkers and wheelchairs," he said.

MacLeod said he doesn’t know what to attribute the older population to, but added it is a societal issue. "Society is getting older, so you’re apt to get those individuals that are going to land in the prison or have been in the prison for a number of years," he said.

Along with the climbing age of the prison population comes associated medical issues. The state prison system has a budget of $7.5 million for medical costs, Lyons said. The average annual cost of incarcerating an inmate is $25,341, but medical issues can drive that number up dramatically. For example, the cost of dialysis for a handful of inmates who need the treatment is more than $200,000 per year alone.

The average daily cost of providing medical coverage per inmate is $8.70, MacLeod said. The state prison system is equipped to deal with older or ill inmates and has two, 24-hour infirmaries throughout the state. "We are able to accommodate acute-care illnesses to those that require a much longer stay," MacLeod said. "We’re able to accommodate those needs."

The prison medical ward is staffed with registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians. While they are able to deal with inmates who have issues requiring longer infirmary stays, many seriously ill inmates are transported outside for treatment. For example, there are inmates who leave the prison for chemotherapy, radiation or dialysis treatment. Five inmates are currently going through chemotherapy.

The top two medical issues facing inmates are cardiac and oncology. Of the inmates in treatment, 97 require observation on a regular basis through the chronic-care clinic. Those with respiratory illnesses number 318, high blood pressure comes in at 216, while 135 are listed with cardiac issues. A number of inmates - 56 - have seizure problems, which could be attributed to past drug use or other issues. One hundred ninety-nine inmates have Hepatitis C, while 12 have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS.

The Rockingham County Jail budget for medical expenses is about $1 million, Charron said. Regardless of age or social status, their medical tab is paid through the county budget once they enter the jail. For example, Social Security benefits, Medicare or veterans benefits are not paid while the person is in jail.

Charron has observed a number of older inmates arriving in worse health than in previous years. "Your drug culture is getting older and a lot of these individuals who had used and abused, it’s now caught up to them," he said. "But they’re still coming to jail and now they’re coming to us sicker. It’s a cycle, except that each time they come here, they’re a little bit older and a little bit sicker."

County jails do receive a discount from hospitals, which they previously were not given, Charron said.

Jail officials do not see an end in sight when it comes to issues of housing elderly inmates. They do believe the system will have to change to meet the needs of that population.

"I think we’re going to have to think of new and different ways to try and render the services inside the prison," MacLeod said. "That may mean we have more specialized housing down the road. We’re talking about that sort of thing today."

In some cases, jails are not able to accommodate older inmates. The case against Lewis Merchant, 76, who was arrested in August 2003 on assault charges, became a high-profile example. Merchant, who had been a resident at Haven Healthcare of the Seacoast in Hampton before his arrest, could not be accommodated in the county jail. He had a number of age-related illnesses, and was eventually transferred to the state hospital in Concord after Charron and Assistant Superintendent Al Wright spoke up.

"The intent and purpose of a jail is changing. We’re becoming more and more of a social-service agency," Charron said. "And we can’t provide the care an individual needs."

Charron said he doesn’t know how the issue will be addressed. "What do we see as a ray of hope? I don’t know what the answer is. Is there an answer? You’re going to own this no matter what," Charron said, referring to the cost of providing state services to uninsured older people or the mentally ill. "There’s no one that’s unscathed here."

Commission Aims To Reduce Inmate Population

To solve a problem you first have to recognize its existence. That appears to be happening in Alabama, according to this report from the Montgomery Advertiser:

A state commission that is reviewing Alabama's sentencing laws is looking at how other states send fewer people to prison for the personal use of marijuana. The Alabama Sentencing Commission figures that Alabama spends about $4 million a year locking up marijuana users who would not go to prison in many states. "Sending people to prison is not solving the drug problems. It's just creating an enormous financial burden on this state," said Circuit Judge David Rains of Fort Payne.

Rains, a circuit judge for 23 years, is a member of the commission that former Attorney General Bill Pryor got the Legislature to create in 2000. The commission is working on ways to make Alabama's sentencing laws fairer and to make sure sentences for similar crimes don't vary greatly from one part of the state to another.

The judges, prosecutors and state leaders on the commission say Alabama's drug laws need fixing, but they haven't been able to agree on changes that might fly with the Legislature and the public. They are beginning their work with marijuana.

"I can't remember anybody going to jail for pot in the last 15 years," said Richard Trodden, commonwealth attorney for Arlington County, Va., referring exclusively to possession cases. Virginia, like Alabama, treats dealers and traffickers more seriously. The first conviction for personal-use marijuana is a misdemeanor in Alabama. After that, possession becomes a felony no matter how small the quantity. About 1,000 people each year are convicted of felony possession in Alabama. Nearly 40 percent of these are sent to prison, according to Sentencing Commission statistics.

Several judges on the commission say they would prefer more options for drug users. Harsh prison sentences punish addicts, but don't appear to be stemming drug use. "If the deterrent factor would work, would we have as much drug use as we have in this country? Doesn't everybody know how tough the drug laws are in this country? They really do," Jefferson County District Judge Pete Johnson told The Birmingham News.

The commission has discussed trying to set a weight limit for misdemeanor personal use -- such as a pound -- but has reached no agreement. "I think going around saying you've got a pound of marijuana and it's a misdemeanor is not going to sell well in Alabama," Montgomery District Attorney Ellen Brooks said.

Other approaches have also been discussed. "I'm in favor of making marijuana possession one time or 10 times a misdemeanor," Rains said. In Kansas, the first and second drug arrests call for mandatory treatment, not prison. In Minnesota, drug possession usually must be combined with other crimes before a drug user goes to prison.

Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens said Alabama's laws are appropriate, no matter what other states do. "The worst problem with marijuana is the fact that if you ride in those circles, cocaine's going to be there, PCPs going to be there, the meth's going to be there," Owens said.

Any changes in Alabama's marijuana sentencing laws would require legislative approval. Johnson said he doubts the commission can agree on a recommendation this year.

Judge Threatens to Take Over Prison System

Going to court can sometimes lead to unexpected results. In the following story from Contra Costa Times, a judge says he will take over the California prison system if improvements are not made:

A U.S. District Court judge warned he is close to putting the California Department of Corrections under federal control, but he gave prison officials a final chance to fix grave problems with guard discipline. Judge Thelton Henderson expressed deep frustration with the department's decade-long inability to establish a credible employee disciplinary process.

"This is an extremely serious state of affairs," Henderson said. "I am seriously considering appointing a receiver to oversee the department." Henderson agreed, though, to allow the state to create the Office of Independent Review within the Office of Inspector General to track disciplinary cases. State officials announced the plan two weeks ago.

While issuing no formal orders, Henderson told the department to proceed. The judge said he would appoint a Southern California civil rights attorney, Michael Gennaco, to aid the department and to work with him. Gennaco heads the Office of Independent Review overseeing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The judge's involvement in the department began when prisoners alleging civil rights violations at Pelican Bay State Prison sued the department in the early 1990s. Henderson eventually appointed San Francisco attorney John Hagar as special master to investigate the department. Hagar probed the alleged perjury of Pelican Bay guards during the trial of two other guards convicted of abusing inmates. He concluded that former department director Edward Alameida stopped the perjury investigation under pressure from the guards' union.

