Will PA go backwards on prison reform?

In June, the state legislature passed and Governor Corbett signed Senate Bill 100, now Act 122 of 2012, legislation to address Pennsylvania's woefully overcrowded prisons. Yeah for us! The new law expands eligibility for alternative sentencing programs and creates a tiered sanction system for technical parole violators. We've written about this on at least two occasions.

Unfortunately, the law also repeals the Department of Corrections' pre-release program. This program, which has existed for several decades, allowed some inmates to go to a halfway house as they approached their minimum sentence, in anticipation of being paroled. Now, all inmates, regardless of offense or danger to public safety (or lack thereof), will stay in state prisons until they hit their minimum.

The repeal of the pre-release program was borne from a mentality that continues to haunt the legislature, even with the passage of SB 100. I call it "dumb on crime." With the legislature due to return on September 24, there are at least two issues percolating that continue the pro-incarceration mentality. I'm not at liberty to talk about them at the moment because the ACLU of PA is in a position of possibly influencing the direction of those issues.

But the bottom line is this: For all the hoopla around SB 100 and the apparent awakening to the problem of overincarceration, Pennsylvania won't make any progress until policymakers stop reacting to every problem with new crimes and longer sentences. There's no evidence that their mentality has changed just yet.

Greetings from Harrisburg! The ongoing abortion saga

The state Senate passed the amended Senate Bill 732, requiring abortion clinics to follow the ambulatory surgical facilities regulations. Plus, Senate committees moved bills on prison reform and blocking the implementation of Real ID. Learn more with this update, and check out our legislative webpage.

Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of PA's privacy statement, click here.

Greetings from Harrisburg, state budget edition

This week we react to Governor Corbett's mention of overcrowded state prisons in his budget address and give a preview of an expected House vote on House Bill 317, expanding the death penalty to add two new aggravating circumstances.



As always, you can check out our latest statements on civil liberties-related legislation at our legislative webpage.

Update, 5:34pm: Here is what Governor Corbett said about prisons during his budget address:

Last month my administration cancelled a prison project in Fayette County because we don’t need it and we can’t afford it. We also can’t afford to ask counties in our state to subsist on a prison-based economy. We need industries that generate wealth, not sorrow...

In 1993, Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure. Sometimes it’s a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal.

We need to fund additional parole officers to help freed inmates make the transition from the prison yard to Main Street. We need to think smarter about how and when and how long to jail people.

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of PA's privacy statement, click here.

This Week at the State Capitol

This is a new feature I'm hoping to start doing on a regular basis, giving you a preview of what's going on at the state capitol. Although I'm doing this one on Monday, look for it late in the week before a session week, though I don't want to interfere with Chris's awesome Friday First Amendment Roundup.

This week promises to provide hours and hours of non-stop entertainment.

Talk Talk:
Monday, February 14, 12:30pm, Main Rotunda
Marriage Equality Press Conference
Marriage equality legislation, delivered just in time for Valentine's Day! Senator Daylin Leach has introduced Senate Bill 461 to allow lesbian and gay couples to join the institution of marriage and all of the benefits that go with it. Rep. Mark Cohen will introduce a civil unions on the House side. Polling indicates that either marriage or civil unions for same sex couples is supported by 65% of Pennsylvanians.

Tuesday, February 15, 9am, Hearing Room 1, North Office Building
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on cost-cutting measures in criminal justice
Despite the legislation passed last session, there is still plenty of work to be done. Pennsylvania still has a deep mandatory minimum sentencing scheme that needs rolled back, and programs that should help alleviate the prison population, like State Intermediate Punishment and the Recidivism Risk Reduction Initiative, have restrictions that make those programs ineffective. Meanwhile, the state is spending $800 million to build four new state prisons.

Wednesday, February 16, 9:15am, Hearing Room 1, North Office Building
Senate Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 1
Welcome to the main event! SB 1 provides state-funded vouchers to low-income students to use at private, parochial, or other public schools. SB 1 violates three provisions of the state constitution that bar funding to sectarian schools, sectarian institutions, and schools that are not under the absolute control of the commonwealth. SB 1 also gives state funds to private and religious schools that can and do discriminate against kids for a variety of reasons, including disability, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, and an inability to speak English. Public schools, meanwhile, take everyone.

