Convincing Pennsylvania prison lifers to apply for clemency is Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s toughest campaign yet
Sure it’s tough, because for decades inmates have been misinformed, misled, left clueless, and denied. I specialize in this area, and this is no surprise to me. Prison “law libraries” have no clue how to apply properly. NONE. To this day, when I do an Application for an inmate I must caution them to expect other inmates to say “that will never work”, and similar comments, because it seldom does work when they do it themselves!
One of the first Applications I did was to get a lifer in PA out, and I succeeded.
Here, God Bless the Lt. Governor of PA. He gave the inmates sound advice.
Excerpts from the Article:
Through a pair of solid iron doors, past chain-link gates framed by loops of razor wire, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman made his way into a prison gym to address a skeptical crowd in this bucolic Luzerne County borough. About 180 prison lifers filled wood bleachers and rows of blue plastic chairs at State Correctional Institution Dallas. Some of the inmates had long white beards and canes leaning against their knees. A few had wobbled in clutching the arms of younger men for support.
Is this the start of a new era for Pa.’s Board of Pardons? A record 21 lifers are up for commutation. They’d come to the gym last Thursday to hear the man who chairs the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons explain why, after decades of rejection, they should bother to apply for clemency — which remains the lone hope for release for the state’s 5,400 prison lifers.
It was both an unlikely lobbying effort and one of the toughest sells of Fetterman’s career.
“If you’re cynical about the commutation process,” he told the men, “you have good reason to be, because nothing was really done about it in the last 40 years. A catastrophic bottleneck has doomed hundreds and hundreds of men and women to die in prison. But we have the best opportunity in 40 years to get people out.”
Fetterman urged the audience of about 200 inmates, many with life sentences, to apply for commutation even if they have been denied in the past.
Many said they had never applied before, although they’d been incarcerated for decades — in some cases, pushing a half century.
The first question came from a man who said he was a Vietnam veteran, imprisoned 48 years and denied commutation twice. One barrier, as he understood it, was opposition from the district attorney in his home county. “How do you deal with that?” he asked. “What the DA says is a factor, but it’s no longer a deciding one,” Fetterman told him. Then he asked when the man last applied. The answer: 1987.
Commutations of life sentences were routine in Pennsylvania until the 1980s, when they slowed to a trickle, and then stopped altogether after a commuted lifer, Reginald McFadden, killed three people in 1994. After that, the process was retooled to require unanimous approval from the five-member Board of Pardons before a governor could grant clemency.
Board of Pardons Secretary Brandon Flood — himself a recipient of a pardon from Gov. Tom Wolf just weeks before taking the post this year — tried to convince the men that the process has changed: “Whatever your knowledge base was about the clemency process prior to January 2019, forget about that. It’s a new administration and a new culture.”
In his first year in office, Fetterman has made clemency reform a focus, eliminating application fees, embarking on a project to streamline and digitize applications, and seeking to turn what has been an opaque process into a transparent, accessible one. He’s also advocated for legislation to roll back the requirement for commutation to a 4-1 vote.
Under his tenure, the board has recommended more applicants for commutation than under any lieutenant governor in 25 years. Wolf so far has granted clemency to 11 lifers.
Fetterman’s long-term goal is to remake commutation as a release valve for an imperfect justice system, offering relief to the wrongfully convicted and the disproportionately sentenced. Creating a viable outlet for people who maintain their innocence would represent a particular departure for the board, which traditionally has required expressions of remorse from applicants.
But last month the board recommended commutation for Charles “Zeke” Goldblum, who had served 42 years for the murder of George Wilhelm, a crime he has maintained he did not commit. Wilhelm’s family pleaded with the board to keep Goldblum incarcerated. Yet both the prosecutor and the presiding judge had written letters to governors as far back as Robert Casey, who left office in 1994, to say they’d learned of evidence exonerating Goldblum.
Fetterman said the board also is updating its regulations to include expedited review for the elderly, including many of the 700 lifers age 65 or older.
His effort recognizes that Pennsylvania is an outlier, with its automatic life sentences for first-degree murder and for felony murder, or participation in a felony that results in a death. Pennsylvania is one of only five states that exclude all lifers from parole consideration, according to a study by the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at the New York University School of Law. (Parole is a more routine process involving approval from a board of correctional professionals, unlike clemency, a political process that tends to fall in and out of favor from one administration to the next.)
