Activists rally

at Capitol for

prisoner rights

July 16, 2000

Groups seeking to reform criminal justice system

By Jaqueline Cheney
Deseret News staff writer

Several prisoner-rights groups gathered on the steps of the

Utah Capitol Saturday to take part in the Prison Reform Unity

Project 2000, a nationwide campaign for reform of the criminal

justice system.
Prison reform advocacy groups spoke to about 50 people concerning

prison spending; jailing first time, non-violent offenders; poor

prison medical care; and limited visiting rights. Families Against

Mandatory Minimums, Citizens Education project, Citizens for Penal

Reform and the Utah Prison Information Network par­ticipated in the

rally.
Ken Larsen, a member of FAMM, said it's up to citizens to change the

criminal justice system;
"when you allow excessive punishment of prisoners, it makes you the

abuser. It makes you the rapist. You're responsible for what your

government does," he said.
FAMM members distributed a petition at the rally by FAMM that seeks

"justice in the spirit of jubi­lee to president William Jefferson

Clinton," asks for the release of non-violent federal prisoners who

have served at least five years of their sentences and asks for the

review of all federal cases of non­violent drug offenders.
Marianne Johnstone, a member of the Prison Information Network,

organized the local rally. Her prisoner-advocacy organization

believes in "freedom through knowledge" and distributes a newsletter

with articles written by prisoners. The newsletters are distributed

throughout the country.
Johnstone spoke about the treatment and rehabilitation programs

rather than prison time for many offenders, thus opening up prison

space, and reducing the need for new prisons. Although Johnstone

doesn't think all prisoners should go free, she said the percentage

of offenders who should be locked up is small.
Families and friends of prisoners, with signs and T-shirts that

read "Hope keeps love alive," spoke about their situations, the

unfair treatment they believe their loved ones have received and

the need for better visitation rights.
The need for better medical treatment for prisoners was also

discussed. Suzanne Cunningham, a member of Citizens for Penal

Reform, said she has spoken to doctors at the Drape Facility and

found out that prisoners receive HIV tests but not Hepatitis C

tests because of the cost.
"Let's do something that works for all involved instead of punitive

retaliation that destroys families, individuals and communities

socially, morally and economically," Johnstone said.

E-MAIL: jcheney@desnews.com

Govt2000 Sunday, July 16, 2000

Group calls for prison reform

LIONA TANNESEN, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- While Lakefair goers dove for volleyballs on one side of the Capitol Campus, about three dozen people with a more serious purpose -- prison reform -- circled the sundial on the other side.

The Olympia demonstration, organized by a group called Prison Reform Unity Project, was echoed by other demonstrations across the nation and in other countries, organizer Marlene Davis said.

"I'm not ashamed I have family in prison," Davis said. "I'm not ashamed; I'm sorry because they need help.

"I'm not about kicking people when they're down. I'm about giving them a hand up."

Speakers told other supporters sitting on the cement and on the grass behind a row of geraniums that inmates need fair representation in court; the mentally ill need help not prison time; prisons flourish because they make money; and rehabilitation not punishment should be the focus of prisons.

"They're saying that if we step on these people hard enough that will protect society," said Arthur Miller, who is a coordinator for the Northwest Leonard Peltier Support Network and receives about 500 letters a week from inmates. Peltier is an American Indian who has been in prison for 24 years for the deaths of two FBI agents. Advocates for Peltier say he is wrongfully imprisoned.

The United States incarcerates people at a higher rate than any other country in the world, said Sean Rogers, a Green Party Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 3.

And one of the reasons for the high rate of incarceration is because the prison industry pulls in a profit, Miller said.

But incarcerating large numbers of people harms the mentally ill, said Carole Willey.

"People with mental illnesses are not falling through the cracks," Willey said. "The mental health system fails them."

Glenda Banks, 26, said until her grandmother died she hadn't seen her uncle, who came from the McNeil Island Prison in shackles, since she was 13 years old.

