From MetroWest Daily News

Editorial: Lost focus on prison reform

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Massachusetts’ political leaders tend to be good at identifying problems and proposing plausible solutions, but poor at following through, especially on fixes that come with political risk or face special interest resistance.

This week’s example: prison reform. After imprisoned ex-priest John Geoghan was brutally murdered in his cell, Gov. Mitt Romney called for systematic reforms and appointed a blue-ribbon commission that put solid ideas on the table.

But while management at the Department of Correction has received good marks for doing its best, more ambitious reforms appear to be going nowhere. That prompted Scott Harshbarger, a former attorney general, to resign his post as chairman of the advisory panel. "There has not been a sense of urgency," Harshbarger said. "I don’t see it in the executive. I don’t see it in the Legislature. I don’t see it in the agencies. I don’t see the focus."

As an example, he cited the commission’s finding that Massachusetts assigns non-violent prisoners, like Geoghan, to maximum security prisons at more than double the rate of 10 years ago. Prison reform advocates contend the prison guards union resists appropriate assignments because maximum security units require more guards.

Taking some management responsibilities away from the unions was among the commission’s recommendations. Current DOC officials have struggled with the unions, and could use the support Harshbarger found lacking in Romney and the Legislature.

Other recommendations require legislative action. They called for reducing the overcrowding at MCI-Framingham by finding space for women awaiting trial at facilities closer to their homes and by stopping the practice of sending civilly-committed women to MCI-Framingham.

The panel also called for review of mandatory minimum sentences, which have dramatically reduced the opportunity for reentry programs that help reduce recidivism.

Successful reform takes more than good ideas. It takes the political will to put them into action. We hope Harshbarger’s resignation helps inspire the leadership needed to fix the state’s prisons, but we wouldn’t bet on it.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion

News Alert from Consensus Project

$5 Million Approved for Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act

On November 4, conferees for the FY 2006 Science, State, Justice Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2862) approved $5 million for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. Senator Mike DeWine, who shepherded the bill's passage in the Senate and is a member of the Appropriations Committee, and Congressman Frank Wolf, Chair of the Subcommittee that has jurisdiction over appropriations for the U.S. Department of Justice, were instrumental in securing funding for the newly authorized program. The appropriations bill now heads to the President's desk for his signature.

Signed into law in 2004, the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (S. 1194) authorizes a $50 million federal grant program for states and counties to establish more mental health courts, expand prisoners' access to mental health treatment while incarcerated and upon re-entry into the community, provide additional resources for pre-trial jail diversion programs and related initiatives, and fund cross-training for law enforcement officials and mental health personnel dealing with adult and juvenile offenders with mental illness.

Leaders in law enforcement, court officials, corrections administrators, and mental health advocates and service providers enthusiastically supported the legislation and worked hard to ensure that it was funded in this year's budget.

http://consensusproject.org

IL launches compulsory mental health screening for children and pregnant women similar to the recommendations of the Heally Commission Report.
 
http://illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=17748
Monday, July 19, 2004
By The Leader-Chicago Bureau

CHICAGO -- This week, a series of public forums on a program requiring all pregnant women and children through age 18 years to be tested for mental health needs is being held this week in five different locations statewide.

One group of parents learned about the state's plans to proceed with this program and on Monday issued an alarm asking for parents and citizens concerned about the new program to voice their opinions at the forums.

"We're moving toward social training over academic training with this program," Larry Trainor, a Mt. Prospect parent of four children and a contact for Citizens Commission on Human Rights, based in Los Angeles, said today.

"Since psychiatric involvement in education, SAT scores have gone down for the past few decades. Evaluating mental conditions is not based on scientific evidence, it's subjective," he said.

The $10 million plan for the setup of the Children's Mental Health Act of 2003 is being considered at this week's public forums starting Monday, July 18 in Champaign.

Signed into law, the bill passed the Illinois General Assembly last spring, sponsored in the House by State Representatives Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) and Patricia Bellock (R-Westmont). State Senator Maggie Crotty (D-Oak Forest) and Susan Garrett (D-Highwood) shepherded the legislation through the Senate.

The legislation passed the House with a 107 to 5 vote, and the Senate unanimously.

"What if they find a student has a math disorder, a reading disorder. Would that be a mental health disorder, one that would cause the parents to put their children with a drug for a condition they may or may not have?" Trainor asked.

The mental health program will develop a mental health system for "all children ages 0-18 years," provide for screening to "ensure appropriate and culturally relevant assessment of young children's social and emotional development with the use of standardized tools."

Also, all pregnant women will be screened for depression and thereafter following her baby's birth, up to one year. Follow-up treatment services will also be provided.

Trainor said that he is trying to get parents and citizens out to voice their opinion about the new program.

Apparently, children's mental health will be assessed along with their academic standards in the new proposed testing. The Illinois State Board of Education has been given the responsibility to develop the appropriate tests, according to last year's legislation.

The Task Force hosting the public forums this week are to send a recommendation to Governor Blagojevich by the end of the summer, according to the Act (HB 2900).

Interested in CORI Laws

Check out the Mass Legal Services' questions and answers to Human Services Jobs and Your CORI. MassLegalServices.Org:: Human Services Jobs and Your CORI

"The Plea," a new documentary coming to Frontline

Airs Thursday, June 17, at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). It is the centerpiece of America's judicial process: the trial by jury system that places a defendant's fate in the hands of a jury of one's peers. But just how many citizens are aware that nearly 95 percent of all criminal cases never reach a jury, but instead are settled through plea bargains? To overworked and understaffed defense lawyers, prosecutors, and jurists, plea bargains are the safety valve that keeps cases moving through our backlogged courts. Critics, however, contend that the push to resolve cases through plea bargains jeopardizes the constitutional rights of defendants, who may be pressured to admit their guilt whether they're guilty or not. In this 90-minute documentary, FRONTLINE explores the moral, judicial, and constitutional implications of relying on plea bargains to expedite justice.

Interested in Mental Health Courts?

Are mental health courts right for Massachusetts? Read more and let us know your opinions.

Bureau of Justice Assistance Mental Health Courts Program

Please join us for Monday Night at the Movies
May 3 at 6:30 p.m.
Parish Hall, Arlington Street Church

Join us for a screening of the Academy Award-winning HBO documentary Murder on a Sunday Morning, a troubling look at modern police investigation that unfolds in a story as compelling and suspenseful as any fictional drama. French director Jean-Xavier De Lestrade's intimate camerawork pulls viewers into the jury box to help decide the fate of 15-year-old Brenton Butler, a black resident of Jacksonville, Florida, who becomes the prime suspect in the shooting death of an elderly white woman simply because he was seen in the vicinity of the crime. Butler's attorney, a magnetic public defender named Patrick McGuinness, must pit his legal skills against a mountain of shoddy investigative work and corruption to save his client from life in prison.

After the film, Shawn Drumgold will share his personal experience as an innocent man wrongfully imprisoned for 15 years. Pizza and opportunities for action will be provided! Please RSVP to ascprisonreform@hotmail.com.

To get to ASC: The church is located at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets in the Back Bay, directly across from the Boston Public Garden. Go up Boylston Street to a walk going up the stairs to the 351 Boylston Street entrance. If the door is closed, please ring the doorbell until someone responds.
By subway: Take any Green Line train to the Arlington T Stop.

New Report on the Roadblocks to Reentry

The Legal Action Center's report on comprehensive state by state analysis of legal barriers on employment, housing, votince, parenting, driving and criminal records has finally been released.
Roadblocks to Reentry