Criminal justice reform roundup

A couple of other interesting articles worth reading:

First, this guest op-ed in the Courant, title “More Prisons Wrong Approach“, which argues that

Although these bills claim to reform the justice system, most of them propose a more extreme form of the existing system, which over-funds imprisonment and de-funds education, health care, welfare, basic human services and job training.

The most prominent of these bills, proposed by Rep. Michael P. Lawlor of East Haven and Sen. Andrew J. McDonald of Stamford, proposes to spend $260 million on two new prisons, which would cost $400 million in bonding over 20 years.

The same bill proposes to spend $1.77 million on counseling. This is a ratio of 100-1 of spending on prisons, as opposed to people. This is not a reform bill. It is a more extreme version of policies that have already destroyed tens of thousands of lives and families and decimated many communities.

To see the devastating effects of the already existing harsh prison laws in Connecticut, we need look no farther than our state capital.

Each imprisoned generation, under our system of priorities, begets an even larger imprisoned generation. At some point in the past, one out of 10 children in Hartford had a parent in prison. Harsher sentencing laws were passed.

Now one out of six children in Hartford has a parent in prison. Based on the trends we see, harsher policies — more prisons, “three strikes” laws, mandatory minimum sentences and parole bans — will lead to a situation where one out of two children in Hartford will have a parent in prison. And soon the statisticians will start to count the number of children in Hartford with both parents in prison. Will this lead to greater safety? No.

and second, there’s rumblings from the ACLU on prison overcrowding:

The American Civil Liberties Union is raising questions about what it calls potentially dangerous and inhumane conditions from prison overcrowding in Connecticut.

The civil liberties organization is asking Connecticut prison officials for a response to complaints about conditions.

The ACLU letter to state Correction Commissioner Theresa C. Lantz warns about alleged unconstitutional treatment of prison inmates.

Seems like we don’t learn from our own lawsuits.