"His counselor says he's crazy," Banks said. "No, he's not crazy. He's disabled."

Prison reform

For more information, leave a message for Marlene Davis, the Prison Reform Unity Project 2000 organizer, at 455-9065.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

KATV-7 LITTLE ROCK, AR

10:00 P.M. NEWS

JULY 15, 2000

TOP STORIES

A Vigil marking Prison Reform Unity Day, was held at the State Capitol this afternoon.

A handful of local supporters joined their counterparts across the country in simultaneous

demonstrations where Prison Reform Organizations call attention to what they say are

abuses to inmates incarcerated in american prisons.

On the national level demonstrators say they're concerned with inmate medical issues,

sentencing and visitation rights. One representative says they want the legislature to

consider alternative punishment for women with children.

Story posted: Saturday July 15 2000 8:50 PM

Tribune Star

July 16, 2000

Terra Haute, Indiana

Death penalty debate

By Mike Ricketts

Bill Breeden of Spencer strummed a guitar as singing protesters waved
signs of support for prisoner rights and opposition to the death penalty
during a demonstration at the U.S. Penitentiary south of Terre Haute.

About 20 protesters showed up Saturday as part of a 27-state national
demonstration organized by the Prison Reform Unity Project 2000.

"Why do we kill people to show killing people is wrong?" read a sign
carried by Jonah Brooke of Terre Haute. That sentiment has become a focal
point in the philosophical war over the death penalty since the federal
government opened its death row here in 1999.

"An eye for an eye makes the world go blind," read another sign.

Despite polls that show most Americans favor the death penalty, opponents
say they feel the are gaining traction in their cause to have capital
punishment repealed.

They cite as victories: Moratoriums in two states; a temporary stay of
execution for federal inmate Juan Raul Garza; and the weakest national
support for the death penalty in 19 years.

A June poll by the Gallup Organization found 66 percent surveyed support
capital punishment, the lowest numbers since 1981 and down from an
all-time high of 80 percent in 1994.

Sarah Kramer, who trekked 121 miles from Columbus for the protest, said
her stance against the death penalty is reflective of her native England,
where capital punishment is banned.

The United States "is maybe the most technologically advanced country but
I would have to question whether it's one of the most civil," Kramer
said.

Just a few feet away, however, Lorie Kindred and her husband, Russ,
carried on their own counter-demonstration.

"It's very personal to me," said Lorie Kindred, whose sister Delores
Wells was kidnapped from a Terre Haute street, raped and murdered in
1987. The woman's killer, Bill Benefiel, is on Indiana's death row in
Michigan City, where other protesters had planned to rally.

Wells' parents, Al and Margie Hagan, said the only problem with the death
penalty is that it isn't carried out fast enough and the prisoners die
too easily.

"Those do-gooders say it's cruel and inhumane treatment; I wish they
would come here and talk to me about cruel and inhumane treatment," Al
Hagan said.

"Benefiel's going to die with a lethal injection that's just like going
to sleep or being put under for an operation. Delores probably wishes she
could have died that  way," said Al Hagan, whose daughter was tortured
before she was killed.

Margie Hagan admits she's bitter.

"We just want to live long enough to see him die," she said. "But I just
think that anybody who hasn't walked in our shoes doesn't have a damn bit
of business" protesting the death penalty.

At a simultaneous protest for prisoner rights at the Vigo County Jail, Al
Hagan told his story to Earle Harvey, a Terre Haute man who opposes the
death penalty.

Hagan didn't change Harvey's view that no "country has the right to
murder its citizens - no matter what crim they have committed," but he
made him think about his stance.

Harvey said Hagan "has a very, very compelling story, and I think we need
to listen to those folks and hear them with respect. If we had to walk in
their moccasins, if you will, we might have a different view of the death
penalty -- I would hope not, but we might."

Since 1972, there have been 652 state prisoners executed, and 3,650
remain on state death rows. Though there hasn't been a federal execution
since 1963, there are 20 men on federal death row in Terre Haute and
three more sentenced through federal courts to die.

