Sleeker, Faster Action Track Comes Your Way

In last fall's membership survey, SURJ members told us that they wanted to receive more concise versions of Action Track more often and would welcome an optional "e-newsletter."  So here it is: the new "e" version of Action Track.

The electronic version of Action Track will be sent to those members who have registered their e-mail addresses with SURJ.  We hope you like the new format.  If you have any feedback, please share it by e-mailing info@surj.org

Mark Your Calendar for the Next Visions of Justice Forum

Breaking Barriers to Employment for Successful Offender Reentry
Friday, April 2, 8:30 a.m. - Noon
Clayton Hall, University of Delaware Campus, Newark
Check our online event calendar for more details.

Notes from Tom Eichler 

The opening month of the 2004 session of the General Assembly has just concluded.  With the presentation of the Governor’s budget request, the General Assembly has now recessed for six weeks of budget hearings. 

Here’s the good news: there was no request for the prison expansion mentioned last year, when Commissioner Taylor warned that in one year he would be asking for a 1,000 bed expansion, “unless present policies change.”  Thanks to passage of HB 210, the compromise drug-sentencing bill, and SB 50, the probation reform bill, Commissioner Taylor reports that there has been no growth in the prison census compared with the prior years’ annual growth of 225-250 inmates.

Additional good news:  the Governor’s budget request includes more funds for substance abuse treatment for the Department of Correction, including:

·     $374,900 for the new Women’s Work Release Center, which will provide much needed treatment for more women in the corrections system;

·     $500,000 to add treatment services for those being supervised by DOC in the community.  Unfortunately, this is half the amount that Sen. John Still had asked for, but he is optimistic about prospects for getting the other half as the legislature acts on the Governor’s request.

We have been promoting the SURJ Agenda for 2004-2006 to legislators and had a working lunch with 15 members of the General Assembly.  There is a lot of energy around the reform agenda.  Our top legislative initiatives are:

·        Creation of a special commission to make recommendations on alternatives to building more prison capacity; and

·        Legislation to end minimum mandatory drug sentences by restoring to Delaware’s judges sentencing authority under sentencing guidelines.

While we have this welcome rest from the decades-old rise in Delaware’s prison census, we need to take a thoughtful look at our state’s pre-trial, sentencing, and correction policies.  We need to identify ways to maximize public safety policies that present alternatives to building and operating still more expensive prison capacity.  As I speak to legislators about our drug-sentencing proposal, many suggest combining increased sentencing discretion for judges with stepped up access to drug treatment. 

As the budget hearings now proceed, we can be encouraged about the positive climate for change that seems to be accompanying the thaw in the State’s financial condition.  So, stay tuned. There’s much activity underway.

Substance Abuse Treatment is Cost-effective and Reduces Repeat Incarceration

Study in Delaware Shows Benefit of Providing Treatment

A recent study by Kathryn E. McCollister, Ph.D., of the University of Miami’s Health Services Research Center, shows that within criminal justice settings, treatment for substance abuse may not only reduce reincarceration rates, but it may also be cost-effective. 

That conclusion, published in the December issue of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, was based on McCollister’s study of a work release program and an aftercare treatment program offered in Delaware.  Previous work by McCollister and her colleagues on prison-based treatment and aftercare in California also came to similar conclusions..

“These two studies should encourage correctional facilities to examine the potential of in-prison, work release, and aftercare substance abuse treatment as a cost-effective way of reducing reincarceration rates among drug abusing criminal offenders,” McCollister said.

“The Delaware study shows that offenders receiving substance abuse treatment in a work release setting spend 49 fewer days in reincarceration, compared to those who only receive standard work release,” according to McCollister. 

With results like this how can we not invest in drug treatment for offenders? 

HB 210 Goes to Work

As you may recall, one of SURJ’s major accomplishments during 2003 was helping get HB 210 passed, a bill that moderates sentences for some drug offenders, saves a significant number of prison beds, and eliminates the need to expand prison construction this year.  Our job now is to monitor the implementation of HB 210, identifying the benefits it brings to our criminal justice system. 

“HB 210 has provided significant relief in drug cases and has helped reduce some of the horror stories of excessive sentencing."

   - Tom Foley, Esq., Board member,
     SURJ

Mandatory Minimums

SURJ is advocating for the repeal of all mandatory minimum drug sentences in Delaware because:

A.  Individually-tailored sentences are being sacrificed to a one-size-fits-all scheme, and judges are, esentially, on "auto-pilot".

B.  Putting the wrong people behind bars without regard to the circumstances of individual cases risks excessive incarceration- Delaware's incarceration rate is already very high.

C.  Mandatory minimum drug sentences shift sentencing discretion from neutral judges (of nationally recognized caliber in Delaware) to adversarial prosecutors.

D.  Incarcerating those who are addicted to drugs uses up more tax dollars while doing nothing to prevent recidivism.

E.  Many drug crimes are nonviolent offenses that call for alternatives to incarceration, like treatment.

F.  All of the above.

Support Surges for SURJ

SURJ greatly appreciates the generosity shown by the hundreds of members who made this year’s Annual Appeal a terrific success.  Since December, members have contributed more than $28,000, and that is nearly three times the amount raised during our 2002 appeal. This response demonstrates that members understand how important it is to continue support for SURJ’s urgent mission for reform of the criminal justice system in Delaware.

Making Membership a Priority 

When SURJ’s Board of Trustees met at their Annual Meeting in December, Bill DeLauder, Co-chair of the Membership Committee, challenged each of SURJ’s 80 trustees to recruit five new members, adding 400 to our roles early in 2004.

Congratulations to Trustee Maria Matos, who in less than a month has recruited more than 30 new SURJ members!  “When I tell people about the potential for SURJ to help create alternatives to incarceration that improve our state’s quality of justice while increasing public safety and helping to reduce crime, they are usually very eager to join,” said Matos.

We hope all of our members can do as Maria Matos and our trustees are doing:  inform those you know about the need for reform and about how their membership will help strengthen SURJ’s ability to speak out for change.  Try to bring in two new members by March, when the General Assembly comes back into session.