I don't have our testimony posted on our website yet but will have it up at our legislative page by Wednesday. Meanwhile, you can learn more about vouchers from our friends at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and at the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

I often tweet when I'm at these events, so be sure to follow us @aclupa.

Rock the Vote?
Three bills on which the ACLU of PA has a position are currently on the Senate calendar. These bills could get a vote any day or might go to the Senate Appropriations Committee for fiscal considerations:

• Senate Bill 3: We oppose. Bans insurance companies from offering abortion coverage within the insurance exchanges created by the federal government's healthcare reform. A woman who spends her own money on coverage couldn't get it within the exchange if SB 3 becomes law. We expect this bill will detour to the Senate Appropriations Committee before getting a vote sometime in the future. The Patriot News and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette have both editorialized on this bill.
  
• Senate Bill 9: We oppose. Requires applicants for public aid to show government-issued ID or be denied. Supporters claim they're stopping people without papers from fraudulently getting aid but show no evidence that that's a problem. Meanwhile, academic analysis suggests as much as 11 percent of US citizens do not have government-issued ID. This bill should go to approps since multiple state agencies estimated in 2008 that SB 9 would cost the commonwealth $19 million to implement.
• Senate Bill 42: We oppose. Shrinks the time frame in which persons who have committed sex offenses have to report certain changes, e.g. change in employment, to the state from 10 days to 2 days. It also treats a violation like a felony crime, not like a parole violation. Seriously, aren't we just setting these people up for failure?

Info about SB 3 and SB 9 is available at our legislative webpage.

Rock the committee vote
Since the war on drugs has been such a roaring success (/snark), the House Judiciary Committee will vote on three bills to expand the drug laws to add new substances- Spice et al, aka "synthetic marijuana"; Salvia Divinorum; and some chemical compounds I cannot pronounce.

So PA is building four new prisons at a cost of $800 million due to a bursting inmate population that has been caused in large part to the extreme sentencing laws for drug offenses we've implemented. And now we're going to add more substances to the list of what's illegal......If you continuously bang your head against a wall, at some point don't you realize that it won't make your headache go away?

Welcome to my world.....

New PA legislators sworn in

Big day today in Harrisburg.  The new members of the State House and State Senate are sworn in, the Republicans officially become the majority in the House, and Rep. Mike Turzai, a former Allegheny County prosecutor, takes over as House majority leader. 


The Inquirer lays out the abundant challenges facing Turzai and the new legislature, including a looming $4 billion budget deficit.  The first question that brings to mind is whether the Legislature will even consider fixing Pennsylvania's broken prison system, or continue throwing away money ($800 million in the next two years, plus $150 million annually in maintenance) on prisons that are overcrowded as soon as they are built?

There are, of course, plenty of other questions in our minds at the ACLU: Will we be fighting yet another effort to write discrimination against same-sex couples into the state Constitution?  Will Pennsylvania adopt anti-immigration laws modeled on Arizona's, as some legislators have proposed?  What new approaches will we see to deny reproductive health care and science-based sex education to young Pennsylvanians?


For now we can only wait and see.  As the ACLU we'll continue to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle, as we have in the past, to shape pending legislation and lobby on behalf of the Constitution and civil liberties.

4 days, 2 cities, 585 miles, and 16 cups of coffee

I was on the road most of last week for meetings in Pittsburgh and a conference in Washington. (I spent Monday at the state capitol, which some would say is like traveling to another planet.)

On Tuesday, our Pittsburgh chapter held its monthly board meeting, and we had a chance to discuss the 2009-10 state legislative session and look ahead to what we're facing in the 2011-12 session. While in Pittsburgh, I also had the chance to meet with allies and friends who are working on LGBT rights and juvenile life without parole (JLWOP).

In Washington, the ACLU's National Prison Project held a two-day conference to discuss long-term solitary confinement. And by long-term, they mean people who are in solitary for years, even decades. My DC trip also included a meeting with a national ally on JLWOP.

All of these issues present challenges. None of them are easy, and they all take planning and years of steady work. There are no shortcuts,and the ACLU has been very effective at surrounding itself with smart, strategic thinkers who understand this.