There have also been a number of high-profile cases in which condemned
men have been exonerated and set free, further helping the anti-death
penalty cause.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973, there have been 87 state
death row inmates whose sentences have been overturned and they were
either exonerated or retried and acquitted, said Richard Dieter,
executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

It is these type of cases that led Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who has
voiced his support for the death penalty, to issue a moratorium on
executions.

President Clinton plans to stay Garza's planned Aug. 5 execution in Terre
Haute while officials establish clemency guidelines.

Just the same, Hal Johnston, a Knox County deputy prosecutor, said he
doesn't see the majority of people being swayed to oppose capital
punishment, nor does he see a majority of politicians coming out against
it.

And he doesn't buy the argument that the death penalty isn't effective.
It might not deter somebody else from killing, but it certainly puts a
stop to those who are subject to it, he said.

 "Ted Bundy has not murdered a single girl since he was executed. John
Wayne Gacy's reign of terror has ended," Johnston said, referring to two
of America's most notorious serial killers.

Demonstrators decry abuse, injustice


By SHONDA NOVAK/The New Mexican, The New Mexican - 7/16/2000

A group advocating "humane treatment" for inmates demonstrated Saturday to
increase public awareness of what it says are unsafe and unjust conditions
in New Mexico prisons.

The group's claims of deplorable conditions such as abuse, medical neglect
and worse are unfounded, said Gerges Scott, state Department of Corrections
spokesman.

"The New Mexico Corrections Department is probably the most scrutinized,
observed agency in the state," Scott said. "If we were trying to cover
something up, you'd know about it."

The Prison Reform Unity Project held its Santa Fe demonstration in
conjunction with other demonstrations nationwide by members of the
coalition, said Tilda Sosaya, the project's New Mexico coordinator and a
member of the group's national advisory board.

"If I had to put it in a single word, the issue would be safety - for the
prisoners and those who work among them," Sosaya said last week.

"We have deaths happening that no one knows about," Sosaya said. She cited a
newspaper article about a 27-year-old Torrance County prisoner whose death
in May was the result of neither inmate violence nor natural causes.

Scott said the inmate died from a drug overdose.

Sosaya said the reform group is working to point up abuse, neglect and
injustice in the nation's prisons. It also is calling for rehabilitation
efforts and an end to "prisons for profit."

The coalition wants more educational opportunities and life-skills training
for inmates.

"Right now there's no rehabilitation going on anywhere," Sosaya said.

The group also advocates an end to private prisons, saying they "dehumanize
and create commodities of human beings."

Now that New Mexico is out from under the Duran Consent Decree and federal
oversight of its prison system, Sosaya said the Corrections Department "is
taking total license to exert power and authority in the crudest and most
brutal means."

Scott said that claim is ludicrous.

"We still follow the decree. We just don't have to answer to a lawyer, judge
or special master anymore. We are in control of the department, as the
taxpayers of the state would want us to be," Scott said.

Sosaya's 21-year-old son, Alex, is behind bars at the Wallens Ridge State
Prison in Virginia serving time for an armed robbery committed in
Albuquerque in 1998. He was among more than 100 New Mexico prisoners flown
out to Wallens Ridge after an August 1999 prison riot in Santa Rosa left a
guard dead.

Among other allegations, some inmates who were transferred to Wallens Ridge
have said they suffered severe beatings and punishment with stun guns.
Sosaya says her information comes from family members and relatives of those
in prison.

Investigators from New Mexico's Department of Corrections found no evidence
of physical abuse.

In addition, Scott said, a judge who reviewed videotapes and heard inmate
testimony ruled in May that there was no credible evidence of mistreatment
against the New Mexico inmates.

"The secretary of corrections, this department, the governor and the
taxpayers do not condone the mistreatment of New Mexico inmates, whether it
be here in this state or out of state," Scott said. "We took those
allegations very seriously. We have three monitors (who work for the New
Mexico Corrections Department) at Wallens Ridge to make sure none of that is
going on, and none of that is going on."

