Sentencing: Pennsylvania Reform Measure Becomes Law
Sentencing reform is coming to Pennsylvania. As we reported last week, sentencing reform bill House Bill 4 had passed the Senate and awaited routine approval in the House. Now the bill, which would allow for the diversion of nonviolent drug offenders into treatment programs, has passed the House and been signed by Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and will go into effect 90 days after official publication.

State Correctional Institution, Chester, Pennsylvania
The bill and related legislation is being described by some involved in the process as the biggest sentencing reform in years in Pennsylvania. It will allow the early release of some prisoners, including drug and petty theft offenders, if they complete educational and job-training programs.
"This represents a new approach to criminal justice for offenders convicted of nonviolent crimes," said House Speaker Dennis M. O'Brien (R-Philadelphia), one of the bills' chief advocates. "It will make the public safer, ensure that offenders receive services essential to break the cycle of crime, reduce duplication of efforts that waste taxpayer dollars, and ensure that crime victims are treated fairly," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"We have a serious problem here in Pennsylvania with the numbers of people we are sending to prison," said William DiMascio, whose organization, The Prison Society, advocates on behalf of prisoners. "With so many new people entering the system, and with sentences becoming longer and parole becoming tighter, it was inevitable that we would reach a point of saturation. With prisons at capacity -- and beyond capacity -- you begin to have dangerous conditions, both for the people held there and for the people who work there," he said. "Doing nothing was not an option."
But although early release and diversion provisions in the bill do not apply to violent offenders, the politics of violent crime has already intruded. In response to the killing of a Philadelphia police officer, just four days after signing the bill, Gov. Rendell issued a statement announcing the suspension of releases for all paroled prisoners pending a review of the parole and corrections systems.
"Last week, Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick McDonald was tragically murdered by a paroled offender, but it is even more tragic that this was the second instance within the last four months of a parolee shooting a Philadelphia police officer," wrote Rendell, referring to the shooting of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. "Heartbreaking losses such as these have shed light on the need to thoroughly review the process by which Pennsylvania paroles violent offenders. Therefore, I am asking you to review the way in which these two cases were managed by the Department of Corrections and the Board of Probation and Parole in order to minimize the likelihood that these kinds of scenarios will be repeated."
So, for the time being, someone paroled after doing time for a nonviolent drug offense is going to be stuck in prison because a paroled violent offender killed a police officer, the new law notwithstanding.
yup
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 8:55ami would really like to meet you,you speak nothing but truth
meduanna4all !!!!!!!!!!
I was wondering...is the
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 3:23pmI was wondering...is the Philadelphia PD still being as mismanaged the way it was under the tutalege of one Frank "Piggo" Rizzo?
Y'all better wrap yur yur head around a concept, and like it or not, it's coming; Federal Emergency Rule that is. For the Federal gov't has to regain order in some of these cities where the corruption is deep & widespread. Don't believe what Gen X & Y tell you about prison is an "honor" or "school", because when Federal emergency rule is imposed the Army can go into the jails and SHOOT all the prisoners (the undesirables). Check it out it is ONE of only 18 true functions of the Federal government. It's fair warning...
key stoned state
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 8:39amthe biggest problem in pa is the voters dont count for anything.the MAN will not put a legalization initiative on the ballot for the people to vote on.we are a commonwealth and only our senators and governors can make change,or put questions for the PEOPLE to answer on our voting ballots.the constitution was written on hempen paper,but you may as well wipe your ass with it,our forefathers are already ass up in there graves over the stupid laws these politicians pass to go against what they were all fighting for.