The ACLU is fiercely non-partisan. As I always tell people, both Republicans and Democrats annoy us. We have been tough on President Obama, just as we were tough on President Bush.

No one should be under any illusion that simply electing certain candidates is enough to protect and enhance civil liberties. All of our elected officials from both major parties must be held to account on where they stand, and to get where we want to go with issues like LGBT rights, criminal justice reform, and others, we have to put in the work necessary to convince a critical mass of policymakers that standing up for civil liberties is the right place to be.

That was the lesson of my 585 mile trip over the Allegheny Mountains (twice), inside the beltway, and through the farmlands of Pennsylvania and Maryland. So let's get to work. Oh, and please support the ACLU.

Andy Hoover, Legislative Director

PA Legislature Gets Smart on Crime

In July, I declared on this blog that prison reform was on life support. What a difference three months can make.

On Monday, the state House passed Senate Bill 1161. This bill takes on several reforms of Pennsylvania's criminal sentencing and parole regimes:

• Tasks the Commission on Sentencing to devise guidelines for judges to use to consider what threat to public safety a defendant poses and what potential for rehabilitation that defendant has.
• Empowers the Board of Probation and Parole to parole inmates at their minimum sentence if the only reason not to parole them is their inability to finish required programming, e.g. drug and alcohol counseling, with the expectation that the person will finish the programming on parole
• Allows the board to implement evidence-based practices to determine when technical parole violators (those who violated parole but did not commit a new crime) should be reincarcerated and when they should stay on the outside.

Because the House amended the bill, it will have to go back to the Senate for a vote on concurrence before going to Governor Rendell. That Senate vote needs to happen next week, as it is the Senate's last week of session for the year.

All of these reforms will require a willingness to carry them out. The Commission on Sentencing guidelines are intended for judges to send offenders to alternative programs either short of prison or within prison that could lead to their early release. And allowing the Board of Probation and Parole to utilize certain alternative ideas will be completely ineffective if the board doesn't actually use them.

But the value in this exercise has been continuing the conversation about Pennsylvania's bloated prison system. The Department of Corrections is currently several thousand inmates over capacity, to the point that 2,000 inmates have been sent out of state. We're going to spend nearly $1 billion over the next three years to build four new prisons.

Meanwhile, other states are decreasing their prison populations. Why not Pennsylvania?

The reforms in SB 1161 are modest, and we're disappointed that the House amended out the provision that allowed inmates to be released to pre-release centers within 18 months of their minimum sentence. We'd like to see the legislature move reforms to mandatory minimum sentences recommended by the Commission on Sentencing. The General Assembly must address flaws in the State Intermediate Punishment program and in the Recidivism Risk Reduction Initiative that make those programs less effective than they could be.

But passing this bill is another sign that the legislature is finally getting smart on crime. And that is a welcome change.

Andy in Harrisburg

Prison Reform on Life Support

The effort to reform Pennsylvania's sentencing structures and alleviate its overcrowded prisons hangs on by a thread.

As a recap, Pennsylvania is in the process of building four new prisons by 2013. The construction costs alone will be more than $800 million, and the annual costs to maintain them will be $50 million each.

To relieve the current situation, the commonwealth has sent 2,000 prisoners to Michigan and Virginia, where they have beds available. The secretary of the Department of Corrections here says that the new prisons will be filled soon after they open, based on current projections.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a package of three bills sponsored by Senator Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery County) that would reform sentencing guidelines (SB 1145), make it possible for certain non-violent offenders to leave prison early, based on certain conditions (SB 1161), and create alternatives for technical parole violators, parolees who violate parole but don't commit a new crime (SB 1275).

In the last few years, 20 states have reduced their prison populations by setting up similar structures, and those states, by and large, have not seen an increase in crime. Why not Pennsylvania?

The House Judiciary Committee scheduled SB 1161 for a vote on June 23, as Chairman Thomas Caltagirone (D-Berks County) has been a vocal supporter of reform and relief to the corrections system. The plan was to amend the bill to add pieces of the other two bills into it. However, an error in drafting the amendment forced the committee to hold the bill.