Henderson said that he realizes the problem in creating effective discipline is in the state capital. "There are very, very serious problems that exist in Sacramento in areas of discipline."

The judge made it clear he is running out of time and patience as he waits for the department to comply with his orders to reform. "When this started I used to bound into court and go to the gym afterwards, and I didn't have any gray hair," said the 71-year-old judge. He slowly ascended to the bench by grabbing a rail and pulling himself up. Only his hope that Youth and Adult Corrections Secretary Roderick Hickman could change the department's culture kept him from taking over the department, Henderson said.

Hickman told Henderson in court that he believed the Office of Independent Review would have enough autonomy to work. Corrections officials also told the judge they intend to assign attorneys to disciplinary cases to improve enforcement of discipline.

The Times reported in its recent series "Uncivil Servants" that the department loses more than 40 percent of its disciplinary cases because it fails to act against guards within a legally required one-year period. The Times also reported that the State Personnel Board modifies appealed penalties in the department's favor more than 50 percent of the time.

Hickman said that he has ordered a "zero-tolerance policy" on the so-called code of silence that guards use to protect each other and to thwart investigations. "I am openly admitting that (the code) exists," said Hickman, a former warden.

Two state senators who held hearings on the department in January have introduced legislation for a guard code of conduct that would force more cooperation with investigators.

One critic was skeptical of the likelihood of change. When an inmate recently died of self-imposed starvation at Corcoran State Prison, 40 guards, citing union lawyers, refused to speak with investigators, said Don Specter of the Prison Law Office, which represents inmates. Breaking the code of silence is going to be quite difficult, he said.

Hagar said the department must create a culture that allows officers to say "I can tell the truth here."

Work on the Office of Independent Review will begin immediately, officials said. Henderson said he intends to speak with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's legal secretary about it and would not hesitate to talk to the governor himself. Henderson will watch the office closely, said Steve Fama, another Prison Law Office attorney. "This is absolutely the last chance." Henderson scheduled a hearing next month to update the department's progress.

Music Project in Prison Gets Rave Review

Shakespeare called music the food of love. In a notorious prison in England, it seems to have worked its magic in calming things down, according to this story from South London Press:

The turnaround in fortunes of the once infamous Brixton prison has been recognised by the high officials, who no longer classify it as a failing prison. Brixton has been awarded level two status in the latest prison performance table, having been deemed a level one establishment that was failing to provide a secure, ordered or decent regime just four months earlier.

Now the prison has been recognised for having improved staff shortages and the length of time inmates spend out of their cells. The Home Office has acknowledged the huge amount of hard work that has been put in by staff and organisations that work within the prison walls to provide purposeful activity and guidance for its 800 inmates.

Prison Service Director General Phil Wheatley said he was delighted Brixton was no longer regarded as a failing institution. He said: "This is a tremendous achievement, particularly in the light of a growing prison population. I am particularly pleased that Brixton, under the strong leadership of governor John Podmore, has successfully addressed staff shortages in many areas and is beginning to move towards a sustained improvement. Indeed, we are seeing real improvement, enabling us to increase the numbers of prisoners gaining qualifications and thus reducing the risk of re-offending."

Brixton prison played host to a special concert inside its Victorian chapel. The event was the culmination of a week-long workshop for 13 inmates who had worked with the Irene Taylor Trust 'Music In Prisons' project to compose, play and perform their own material in front of an audience of families, prison staff and invited guests.

Consider Alan Phillips, who can sing like a soul legend. He is blessed with an incredible voice. But Alan's brilliance did not emerge at an audition for Pop Idol. Nor did talent scouts seek him out on the local club circuit. The natural performer was discovered in the wings of Brixton prison.

Alan was one of 13 inmates to take part in this special Music in Prisons project. In just over one week, the men had to write, compose and rehearse their own material ahead of two performances inside the prison walls. The results were incredible.

Working with five Music in Prisons workshop project leaders and musicians from the Irene Taylor Trust, including a trainee from Goldsmiths College, the men pulled off what eight days before must have seemed an impossible feat - the jailhouse was rocked.

Each man put his heart and soul into the performance, which spanned a broad range of musical genres including R'n'B, ska, roots and rock. Each overcame the immense nerves of singing live to deliver a fantastic set in front of what could be described as one of the hardest audiences of all -- fellow inmates.

Alan had been released before the two concerts but, along with the others, he was so committed to the project he returned to support his fellow singers and deliver a performance that was truly awesome.

The men drew on their own experiences to pen lyrics for their songs. There were songs about life inside, dreams of freedom and escaping lives of crime. But the most common theme was love. The performers weren't ashamed to sing it loud. In fact, when Dare Santana stood in front of the microphone about to sing a song about his mother, and the backing musicians launched into a driving African-influenced track, there was not a single person in the Victorian chapel who was not moved.

Alan Phillips might have been the voice of the 12 men. But Devante McCoy was up there, too, his soulful performance sounding like a latter-day Marvin Gaye. There was emotion in every single song and the crowd was feeling it.

It is unfair to single out particular singers because each performance was of the highest quality and every man shone under the stage lights. So Richard Bowers, Winston Brown, Norris Campbell, Gabriel Castaneda, Brad Collins, Mark Falconer, Devante McCoy, Olutayo Ogedengbe, Alan Phillips, Dare Santana, Victor Sarria and Wais Zarifi take a bow - because in just eight days you pulled off a performance to be proud of.

Governor John Podmore has promised to let the Irene Taylor Trust Music in Prisons project return to Brixton as part of the jail's education and rehabilitation programme.

Prisons Chief Wants Fewer Prisoners

There is a common myth that people who run prisons feel insecure about their jobs and want more prisoners. In this Associated Press report, that myth is challenged:

Pennsylvania State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard urged legislators to support a bill that would allow judges to sentence hundreds of nonviolent criminals to drug or alcohol treatment programs instead of the prison terms they now must serve.

Beard told the Senate Appropriations Committee the bill would help alleviate increasingly crowded conditions in Pennsylvania's prisons and enhance public safety by reducing the chances that the offenders will commit another crime. It also would save taxpayers' money.

Even after subtracting the cost of the treatment, diverting 1,500 inmates–the estimated maximum likely to qualify–into the proposed program would save as much as $40 million a year, he said.

"We can put (that money) into proven prevention programs like early-childhood education, tutoring programs, teen-pregnancy programs," Beard said, "or we can give more money to the police to make more certain that people who commit crimes in Pennsylvania are caught."

The Corrections Department's $1.4 billion budget request–a 3 percent increase from this year–was the official focus of the hearing. But the senators quizzed Beard on subjects as diverse as boot camps for young offenders, the high cost of caring for the growing population of inmates older than 50 and the prospect of reactivating the Pittsburgh prison after it closes in early 2005.

