January 21, 2005

EDITORIAL

New Strategies
for Curbing Recidivism

State and federal lawmakers are finally realizing that controlling prison costs means controlling recidivism - by helping newly released people establish viable lives once they get out of jail. A report just out from a group of 100 policy makers, including elected officials, established by the Council of State Governments argues that the country needs to reinvent its corrections system. In the place of a system that locks people up and shoves them out the door when their sentences are finished, the report, by the Re-Entry Policy Council, envisions "re-entry" services that reintegrate ex-offenders into their communities.

This line of thinking is long overdue. The United States has 2.1 million people behind bars on any given day - nearly seven times the number three decades ago. Corrections costs have risen accordingly - from about $9 billion a year two decades ago to more than $60 billion a year today – making corrections the second-fastest-growing expense in state budgets, after Medicaid. The portrait of the inmate population offered in the report leaves no doubt as to why two-thirds of the people who leave prison are rearrested within a few years. These people were marginally employable before they went to jail - nearly half earned less than $600 a month. They are even less employable afterward, thanks to criminal records. In addition, many of them suffer from mental illnesses that often go untreated after release.

The social services necessary for successful re-entry are virtually nonexistent in most communities. The new report offers an exhaustive prescription for changing the status quo: states will need to coax disparate parts of their systems to work together. State officials will also have to re-educate voters, who have grown accustomed to a corrections philosophy that begins and ends with merely locking people up for the longest possible period of time. These policies will need to change, and quickly, if the states are to solve the recidivism problem and develop programs that help former inmates find homes, training, jobs and places in their communities. Until that happens, corrections costs will continue to soar, siphoning off billions of dollars that could be used for more constructive purposes.

Parole Denials
Negate Drop in Crime

Read Article by Poughkeepsie Journal

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION !!

On August 1, 2003, the MCI rates that govern collect calls from New York State prisoners were changed. While in some cases, call recipients will find their costs going down slightly, many of us will see the cost of our calls TRIPLING! For many of us, a phone call with our loved one is our only means of communication. For example: a call spanning a geographical distance of less than 15 miles has jumped from $2.93 to $7.80 for just 30 minutes (not including tax and surcharges).

The NYS Public Service Commission has allowed this rate increase without a hearing, without an investigation and without any input from prison families and others who receive calls from prisoners (attorneys, agencies and ministries). Prison Families of New York, Inc. represents tens of thousands of New York State prison families. On behalf of us all, we are demanding a PSC investigation and hearing, a REAL lowering of rates and a meeting with NYS officials to discuss this matter.

We will be attaching a copy of the petition to our complaint.

We need prison families, former prisoners and people of conscience to sign this. It is easy and requires a minimum of identifying information--you can use your nickname, maiden name or first initial if you are nervous about using your full name. People who do not have e-mail can sign using anyone's e-mail address.

If you have questions, call us at 518-453-6659.
Thank you--Director, PFNY

Gov. George Pataki had been highly critical of the Boudin decision.
Pataki criminal justice spokeswoman Lynn Rasic said Brion Travis' job shift had nothing to do with the Boudin case.

Travis did not immediately return a call for comment, but parole board spokesman Thomas Grant said Travis was ``most pleased to accept'' the new job.

Rasic said Travis, 52, will continue to serve as parole board chairman until March 1, when he will be replaced in the $120,800-a-year post.

On Aug. 20, a two-member parole board panel ordered Boudin, convicted of murder and robbery after a 1981 Brink's armored car heist that left two police officers and a security guard dead, released after 22 years in prison. The decision outraged police groups and relatives of the victims.

``I am thoroughly disappointed and completely disagree with the parole board's decision to release Kathy Boudin,'' Pataki said at the time.

Less than a month later, state officials said Travis had turned over day-to-day administrative responsibilities to a fellow board member.

Travis will fill a new position at the Insurance Department _ deputy superintendent of disaster planning and preparedness. The job will pay $130,000 a year.

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