SB 1161 was rescheduled for June 29. At that meeting, Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico, who is president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, and a lobbyist for the Attorney General's office were given 40 minutes to address the committee and lay out their concerns with the bill. The concerns of the DAs and the AG lit a fuse under some reps, who piled on and offered their own problems with the bill. Lobbyists for the Department of Corrections and for the Board of Probation and Parole were also given a few minutes to speak. (DOC supports the reform, saying it could save us at least $60 million per year, and P&P is conditionally unopposed, with some minor changes.)

As a result of that ruckus, SB 1161 was held over again. Later that week, the legislature finished the 10-11 state budget, and legislators beat feet out of town.

The next opportunity for the House Judiciary Committee to consider this legislation will be after Labor Day, when both chambers return for a few weeks of session before Election Day. If the bill is amended, as expected, passes out of committee, and finds its way through the House, it will still have to go back to the Senate to vote on what's known as concurrence, when a chamber takes up a bill that it already passed but was altered by the other chamber.

I'm worried that prison reform may be dead for this year and maybe the next four years. This legislative session officially ends in November, and there will be only a few more weeks of session. A House staffer who is close to the action is convinced they can get it done. I hope he's right, and I'm wrong.

Andy in Harrisburg

I'm Just a Bill to Ban the Shackling of Pregnant Inmates

On Tuesday, the state House passed a bill to ban shackling of inmates during childbirth in the commonwealth's prisons and in county jails. The state Senate previously passed the legislation, so it heads to Governor Rendell for his signature, which is expected.

The reaction we usually get when we talk about this bill is shock that it's even necessary, but Pennsylvania would become only the eighth state to ban this cruel practice by statute. A few states also ban it by policy, as does the federal Bureau of Prisons and the federal Marshalls Service.

Hopefully you don't need this blog post to convince you why this bill is needed. To read our arguments, you can check out our press release after Tuesday's vote and also see the memos we submitted in support of the bill at our legislation page.

What I really want to write about is the process on how this happened. Numerous legislators from both parties and from both chambers played a role in getting SB 1074 to the governor's desk. If any one of them had balked, the bill would have died. It's very difficult to get legislation passed, even on a slam dunk issue like this one.

Consider the impact of these legislators:

Senator Daylin Leach. Senator Leach is the primary sponsor of SB 1074 and advocated for his bill. That should be a given, but often legislators introduce legislation but don't lobby for it. Senator Leach did that.

Senator Stewart Greenleaf. Senator Greenleaf is the powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Leach is the Democratic minority chairman of that committee.) Like all chairmen, Greenleaf makes decisions about what bills will be considered by the committee. When Leach asked Greenleaf to consider SB 1074, Greenleaf was willing to do that.

Rep. Thomas Caltagirone. Rep. Caltagirone is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and ensured that the bill got out of his committee. In addition, when Caltagirone became concerned that the bill might not get a vote in the House, he amended the language into another bill in his committee. That set off a chain of events that got the bill on the House floor.

Rep. Babette Josephs. Rep. Josephs personally advocated with House leadership to get SB 1074 before the full House. Two days later, it was on the House floor. (Full disclosure, Rep. Josephs is a member of the board of our Greater Philadelphia chapter.)

Senator Dominic Pileggi and Rep. Todd Eachus. The majority leaders of their respective chambers saw to it that the bill did get a vote before their members.

Like a clock missing a gear, if any one of these steps had not occurred, the bill would have stopped.

For the record, if this bill is signed by the governor, it will be the first bill in the 2009-10 session supported by the ACLU of PA that has become law. For now, no bill we oppose has become law. This classic Schoolhouse Rock cartoon illustrates why that is.



Andy in Harrisburg

One day at the capitol

One day in the life of a lobbyist for civil liberties. Last Tuesday, May 4.

8:30am: Coffee klatch with a few legislators and lobbyists. Hilarity ensues.

9:30am: House Judiciary Committee meeting. The committee approves House Bill 739 to add a new aggravating circumstance for capital cases. A person could face the death penalty if, along with the homicide, they also commit a sex offense and they were required at the time to register under Megan's Law. Needless to say, ACLU-PA opposes and submitted a memo (pdf) to that effect.

Only outgoing Rep. Kathy Manderino voted in opposition. I'm not worried at all about this bill becoming law.

I've left difficult committee meetings with a headache in the past, but I don't yet have a headache.

