Joint Economic Committee Discusses Effects of Mass Incarceration

FROM THE SENTENCING PROJECT WEBSITE Joint Economic Committee Hearing Discusses Effects of Mass Incarceration Discussion at a Joint Economic Committee hearing conducted by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) yesterday exhibited strong support that incarceration should not be America's primary answer to crime and the ongoing ‘war on drugs.'
Issue Area(s): Sentencing Policy, Incarceration, Racial Disparity, Drug Policy, Collateral Consequences
“Our prisons test the limits of our democracy,” said Sen. Webb during the hearing entitled, “Mass Incarceration in the United States: At What Cost.” “As we've gotten tough on crime, we've given up on rehabilitation efforts. We're locking up a high percentage of our people. Seven million Americans are under some sort of court supervision.” The hearing featured a distinguished panel of criminal justice experts who presented research and testimony calling for continued support of bills like that of the Second Chance Act of 2007 and Congressional support for reform, while committee members showed evidence of their own engagement with the issues. “I spent time in prison,” committee member Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said of having spent a night in the Louisiana State Penitentiary last year. “The numbers are quite an indictment on society. Right now, recidivism is roughly at about two thirds; Two-thirds will go back [to prison] and family members are five times more likely to go to prison.” “There is a collateral cost to incarceration, however, that is rarely observed or talked about but one that comes back to haunt society in so many other ways,” said panelist Alphonso Albert, executive director of Second Chances in Norfolk, VA. “The fact that a child lives in a household with a loved one or family member that has been incarcerated and will likely be incarcerated themselves when they grow up is due in large measure to the fact that the same conditions that existed for the adult will exist for the child unless there is some intervening factors.” It seems at every level of re-entry, someone is exacting punishment,” he continued. “There seems to be no end to the punishment.” Other committee members present included Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), and Rep. Phil English (R-PA). Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), who has championed the Second Chance Act of 2007, joined the committee as well. “We must also examine sentencing laws that put so many nonviolent offenders in prison,” said Pat Nolan, director of Prison Fellowship whospent two years in prison for campaign violations. “Certainly we need prisons to separate violent and dangerous people from the rest of society. But given the overcrowding and violence in our prisons, why on earth would we put people convicted of nonviolent crimes in prison?” Sharing that sentiment, Sen. Casey spoke to the incarceration of older inmates. “We keep people well beyond their crime years,” Sen. Casey said of inmates who are 60, 70 and 80 years old. “We don't keep them in prison for public safety.” Also addressed during the hearing was the racial disparity in prison and the contribution of mandatory minimum sentencing laws to this situation. “Is incarceration of low-level drug offenders working? African Americans serve as nearly as much time for drug offenses as whites do for violent offenses,” posed Sen. Webb. Nolan, a former California Republican Assembly leader, added that low-level crack cocaine offenses should not be prosecuted at the federal level because it wastes resources, and time that could be spent on major traffickers. Panelist Bruce Western, a Harvard University Professor of Sociology, suggested three types of policies “that would help alleviate the social and economic effects of mass incarceration.” Re-examine the number of collateral consequences limiting the access of ex-felons to federal benefits and employment; Support from Congress on prisoner re-entry programs that provide transition employment and other services; and Congressional support for the establishment of criminal justice social impact panels in local jurisdictions to evaluate unwarranted disparities in juvenile and adult incarceration. “If things are going to continue as they are, things will get worse,” said Nolan. “We have to find a better way.” Collateral consequences, including voter disenfranchisement and reentry barriers, were also discussed by panelists Michael Jacobson, Director of the Vera Institute for Justice, and Glenn Loury, Brown University Professor of Social Sciences.

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