Sosaya says the transfers were made "without due process" and without
notifying families.

Scott said family members weren't required to be notified. The transfers
were an emergency action initiated by Corrections Secretary Rob Perry after
the riot to "immediately stabilize the system," Scott said.

"We don't need to get permission from the families on where we're going to
send their husband, son or grandson," Scott said.

Scott also defended private prisons.

"The bottom line is the private prisons save the taxpayers of this state
money," Scott said. "If we didn't have these prisons in New Mexico, we would
have no place to house those inmates and they'd be housed out of state."

Scott said the state pays $48 per diem to house a private prisoner compared
with $101 a day for inmates at the state penitentiary's north unit.

Scott said the reform group's claims of medical neglect, abuse and other
alleged mistreatment are unfounded. Inmates and corrections employees "who
see something going on they don't like call the newspapers and television
stations," he said.

"If those things are going on, we could never, ever keep them from the
public," Scott said. "There's nothing that can be covered up in this
department."

Scott said recently there were "some sexual shenanigans" going on. A
reporter inquired, "and I told him what happened," Scott said.

Scott said the Corrections Department provides "very good medical care" and
numerous programs for inmates to get an education and learn a trade.

Another program will be launched soon to teach inmates anger-management
skills, how to resolve ethical and moral dilemmas and other skills so they
don't end up back in prison once they get out, Scott said.

Prison abuses focus of rallies

Nationwide protests aim to highlight inmate conditions

By Nancy Price Record Staff Writer

Prisoners' rights advocates will gather across the United States today in protest rallies to focus attention on correctional-system abuses. With a national prison population of 2 million people, more Americans now have relatives or friends behind bars and should be concerned about how prisoners are treated, said Christina McGarey, a Solano resident whose husband is in prison. Concerns in California include substandard health care, violence against inmates by prison staff and other inmates, and Gov. Gray Davis' refusal to parole inmates who have served their time, McGarey said. "If you stand for human rights, you must stand for all, or you don't stand for any," she said. "If you live and breathe and have a soul, the rights apply to you." The rallies are being coordinated by the Prison Reform Unity Project, which was co-founded by Linda Tant Miller after Miller's brother was tortured and abused in an Arkansas prison, McGarey said. McGarey serves with Miller on the project's board of directors. Other prisoners' rights advocacy groups that will participate in today's rallies include California Prison Focus in San Francisco. The rallies have a twofold purpose: to provide moral support to the relatives of inmates and to send a message to state officials, California Prison Focus spokeswoman Michelle Foy said. "To the state, it says we're watching, and we feel human rights of a prisoner is a fundamentally important issue in our state and society in general," she said. Advocacy groups that previously acted independently of one another are beginning to join forces to draw attention to prison conditions, said Barry Holman, director of research and public policy at the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in Alexandria, Va. NCIA is a correctional-reform public-policy and research agency. Prison protests were included in recent World Trade Organization protests in Seattle and Washington, Holman said. Prison Reform Unity Project officials originally intended to hold 90-minute rallies at each prison in the United States, but some rallies will be combined at California's Capitol, McGarey said. Officials at Deuel Vocational Institution, a medium-security men's prison east of Tracy, are prepared for protesters but don't expect any, spokesman Arturo Martinez said. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office was notified about the potential for a protest on Kasson Road, Martinez said. Although protesters believe prisoners' rights have been violated, prison officials don't concur, he said. "We believe we are providing all treatment for inmates in a humane manner," Martinez said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/16/protestsun.dtl
July 16, 2000  (SF Examiner)
Protest over curb on prison visits 
By Elizabeth Fernandez /OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

   Death row inmates stage hunger strike over new policy
   The long trek begins at midnight.

   Every other weekend, Mehri Monfared leaves her Santa Monica home in the
middle of the night, arriving at San Quentin State Prison eight hours
later. She changes her clothes, washes her face in the visitors' restroom,
then gets in to the visiting line to see her son, Hooman Panah, 29, who
has been on death row for five years.