10am: Rep. Metcalfe and his merry band hold a press conference to announce the introduction of legislation, House Bill 2479, similar to the recently passed law on immigration in Arizona. Our press release goes out as the presser starts.

The reps and advocates in favor of Metcalfe's bill sounded something like this:

Blah blah blah blah illegals blah. Blah blah invasion blah blah. Crime blah blah blah.

I tweeted it, with my own commentary.

Still no headache.

11am: Definitely no headache now- Senator Leach holds his press conference on medical marijuana. Chris Goldstein of Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana drops science with defiance.

12pm: Work the press room on immigration. ACLU-PA gets mentions in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, Pennsylvania Independent, and WITF-FM.

12:30pm: Lunch with the medical marijuana guys- Chris, Derek, and Jay. Brownies for dessert. (Just kidding.)

We ate in the capitol cafeteria, and as far as I know, no one has dropped dead.

2pm: Back to the office to catch up on my messages. I support a moratorium. On email.

3:30pm: Back to the capitol, meet up with allies working on prison reform issues.

4pm: Meet with Republican senator who is supportive of reform but not optimistic about passage this session.

4:45pm: Meet with Democratic senator who is supportive of reform.

5:15pm: Head back to the office to deal with emails on sex ed and LGBT discrimination and to send an update to my ACLU-PA colleagues.

6:20pm: Leave the office. No headache, no need for medical marijuana.

Another day in the life.

Andy in Harrisburg

Last week was a good week at the state capitol

The joke around here is that civil liberties are safest when the state legislature is on vacation. So please look at that headline again and enjoy it. Here's what we had cooking last week.

Shackling pregnant inmates in childbirth: Senate Bill 1074 would ban the practice of restraining pregnant inmates during childbirth in Pennsylvania's state prisons and county jails. The ACLU of PA supports the bill.

It's hard to believe that this is even an issue. As one Senate staffer said to me, "I can't believe we have to legislate commonsense." Sadly, the ACLU of PA and our allies have heard anecdotes of this happening. There's a word for people who think that a woman in labor is a flight risk- men.

Last Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted the bill to the floor of the Senate.

Philadelphia Weekly and even the BBC have covered the issue. On Sunday, The Patriot News of Harrisburg editorialized in favor of SB 1074:

Legislators should pass this measure so no more babies are born to mothers shackled while in labor, like some scene from medieval times. Pennsylvania can do better.

The powers of the PA Game Commission: Under current law, officers of the Pennsylvania Game Commission can stop and search a person "at any time." That's actually how the law is written. House Bill 181 would require commission officers to follow the same standards as police officers- reasonable suspicion for a stop and probable cause for a search. The ACLU of PA supports the bill.

HB 181 passed out of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee on a unanimous vote, and the bill is in its legislative home stretch. Barring a Senate floor amendment, it now only needs to be passed by the Senate before going to the governor. At this point, the governor's position on the bill is not known, so we will be working hard to advocate with him in favor of HB 181.

Sexting: The House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to consider House Bill 2189, which deals with teenagers sending semi-nude, nude, and sexually provocative pictures of themselves and others to romantic partners and friends. You may be aware that we have a pending case involving an overzealous DA who thought girls in their underwear was child pornography.

HB 2189 is so broad that constitutionally-protected activity would suddenly become a crime. A teenage couple consensually sending nude pictures to each other would be criminal, but this activity is protected by the First Amendment. If this bill becomes law as it is currently written, it will most certainly be challenged. The Times Tribune and WITF-FM have covered some of our concerns with the bill.

But a storm is gathering. And I use that phrase on purpose. Last week Senator John Eichelberger announced his plan to introduce a state constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. The commonwealth has a financial crisis, a pension crisis, and a corrections crisis, but Senator Eichelberger thinks the best thing he can do with his time is worry about the gay couple next door.

We beat this in 06. We beat it in 08. Let's go for the three-peat in 10.

Also, the sexting bill is back on the House Judiciary Committee's agenda for February 9, and none of our concerns have been addressed. We're putting on the full court press with assistance from the Juvenile Law Center.

I don't want to end on a downer, so here's some good news. We are cautiously optimistic that the shackling bill, SB 1074, and the Game Commission bill, HB 181, will both get positive votes before the full Senate in March or April.

And beware of big gay rainstorms in your future.....