But Beard repeatedly steered the discussion back to the alternative-sentencing bill sponsored by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery. "It is really important that we do something here," he said, "because 70 percent of the people that are coming in our front door have a drug or alcohol problem. That's probably one of the biggest things that's helping drive crime in our state."

The state inmate population has mushroomed, from about 21,000 in 1990 to nearly 41,000 now, as lawmakers have enacted tougher criminal laws and longer sentences. The current population exceeds the 26 prisons' capacity by 19 percent.

"Nationwide, the average inmate serves about 2 ½ years," Beard said. "In Pennsylvania, the average inmate serves over 5 ½ years. That's the highest in the nation."

By far the fastest-growing segment of the inmate population comprises criminals convicted of the least serious crimes, many of whom have drug and alcohol problems. Greenleaf's bill targets those in that group who have no record of violent behavior, did not use a deadly weapon in committing their crime and were not convicted of a crime involving personal injury to the victim.

If the prosecutor requests it, a judge could send the convict to the Corrections Department for an evaluation of whether he or she would benefit from the program. Those who are approved would undergo 15 to 24 months of treatment, including an initial six months in prison followed by participation in a community-based treatment program and finally an outpatient program.

Those who fail to complete the program or are expelled could be sentenced to the mandatory minimum prison term or up to the maximum sentence, upon request by the prosecutor.

Currently, drug treatment is a sentencing alternative only for defendants facing time in county jails. Greenleaf's bill would allow state inmates to be diverted into such programs, said Gregg Warner, the senator's legal counsel.

Beard, a career corrections official first appointed to run the state prison system in 2001 by then-Gov. Tom Ridge and reappointed by Gov. Ed Rendell last year, said research shows that the length of a prison term is less important in deterring crime than the certainty of punishment–“the fact that something happens to somebody, not how long somebody is necessarily punished."

How Politicians’ Bad Laws Tap Public Sentiment

Politicians are often desperate to win or remain in office. They therefore frequently act to exploit public sentiment, as the following editorial from St. Petersburg Times reveals: The Legislature seems determined to use a disturbing, high-profile case to make bad public policy. The case of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose tragic slaying by a man who was on the streets despite having violated his probation, has led to loud calls for a change in how probationers are treated.

The danger is that in the push to respond to Carlie's abduction and murder, irresponsible lawmaking will result. One of the more troubling proposals is a bill drafted and unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee (HB 1801) that would impose a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence on certain probationers who violate the terms of their probation.

The bill is narrowed somewhat, in that it would apply only to people who have been convicted of a forcible felony, such as murder, sexual battery, aggravated assault, or carjacking, and there would be an exception for any probationer who has fallen behind on court-ordered payments. But the measure could impact tens of thousands of ex-convicts who would be returned to prison for missing an appointment with their probation officer or failing a drug test.

Under the bill, the only way a five-year prison sentence could be avoided is if a judge determines in writing that the probationer is no danger to the community. It isn't likely that many of Florida's elected state court judges would be willing to stick their necks out this way.

To get a sense of how many additional inmates this may add to the state's prisons, the Department of Corrections recently drug tested 62 percent of probationers - conducting 95,000 tests - and 29,000 came back positive.

As of the beginning of the year there were 150,000 people on probation and of those, 56,000 were under investigation for probation violations. Of course, not all of these probationers have forcible felonies in their background - the state doesn't have those numbers available - but many of them probably do.

Whether to return a probationer to prison for a violation and for how long is a judgment based on individual facts and circumstances - which is how a criminal justice system should operate. The mandatory minimums under consideration in the Legislature would strip judges of this discretion and dispense one-size-fits-all justice.

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami. In Villalobos' version (SB 2284), probationers with a forcible felony in their background would be returned to prison for a minimum of five years if they commit another offense - not just a probation violation. But the new crime can be anything, including minor misdemeanor offenses.

There doesn't seem to be much political will in the Legislature to address the practical and policy problems with these bills. Carlie's murder has created a momentum to pass something to punish probationers, even if that means clogging our courts and prisons with people who have already served their sentences and diminishing the independence of the state's judiciary.

New Corrections Head Stresses Improvements

Most top prison officials want a smooth-running system. Here’s how one new head of a state corrections department expects to accomplish it, according to this Boston Globe story:

Kathleen M. Dennehy, the new commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, says she borrowed one idea for improving the state prison system from Filene's. "When you walk into the lobby of a state prison on a visit, you should be able to know who the superintendent is, who the shift commander is," said Dennehy, walking around her desk at the state Correction Department headquarters to show off a prototype for new lobby signs that will be posted in each of the state's 18 prisons.

On a 3-by-2-foot steel panel were pictures of three Correction Department managers, along with their names and ranks, much in the way that Filene's, Stop & Shop, and other retail outlets post the names of managers, she said. Dennehy, 49, who was named by Governor Mitt Romney last month to take one of the state's largest bureaucracies in a new direction, said the lobby signs are just the start.

During an interview that stretched past 9 p.m., Dennehy ticked off a half-dozen changes she plans to make to create a "smarter, more humane" prison system. The crisis that resulted when defrocked priest John J. Geoghan was killed in his cell is expected to throw open the windows and let fresh air into a prison system largely closed off to the public and styled after Governor William F. Weld's 1990 campaign promise to reintroduce inmates to the "joys of busting rocks."

Leslie Walker, the head of a legal rights advocacy group for prisoners and a leading critic of the Department of Correction, said that Dennehy is attempting "a huge cultural shift and the introduction of accountability."

Has Walker been won over by Dennehy's planned changes? "I'm cautiously very optimistic," said Walker, who as executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services missed no opportunity after Geoghan's death to point out the shortcomings of the state prison system.

In addition to the prototype lobby signs in her office, Dennehy broke out a box of name plates, saying that every one of the more than 230 managers in the system will soon be required to wear one. The lobby signs and name plates will help ensure greater accountability, putting the names and sometimes the faces of managers out there for everyone from inmates to visitors to see, Dennehy said.

Those changes may show that Dennehy is attentive to customer service. But, as Walker noted, the commissioner is not "fluffy." One of the first orders she gave on the job was to strip more than 50 top managers of their state cars. Now, only eight managers, including Dennehy, have the right to drive their state cars home at night. The keys to the other vehicles were returned to the car pool or turned over to parole officers "more in need of the cars," she said.

Dennehy also set about to overhaul the department's regulations on disciplining inmates, and she surprised many prisoner advocates by inviting them to participate in the process. Prior to Dennehy's arrival, the advocates had been busy fighting off a Department of Correction move under her predecessor to bar all but a few from any access to prisoner disciplinary hearings.

Steve Kenneway, president of the 4,000-member prison guards union, said he is wary of Dennehy's efforts. "You can't tell me the whole system is broken because Geoghan got murdered," said Kenneway, who wants hundreds of additional correction officers to be hired to improve security.

Dennehy arrived at the top post in the $430 million, 5,000-employee prison system well-versed in its challenges. A 28-year employee, she had been acting commissioner since Dec. 1, when Romney removed Michael T. Maloney as commissioner in the fallout after Geoghan's murder.