She'd prefer to fly when she can afford it, but rarely is able to schedule
an appointment by telephone, as the prison mandates, in time to purchase a
lower-cost ticket.

   "I am driving nearly a thousand miles and I can only see him for one hour
behind a glass," Monfared said, weeping. "The last two visits, they only
allowed me to see him for 45 minutes."

A new crackdown on contact visits for California's death row inmates was
the focal point of a demonstration Saturday outside San Quentin's massive
front gate.

Inside, in what some termed a virtually unprecedented action, condemned
inmates went on a hunger strike in a show of support over efforts to
restore contact visits.

   "We are still waiting to die, the visits don't change that," said one
death row inmate incarcerated at San Quentin for nine years. He requested
anonymity because he feared reprisals.

   "We just would like to have our contact visits back," he said. "They are
making it seem like we all did something wrong, like we were (all) in the
visiting room fighting."

Triggered by a rare dust-up in the East Block visiting room March 31
between two rival gang members ; the first time in prison history
that two inmates fought in the "neutral territory" of the visiting room;

contact visits, in which inmates are allowed to mingle freely with
their visitors, were temporarily suspended as the program went into a
"state of emergency."

The new crackdown is excessively harsh, say relatives, friends and
attorneys of death row prisoners, because it severely restricts the number
and length of visits and because visits now take place through glass
partitions. Critics also blast the prison's appointment system as a
scheduling nightmare: Until now, appointments were unnecessary; visitors
simply showed up.

   Weapon slipped through
   Additionally, many visitors blame prison officials for allowing two known
gang members inside the visiting room at the same time, and for failing to
detect a prison-made weapon used in the fight (prisoners are
strip-searched before entering the visiting room).

A "review team" from the state Department of Corrections is currently
investigating the matter, but San Quentin Warden J.S. Woodford has said
she favors a permanent halt to contact visits.

Jeanie Esajian, an information officer for the Department of Corrections,
said on Friday that the team is expected to send its findings in the near
future to director C.A. Terhune. Contact visits were curtailed, Esajian
said, "because of the very real safety and security issues that were
exposed after the assault."

California is one of only a few states that permit contact visits for
"Grade A" death row prisoners, a classification of good behavior that is
awarded to the majority of San Quentin's death row inmates.

The contact visits were granted because of a federal consent decree two
decades ago requiring them.

On Saturday afternoon, about 65 demonstrators, including members of the
Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and California Prison Focus,
participated in the protest by chanting and carrying picket signs. Some
protesters, like Eric Bergman, an Oakland schoolteacher, joined in to show
ongoing opposition to the death penalty.

   "I'm here for moral reasons," he explained.

   National day of protest
   Advocates picketed outside various other prisons around the country
Saturday as part of a national day of protest over prisoners' human
rights.

At San Quentin, as correctional officials stood on nearby rooftops
recording the event on cameras, some protesters, half-jokingly, turned
their own cameras on the guards.

Many of the demonstrators said they have never felt in jeopardy while in
the visiting room.

   "They took one incident that was between two inmates only; a very
minor incident that did not escalate ; and blew it out of
proportion," said Marian Veasley, a San Jose businesswoman married to a
death row inmate. "Prison officials are using us as a scapegoat. We are
not worried about our protection, why should they be? We'll sign waivers.
If we felt threatened, we wouldn't be out here fighting for the
reinstatement of contact visits."

Julie Cunningham, a Bay Area resident and longtime visitor, worries about
potential violence if contact visits permanently end.

   "I think they are trying to make death row inmates flip out so that they
can say here's proof that they need higher security," she said. "We
accepted all the terms of incarceration ; all we are asking for is to
go back to the way things were."

   Condemned men's wish
   That's the wish of the condemned men, as well, who joined in the hunger
strike. According to estimates from several inmates on "the row," at least
100 condemned inmates were participating in the strike, which they said
started Friday morning and is scheduled to run until Monday morning.

