Latest

Texas: Bill Notifying Formerly Incarcerated Individuals of Restored Voting Status Vetoed Republican Governor Rick Perry this week vetoed bipartisan legislation notifying individuals when they become eligible to vote and sending them a voter registration card, according to a Pegasus News editorial. Perry's reasoning behind the veto was that high school students are not notified of their eligibility; he added that it wasn't the mission of the state's Department of Criminal Justice to send voter registration applications. Debating that stance, the publication responded that high school students do, in fact, receive voter registration applications in government classes, in addition to receiving them when applying for driver's licenses. "The state took away the right to vote for felons, so it's not unreasonable to expect the state to give notice when the right is restored." International: Request for Hearing before Inter-American Commission The Sentencing Project and the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University's Washington College of Law have issued a report, Barriers to Democracy, that requests a hearing on the issue of felony disenfranchisement before the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights. The report examines the practice of felony disenfranchisement in the United States and the nations of the Americas, and finds that the U.S. is far out of line with evolving international norms in this regard. The report concludes that "the time is long overdue for the United States to follow the lead of its hemispheric neighbors and the broader international community, uphold treaties to which the United States is obligated, and take steps toward universal suffrage by reforming its criminal disenfranchisement policies." The request for a hearing has been endorsed by a broad range of civil rights and human rights organizations and individual leaders. These include NAACP Chair Julian Bond, American Bar Association, ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice, and many others. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: Email: [email protected] web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] Friends: The Sentencing Project is pleased to announce the publication of a series of briefing sheets on Women in the Criminal Justice System. The series documents the gender implications of changes that have occurred over the last 20 years within the criminal justice system, including expansive law enforcement, stiffer drug sentencing laws and re-entry barriers. Women in the Criminal Justice System notes that since 1985 the number of women in prison has increased at almost double the rate of incarcerated men - 404 percent vs. 209 percent. Reasons for the increasing rate for women are directly related to the 'war on drugs,' economic disadvantage, and the criminal justice system's failure to carefully consider women's involvement in crimes. The analysis also reports that 30 percent of all females incarcerated are black and 16 percent are Hispanic. Further, the briefing sheets delve into family, socioeconomic and physical and mental health issues that women - and their families - face as a result of being incarcerated. Women in the Criminal Justice System contains five sections: Overview; Involvement in Crime; Mothers in Prison; Inadequacies in Prison Services; and Barriers to Re-entering the Community. The full 10-page series is found here: http://sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/news/womenincj_total.pdf.

For Immediate Release: May 31, 2007 Contact: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, E: [email protected], Tel: 334-685-7377 Local Non-Profit Group Seeking to End Racist Drug Laws Town Hall Meeting Set to Discuss Federal Law Reform, Activists & Politicians Birmingham - On June 2, 2007, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS) will co-sponsor a town hall meeting that will be hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Birmingham, Alabama on the need to repair the current discriminatory federal drug sentencing policy. The event is open to the press, and TOPS speakers will be available before and afterwards for interviews. What: The Incarceration Nation – Town Hall Meeting on Crack vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparities Speakers: Congressman Artur Davis, (D - Birmingham) Senator Jeff Sessions (R - AL) (invited) Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of TOPS Ed Vaughan, President, Alabama State Conference NAACP Dr. Foster Cook, Director, UAB - Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities Deborah Vagins, Policy Council for Civil Rights, ACLU Washington Legislative Office Barry Hargrove, Field Organizer, ACLU Washington Legislative Office When: 9:00am - 1:00pm Saturday, June 2 Where: Church of the Reconciler - 112 14th Street, North - Birmingham, AL Currently, distributing just five grams of crack carries a minimum five-year federal prison sentence, while distributing 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same sentence. Despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Congress has not addressed this 100:1 sentencing disparity, which has devastated African-American communities and undermined faith in the criminal justice system. African-Americans comprise the vast majority of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses, although whites and Hispanics form the majority of crack users. “These laws highlight the indecent and subconscious racist tactics still supported in the criminal justice system,” said Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society. “Five grams of crack cocaine sets forth a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, yet five-hundred grams of powder cocaine” A 2006 ACLU report found no medical or legal justification for the unfair sentencing disparity ratio. Although Congress' stated intent was to target high-level cocaine traffickers, the result has been just the opposite - a 2002 USSC report found that only 15 percent of federal cocaine traffickers can be classified as high-level, while over 70 percent of crack defendants have low-level involvement in drug activity, such as street level dealers, couriers, or lookouts. T.O.P.S. is a nonprofit, faith-based organization that offers hope, without regard to race sex, creed, color or social status, to individuals and their families who suffer the effects of drug addiction, incarceration, homelessness, unemployment, hunger and illness, through comprehensive faith-based programs that provide a continuum of unconditional acceptance and care. ### T.O.P.S. (The Ordinary People Society) are a nonprofit organization that will provide an alternative to criminal behavior. This is a faith-based organization that will bridge the gap between the have and have-nots. We will provide rehabilitation to the repeat offenders while creating a program that target the youths before they reach the Criminal Justice System. Since the War on Drugs has been established the prison populations have continued to increase costing taxpayers more than $20,000 per inmate. This method is draining many State Governments. Also, families are suffering due to the lost of a mother, father, sister or brother. With our counseling and street ministry we are providing a second chance for many of our citizens both drug users and drug pushers. We would like to extend our program to include an after school program for youths and also for some adults so they can take pride and improve their self-esteem while improving their own family's life. T.O.P.S. provides counseling services to Ramsey Youth Services, Houston County Jail, and Dothan City Jail. T.O.P.S. would like to include a transitional facility that will provide a structural environment that will include education, treatment, and rehabilitation.