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Press Releases archives

Groundbreaking report maps incarceration and spending, suggests more effective alternative investments

February 25, 2015

Groundbreaking report maps incarceration and spending, suggests more effective alternative investments

CONTACT:
Marie Yeager
717-817-3333
management@rodacreative.com

Washington, DC – According to a new report released today by the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative, Maryland taxpayers are spending $5 million or more to incarcerate people from each of about half of Baltimore’s communities (25 of 55), with total spending of $288 million a year on incarcerating people from Baltimore in Maryland’s prisons.

Infographic showing that Maryland spends $288 million a year incarcerating people from Baltimore City Based on data recently made available by a new Maryland law, The Right Investment?: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City shows for the first time where people who are incarcerated are from, and how much Maryland taxpayers spend on their incarceration. The report includes detailed maps and information that can better inform investment decisions in these communities to help solve long-standing challenges and improve public safety.

“Spending $288 million every year to incarcerate people from Baltimore isn’t the right choice for Maryland taxpayers,” said Marc Schindler, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. “This costly investment in incarceration can decrease public safety, and undermine the ability to redirect funds to better long-term solutions that could prevent crime from happening in the first place, including education, housing, drug treatment and employment opportunities.”

The Right Investment? shows that the 25 Baltimore communities where taxpayers spend $5 million dollars or more on incarceration are also the places that experience disproportionate unemployment, greater reliance on public assistance, higher rates of school absence, higher rates of vacant and abandoned housing, and more addiction challenges. The 25 communities also experience lower life expectancy, lower rates of educational attainment, and lower incomes than the rest of Baltimore. The Right Investment? illustrates how the money currently spent on incarceration could instead be better invested in treatment, housing, education, and employment services in these communities.

map showing Community Statistical Areas in Baltimore by the amount of money Maryland spends to incarcerate people from that community each year “This report combines never-before analyzed geographic data with key metrics on community well-being to allow policymakers to make informed choices about how best to allocate precious taxpayer resources,” said Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative.

The report is particularly timely because legislators in Annapolis are currently considering a range of policy proposals that could significantly affect corrections spending. Pending legislation includes proposed bills to reduce mandatory minimum prison sentences, reduce the barriers to getting a job after having been convicted of a crime, and create a council to look specifically at how to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety and reduce recidivism. Fortunately, a proposal from 2013 that recommended the state spend a half-billion dollars on a new jail for Baltimore City has not been included in the Governor’s proposed budget, though the plan has not been explicitly taken off the table.

“This report should lead to a much more informed discussion on how taxpayer money is being spent in these communities,” said Delegate Jill Carter (D-Baltimore City-41). “Along with passing legislation that we know will help reduce the number of people going to prison, shorten their sentences and reduce criminal justice spending, policymakers and the public need better tools to help measure whether we are making the right investments in these communities.”

The Right Investment? is a collaborative effort between the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative. This report is based on data and information generated by the state of Maryland and research organizations such as the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. Funding for the study was provided by the Open Society Institute–Baltimore, and other foundations that support the partners.

“I introduced the No Representation Without Population Act to provide better data for redistricting purposes, and I’m now looking forward to using all the data and information generated by this law to directly enlighten future criminal justice policy choices in Maryland”, said Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel-21), the lead sponsor of the law in the House of Delegates.

The full report includes specific analyses of each of Baltimore’s 55 communities, as well as additional data about the number and rates of people incarcerated in other Maryland communities. A complete version of The Right Investment? is available at https://justicepolicy.org/research/the-right-investment-corrections-spending-in-baltimore-city/ and PrisonPolicy.org/origin/.

For more information, contact Marie Yeager at 717-817-3333 or management@rodacreative.com.

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The Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., is working to reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promote policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities. The Prison Policy Initiative, a national organization based in Easthampton, Mass. produces cutting edge research to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization, and then sparks advocacy campaigns to create a more just society. For more information on the partners’ work and publications, visit their websites at www.justicepolicy.org and www.prisonpolicy.org.

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New Prison Policy Initiative report finds video visitation actually punishes families

January 14, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2015

Contact:
Bernadette Rabuy
(413) 527-0845

Easthampton, MA — New technology that is supposed to make it easier for families to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones is actually doing harm, charges a new report by the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative.

While prison and jail video visitation is often described as similar to well-known free services such as Skype or FaceTime, these pay-to-visit video systems are often being used to replace essential human contact. The report, Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails, finds that most county jails are implementing video visitation with an approach that is a step backwards for families and correctional best practices: video visitation actually punishes families.

Rather than offering video visitation as a supplement to traditional visitation, county jails and video visitation companies are replacing free, in-person visits with free but restricted onsite video visits and low-quality, remote video visits that cost up to $1.50 per minute. “Families are unhappy with video visitation because it replaces the real living person on the other side of the glass with a grainy computer image,” explains Bernadette Rabuy of the Prison Policy Initiative.