Prison officials, however, say the action is not officially considered a
hunger strike until three days have elapsed.

As of midday Saturday, about 55 inmates of the East Block had declined
food, said Lt. Patricia Blanson, San Quentin's public information officer.

   "After three days of refusing meals, then we consider them to be on a
hunger strike," she said. "We document it, and they receive medical"
attention.

Attorneys and longtime visitors to San Quentin's death row said the
condemned inmates have never before taken such action.

   "The inmates are not historically an organized group," said Charla Greene,
a Santa Rosa resident who has been a death row visitor for a decade. "This
is awesome."

   Two-hour privilege
   For her part, Monfared, who was recently turned down in her request for
two-hour visits the prison said that such slots are reserved as a
courtesy for infrequent visitors who travel a long distance quietly
joined in the hunger strike from her Santa Monica home.

"I love my son; I want to be there for him," she said. "I cannot eat
when my son doesn't eat."

Protesters march at women's prison, criticize system
About four dozen people demonstrate at the California Institution for Women near Chino.

By Raymond Smith
The Press-Enterprise
CHINO

 

Under a sweltering sun near Chino, 9-year-old Adriana Cruz held a bullhorn to her lips and recited a poem about her mother, who was across the street. The message wafted through the air and past the barbed wire, onto the grounds of the California Institution for Women, where Theresa Cruz is serving 25 years to life for conspiracy and attempted murder.

Adriana described the sadness in her mother's eyes on visiting day -- a sadness her mother's smile cannot hide.

"When we say goodbye I want to die," Adriana said. "I wish of the day we don't have to say goodbye."

Cruz's case was a focal point outside the prison for about four dozen demonstrators who participated in Saturday's national day of prison protest. The event was organized by advocates for prisoners' rights and civil rights, including the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and the Southern California Criminal Justice Consortium.

California Department of Corrections spokesperson Jeanie Esajian said that about 400 persons protested at 10 California prisons. She said a small group also protested at the state Capitol.

At the protest near Chino, activists and relatives criticized a prison system that they said dehumanizes inmates, punishes instead of educates and often makes it difficult for friends and relatives to visit.

Esajian responded to the criticisms saying, "We work with these groups on an ongoing basis to resolve their issues and when ordered by the court, we followed the mandate of the court."

Demonstrators chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, prison system's gotta go." They carried signs demanding "Stop Prison Rape," "Stop Prison Corruption" and "Education Not Incarceration."

At one point, protesters shifted their location about 100 yards so inmates inside prison buildings would have a better view of the demonstration.

"I hope the prisoners know there are people on the outside in solidarity with them," said Craig Mace of San Diego. "Fighting against what I see as evil is important, even if there's no immediate result."

Among the speakers Saturday was Theresa Azhocar, Cruz's mother. Azhocar said her daughter was abused by a boyfriend for years. After lamenting the situation to a friend, the friend shot and wounded Cruz's boyfriend, she said.

Cruz was convicted in 1991 of conspiring to kill her boyfriend, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and a drug charge. The gunman, Max Atilano of Escondido, was convicted on similar charges and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

Azhocar, who lives in Chula Vista, said her daughter had nothing to do with the shooting and has been a model prisoner but has been unable to win parole. The public needs to understand that harsh penalties intended for repeat criminals can affect others, as well, she said.

And the person who goes to prison is not the only one who suffers, Azhocar said.

"When you send someone to prison, you send the whole family to prison," she said.

The prison near Chino was in the spotlight earlier this year because of a state investigation into allegations that officers at the facility had sexual relationships with female inmates. One retired officer and another who was placed on administrative leave were charged earlier this year with having sex with a confined consenting adult, a misdemeanor.

Esajian said that the investigations had been concluded.

The charges resulted from a state Department of Corrections investigation at the state's four women's prisons. Prison officials have estimated that up to 40 officers at prison near Chino could be involved in the alleged misconduct.