As a result, Pennsylvania is home to 10% of the nation’s prisoners serving life without parole. Even as violent crime fell 20.9% statewide from 2003 to 2015, the lifer population grew 39.7%, according to an analysis by the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
So Fetterman is pushing this Redemption Tour, which so far has spanned seven state prisons, from SCI Chester, outside Philadelphia, to SCI Albion, in the far northwest corner of the state. He also hired two recently commuted lifers: Naomi Blount, who served 36 years for first-degree murder, and George Trudel Jr., who served 30 years for his part in an assault in which Trudel did not stab the victim but hid the knife for a friend.
One man from Philadelphia, incarcerated 25 years, said he had never bothered applying. A friend who’d served 40 years without a single misconduct had been denied, he said. How could anyone with a less perfect record expect to prevail? A real avenue for clemency will be a powerful incentive for reform in the prisons, he said.
“When you’re sitting in a jail cell and you see governor after governor never use commutation as a tool to help those who rehabilitate themselves, you lose hope,” the lifer said. “When individuals see hope, it makes them want to do more.”
Still, the questions kept coming: Is it true you cannot file for commutation if you have a pending appeal? (Answer: Nope.) How can the lifers seek to reconcile with victims’ families? (There’s a statewide apology bank.) What if you have a standing deportation order and you want to return to your home country? (That works for Fetterman.) Is there a realistic chance that bills proposing parole for lifers could pass in Harrisburg? (“Don’t count on the legislature to iron that out any time soon,” Fetterman said.)
For all other questions, the advice was the same: Go ahead and apply. In answer to a man who had applied only once since being incarcerated in 1970, Fetterman shook his head and said it again. “Once in 50 years? Sir, I’m begging you. Put in an application.”
Illinois Reinforces Prison Voting Rights, Expands Inmate Education
Well, some good news for a change! I have long written about this, and now Illinois sees that stripping ex offenders of their right to vote is just plain wrong. The changes they are making with this legislation make sense, are fair, and will result in fewer people returning to prison.
Excerpts from the Article:
A package of bills signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker is aimed at helping newly-released Illinois prisoners find their way back into the democratic process.
Kilroy Watkins spent nearly 30 years in Illinois’ prison system for a felony crime, and those serving time for a felony can’t vote. But once Watkins got out, he had earned his voting rights back, but didn’t know it. What’s more: no one bothered to tell him.
“During the time I was in the county jail for more than two years, I was never presented with no application to register to vote upon my release,” he told a crowd of supporters and media gathered for the bill signings. “I was never informed I had the right to vote.” Watkins studied law while in prison, and became a well-known and respected law clerk. But even he didn’t know people convicted of felonies earn their voting rights back once they’re released. “Now I carry my voter registration card with me everywhere I go,” he added.
The new state laws aim to educate prisoners on their voting rights and offer them a chance to vote when possible. Illinois jails and prisons will now have to give inmates detailed information on their voting rights, provide voter applications, and even allow those awaiting trial to vote.
“We stand here together in Illinois committed to continuing the long tradition in American history: extending and expanding the access to vote,” he told the crowd. “The ability to vote is one of our most cherished principles in this country.”
The Department of Corrections will also provide a new civics class to newly-released inmates, taught by trained peer educators. A related measure signed into law gives inmates the ability to shave time off their sentences if they complete education courses or treatment programs while incarcerated.
State Rep. Sonya Harper (D, Chicago) estimates some 30,000 people are released from Illinois’ prison system each year, many of whom don’t know they can participate in democracy. “When I come across many of these neighbors in my community, they believe they have lost their right to vote forever, and that is a shame,” she said.
Dover Interfaith (DIMH) searching for new home for the homeless … With Letter to Editor
It was my great good fortune to land at DIMH when I was released from prison on 2/2/12. Fortunately, I was a resident there for only 3 months, because my first social security check enabled me to get an apartment. But I volunteered there for months, then I was hired as staff part-time for a couple of years. With all of my other work, I had to give up that part-time staff job, but I still volunteer there and I counsel their residents and former residents every week. Why do I devote time to DIMH? Because it is a fantastic homeless shelter, which makes a huge difference in the lives of those it serves and in Central Delaware!
With the work I do, I have learned much about many homeless shelters and their services, and DIMH truly is the best of its kind “either side of the Mississippi”!
Ms. Jeanine Kleimo and Herb Konowitz, the co-founders, have assembled a top-notch staff to help the homeless in so many ways!
Since my time living there, DIMH has built the Resource Center – it helps the homeless living on the streets, as well as DIMH residents – on the Forest Street property, has 7 transition housing properties, and has purchased a property in Felton to help the homeless who are on the sex offender registry. But now they must relocate the heart of their operations, the Forest Street facilities.