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

Andy in Harrisburg

Virginia and Michigan win the Pennsylvania lottery

"Congratulations, Virginia and Michigan! You've just won millions of dollars from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania! All you have to do is house 2,000 of our inmates for about three years. How do you feel?"

It's a deal. The PA Department of Corrections will move 2,000 of its inmates to prisons in Michigan and Virginia, beginning in February. The move will cost PA about $135 million.

This is happening because prisons in PA are over capacity by about 7,000 inmates. While Michigan and Virginia hold our inmates, construction crews will be busy building four new state prisons here in our commonwealth. The construction costs alone will be nearly $1 billion.

Why is this happening? While groups like the ACLU of PA, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and our allies have been advocating for years for alternative ways to deal with offenders, especially non-violent offenders like drug addicts and persons with mental illness, the General Assembly has been led around by the nose by prosecutors who wanted an increasing level of punishment.

According to testimony given by DOC Secretary Jeffrey Beard last month before a state Senate committee, 55 percent of new inmates admitted into state prisons last year were non-violent offenders, largely people who committed drug or property offenses. We're locking up people who need help, not prison time. (See the testimony I gave at that same hearing by clicking here (pdf).)

Although the commonwealth and some counties have implemented some programs to help people with drug addictions and mental illness who find their way into the criminal justice system, they haven't gone far enough. New data (pdf) from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing shows that mandatory minimum sentencing has no impact on recidivism and deterrence and that most people can't even name an offense that carries a mandatory. The commission study recommends repealing or at least shrinking the drug-free school zone mandatory and increasing the minimum quantity of cocaine necessary to kick in a mandatory.

No one solution is a magic bullet to solve the problem of Pennsylvania's crowded prisons. But with the state corrections budget approaching $2 billion annually, in the midst of a financial crisis, the legislature cannot continue to stick its collective head in the sand. It's time to start listening to the ACLU of PA and our allies.

Andy in Harrisburg

Sentenced to Hard Labor

The growing population of women in prisons and jails brings with it special challenges, particularly if the woman is pregnant. Like -- what happens when she goes into labor? Is she a flight risk? Is this the moment she’s been waiting for – an opportunity to escape? Can you imagine being in active labor and trying to outrun a prison guard?

This seems to be the thinking of many in the correctional system. In Pennsylvania and 39 other states, correctional officers are allowed to shackle pregnant inmates on the way to the hospital, as well as during labor and delivery. Officials justify this practice by saying they need to prevent inmates from escaping. However, there is no record anywhere of an escape attempt by a woman in labor. And guess what? Among states that have banned the practice, there have been no escape attempts.

In addition to being an unnecessary security precaution, shackling is known to be risky for the health of women and their unborn children. The use of physical restraints can severely restrict women’s ability to move and change positions during labor. More importantly, shackles can interfere with medical staff’s ability to provide appropriate care or act quickly in emergency situations. Organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association, and the American Correctional Association support policies that ban or restrict the use of shackles and other restraints during labor and delivery.

Several states and the federal government have recognized the risks associated with shackling and have implemented new policies that restrict the use of these restraints. Texas, New York, New Mexico, Vermont, Illinois, and California have all passed legislation prohibiting the use of shackles on pregnant inmates, while the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshall Service, and the states of Florida, Wyoming, Washington, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have implemented administrative policies restricting the use of shackles and other restraints on pregnant inmates during labor and delivery.

Advocates in Pennsylvania are trying to push the state in this direction. State Senator Daylin Leach recently introduced the Health Birth for Incarcerated Women Act (Senate Bill 1074). It would ban the use of shackles during labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery except for in extreme circumstances. This bill would also require correctional facilities to keep written records and justification for the use of restraints. This legislation could also open the door to establishing more comprehensive health services for incarcerated women who are pregnant.

To learn more, listen to Senator Leach and Kathleen Creamer of Community Legal Services discuss the bill on the senator’s podcast or read the full text of the bill.

Jenny in Philadelphia

Secretary Beard, what's the secret?

The Department of Corrections is the second-biggest line item in the state budget, but for some reason, the DOC thinks it's the CIA.