At a briefing after the protest, prison officials said about seven protesters also rallied outside the Chino Institute for Men, said Lt. Robert Sebald, a prison spokesman.

Raymond Smith can be reached by e-mail at raysmith@pe.net or by phone at (909) 782-7528.

Published July 16, 2000

http://news.statesmanjournal.com/single_article.cfm?i=10372

Humane prisons urged

Fifteen people gather at the Capitol on a national day of demonstrations.

 

STEFANIE KNOWLTON, Statesman Journal

Oregon needs a humane prison system, according to a small group that gathered Saturday on the steps of the state Capitol.

Fifteen supporters of the Prison Reform Unity Project went there to participate in a national day of prison reform demonstrations. Twenty-eight other states organized events to demand better treatment of prisoners. In Oregon organizers were posted at six prisons and the Capitol.

They called for prompt medical treatment, better visitation, and an end to the death penalty and mandatory minimum prison sentences under Measure 11.

The grass-roots campaign couldn’t be more timely in Oregon, as voters will re-examine Measure 11 on the November ballot. The death penalty may also get a second look, as signatures are being counted for an initiative that would repeal it. Attendance was sparse at Saturday’s demonstrations in Marion County. Only one advocate showed up outside the Santiam Correctional Institution. At the Capitol, state Rep. Jo Ann Bowman, D-Portland, encouraged the small group. “Get your heads up. This is a wonderful beginning,” she said.

Bowman, one of the chief petitioners for the initiative to repeal Measure 11, said reforms such as education, drug and alcohol treatment and job training are necessary for the criminal justice system to succeed.

State Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, who was attending the state GOP convention a few miles away, said the group’s demands to repeal Measure 11 are radical and without majority support. “Voters will strongly reject it.”

Anne Rose-Pierce, one of five board members for the Oregon group, has a personal connection to her advocacy. Her fiance died four years ago while in a Multnomah County jail. It wasn’t abuse, neglect or lack of medical treatment. He had AIDS. But the prison’s conditions and poor visitation procedures led her to make a promise, she said. “On the day that he died I promised that this is what I am going to do for the rest of my life.”

What her group asks for is not radical, she said.“We don’t want to release all the prisoners. We just want to make it that when they get out, they have some skills and a chance.”

Crowd Rallies for Prison Reform,

Seeking a Change in Legislative Mind-Set

 

Small turnout belies

Passion of protesters

 

By John Keahey

The Salt Lake Tribune

 

Monday, July 17, 2000

 

The crowd was sparse, but the passion flowed as freely as the perspiration Saturday as temperatures approached a humid 100 degrees on the State Capitol steps.

Speakers for the self-styled Citizens rally for Prison Reform demanded a change in attitude from being “tough on crime” to “smart on crime”.

Their main argument for the crowd of about 20, according to Marianne Johnstone of the Utah Prisoner Information Network, is against mandatory minimums for non-violent offenders who should be handled by special drug courts and sentenced to rehabilitation and prevention programs rather than hard-core prisons.

Speaker Steve Erickson of the Citizens Education Project quoted retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, who told a Pennsylvania audience recently that a partnership is needed to “build the character of American children rather than building more jails.”

“I hope Gov. Leavitt and the Utah Legislature are listening to this,” said Erickson, who participated in a lobbying effort during the 2000 Legislature to defeat a proposal to build a private prison near Grantsville in Tooele County.

“There are better ways to [deal with these problems] than simply warehousing people behind bars,” Erickson said.

Salt Lake City resident Ken Larsen, who is associated with Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said he was speaking on the idea that society demeans itself in the way it treats prisoners.

“If someone rapes your daughter would it be right for you to go out and rape his daughter?” Larsen said, making the analogy that doing violence to a prisoner through unreasonable sentencing guidelines is not a proper response to what the prisoner may have done to society.

“If we sit by while our government does these atrocities, what does it do to us as a society?” he asked.