Geoghan, 68, whose alleged abuse of minors helped trigger the clergy sexual abuse scandal, was killed in a unit of the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a facility reserved for the most violent inmates. He was transferred there last year without adequate cause after being harassed and abused by guards in a medium-security prison, according to the findings of a three-member team of investigators empaneled by Romney last year. Authorities say that Geoghan was beaten and strangled by Joseph L. Druce, an inmate known as one of the system's most troubled and violent individuals.

Dennehy had served for several years as Maloney's top deputy, although Dennehy acknowledged in the interview that she and Maloney were often on a different wavelength. Just before Romney offered her the commissioner's job, Governor Craig Benson of New Hampshire asked Dennehy to take over that state's corrections system.

College Students Form Group to Aid Inmates

Many college campuses in America feature organizations that are seeking to help men and women in prison. The following article from Yale Daily News describes one such group:

Due to the efforts of Yale student Naasiha Siddiqui and a group of like-minded activists focused on prison reform, many prison inmates will soon have access to an assortment of intellectually stimulating literature.

Siddiqui is leading the effort to establish a Yale chapter of Books Through Bars, a national organization that answers prisoners' requests for books by sending them what the group's Web site calls, "quality reading material."

Siddiqui said her personal philosophies were a motivation for starting the new group. "I don't think that by sending people to prison we can change their ways," she said. "What would be helpful would be to have education within prisons. I think it's important to establish education and dialogue within the prison system."

Although there are only seven or eight students in the group now -- mostly members of the Student Legal Action Movement (SLAM) -- Siddiqui said the group hopes to expand.

Student Sarah Stillman, who is co-coordinator of SLAM, said her experience with prison tutoring has convinced her of the need for programs like Books Through Bars. "I tutor in a prison where most inmates have very little access to any forms of intellectual stimulation," Stillman said. "One of the most obvious steps to acknowledge that inmates have minds is just to provide them with books."

The idea for a Yale chapter of Books Through Bars stemmed from Siddiqui's volunteer work in Philadelphia during a semester off. Siddiqui said the Philadelphia chapter of Books Through Bars receives almost 1,000 letters a week from prisoners, and is completely overwhelmed. Starting next week, the Yale chapter will be receiving approximately 25 of Philadelphia's letters per week to help alleviate some of the burden.

Siddiqui said Yale was a great place to start something like a social action-motivated book drive."It's just to help people in the prison community," she said. "And we definitely have a lot of extra books lying around."

Larger social problems had exacerbated the need for programs like Books Through Bars, Siddiqui said. "The prison population has doubled since the 1980s while funds for education have been slashed. Now a lot of corporations are profiting from putting people in prison."

Although the New Haven Book Bank will donate to the cause, Siddiqui said many more donations will be needed. Books Through Bars will be setting up a donation box in Dwight Hall, as well as one in each residential college and possibly one in the Hall of Graduate Studies.

Activists Around Country Seek Felon Voting Rights

Depending on where inmates choose to live when they exit prison, they may lose their right to vote. Fortunately, this situation may change, according to the following report from United Press International:

Mike Suza looks like any other white, middle-class professional. Barrel-chested and well dressed, he walks with the aggressive purpose of a monied stockbroker.

But Suza is a convicted felon. Although raised in a middle-class home in Rhode Island, a cocaine habit finally got the best of him and in 1995, when he was 28, he robbed the coffee shop where he was working. Now 36 and sober, he works construction and attends AA meetings.

But he has a greater desire he's unable to satisfy: voting. "I'd like to believe I have half a brain and can make a difference," says Suza. "But in terms of the political process, I'm like the living dead."

Suza is part of a growing demographic, one of more than 4 million disenfranchised felons or ex-felons. Only 26 percent of those barred from voting because of a felony conviction are in jail. The rest have reentered society, and many are employed and raising families. Some are on parole or probation; some have completed all their obligations, but are banned from the polls for life. Thirteen states strip a convicted felon of his voting rights for life.

Omari Steuben, 25, tells a not-unfamiliar story. Growing up poor and black, he sold drugs to get by. He got caught, went to jail, and now he's piecing together a new life. He works at the neighborhood recreation center, and has resisted the temptation to supplement that income by selling drugs.

Does it bother him that he can't vote? He shakes his head: "I'm just concerned about survival." For an ex-felon living in a poor neighborhood, survival can be a full-time job. But across the country, grassroots organizations and prison-tested ex-convicts are trying to ease that burden by helping ex-felons reclaim their political voice through the vote.

A Harris Interactive Survey found that more than 80 percent of Americans believe that ex-felons should have their voting rights reinstated, and 62 percent support voting rights for parolees -- but trying to translate a passive American opinion into concrete legislative reform is not easy.

Malik Aziz was just trying to survive as a young black man in Philadelphia in 1988. In high school he was president of the black student union, and a two-sport athlete. But by his 30s, selling drugs had become his livelihood, until he got busted in a raid.

In prison, he saw a steady stream of men losing their youth, and their right to vote. With still two years left on his sentence, Aziz started the Ex-Offender's Association, and when he was released in 1997, it grew into a powerful movement for ex-convict rehabilitation. He volunteered for Philadelphia mayoral candidate John Street's campaign, and when Street won, Aziz was given a job in the administration running a program called Safer Streets, Safer Communities.

At the time, Aziz still couldn't vote, since Pennsylvania didn't reinstate an ex-felon's voting rights until five years after finishing parole. "People were working, paying taxes, but they couldn't vote," Aziz says. "It was taxation without representation."

He and several other ex-felons sued the state and won, and the five-year ban was struck down. In 2003, when Street ran for reelection, Aziz created a new target voter group: ex-cons. Their tactics were simple. They sought out ex-offenders where they were most likely to congregate -- in halfway houses and on street corners -- and convinced them to register to vote.

By Election Day, Aziz and his corps of 30 field workers registered 20,000 ex-offenders, and Street was reelected mayor.

Dorsie Nunn and his Oakland, Calif.-based ex-felon advocacy organization, All Of Us Or None, take an aggressive approach to expanding the debate on felon disenfranchisement. He aims to create situations where ex-felons can speak directly to politicians and policymakers, rather than through the proxy of an expert or a commission. When his organization is invited to attend a discussion of ex-felon related issues in Sacramento, the state capital, he encourages ex-felons and their families to go instead.

"A lot of times, the lawyers, researchers and policy wonks don't want to talk to ex-offenders, they'd rather talk to a commission," says Nunn. "But it's like talking about slavery without talking to the slaves!"

Other organizations, such as the Mississippi-based Citizens for Quality Education, have to make allowances for a more conservative political climate. "I see some of the types of political actions out there in California," says executive director Ellen Reddy, "but if we tried to do that here in Mississippi, we'd all be thrown in jail."

Reddy's organization provides counseling and legal support to young students who get in trouble in order to "prevent the march from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse," as Reddy puts it. For behaving badly in school, Mississippi youth can be sent to boot camp-style juvenile rehabilitation centers, where the kids mix with hardened criminals, creating new classes of potential convicts before they are even of voting age.

Reddy feels a special urgency to achieve reforms in Mississippi, for its conservative bent lends it a bellwether credibility that more progressive states lack. Says Reddy, "We need reforms here, cause as Mississippi goes, so goes the nation."