“While this technology goes back to the 1990s, this report provides what has before now been entirely lacking: a comprehensive national survey of the video visitation industry starting at its promised benefits and analyzing how it works in the real world,” says Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative.

The Prison Policy Initiative analyzed over a quarter of the industry’s contracts with state prisons and county jails to describe the trends and contrast the industry’s marketing claims with the evidence. The report finds that, with some notable exceptions, this technology is poorly designed, does not work well, and makes a trying time for families even more challenging.

The report offers 23 recommendations for federal and state regulators, legislators, correctional facilities, and the video visitation companies, all with an eye towards making video visitation into a positive, rather than negative, communication option.

For the executive summary, see: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/exec_summary.html
For the report, see: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/report.html

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How does your state compare to the international community when it comes to the use of incarceration? Not very well, says a new infographic and report by the Prison Policy Initiative and data artist Josh Begley.

June 11, 2014

report thumbnailJune 11, 2014 — How does your state compare to the international community when it comes to the use of incarceration? Not very well, says a new infographic and report by the Prison Policy Initiative and data artist Josh Begley.

This report, “States of Incarceration: The Global Context,” recognizes that while there are important differences between how U.S. states handle incarceration, incarceration policy in every region of this country is out of step with the rest of the world.

“It is essential to focus on the incarceration practices of individual states,” said Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative. “Most criminal justice policy decisions are made at the state level and the vast majority of the people locked up are locked up for violating state laws,”

This report is the first to directly situate individual U.S. states in the global context. The report and infographic draws international figures on incarceration from the International Centre for Prison Studies and state-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Compared to Louisiana, most U.S. states appear to have reasonable rates of incarceration, but it is disturbing to see where these ‘reasonable’ states stack up in the broader carceral landscape,” said data-artist and co-author Josh Begley.

The non-profit, non-partisan Prison Policy Initiative produces cutting edge research to expose the broader harm of mass incarceration, and then sparks advocacy campaigns to create a more just society. Josh Begley, a graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, is most famous for creating an iPhone app that tracks every reported United States drone strike. Past collaborations between Mr. Begley and the Prison Policy Initiative have included an infographic about whether the states that bar the most people from the polls should in fact be picking the next president and Prison Map, a website exploring the geography of incarceration.

Links:

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Press Release for report Suspending Common Sense in Massachusetts: Driver's license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving

May 14, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 14, 2014

Contact:
Leah Sakala
(413) 527-0845

Easthampton, MA — Every year the state of Massachusetts needlessly suspends the driver’s licenses of thousands of the state’s residents, charges a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative. The report, Suspending Common Sense in Massachusetts: Driver’s license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving, explains that a state law from the late 1980’s automatically suspends the driver’s licenses of anyone convicted of a drug offense, even if the offense had nothing to do with operating a vehicle or road safety.

“After more than two decades, the evidence is in. Using the Registry of Motor Vehicles to punish drug offenders is neither smart drug policy nor good for road safety”, said report author Leah Sakala, a policy analyst at the Easthampton-based non-profit Prison Policy Initiative.

The Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a bill, H3099/S1643, that would end the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for unrelated drug offenses.

“Mandating license suspensions for those facing drug possession charges not stemming from any involvement with a motor vehicle is ineffective and counterproductive,” said bill sponsor Representative Liz Malia. “We must move away from policy creating collateral consequences that form barriers to successful reentry and access to treatment and recovery.”

“Both at the state and federal level we are seeing an increasing embrace of not just being tough on crime, but smart on crime,” bill sponsor Senator Harriette Chandler stated. “Unduly burdening folks trying to turn their lives around with a license suspension and subsequent draconian reinstatement fee is not smart, and is in fact counterproductive.”

Mike Earielo, a volunteer with the Worcester community organizing group EPOCA, said, “We want people coming out of jail to change their ways, but then laws like this one make it nearly impossible for guys like me. I have a serious disability due to a cyst on my spine, and there’s no way I can come up with $1,500 to reinstate my driver’s license. Stop holding me back and watch what I can do!”

The Prison Policy Initiative report explains that both law enforcement officials and organizations such as the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators have publicly opposed the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for reasons unrelated to driving, pointing to the enormous fiscal and administrative burden associated with enforcement.

The report reviews the inefficacy of the current policy, tallies the unanticipated side effects, and calls for Massachusetts to join more than 33 other states in opting out of this shortsighted policy.

Ms. Sakala will present her findings at a legislative briefing in support of H3099/S1643, sponsored by Sen. Harriette Chandler Rep. Liz Malia, at the Massachusetts State House on Wednesday May 14 at 2:30 PM. The report, Suspending Common Sense in Massachusetts, will also be made available after the briefing at http://www.prisonpolicy.org/driving/.

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New report analyzes Connecticut's failed sentencing enhancement zones, reveals law doesn’t work, can’t work, and creates urban penalty.