When we help the homeless, we help our communities in many ways. Ms. Kleimo has the statistics to prove that an investment in DIMH yields a ten fold return on investment! So, if you can help them relocate, don’t just sit there! Call them at 302-736-3600 to make a donation or donate your prime piece of land! 🙂
Excerpts from the Article:
The Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing’s lease at its property at 684 Forest St. is scheduled to run out in 2020, which has city of Dover officials and members of the Downtown Dover Partnership keeping their collective eyes open to help find a new home for the nonprofit organization.
The Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing serves as a shelter and transitional home for homeless men. It serves around 36 men year-round and has helped more than 1,000 since the program’s inception in 2008, with more than 700 of them obtaining permanent employment in the community. Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen said it’s a priority for the city to help find a new home for the organization, currently located at the intersection of Forest Street and Railroad Avenue in a building owned by the DDP.
The mayor said there have been serious discussions in bringing a light industrial company to the current site of DIMH, which would bring jobs to the downtown area.
“I think it’s really important for us to continue to work with Interfaith to continue their mission of helping the homeless move to permanent housing and jobs and just to be taken off the street and deal with the issues that they have to deal with,” Mayor Christiansen said. “I think we have a responsibility to participate in their relocation effort because we, as the Downtown Partnership and the city of Dover, granted them a lease for the initial property.
“I think it’s only fair for us to help find them a new place. Their lease ends in 2020, but there are provisions for it to be extended for a year. At this point we’d really like to have something in place and the sooner the better – so all parties know what’s going to happen.”
Mike Harrington, a board member of the DDP, said DIMH has identified three possible sites for relocation. “I think we all recognize the fact that the lease is running out and we’re trying to do everything we can to relocate it,” Mr. Harrington said. “The highlights of what the committee is looking at is one (property) at 630 West Division Street that’s quite a large property that is owned by Crossroads Christian Church. It’s probably too much property for them and it’s probably not the best location (downtown), so they’re not looking at that very much.
“The other two locations are on Walker Road. One is the (former) St. John’s Lutheran School, which is vacant and a very large 6,000 square foot building. Across the street is the Everett Building, at 1151 Walker Road. We have prices on both of those buildings, and we have offered, but we haven’t signed the offer.”
The positives with the two proposed sites off Walker Road are that ancillary services could be located near the locations, which could help move the homeless population away from the downtown area.
Todd Stonesifer asked Mr. Harrington if they have looked outside of the city for a possible new location. “If we expand the footprint of where we’re looking, we might find more possibilities that might be more cost effective,” Mr. Stonesifer said. Mr. Harrington replied that it would be difficult to move the men outside of the city because they need transportation to get to jobs and services.
“We’ve not looked outside the city of Dover,” Mr. Harrington said. “The Interfaith Mission group has purchased some properties outside of the city of Dover, down near Felton. They purchased an abandoned hotel down there and it seems to be working rather well.
“But being sympathetic to the people that occupy (DIMH), they need to have transportation to get food and things like that.”
That is a big concern, considering the volunteer organization is made up of more than 1,000 volunteers who serve 12,000 meals per year at no cost.
The Whole Story:
………
Letter to the Editor – Lend a Hand! 10/28/19
It was my great good fortune to land at DIMH when I was released from prison on 2/2/12. Fortunately, I was a resident there for only 3 months, because my first social security check enabled me to get an apartment. But I volunteered there for months, then I was hired as staff part-time for a couple of years. With all of my other work, I had to give up that part-time staff job, but I still volunteer there and I counsel their residents and former residents every week. Why do I devote time to DIMH? Because it is a fantastic homeless shelter, which makes a huge difference in the lives of those it serves and in Central Delaware!
With the work I do, I have learned much about many homeless shelters and their services, and DIMH truly is the best of its kind “either side of the Mississippi”!
Ms. Jeanine Kleimo and Herb Konowitz, the co-founders, have assembled a top-notch staff to help the homeless in so many ways!
Since my time living there, DIMH has built the Resource Center – it helps the homeless living on the streets, as well as DIMH residents – on the Forest Street property, has 7 transition housing properties, and has purchased a property in Felton to help the homeless who are on the sex offender registry. But now they must relocate the heart of their operations, the Forest Street facilities.
When we help the homeless, we help our communities in many ways. Ms. Kleimo has the statistics to prove that an investment in DIMH yields a ten fold return on investment! So, if you can help them relocate, don’t just sit there! Call them at 302-736-3600 to make a donation or donate your prime piece of land!
Ken Abraham, former Deputy Attorney General, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
Meth is most common drug in overdose deaths in chunk of US – Letter to the Editor – Another Reminder! – 10/28/19
You tell me … how is our “war on drugs” going? It is the most costly, clearly cataclysmically failed policy in American history! How much longer will it take to see that the answer is staring us in the face?
Any way you argue it, the harm done by our current drug policies far, far outweighs any benefits! READ http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/the-power-of-advertising-win-the-war-on-dr = The Answer to the Drug Problem … or do you want to continue to waste about a hundred billion dollars a year, and get nowhere?
Excerpts from the Article:
Fentanyl is driving drug overdose deaths in the U.S. overall, but in nearly half of the country, it’s a different story. Meth is the bigger killer, a new government report shows. Nationwide, most deaths still involve opioid drugs like fentanyl and heroin. But in 2017, the stimulant meth was the drug most frequently involved in deaths in four regions that include 19 states west of the Mississippi.
The report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the agency’s first geographic breakdown of deaths by drug. It’s based on 2017 figures when there were more than 70,000 overdose deaths in the U.S., two-thirds of them involving opioids.
Fentanyl was involved in 39% of the deaths that year, followed by heroin, 23%, and cocaine, 21%. Those drugs top the list in the eastern part of the country.
Methamphetamine was No. 4 nationwide, cited in 13% of overdose deaths. But in the four western regions, it was No. 1, at 21% to 38%.
Previous CDC reports have charted meth’s increasing toll, noting that it rose from eighth to fourth in just four years. The new report found dramatic differences in the 10 regions. For example, In New England, fentanyl had the highest adjusted overdose death rate and meth was a distant 10th on the list. In the region that includes the mountain states and the Dakotas, meth was No. 1 and fentanyl was sixth.
Most of the meth in the U.S. is made in Mexico and smuggled across the border — U.S. production has actually been declining in recent years, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Its availability has held at high levels in recent years in areas of the Southwest, and has increased in some areas of the Midwest, the agency’s field offices report.
Final 2018 data has not yet been released, but preliminary figures suggest that overdose deaths involving meth increased. The CDC report is based on a search of overdose death certificates for the name of drugs. In many cases, a person was taking multiple drugs.
New Mexico has seen a shift. For years, black tar heroin was the biggest problem, then prescription painkillers, said Dr. Michael Landen of the state’s health department. State meth deaths went from 150 in 2017 to 194 last year, vaulting meth to the top.
He attributed the surge in meth to its wide availability and low cost, and said he worried it could get worse. While there are programs to deal with fentanyl and heroin overdoses, there’s not much in place to prevent meth deaths, he said.
“I think we’re potentially going to be caught off guard with methamphetamine deaths, and we have to get our act together,” he said.
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Letter to the Editor – Another Reminder! – 10/28/19
You tell me … how is our “war on drugs” going? It is the most costly, clearly cataclysmically failed policy in American history! How much longer will it take to see that the answer is staring us in the face? How many more mothers’ sons and daughters must die before we change course, and take the effective, proven course to save lives?
Fentanyl is driving drug overdose deaths in the U.S. overall, but in nearly half of the country Meth is the bigger killer, a new government report shows. Nationwide, most deaths still involve opioid drugs like fentanyl and heroin. There were more than 70,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. in one year, two-thirds of them involving opioids.
Fentanyl was involved in 39% of the deaths a year, followed by heroin, 23%, and cocaine, 21%. Those drugs top the list in the eastern part of the country. Methamphetamine was No. 4 nationwide, cited in 13% of overdose deaths. But in the four western regions, it was No. 1, at 21% to 38%.
These are some irrefutable facts, but the harm runs deeper than even the deaths: Lives of families and children ruined, phenomenal wasted costs enforcing useless policies of prohibition, and the endless violence in the streets seeking to control the market!
Any way you argue it, the harm done by our current drug policies far, far outweighs any benefits! READ http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/the-power-of-advertising-win-the-war-on-dr = The Answer to the Drug Problem … or do you want to continue to waste about a hundred billion dollars a year, and get nowhere?
Urge politicians to actually help keep us safe, by ending the “war on drugs”!
Ken Abraham, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, former Deputy Attorney General, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
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I get lots of letters published, and ghost write for others. THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO REACH THOUSANDS OF READERS! The keys to getting your Letter published are:
1. Keep it to 250 words or fewer.
2. Do not make it about “poor little old me”. Describe the problem as one which not only affects the individual, but is a senseless or ineffective measure, policy, or law which also harms communities and society. For example, with reentry, the obstacles make it unnecessarily difficult for the individual, but also harm society by making it hard to become productive, spending money and paying taxes in the community, and they cause increased recidivism = increased crime.
3. Speak from your heart.
4. Google any facts you are not sure about.
5. Do not name-call.
Do what works: Write that Letter!
…………
Letter to Editor – sign name, town, state, and your phone number (they often call to verify that you sent it), and “Member of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE” if you like – shows you are part of a large group.
Send the email to yourself, and put on the “bcc” bar the email addresses for Letters to the Editor for the top ten newspapers in your state and several national ones – The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, U S A Today (google the Letter to Editor email addresses). Any questions, CALL me at 302-423-4067!
GOOGLE THE EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR” FOR THE TOP TEN NEWSPAPERS IN YOUR STATE AND SAVE THAT INFORMATION FOR REPEATED USE – Some papers will print a letter from you every 2 ekke, some every 30 days, some every 90 days. They have varying policies. But if you really want to make a difference shoot them a new letter once a month! I send one out every 2 weeks.
Need a Letter on some criminal justice issue and not a great letter writer? NO EXCUSE! Email me a rough draft and call me and I’ll polish it up! kenabraham3138@gmail.com .
ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME AT 302-423-4067.
Instead of arresting a woman, this police officer got her help
God knows we need more cops like this one!
Excerpts from the Article:
Officer Christopher Samya was getting ready to go home at the end his night shift when a call came over his radio. The 20-year police veteran responded and quickly headed to a nearby gas station where he discovered a disoriented woman, clearly at rock bottom. Samya, who has worked the night shift for more than 10 years, says it’s a common occurrence.
“We’ve worked more heroin overdoses than I can count,” he told CNN.
Sumiton is in Walker County, Alabama, which has the highest rate of drug overdoses in the state. According to a database of Drug Enforcement Administration information compiled by the Washington Post, 66 million prescription opioid pills were prescribed in the county from 2006 to 2012 — more than in any other part of the state during that time.
Instead of slapping handcuffs on the woman and taking her into custody, Samya sat down on the ground next to the woman and they talked. “She had confessed she had been using drugs and that she had been using drugs for quite some time,” Samya said. “And she was going through a tough time in life.
“My instincts told me she needed help more than she needed jail.”
Samya contacted local medical services and, after the woman was treated at a local hospital, she was connected with the Mercy Project — a program created by the Walker County sheriff’s office that provides free services to help any Alabama resident struggling with addiction. The program helps residents get into state or faith-based treatment programs and provides job training and placement once treatment is complete.
The Mercy Project is the brainchild of Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, who had started a drug treatment program a few years earlier when he was police chief in nearby Cordova, Alabama.
“It’s not about just trying to lock people up, but it’s about actually helping that individual, especially in small towns,” explained Deputy TJ Armstrong, a spokesman for the Walker County Sheriff’s Department who manages the program. “To someone who has struggled with addiction, we’re the bad guys. We’re the last people that they want to see.”
“Ultimately, I’m out here to help people,” Samya said. “That’s what I was taught when I was a kid. This is what I was taught when I became a police officer. And that’s how I feel about it in my heart.”
The Whole Story and Watch the Video
Bio – Some of the Experiences of – Ken Abraham 2019
Sorry folks; most of you know this. But posting it here is necessary as a means to get it to some people in the future. Don’t ask me about the spacing … the computer did that. 🙁
Carpe Diem!
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Kenneth Abraham – Bio Summary
430 Kings Highway, Suite 414, Dover, De 19901
302-423-4067 Cell
kenabraham3138@gmail.com
Professional Experience:
Marketing & Sales
Within two years of acquiring a dormant printing company, I had hundreds of new accounts including (nationally) Red Lobster, Burger King Corp., Sea Escape, Shoney’s, Atlanta Braves, Waste Management, Inc., National Plastics Council and more. By the end of the first year we had won “Business of the Year” award from the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce. I created and marketed the “Recyclesaurous” program, an award winning educational Funbook for children, a project “ahead of its time”. During each of my four years as a Business Broker, I was the firm’s top producer. In fact, I enjoyed making all of my businesses grow significantly. Also, I founded the Florida Better Business Broker’s Association, establishing ethical and professional standards.
Management & Legal
My printing and publishing company grew tenfold within two years and we started two related businesses. Quality improved immensely. I managed my law firm, emphasizing criminal, domestic and business litigation. I won over 700 trials, handled thousands of criminal cases (on both sides) and started a police education program. I also taught several law classes at local colleges.
Civic & Hobbies
I have been actively involved in the United Way, Rotary International, two Boards of Realtors, The Episcopal Church, Delaware State Bar Association Criminal Law and Ethics Committees and four Central Florida Chambers of Commerce. I served for two years as Arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau, won the Jurisprudence Award in Contract Law and served as President of Legal Aid, Inc. I enjoyed teaching Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Business Law.
Employment:
Dave Poole Marketing 1996-2006, Orlando, Fl
Self Employed 1992-1996, Orlando, Fl
Owner, Paragon, Inc 1998-1991, Longwood, Fl
Business Investment Consultants Broker 1984-1988
Attorney At Law 1979-1983 Dover, De
Deputy Attorney General, De Dept of Justice 1974-1979 Dover, De
Law Clerk, Supreme Court of Delaware 1973-1974 Georgetown, De
Education:
Dickinson School of Law at Penn State Carlisle, PA – JD, 1973
Kenyon College Gambier, OH – BA 1969
The Peddie School Highstown, NJ – Honors 1965
References:
Hon. Myron Steele, Chief Justice Supreme Court of Delaware 302-984- 6030 (Now with Potter Anderson)
Hon. Henry DuPont Ridgely, Justice Supreme Court of Delaware 302-697-1551(h) 302-739-1128(w)
Dave Poole, Owner Dave Poole Marketing, Orlando, FL 407-699-0758
David Mitten, Mitten & Winters Accountants, Dover, DE 302-736-6100
NOTE: BIO does not reflect recent extensive immersion in criminal justice system, including 10 years (three years longer than law school!) researching, learning, litigating, civil rights, post-conviction, and all manner of prison and criminal justice issues; nor does it show extensive education/experience with addictions, MH issues, and related behavioral problems. Ask me.
Currently President of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE (CCJ) with its Church Reentry Program, active with Christ Church, consulting for DIMH, DARSOL, LEAP member, and member of Delaware Interagency Council on Homelessness (DICH). KRA 11/10/13.
I specialize now in Applications for Pardons, and for Clemency/Commutation, and seem to have a knack for that … plenty of successes! 😊
Opinion: A conservative case for expunging criminal records
What a train wreck the system is. Changes in expungement laws and procedures are coming much too slowly. It should be a simple process for most crimes, and it certainly should be AUTOMATIC once a person has gotten a pardon! But nooooooo, many of our idiot legislators want to brand people needlessly for life!
Excerpts from the Article:
There are around 70 million Americans with a criminal record. In Michigan, estimates range from 500,000 to 2 million, depending on the type of record. Every year, about 50,000 people are convicted of a felony crime in the Great Lakes State.
Criminal justice issues center around what to do with those people. Society and elected officials wrestle with how to make rules that are fair, just and workable. The difficulty is in figuring out the best way to protect the innocent, punish the guilty and integrate people back into society after they’ve paid the fine or done the time.
For all the seemingly intense and divisive debates about politics, lawmakers, groups and individuals across the political spectrum are in agreement on some of the most significant and important reforms in the criminal justice system. The latest reform deals with expunging criminal records.
Every state has different rules for what shows up during a criminal background check and for how long. Expungement — the process of getting a past criminal offense off or sealed from the public record — has been done in Michigan since 1965. But a new package of bills would make it easier.
Under current law, people with a criminal background can apply to have one felony or two misdemeanors removed. But the limit on which crimes can be removed is overly restrictive, and the process is complicated and often expensive.
The newly proposed laws would automatically expunge some lower-level felonies. They would also open up the process for some crimes not currently eligible for expungement, though murder and criminal sexual conduct would not be expunged from records. Many convictions would go away after 10 years of good behavior for people who have paid restitution.
These reforms would open up more job opportunities and save money. The current reform of expungement laws across the country does not seem to have affected the continued decline in crime rates. It wipes the slate clear for people who’ve shown they can behave, and all of us will gain from it.
Criminal justice reform is a national movement, uniting many people for many reasons.
The amount states spend on corrections peaked more than a decade ago and has been in decline since. Texas and California, the epicenter of “tough on crime” policies decades ago, have both radically reformed their criminal justice policies. And despite these changes — or perhaps because of them — nearly every major category of crime continues to fall.
Every dollar the government spends — whether on roads, prisons or wasteful programs — is one less spent by individuals. Every crime created or regulation enforced is a limitation on freedom. If that money is spent well or enforcement fair and protects the public, it may be worth it.
But, like all public programs, the way Michigan processes people through the criminal system and how it treats them after they get out is subject to scrutiny and reform. And one change that makes sense is putting a limit on how long the government will put a scarlet letter on people wanting to move forward with their lives.
GEO Group Running Out of Banks as 100% of Known Banking Partners Say ‘No’ to the Private Prison Sector
This is wonderful news. See so many articles on my website, under “prison abuse”, explaining why private prisons are awful and a WASTE of YOUR money. PRAY that private prisons become extinct soon!
Excerpts from the Article:
All of the publicly known existing banking partners providing lines of credit and term loans to private prison leader GEO Group have now officially committed to ending ties with the private prison and immigrant detention industry. These banks are JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, SunTrust, and Barclays. Fifth Third Bank and PNC have additionally made commitments to stop providing financing to the private prison industry as a whole.
This exodus comes in the wake of demands by grassroots activists — many under the banner of the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition — shareholders, policymakers, and investors. Major banks supporting the private prisons behind mass incarceration and immigrant detention have now committed to not renew an estimated $2.4B in credit lines and term loans to industry giants GEO Group and CoreCivic once their current facilities expire.
This shift represents an estimated shortfall of 87.4% of all credit and term loans to the industry, which depends on these instruments to finance their day to day operations. Together, these banks commitments — alongside a federal judge’s block on the Trump administration’s plans to expand family detention this weekend, new policy initiatives such as California ending all contracts with private prisons, and Democratic primary candidates publicly raising the idea of a federal ban on for-profit incarceration — lead many to speculate a threat to the survival of the private prison industry all together.
Five banks have not yet made the commitment to stop extending their credit lines and term loans to CoreCivic: Regions (headquartered in Birmingham, AL), Citizens (Providence, Rhode Island), Pinnacle Bank (Nashville, TN), First Tennessee Bank (Memphis, TN), and Synovus Bank (Columbus, GA). In response to an inquiry, Pinnacle President and CEO Terry Turner said “while we don’t discuss details of client relationships, we base commercial credit decisions on several factors.
Even with these remaining partners still at the table, international credit rating agency Fitch downgraded CoreCivic from stable to negative, and stock prices for both companies now near historic lows. The one year returns to investors for both GEO Group and CoreCivic are down nearly 30%, which classifies them as significantly underperforming when compared to other entities in their investment class of US Real Estate Investment Trusts (a designation that initially allowed private prisons to reap major tax benefits).
As a brief historical recap: the American private prison industry is a relatively new phenomenon, with the first private prison opening in 1984. Given their business model depends on keeping a consistent and increasing number of people incarcerated, it’s been speculated and critiqued that this is why GEO Group and CoreCivic have spent $25M on lobbying over the past three decades. Disclosures show they’ve lobbied on a number of bills related to funding for ICE enforcement over the years. Both GEO Group and CoreCivic say that they don’t lobby on legislation or policies that would affect the basis for or length of incarceration or detention, but according to the Justice Policy Institute, both companies have served on task forces of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has written and promoted model legislation focused on mandatory minimums sentences, three strikes laws, and “truth in sentencing” legislation.
Banks are only one piece of the wider financial lives of private prison companies, which include share ownership, bond underwriting, the purchase of bonds, and others. Still, in the wake of reputational risk and falling share prices, it is questionable at best if new partners will take the leap to join GEO Group and CoreCivic in business and fill their potential financing gaps. In addition to the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition representing over 10 million people nationwide, asset owners and managers of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and the Confluence Philanthropy network, representing over $2B in AUM, added their voices to a public letter demanding that banks stop financing the private prison industry. Among others, these signatories include the Akonadi Foundation, Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Libra Foundation, Zevin Asset Management, and Veris Wealth Partners. Investors are increasingly asking about, and when possible avoiding, other exposures they have to the industry beyond banks.
MEDICAL POT ON CAMPUS: COLLEGES SAY NO AND FACE LAWSUITS
You’re in college. You have a medical problem which Pot will greatly alleviate, so you have a medical marijuana permit. Yet you need to deal with this shit! This is yet another reason to take Pot off the federal drug schedule and legalize it. There are oodles of good reasons!
This really is a load of bullshit … needlessly preventing good, smart kids from entering the health care profession!
Excerpts from the Article:
Colleges are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws as students who use medical pot challenge decades-old campus drug policies.
In states where medical marijuana is legal, students disciplined for using it are taking their schools to court. College officials argue they could lose federal funding for failing to follow federal law that labels cannabis an illegal drug with no accepted medical use.
Sheida Assar said she was expelled from GateWay Community College in Phoenix last month for violating the school’s drug policy after she tested positive for marijuana, which she uses to treat chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome.
She was studying diagnostic medical sonography, Assar said, and an instructor had told her she wouldn’t have any problems if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card. She typically uses marijuana to help her sleep and had never been under the influence in class, she said. “They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day,” said Assar, 31, of Chandler, Arizona. “They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal. It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”
The legal challenges are coming from students studying nursing and other medical specialties who, under school policies, must undergo drug testing.
Assar and other students say they received approval to use medical marijuana from college employees who serve students with health-related needs — only to face discipline from higher-ranking school officials. Asser said she intends to sue GateWay to recoup the $2,000 she spent on tuition and other educational expenses and seek more money in damages. Her lawyer already has been in contact with the school, she said.
A GateWay spokeswoman, Christine Lambrakis, said that she could not confirm Assar’s status at the school and that the college continues to prohibit marijuana use. Asked about an Arizona Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned a 2012 state law that made possession or use of marijuana on college campuses a crime, Lambrakis said the school is in the process of reviewing its policies and will not change them in the meantime.
Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., allow medical marijuana, and 11 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, creating clashes with federal law that have been playing out in courts, mostly in employment cases that have had mixed results for medical pot.
There don’t appear to be efforts by recreational marijuana users to challenge college drug policies, observers say. That’s likely because states limit recreational use to people 21 and older, excluding most college students, and because there haven’t been successful legal challenges to campus alcohol policies even though state laws allow people 21 and over to drink, they say.
States with medical marijuana laws allow use by people 18 years or older with a doctor’s recommendation, as well as by minors if their parents approve.
Connecticut nursing student Kathryn Magner sued Sacred Heart University last month after she tested positive for marijuana and was barred from attending required clinical medical rounds, according to her lawsuit. She had begun using marijuana legally in her home state of Massachusetts over the summer to treat conditions that were not disclosed in legal documents. Connecticut law allows medical marijuana and forbids public and private colleges from discriminating against students who use it. A judge cited the state’s law in ordering that Magner, 22, from Marlborough, Massachusetts, be allowed to return to the medical rounds. The lawsuit was settled under undisclosed terms. Before the settlement, she stopped using marijuana, passed a drug screening and obtained approval to use medical pot from the Fairfield school’s Office of Student Accessibility to try to salvage her nursing career, her lawsuit said. But nursing school officials wouldn’t budge, her lawsuit said. “Many schools disability services offices are not universally listened to by the university,” said Michael Thad Allen, an attorney for Magner. “It just shows that these kinds of issues will become more common if employers and schools don’t abide by the law.”
Sacred Heart requires students to “obey the law at all times,” but it treats medical marijuana like other disability-related requests and “seeks to provide reasonable accommodation under the law,” school officials said in a statement.
In Florida, Kaitlin McKeon, of Naples, is suing Nova Southeastern University for expelling her from its nursing program in Fort Myers last year after she tested positive for marijuana. She has a state medical marijuana card to take the drug for several conditions. McKeon also said school officials told her there would be no problem with her use of medical marijuana under the provisions of state law. But after she failed the drug test in January 2018, higher-ranking officials moved to expel her, saying she violated the school’s drug policy, her lawsuit says.
“It’s really sad that Nova Southeastern … took this stance on this issue and is really preventing a really good, caring person from entering the nursing field and living out her dream because she chose a medication that’s legal in Florida but not one that they recognize,” said her lawyer, Michael Minardi. Nova Southeastern officials said they cannot comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuits have the potential to set legal precedents on the use of medical marijuana at colleges. In the meantime, advocates say, universities can lighten penalties so students do not face expulsion or suspension for legally using medical marijuana.
“Universities can effectively decriminalize it, de-punish it and make it not something they focus on,” said Jared Moffat, campaigns coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group for pro-marijuana laws.
Letter to Editor or Op Ed Submission – It’s True, I Swear! – 10/22/19
Letter to Editor or Op Ed Submission – It’s True, I Swear! – 10/22/19
Wow! I read recently a column in The Wilmington News Journal, written by one Liz Harrington, a spokesperson for the RNC, which was titled – I swear, it’s true! – “Republicans Party’s Future has never Looked Brighter”. The piece was full of misinformation, lots of babble about “America first”, what a great job tRump is doing (nothing specific mentioned, of course), and that was it.
Well, I write to recommend that Liz Harrington get the mental health help she needs, and to let her and you, dear reader, know that she is in for a big surprise in 2020. The American public is not buying the nonsense she and so many others are putting out, and, thank God, they will restore our nation to sanity, lawfulness, and productivity by voting tRump out if he has not already been impeached, as he should be.
One of the most serious consequences from all of tRump’s antics has been the erosion of adherence to and respect for the rule of law. It is not ok to lie like hell to cover up crimes, to obstruct justice, and to ignore lawfully issued subpoenas. Furthermore, It is a very dangerous, disturbing, and vexing situation when the United States Department of Justice is hijacked to promote a political agenda and to debunk facts opposed to that agenda (i.e. the numerous facts against tRump). This is unprecedented and extremely dangerous to our nation.
No, Liz Harrington, your party’s trajectory is still downhill!
Ken Abraham, former Deputy Attorney General, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
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