Last week, the ACLU of PA filed suit against the DOC under the Right to Know law. Prison Legal News had submitted a RTK request for successful litigation against DOC, including tax dollars spent to settle lawsuits. The DOC responded by claiming that the request would require 35,000 pages to be copied and more than $8000 in copying costs. Our press release on what went down is here.

I also learned last week that the DOC had denied a RTK request by the American Friends Service Committee. AFSC wanted a copy of the DOC's policy on the use of the restraint chair, which is used- and sometimes abused- in prisons to subdue inmates.

And today the DOC huddled (and cuddled?) behind closed doors with the state House Judiciary Committee. For several weeks, this event had been posted as a public hearing. Last week it was downgraded to an informational meeting, and the word got around that the meeting would be closed. It was a surreal sight seeing House security guarding the door and checking ID badges of those heading into the meeting.

All of this begs the question: What's the big secret at the Department of Corrections? Apparently, the department did not get the memo about the new era of open government. County prison boards must face the public on a monthly basis. Why can't the DOC occasionally face the music from the public? And who is holding them accountable?

Let's be clear: Allegations of abuse and poor conditions in the state prisons may have merit or they may be overblown. But we'll never know if the DOC continues to operate in secret.

Andy in Harrisburg

Still clearly about power and control

The ACLU is working hard to keep prison officials in check in Arizona.

Read more about it here!

Ellen at Duvall

The one where a bunch of people died, lost their homes, and were abandoned

In the days of "fair and balanced" newspaper coverage, shrinking news holes, and a seemingly round-the-clock obsession with Britney's oh-so-slight tummy bulge, journalism these days often seems to have abdicated its vital role in the workings of democracy.

But the work of The Times-Picayune's journalists and the sacrifices they made to record Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans serves as a reminder of the importance that newspapers play in documenting injustice.

In a short documentary, Eyes of the Storm, made for the two-year anniversary of the storm, the editors and staff photographers of The Times-Picayune recalled the events of Katrina through their photos. The video is 25 minutes long, but well worth the time. One of the most poignant moments is when one photographer describes how a stranded woman desperately led him to the body of an old man - so that the world might see, and know, what happened there.



Doug Parker, the paper's photo editor said in the film's introduction, "People who work for newspapers...think that they can change the world."

New Orleans remains a long way from recovery, but the video serves as a moving reminder that journalism still matters when practiced by people who uphold a solemn responsibility to the First Amendment.

And while we're watching videos on the subject...

Another video documents the terrible conditions at the Orleans Parish Prison. Ashley, a 13-year-old runaway held at a youth detention center, was transferred to the adult prison for the approaching storm. In the video, she describes being abandoned by guards and left in waist-high water for days without food and water.



The clip is part of the ACLU's comprehensive report Broken Promises. Since the waters have receded, the ACLU continues to be inundated with reports of racial injustice and human rights violations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Broken Promises highlights stories of ongoing police abuse, racial profiling, housing discrimination, along with other civil liberties violations and the ACLU's continuing response.

Lauri in York

Because we think you might care...

Noteworthy items out there in the ether:

• Either civics teachers are doing a terrible job or some kids aren't paying attention in class. Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the nation's founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55% believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, according to the "State of the First Amendment 2007" national survey released yesterday by the First Amendment Center. USA Today has coverage here. In an unrelated story, 40% of Americans say they will vote for this guy for President in 2008.

• Great editorial today in The Philadelphia Inquirer about "Cell-block nation."

Our prison population is number one in the world. We've got more inmates than Russia, more than the known number in China - what a distinction for the Land of the Free.
....
Americans who prefer to ignore reality don't want to spend money on support programs for "ex-cons." They call it coddling. They ignore that it's more expensive to keep building $150 million prisons and spend millions more in maintenance costs to house them.
....
Just the words early release scare people who conjure images of some Willie Horton raping and pillaging his way through their communities. But it doesn't have to be that way. It won't if prisons are used to rehabilitate rather than warehouse inmates. It won't if you have effective support programs to help released inmates make a successful return to society. Most important in that transition is helping them to get a job.