A common question is whether ex-felons would vote if they could. Many don't vote before they go to jail, so why would they when they get out?

Robin Templeton, executive director of the New York-based Right to Vote Campaign, conducted dozens of focus group interviews with inmates, and found there's reason to believe they would. "Prison is a politicizing experience in and of itself," Templeton says. "Some people find God and religion, others find politics."

Given that the majority of ex-cons are blacks and Latinos, populations that vote overwhelmingly Democratic, why doesn't the Democratic Party push legislation that would reduce some of the harshest restrictions on ex-felons' voting rights?

Fear of reaffirming the Democratic Party's reputation as being soft on crime certainly limits enthusiasm. But many activists aren't interested in cajoling the Democratic Party into a round of political opportunism either. "As an ex-prisoner, I can't say the Democratic Party's been good to me," declares Dorsie Nunn, referring to former California governor Gray Davis' close ties to the prison guards union.

Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, believes felon disenfranchisement is best framed as a bipartisan issue of democracy. "At a time when there is such low voter turnout, we should be expanding the electorate, not excluding people," Mauer says.

Although opinion polls show that Americans support the lifting of bans and harsh restrictions on ex-felon voters, the issue lacks the political will to move reforms forward swiftly and decisively.

As long as middle-class white guys with felony convictions like Mike Suza are the random anecdote, and black men from poor neighborhoods like Omari Steuben are the common face of the disenfranchised, reforms will be slow moving. For underpinning their stories is the same racism that convicts blacks at a higher rate than whites.

Perhaps no one understands this better than Ellen Reddy, who, in confronting the conservatism of Mississippi, faces a decidedly uphill battle. For Reddy, attempts at legal reforms are pointless unless they are accompanied by a grassroots campaign to win over the hearts and minds of the Mississippi public. Says Reddy, "It's not about changing a situation in particular; it's about changing the culture."

Abusive Laws and Harmful Law Enforcers

One reason that the United States has the largest incarceration rate of any civilized country is that we have overly-broad laws and out of control police and prosecutors, says author Paul Craig Roberts. He explains his position in the following essay:

Law and order continues its rapid collapse in the United States, not only because of criminals but also because of prosecutors and police. Those declining crime rates you have been hearing about might be nothing but public relations propaganda.

On February 20 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that an audit released that day concludes that Atlanta crime reports have been suppressed in order to protect the city’s image for tourism. Before you decide to avoid Atlanta or any big city, know that one reason crime is exploding is the over-criminalization of behavior.

Today a woman who pushes away a male who is annoying her can be arrested for assault. A school child can be arrested for eating on public transportation. You can even be arrested for using politically incorrect words or phrases.

Two Alabama seafood importers are currently serving eight years in prison because lobsters that they imported from Honduras arrived in plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes, and 3 percent of the lobsters were one-half inch too short in length. Moreover, the cardboard/size regulations were Honduran, not American, and have been overturned in Honduras.

Many Americans refuse to believe that US law enforcement would put Americans in prison for such flimsy reasons, but the case is now before the US Supreme Court.

Many of the worst crimes are committed by police and prosecutors themselves. On February 12, Congress released a transcript that shows that FBI agents protected their mob informants from indictments, helped mobster gunmen to murder their rivals, and then framed innocent men for the murders.

And this was 40 years ago when honor and integrity were still words with meaning. Today law enforcement integrity has hit rock bottom. Steven and Marlene Aisenberg reported their five-month year old daughter missing on Nov. 24, 1997. Instead of looking for the baby and the abductor, the police in Hillsborough County, Florida, decided to frame the parents. Police eavesdropped on the couple’s conversations for two years, wrote out a transcript allegedly based on the recordings and indicted the couple.

When federal district judge Steven D. Merryday demanded the actual recordings and compared them with the police transcript, he found "the disparity was shocking." Judge Merryday ordered $2.7 million to the Aisenbergs for "bad faith prosecution" and ordered the grand jury transcript released to the public as a way of holding the corrupt police and prosecutors accountable. To protect themselves, "law enforcement" appealed. The 11th Circuit appeal panel reduced the award to $1.3 million and overturned the district judge’s order to release the grand jury transcript.

If the transcript is released, "law enforcement" cannot pretend that the wrongful prosecution of the parents was a mistake. The appeal panel evidently decided that a whitewash was needed in order to protect the public’s confidence in law enforcement.

Police and prosecutors are increasingly aggressive and unaccountable. Recently, police in Columbus, Georgia, blew out Kenneth Walker’s brains with a submachine gun, leaving his widow with a three-year old child. Walker, an insurance manager, was in a SUV with friends, a Columbus high school basketball coach and a probation officer. Their vehicle was mistaken for that of a drug dealer, and that was the end of Kenneth Walker’s life.

Last December the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit forcefully ordered the release of Thomas Lee Goldstein, wrongfully convicted for murder 24 years ago. A California state court has also thrown out the murder conviction. The only evidence against Mr. Goldstein was a notorious jailhouse fink, appropriately named Edward F. Fink, who on nine occasions testified for prosecutors against cellmates, claiming they had confessed their crimes to him. In exchange for his testimony, Fink received leniency on numerous felony convictions.

Americans should be outraged that they live under a criminal system in which prosecutors are able to convict people on the sole basis of purchased perjury. The Los Angeles County district attorney is defying both the state and federal courts, claiming that he is going to retry Goldstein and refusing bail on the grounds that he would run away. Be prepared to read a news report that Goldstein, after confessing his guilt to another paid jailhouse snitch, committed suicide in his cell.

The federal appeals court has ordered a federal district judge to determine whether the Los Angeles district attorney is guilty of contempt of court for refusing to comply with the order to release Goldstein. Of course the DA is in contempt. He should be promptly arrested. The corrupt police and prosecutors who framed Mr. Goldstein should be indicted and put on trial.

But it won’t happen. The purpose of "criminal justice" is to protect the government, not the innocent public. In the meantime, smile no matter what the provocation as you undergo airport security screening. You can now be arrested for "having an attitude."

A snide remark can get you placed on a "no fly" list for life. Be very careful what you have in your luggage as fines have been instituted for "inappropriate items." That decision is a subjective one at the screeners discretion. According to USA today, a bride recently drew a $150 fine for having a wedding gift in her baggage: a silver cake server.

Expect no consistency. Just because you clear one airport with an item, don’t expect the next screener to have the same view. The brand new Transportation Security Agency has already turned fighting terrorism into the business of robbing the public. Whatever you do, don’t get mad. You will be arrested for disturbing the peace and carted off to jail.

Prisoners Win Right to Vote in Canada

While inmates in the United States who exit prison often do not have the right to vote, in Canada the situation is different. There, even incarcerated long-termers can vote, as this story from CNEWS reveals:

Federal inmates will be casting ballots behind bars in the upcoming election. Elections Canada has laid out a new process to have prisons double as polling stations in the wake of a 2002 Canada Supreme Court ruling that said denying inmates a vote violated their constitutional rights. The judgment threw out an Elections Act provision that barred convicted criminals -- including serial killers, rapists and robbers -- the right to help choose the next government.