April 3, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 3, 2014

Contact:
Aleks Kajstura, 413-527-0845

Easthampton, Mass. — The Prison Policy Initiative released a report, “Reaching too far: How Connecticut’s large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark”, that analyzes Connecticut’s failed 1,500-foot sentencing enhancement zones. Connecticut’s law, meant to protect children from drug activity, requires an additional sentence for certain drug offenses committed within 1,500 feet of schools, day care centers, and public housing projects. The resulting sentencing enhancement zones are some of the largest in the country.

“The law’s sheer expanse means it fails to actually set apart any meaningfully protected areas and it arbitrarily increases penalties for urban residents,” explains Aleks Kajstura, Legal Director at the Prison Policy Initiative, and the report’s author.

The report mapped eight of the zones in the state’s cities and towns and demonstrates that the law doesn’t work, and in fact cannot possibly work as written. In addition to failing to achieve its goal of creating protected spaces, the report found, the law creates an “urban penalty” that increases the sentence imposed for a given offense simply because it was committed in a city rather than in a town. For example, 92% of the City of Bridgeport residents live in a sentencing enhancement zone while only 8% of the Town of Bridgewater’s residents do.

The report recommends the sentencing enhancement zones be shrunk to 100 feet. This would allow the law to actually create the specially protected places as intended. Connecticut Senate Bill 259, which just passed out of the Judiciary Committee, takes a similar approach and would decrease that size to 200 feet. At these shorter distances the zones would come much closer to the law’s original intent of protecting children, and significantly reduce the urban penalty effect.

The report “Reaching too far: How Connecticut’s large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark” is available at http://www.prisonpolicy.org/zones/ct.html

About the Prison Policy Initiative
The Prison Policy Initiative is a national, non-profit, non-partisan research and policy organization, with a focus on how geography impacts criminal justice policy.

About the Author
Aleks Kajstura is the Legal Director at the Prison Policy Initiative. Among other publications, she co-authored two reports on sentencing enhancement zones in Massachusetts: The Geography of Punishment: How Huge Sentencing Enhancement Zones Harm Communities, Fail to Protect Children (2008), and Reaching too far, coming up short: How large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark (2009). These reports helped lead Massachusetts to roll back their enhancement zone law in August 2012.

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Our newest briefing includes the first graphic we’re aware of that aggregates the disparate systems of confinement in this country into one big-picture chart.

March 12, 2014

Ever wonder exactly how many people are locked up in the U.S. and why? Many people, interested citizens and policy wonks alike, find that seemingly simple question to be frustratingly difficult to answer. Until now.

Today, the Prison Policy Initiative releases its newest briefing, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, that includes the first graphic we’re aware of that aggregates the disparate systems of confinement in this country into one big-picture chart:

How many people are locked up in the United States?

As we discuss in our briefing, this broader context pulls back the curtain and reveals answers to questions such as:

  • How many people are behind bars for drug offenses?
  • Which system holds more people: state prisons, federal prisons, or local jails?
  • How many kids are locked up for offenses that most people don’t even think of as crimes?
  • Where do we even have to look to find everyone who’s behind bars for immigration-related issues?

At the end of the day, locking up the more than 2.4 million people represented on this pie chart gives the United States the dubious distinction of being the number one incarcerator in the world. Policymakers and the public both have a pressing responsibility to take a good hard look at each slice of this pie and weigh any potential benefit of keeping those people behind bars against the significant social and fiscal cost.

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Peter is being recognized for his tireless decades-long work to expose the how the U.S. criminal justice system negatively impacts all people.

July 25, 2013

For more information:
Ivan J. Dominguez
Public Affairs, NACDL
(202) 465-7662
idominguez@nacdl.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC (July 25, 2013) – Peter Wagner, attorney and Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative, will be awarded the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' 3rd Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award today at NACDL's 12th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference in San Francisco, California. The Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award honors individuals or groups whose exceptional efforts have led toward progressive reform of a state criminal justice system.

Mr. Wagner is being recognized with this award for his tireless decades-long work to expose the how the U.S. criminal justice system negatively impacts all people, even those who are not directly involved in the legal system. As a law student, Mr. Wagner discovered that the phenomenon of mass incarceration was self-perpetuating by using an archaic Census Bureau policy to garner undue influence in the legislature for areas containing large prisons. His report, Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York, quantified the problem and put it on the map. In the decade that followed, Mr. Wagner has built and led a bipartisan urban and rural movement to abolish this practice of "prison gerrymandering," inspiring four states and more than 200 local governments to abolish the practice. The U.S. Supreme Court's endorsement of Maryland's law to end prison gerrymandering has been hailed as one of the major criminal justice and civil rights victories of the decade.

Mr. Wagner has also pioneered work in other areas to show how mass incarceration undermines our national wellbeing. Last year, his work to show how enormous "sentencing enhancement zones" around schools are ineffective and counterproductive helped Massachusetts advocates to reform this decades-old policy. Most recently, