I don't know, but we have to do something, and make it one of our first priorities.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen 'Drug Reform' making very many headlines - or a priority issue for any of the candidates for 2007', maybe it is still too early.
Here are a few 'snippets' of articles and opinions I've amassed. Keeps me from sleeping at nights..
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This is the type of bullsh!t they publish about our jails overseas..----------------
International Experience of Drug Courts Los Angels County, California
The in-custody drug treatment and drug abuse resistance education programmes in the Los Angeles County Jail provide a programme bridge to the 11 adult drug courts currently in operation.
A drug court module for men is set aside at the Century Regional Detention Facility, completely with space for meetings, acupuncture, and counselling. This module is isolated from the general population of the jail. A similar, separate facility for women inmates exists in a different facility. A private, licensed drug treatment provider operates the in-custody drug treatment programme. The most recently implemented drug court in Los Angeles County is the Sentenced Offender Drug Court. It requires completion of a mandatory 90 –day, jail based treatment programme phase (Impact Programme), in addition to any previous period of incarceration served as a condition of the initial grant of probation.
The target population for this programmes includes probationers with severe drug addiction and repeated criminal justice system involvement. The purpose of the in-custody component is to accommodate incarcerate sentences as well as to provide the first three months of treatment in a secure environment. Unique to this in-custody programme is that transitional housing is made available to appropriate participants who do not have safe and sober living accommodations in the community.
A preliminary cost benefits analysis of the programme showed to the savings to the country through utilisation of the in-custody treatment programme.
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Punishing prisoners at all costsCalifornia's prisons are in crisis because of harsh sentencing laws that don't treat
violent and nonviolent criminals much differently.
By Joe Domanick, JOE DOMANICK, author of "Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and the Politics of Crime in
America's Golden State," is senior fellow in criminal justice at the USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and
JournaliDecember 10, 2006
IN 1977, CALIFORNIA made a momentous decision that is still sending shock waves through
the state's prison and parole systems. In response to the public's rising fear of crime, the
Legislature changed the goal of incarceration from "rehabilitation" to "punishment." To that
end, lawmakers over the next decade passed more than 1,000 bills toughening and
lengthening prison sentences. They also instituted "truth in sentencing" policies that required
prisoners who committed certain crimes to serve 85% of their sentence before they were
eligible for parole. Then, in 1994, voters overwhelmingly approved a three-strikes law
mandating a sentence of 25 years to life for a third felony conviction and a doubling of a
sentence for a second strike.
Criminal justice experts estimate that as much as 25% of California's — and the nation's —
decade-long crime decline is attributable to this punish-all-criminals strategy. But the
approach has come at a huge cost. The longer sentences have swelled the inmate
population far beyond the capacity of our prisons and contributed to the rise of an older
criminal class, especially in California. In Los Angeles County, for instance, felony arrests
and incarceration of 40- to 59-year-olds have jumped dramatically, a stunning development
given that criminals tend to commit fewer crimes as they reach their mid-20s and fewer still
as they grow older. But in L.A. County, 40- to 59-year-olds are incarcerated at a rate 1,200%
higher than in 1980. Many return to prison because of technical violations — failing drug tests
or missing a parole appointment.
Click on title to read rest of the article.. -------------------------------
Sovereign ImmunityWho should be able to kill or rape you or a loved one, take your property, violate a contract with you or otherwise harm or offend you and be granted immunity for what they do to you? In the United States, there are hundreds of examples whereby people are harmed and those causing the harm are granted immunity.(The drug war plays a 'big' role in the expansion of federal and local government immunity..)-------------------------------
Ten Losing Seasonsby Dennis Romero, LA City Beat
March 7th, 2004When opponents of the state’s Three Strikes law need a poster child for their cause,
they point to Shane Reams. The 35-year-old was convicted in 1996 of being a
lookout on a drug deal involving an undercover cop. He languishes in prison today as
his 13-year-old son hits the teen doldrums without a father and afraid to visit him in
prison. The boy believes that if he goes in he, too, might never come out.
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It was 'this' article that sparked an angry outcry against Bush, prompting him to commute and pardon 16 sentences in a week. - all it took for the bastard to attempt an 'appeal' to his image. - We need to take advantage of these means for everyone's sake..----------------
Commute This SentenceA clemency case not even President Bush can ignore -- or can he?Saturday, December 9, 2006; Page A18
THE SUPREME Court this week declined to review the case of Weldon Angelos, leaving in place his obscene sentence of 55 years in prison for small-time marijuana and gun charges. The high court's move is no surprise; the justices have tended to uphold draconian sentences against constitutional challenge. But it confronts President Bush with a question he will have to address: Is there any sentence so unfair that he would exert himself to correct it? ...
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