Barbara Hill, director of policy development for the John Howard Society of Canada, said awarding prisoners the ability to exercise their "fundamental right" will aid in their rehabilitation. But Sharon Rosenfeldt, whose teenage son Daryn was brutally murdered by serial killer Clifford Olson, said people give up certain rights when they commit a serious crime.

"It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm appalled," Rosenfeldt said. "He took my child's life. That separates him from other citizens of Canada who do have the right to vote. My son had the fundamental right to live, and he took that right."

Conservative MP Vic Toews believes parliamentarians, not Supreme Court justices, should make the decision on prisoners' voting privileges. Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Police Association, believes the deterrent effect of prison is eroded when convicted criminals are given the same rights as those on the street. "There are limits. You're convicted, you're going to jail. I don't want them to be treated like slaves, but there are some rights that should be suspended," Cannavino said.

All inmates, 18 years or older, serving federal sentences of two or more years are eligible to vote in the next election. There are currently 12,044 male inmates and 395 females at federal penitentiaries. An inmate can vote for candidates in the jurisdiction where he lived before being incarcerated, where he was arrested, or where he was convicted and sentenced.

Prisoners vote on the 10th day before election day at a polling station set up within their institution. Each polling station will have a complete list of candidates. Inmates register by filling out an application for a special ballot, which is then validated by a liaison officer. Each voter must sign a declaration that they haven't voted yet and won't attempt to vote again. They must also verify their identity.

Poll Shows How Public Feels About Prisons

Politicians study public opinion polls to determine which way the winds are blowing, and to act accordingly. Here’s the results of a survey conducted in Connecticut known as the UConn Poll, as reported by Bee Newspaper:

A public opinion poll on state prison crowding has found that a majority of those queried support relaxing mandatory minimum sentences, as well as providing alternatives to incarceration for the mentally ill and for drug offenders. The poll further found that a majority of those questioned believe that the state should not spend more money on sending prisoners out-of-state or to construct new state prisons to relieve overcrowding.

The recent UConn Poll was based on a sample of 601 state residents. The sampling error is plus/minus four percent.

Newtown is the home of Garner Correctional Institution, a state high-security prison on Nunnawauk Road. Garner is becoming the state's prime prison for inmates with serious mental health problems.

According to the polling results, 51 percent of the respondents oppose increased spending to send inmates to out-of-state prisons to relieve state prison overcrowding, while 45 percent of respondents support such spending. The poll found that 53 percent of respondents oppose constructing more prisons in Connecticut, while 43 percent support doing so.

Also, 60 percent of respondents oppose constructing prisons in their hometowns, while 38 percent would support it. According to the poll, residents strongly support alternatives to imprisonment for the mentally ill, for substance abusers, and for parolees as a way to deal with the overcrowding issue.

Of those polled, 30 percent of respondents consider prison overcrowding a "very serious" issue. As alternatives to imprisonment, 89 percent of those responding favor sending nonviolent mentally ill offenders to mental health facilities instead of prison to reduce prison overcrowding, according to the poll.

In the poll, 84 percent support replacing prison sentences with mandatory drug treatment and probation for people convicted of nonviolent illegal drug use. Of those polled, 61 percent favor relaxing mandatory minimum sentences for first-time offenders to reduce prison overcrowding, while 33 percent oppose it.

In the query, 51 percent of the respondents oppose giving judges more flexibility in imposing reduced sentences to cut prison overcrowding; 45 percent support doing so. Of those polled, 41 percent listed prisoner rehabilitation as the prime goal of imprisonment; 24 percent list punishment as the prime goal; 22 percent see incarceration primarily as protection for society, while 9 percent say that imprisonment should primarily be a deterrent to others.

Among those queried, 52 percent of respondents say that prisoners have too many rights. In the poll, respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "In most cases, efforts to rehabilitate nonviolent prisoners are a waste of time and money." In response, 69 percent disagreed and 27 percent agreed.

Learning in Prison Called Essential

There is growing recognition that inmates need to be given opportunities to learn while serving their sentence. The following editorial by Sean T. Parker, a political science major in Cincinnati elaborates on this point:

Recidivism is defined as to return to a previous pattern of behavior, especially to return to criminal habits.

There is an old, old saying, "If you do the crime, you must pay the time." The saying falls short when referring to what happens next. I will be the first to agree that criminals should be punished for the crimes that they commit. If you steal, you should be punished. If you kill, you should be punished.

Everyone has the right of due process under the law and once a person is found guilty, they should go to jail and pay their debt to society. But, what is happening to these people when they go to jail? The conditions in most jails provide an environment where one has to lie, cheat and steal to get by in the conditions in which they are forced to live.

Prisoners spend far too much time on survival and too little on reform. There should be more programs that provide prisoners with counseling and drug and alcohol addiction treatments. There should be programs that teach inmates how to read, write, and learn.

There should also be job training that goes along with the jail sentence. If you didn't have a skill before, you should have one or two on the way out.

That is the way it should be. But inmates are forced to act like criminals in order survive in today's jails. Once they are out, it is very difficult to do the right thing for numerous reasons. Most employers won't hire an ex-felon, even if he or she is reformed.

Many ex-felons go into jail and come out of jail without a skill to provide them with a source of income, so they are forced to go back to a life of crime.

Yes, I’ll admit that criminals must be punished, and that the punishment should fit the crime. But, once a person has paid his debt to society by spending time behind bars, it is the state's obligation to train him so that he or she goes in the right direction.

I'm sure I will get emails complaining of this issue being an individual problem and not a state problem and I'll tell you right now... you're wrong. We all pay more for not working together to help those who have fallen off of the ship to get back on.

Prison Union Wants Factories for Inmates

There is ongoing controversy concerning the operation of factories in prisons that employ inmates at sub-minimum wages. In the following story from U.S. Newswire, the head of a large union representing prison staff speaks in favor of keeping the Federal Prisons Industries, which proposed legislation threatens to abolish:

Philip W. Glover, president of the National Council of Prison Locals of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), urged Congress to reject legislation that would seriously undermine the work and skills-building programs available to inmates in federal prisons. The bill, S. 346, would rescind federal contracting preferences for Federal Prisons Industries -- UNICOR, a program created in 1934 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Glover explained: "Our job as correctional professionals is to keep the public safe from convicted felons, to run prisons in a humane way, and to try to give inmates a chance to become productive citizens.”

Glover continued: "This is our key argument against any legislation that would eliminate the Federal Prisons Industries program: the inmates who work in it are less prone to get into trouble..."

Because FPI-UNICOR is forbidden to sell goods to entities other than the federal government, S. 346 could herald the end of a program that has served the interests of the American public for some 70 years.

In addition to creating a productive environment for inmates, the program reduces recidivism and creates jobs well beyond the prison gates through subcontracts awarded to hundreds of small businesses that manufacture parts for the goods assembled by inmate workers. "No one knows better than federal corrections officers how to create a safer environment in our federal prisons," said AFGE National President John Gage. "We oppose this legislation because it will increase the risk faced by the officers who, every day, keep the American people safe from the criminals who live behind prison walls."