prison abuse
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 3:31amMaybe if the C/O's wouldn't abuse the inmates then this Police Officer would not have been killed. The C/O's in these P.A. Concentration Camps rape, beat and torture our American Captives on a daily basis. In 2007 at SCI Smithfield there were 3 "suicides" all within 90 with one of the men found with both legs broken but yet he hung himself
hmmmmm
You forgot
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 3:33amYou mean all within 90 days apart. I heard about that and I'm on your other computer....lol











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They still just don't get it
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 3:05pmThey still just don't get it. If they would just legalize and get rid of all the regulations that drive up the cost as well as make the recreational drug industry profitable, then they wouldn't have any real measurable crime to enforce. All the trouble that is experienced that is blamed on drugs and users is in fact the direct result of all the laws that attempt to interfere in each individuals rights to do with their own bodies as they see fit. I will say it again that they are hypocrits who will on the one hand swear up and down that a woman has the right to choose her own reproductive destiny at the expense of an unborn child and yet will turn right around and promote legislation that erodes those same constitutonal rights for anyone who is a drug user. It is a double standard and I personally would like to see the ACLU do something about it. I feel like my right to privacy has been violated every time I have to worry that a cop could show up at my door for some bogus reason and then swear on oath that he smelled pot and so he had probable cause to search. Why should I have to hide what I do and worry about stuff like that? I Have the Same Rights To Privacy as that woman who uses that Same Right to Privacy to get the Supreme court to protect her Privacy. Why hasn't the ACLU fought this thing out to the bone the way they should. Are they on the take too? I know that if you had someone with some real money and a unlimited budget like the Department of Justice and the Attorney Generals office that these drug laws could be hacked to pieces by pointing out all the ways that they infringe upon each individuals rights to privacy and their persuit of Happiness. Isn't that what I am guaranteed by MY Constitution. I was borne here in the United States Of America and my european family ancestors has been here since 1511, not to mention all my Native American Ancestors who it is estimated have been here for the last 15,000 years. I would just like to know how it is that WE THE PEOPLE have stepped back and allowed slick, fast talking con men like drug czar john walters to dupe you into believing any of their lies. One of the biggest lies they proffer up is that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to harder narcotic abuse and addiction. WAKE THE FU-K UP!! God Dammit! How stupit is that! I don't know about you, but the very first mind altering drug I ever experienced was ALCOHOL!! YES I SAID ALCOHOL STUPID!!!! For Christ's sake how many times have you heard those so called psychiatrist come out and support that shit that pot is the culprit. Those idiots that sign on to that notion should be stripped of their license to practice because they have demonstrated that they are politically motivated and are just trying to shove theirs as well as a few well oiled politicians moral agendas. That's it folks, a big fat moral agenda. That's what the christian right wing hypocrits want. they think that drugs are satanic and that they cause loose moral behavior in our young citizens. Dam right drugs do make sex outragiously hot and the orgasms are out of this world, especially on meth and coke. I have to agree that using those drugs will eventually lead to real grreat sex...The problem with illegalizing them is that prohibition always leads to an underground black market industry. The higher the profits to be made the more determined those who trade in it are bound to be. And the sad thing is that with all the money comes greed and with greed comes violence and paranoia. Take the prohibition away and flood the market and you take the profit out of it immediately. What happens next is simple. We all get to have our cake and eat it too. The Drug war is over, billions of dollars is saved on law enforcement, foreign aid, military expendetures, prison incarceration expenses, property crimes, theft, Identity theft and the list go's on an on. Wake and assert your rights by contacting you representatve about how unjust and unconstitutuonal you feel these laws are and assure them that when you vote you and all your friends will reflect that in how you cast your ballot,. Also, write to the ACLU and give them a piece of your mind about how lax they have been..There isn;'t any reason any of these drug laws should have stood the constitutional test,.If ROE-V-WADE stood on grounds of right to privacy then there shouldn't be one drug posession convicton that should have been allowed to stand. Where is the calvary when WE THE PEOPLE are surrounded by an onslaught of illegal and destructive laws that have been shoveled up our asses by the Attorney Generals office, The Department of so called Justice, The Law Enforcement and fuck you over Lobby, The Lobby for the JUDICIARY INDUSTRY that insures that the courts are always choked with new cases. People!! Thes maggots have got to go!! They are the real cause of every problem in this country. When I was a little kid my dad asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. At first I said maybe a doctor, or an astronaut, He said thats great, what if you couldn't be that, and so I said well, what about being a cop,.My dad said son, do you like to suck cock? I said what? He said, do you llike to suck cock.? I said no, yuk, thats gross, why would that matter? He said son, cops are cock suckers. I have seen enough of the bad behavior and how crooked law enforcement really is and you know that my dad was right, metaphorically speaking of course. Something else that my dad said to me about cops. He said, son you know that if a man and a woman are having a argument with each other and it's just the two of them, they have a pretty good chance that they will settle the argument and they will wind up having make up sex that night, But if someone like a nosey neighbor calls the cops and they get involved, then instead of having just the one problem between the husband and wife now there is another problem. They now have a cocksucker who's only job is to take someone to jail. So the cop shows up and all he's going to do is instigate and escelate the problem to such a point that he can arrest someone. He's a cocksucker. You see folks, that's all a cop is really good for. They are there to make sure that they can keep feeding off the public tit. The more crime the more cops, the more cops and laws the more crime. The more cops and crime, the more judges and lawyers they need to railroad average citizens into the nevereneding legal system, which by the way gets a bonus by charging huge fines and fees for enforcing their own laws and rules that none of us average joes had a thing to do with having them implimented in the first place. Think about this, most of the laws that criminalize drugs originate at the Federal Level. How does the average citizen fight against a federal monster like the one that's gotten out of hand like the one we have in this country today. Well, folks, I have said my piece for today and I just hope that someday the ACLU or some other group can rise up from the grass roots of our nation and take back the governance of our selves. I have never consented to give up any of my rights guaranteed by my Constitution and therefore I fully intend on blazing a blunt today, I will later on today go out an visit my friends the pot growers and encourage them and when I run into my friend the tweekes I will say right on keep up the fight for your rights and that's the way I will live my life. I will not sell out to the fat cats in washington and the white house and will encourage anyone to try what ever mind altering drug they may want. It's our body, our mind, our happiness, our right!!