• Speaking of rich, white, male privilege and of further expanding Pennsylvania's already overcrowded jails with more black and brown young men, on Tuesday, the PA House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 326, which would increase criminal penalties for gang-related activity. Meanwhile, today's New York Times features a story about the failure of such legislation in other areas of the country. "L.A. has this approach of being tough on crime," said Craig Watkins, the district attorney in Dallas, where some Los Angeles-style tactics are being rolled back. "But the result of that is overflowing prisons, high crime rates and increasing numbers of gang members. Now we want to be smart on crime." Clearly, the planets are aligned when a DA is saying the same thing I've said privately to friends and colleagues.

• Finally, friend of the ACLU Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus was assaulted by Capitol Police on Monday while waiting to enter the hearings featuring General David Petraeus. His crime? He was wearing a button that said, "I love the people of Iraq." As Firedoglake notes, this is not what democracy looks like.

Andy in Harrisburg

Because we think you might care...

There have been a few noteworthy items in the papers the last few days.

• Yesterday's The Patriot News of Harrisburg featured a front page story on a local high school that has created an alternative program for teen mothers and other students who have personal struggles that keep them from attending the traditional school day. You may recall last spring we took on a case in which a teenage mother in the Central Dauphin School District was being disciplined for missing school to care for her child. Kudos to Susquehanna Township School District for finding an avenue for teen parents who both want to complete their education and care for their child.
• In Sunday's The Morning Call of Allentown, a murder victim's son and daughter-in-law wrote a moving tribute to their loved one and an explanation for why they asked the Lehigh County DA to stop pursuing the death penalty for the perpetrator. The torturous process for victims' family members is yet another reason why Pennsylvania should at least take the time to do a serious examination of the death penalty, with a two-year suspension of executions. If the legislature passed and the governor signed Senate Bill 850, the study commission created by the bill could include victims' families as one of the areas of study. In a related note, the Pennsylvania Moratorium Coalition, of which ACLU-PA is a part, has officially launched its new website.
• For years, the ACLU and our allies have been advocating for alternative programs to reduce incarceration rates and recidivism. The politicians have finally caught on. Governor Rendell has introduced a plan for easing our overcrowded jails, which is modeled after a program that New York implemented ten years ago.
• And finally, immigration. *sigh* From the "I've officially heard it all" category, the author of a letter to the editor in today's Patriot News claims that immigration law is discriminatory. Against white people. "Until 1965 Caucasians were 90 percent of the population. Now we're 66 percent. In 1965 when immigration laws were changed radically, sponsors of the legislation said the U.S. ethnic mix wouldn't change. However, Hispanics went from 1 percent to 14 percent and Asians from 1 percent to 8 percent. The fact is that current immigration law is designed to reduce the percentage of Caucasians by this immigration policy. So anyone supporting legal immigration is supporting a discriminatory law." And the anti-immigrant crowd wonders why we think they're a) nuts and b) racist.

Andy in Harrisburg

Saturday morning musings

I'm technically on vacation but felt moved to post with a few things in the news. Plus, I just miss my good friends at Speaking Freely, like anonymous, anonymous, and anonymous.

• With emergency contraception now available over the counter, sales for 2007 will likely be twice what they were in 2006. And this has groups like the Family Research Council aghast. "This is very concerning," said Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council, which is among several groups suing the FDA to reverse the decision. "We think this is putting women's health at risk." Right. The FRC would rather these women get pregnant and have an abortion than prevent the pregnancy in the first place. That makes no sense.
• On Thursday night, more than 150 people attended a public hearing on prisoner abuse at Dauphin County Prison, which was sponsored by the Harrisburg branch of the NAACP. All participants who gave testimony took an oath to tell the truth, and the stories were compelling. At times, you could hear a pin drop. One woman witnessed another woman being held over a railing on one of the upper tiers of the prison. Several men told of being attacked while handcuffed and laying on the ground face first. Based on the evening's testimony, common practices at DCP include banging an inmate's head against the wall, walking on an inmate's achilles heels, legs, and back, and punching and macing an inmate while he/she is incapacitated in some way, e.g. handcuffed, shackled, strapped to a chair. The Breaking News Blog of The Patriot News is usually pretty quiet, but it has attracted an outpouring of comments on this issue, here and here.

Andy in Harrisburg

FrantiV goes to San Quentin

After the earlier post today, I feel moved to post this. Michael Franti, one of my favorite artists, did a show at San Quentin prison with his band, Spearhead. This is a must see.



Andy in Harrisburg