"The Federal Prison Industries (FPI) program is sound policy with a proven record," Glover added. "Within high-security prisons, idle hands truly are the devil's tools. Inmates occupied with skills-building work are less likely to commit crimes behind bars, and less likely to commit crimes once they are released."

"Once the contracts currently filled by Federal Prison Industries are farmed out to the big contractors, a ripple effect will be felt throughout the American economy," Gage continued. "In Pennsylvania today, for instance, FPI pumps some $78 million back into local communities through contracts for supplies and shipping. Small businesses create more jobs than the Fortune 500 combined, and those that rely on contracts from FPI will likely be forced to shut their doors. That's one way to keep an economic recovery jobless."

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

The following is a related story from Gannett News Service:

When someone is serving 15 years in prison and living in a cell the size of a walk-in closet, time can crawl by. But Keith Graves, busy at a print shop at the Petersburg, Va., federal penitentiary, said the job helps his prison stint go smoothly. Plus, he can send money to his 8-year-old girl, LaKeisha.

"It's helped me support my daughter," said Graves, 37, who is in prison on federal drug charges. "I can send her extra stuff for Christmas."

Along with the outcry over U.S. jobs being "outsourced" or moved overseas, some lawmakers also complain that prison industries are a threat to American workers.

Supporters say the prison industries program –a government corporation that uses the trade name Unicor–teaches inmates job skills and keeps them active so they do not fight with corrections officers and other inmates. Despite these benefits, Congress this year could pass a bill that would put many prisoners like Graves out of work.

Most federal agencies by law must buy the office furniture, car parts, textiles and other products that prisoners make.

Prison industries have another leg up over private firms because they pay inmates, at most, about a dollar an hour, well below the $5.15 per hour minimum wage, critics said. Rep. Peter Hoekstra introduced legislation that would break Unicor's federal monopoly by making it compete with private companies to win government contracts.

The Michigan bill quickly got 165 Republican and Democratic sponsors. Labor unions and corporations usually on opposite ends of the political spectrum have joined forces to support it. Hoekstra's bill passed the House 350-65 in November, and it could come up for a Senate vote this year.

The federal prison industry program rose during the Great Depression. Unemployment was rampant, so laws were passed to keep prison-made goods off the market. Inmates soon became so idle that some prison wardens assigned them mindless tasks such as straightening salt shakers. Congress created the federal prison industry in 1935 to get prisoners busy again and give them job training they can use after release.

But Unicor does more than rehabilitate. Some of the money prisoners earn pays court fines, compensates crime victims and covers child support.

In the past two decades, lawmakers who believe cheap prison labor threatens private jobs have attacked Unicor. Two years ago, Congress passed a law that exempted the Pentagon from automatically buying prison products. As a result, more than 2,000 prisoners lost jobs, said Philip Glover, president of the American Federation of Government Employees' National Council of Prison locals.

The 104 federal prisons across the country now house 175,000 inmates, up from 44 prisons with 24,000 prisoners in 1980, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. About 20,000 inmates worked in prison industries last year.

Prisoners who get jobs or vocational training are also less likely to commit additional crimes both inside and outside of prison, said Laura Whitworth, a California executive and personal coach who also counsels prison inmates. "If they cut (federal prison industries), they actually create a petri dish for greater dissemination of misinformation and violence," she said.

Unicor sold $667 million in products to the federal government in 2003, down from $679 million in 2002. The program gets no federal money and revenues are used to cover program costs. The top prison product line is office furniture, with more than $200 million in sales in 2002.

Office furniture manufacturers and textile companies claim they have lost thousands of jobs because Unicor has a lock on the lucrative government contract market. Prison-made desks, chairs and other furniture can also cost 20 percent more than nonprison products, despite Unicor's lower labor expenses, said Thomas Walker, government programs manager for Haworth office furniture company in Holland, Mich.

American Apparel and Footwear Association members gripe about Unicor, saying they should be able to bid on military uniform contracts that Unicor holds. These contracts are worth $160 million, association President Kevin Burke said.

But if Unicor loses government contracts, many private companies would suffer, Glover said. Dozens of private companies supply raw goods to prison industries and even provide training and staff to supervise inmates. And the program's therapeutic effect on prisoners is priceless, Glover said. "What we have found is that inmates in prison industries, when they are doing their time, they want to work and do something productive," Glover said.

Inmates to Paint School and Building Murals

Many artists exist behind bars. In the following story from Associated Press, we learn that Philadelphia citizens will soon benefit from their talents:

Graterford Prison plans to employ up to 15 inmates full-time to work on murals for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. The program, which adorns buildings around the city with large, hand-painted murals, has a waiting list of 850 sites.

Prison superintendent David DiGuglielmo, who devised the idea, says he has the manpower and supervision to offer the help. Jane Golden, who directs the program, says the inmates could help the program make up to ten extra murals a year.

The inmates would earn 51 cents per hour at Graterford, compared with 19 to 42 cents for other jobs, to paint large works on cloth. The art would later be installed onto panels and placed in schools, recreation centers and other sites. Recently, a "Healing Wall" project brought community leaders, victim advocates and inmates together to design a pair of murals about healing the wounds of crime.

African Heat Leads to Prison Swimming Pools

Not all countries think that prisons should be places of hardship and torture. The following article emphasizes humaneness and comes from the African Standard:

Prisoners in Malindi, Africa, will soon be able to dip themselves into a swimming pool on a hot afternoon, then catch up with the latest local and international events from the TV in a recreational centre. Vice-President Moody Awori–himself an ardent swimmer–made the promise to inmates at the Malindi Prison when he presented them with a TV yesterday.

Awori, the Minister for Home Affairs under which prisons fall, took pity on the inmates who must put up with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees Celcius. His latest promise of a swimming pool and a recreational centre is in keeping with Awori’s stated objective of making the lives of Kenya’s inmates a bit more comfortable and livable.

Since his appointment to the ministry at the beginning of last year, Awori has visited several prisons to present TVs and radios. Thanks to Awori’s reform agenda, prison conditions have improved tremendously. Once in the past, when MPs asked in Parliament that prison conditions be improved, then Attorney-General Charles Njonjo retorted that prisons are not hotels.

The VP, touring Malindi Prison in the famed seaside tourist resort on a steamy day, was moved by the dingy conditions of the custodial facility and made a commitment to prioritise comfort.

It is understandable why Awori would immediately think of a swimming pool as a necessity at the prison. He himself swims everyday at 5 am and has swimming pools at his Nairobi and Busia residences.

Telemarketing Offers Employment for Prisoners

The following is a syndicated column by Reed Dunn about inmates working as telemarketers. While Dunn makes fun of the idea, others take this opportunity seriously and want to expand it to other prisons:

Prison is not somewhere I have been, nor do I intend to go there in the near future. But if I do find myself behind bars, it's nice to know there could be a working-class job waiting there for me.

Perry Johnson Inc., a Southfield-based consulting company, opened its telemarketing center inside the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon. The company originally had planned to move operations to India, but now pays inmates $130 a month to make customer calls at the Oregon prison.

Here's the funny part, if there is just one: A prison official has said inmates make good telemarketers. "They see an opportunity to talk to people and learn how to communicate," said Nick Armenakis, a manager for Inside Oregon Enterprises, the agency that recruits for-profit businesses to send work to prisons.

That sounds a little bizarre to me. Can't you just hear it now? "Hi. This is Bubba. Ya wanna buy some light bulbs? For every 10 packages you buy, I'm one step closer to getting bailed out of the slammer."

Quite honestly, I'm a little frightened of jails. That likely has something to do with the fact I'm not too comfortable with meeting prisoners face-to-face. (The only time I have was at a dentist's office. Let's just say it was creepy.) Prisons just don't put off good vibes like, let's say, Disneyland. They smell funny, as do hospitals and nursing homes, but in a different, much creepier way. They're dark, uninviting and generally unfriendly. I know that's the point, but I can't imagine a happy jailbird calling me up to make a pitch.

That's not the viewpoint of some critics of the Perry Johnson arrangement with Snake River. One professor, Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon, compares the concept with companies that do send the work overseas. "Obviously, it doesn't do anything for the labor market here," he said. "It's like bringing little islands of the Third World right here to the heartland of America."

He goes on to blab about low wages, total control of the workforce and a lot of other stuff. Honestly, I don't get this debate. How can someone not see it's better to spend less money (opposed to no money) in the U.S. than any money abroad? By no means am I the expert here, but I think the entire debate is ridiculous. If the number prisoners are calling from shows up as "unavailable" or "out of area" on my caller ID, they're not going to be able to push any of their credit cards or magazines on me. I guess, so far, that's a moot point -- callers for Perry Johnson are soliciting American businesses and company presidents to pitch quality control consulting services. And, well, I don't own an American business. No worries ... I don't own a foreign one, either.

The Question of Whether to Hide One’s Past

Many inmates who leave prison attempt to hide their past. This often backfires, as the following report from ABC News illustrates:

Paul Krueger was once a professor at Penn State University's prestigious school of education, admired by students and colleagues. "I've had students tell me he was one of the best teachers they'd ever had," says Krueger's former immediate supervisor, Kyle Peck.

"There's those teachers that you run across where you just go 'oh, my'. They're just truly gifted," said Mary Beth Morrison, another colleague. "He was one of those teachers."

Krueger's colleagues use the past tense, but he didn't die. What happened was last year, at the pinnacle of his career, after years of a distinguished academic career, a secret from his past caught up with him. The life that Krueger built for himself fell apart.

Krueger shot three men to death when he was 17 years old. When his conviction was revealed to the world, the news effectively ended his career.

"When I look back now, it's like I’m looking at a different person," he told Primetime's Charlie Gibson with tears in his eyes.

Krueger was a troubled kid from a troubled family in California. His path to tragedy began when he fell in with a local boy and they decided to run away together. He packed up the guns he'd been collecting the past few years and stole his mother's car. They headed eastward.

All along, they feared they were going to get caught. So when they got to Texas, outside of Corpus Christi in the Bay area, they rented a small motor boat. There, the boys came across three men, lifelong friends who were in the midst of a weekend of fishing. The boys were in their boat. They got out and walked up the dock. And then, Krueger pulled out his guns and out of the blue, for no apparent reason, started firing at the three men. Every one suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Krueger reportedly fired 40 rounds. It was a random act of violence. "It was a gruesome, gruesome scene," said Detective Manuel Garza, who was first on the scene. "We saw the three fisherman in the water. They were dead.

"One of them had a hole quite big. He was shot with what we call an elephant gun. It's a big bullet and it makes quite a hole. The others were shot with smaller caliber rifle," Garza said. "Worst case I've seen in 35 years at the police department."

The boys fled, and split up. Krueger escaped into Mexico on foot. But his friend was apprehended on a road in Texas, and he told the police everything. Krueger couldn't live with the guilt either. Two weeks after the killings, he called his mother and a day later Mexican police found him in a little village 145 miles from the border. He was charged with three counts of murder with malice aforethought.

The three widows asked the state of Texas not to pursue the death penalty; they felt it un-Christian. Krueger eventually pled guilty to the crimes.

He says he was suicidal. He couldn't say then, or now, why he committed such a terrible act. "That night was very troubling to me, and it's troubling to me right now, to try to recount it," he told Gibson.

For the family members of Krueger's victims though, that night is incomprehensible. "He never said why he did it. Even today he hasn't said why he did it," said Terry Fox, who was 15 when his father was murdered.

At the age of 18, Krueger entered the penal system, sentenced to three consecutive life terms at the Huntsville prison in Texas. He expected to live out the rest of his life there. Soon after he got to Huntsville, however, he had a life altering experience. He took a class with a college professor who taught in prisons in Texas.

Throughout his youth, Krueger had been totally indifferent to learning. However, when prison confined his body, he found education could free his mind. "I was no longer behind prison bars," Krueger said. "So that drove it and something more came out of it."

He earned two college degrees in prison, and had a 4.0 grade point average. And then he started to feel a need to atone for his crimes, he says. Krueger was eligible for parole but was turned down three times and then, in 1979, after serving 13 years, the state of Texas did parole him.

Terry Fox doesn't think Krueger had paid his price to society. "They need to sit there and rot," he says. "That's about a little over four years per man that he killed."

Outside of prison Paul continued education earning a masters degree and two doctorates. Surprisingly, everywhere he went, as a graduate student and later as teacher, no one knew of his background. They didn't ask, and he didn't tell. "I believe that if someone had found that out, someone on faculty would take exception," he said.

His teaching career blossomed, culminating in a job at Penn State University. A model parolee, Krueger was on annual report status which meant he only needed to tell Texas once a year where he was and what he was doing. But every day he worried he would be found out.

And when parole laws changed, Texas informed Pennsylvania there was a convicted triple murderer living there. Krueger received a letter telling him he had to leave the state.

"All of a sudden I received this letter that's telling me I had two weeks to leave the state, that I was in violation of some statute in Pennsylvania that I didn't know existed," he said. Krueger applied for another teaching job in California. "It looked like there was going to be a smooth, quiet transition. And then no one would be hurt."

But he never got the chance make the transition. When the news of Krueger's past became public, suddenly the job in California wasn't there anymore. And it became clear he had to leave Penn State. The model teacher was unemployed and unemployable.

Now Kruegers's days are mostly spent looking for work. And he's not finding any, not even to teach in a prison. His former Penn State colleagues feel he's being treated unfairly.

Asked if society can ever accept a triple murderer, Krueger replied, "Well, if they know me they can, but this thing you call society, I don't know if they can get to know me."

Attention Prison Artists!

Prisons Foundation is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to hold a Prison Arts and Crafts Show in Washington, DC in September 2004. Please spread the word to prison artists. For complete details write:
Prisons Foundation
1718 M St. NW, #151
Washington, DC 20036

Prisons Foundation now publishes Prisons Almanac 2004 and Prisons Help Sourcebook, which are ideal for libraries and education departments.
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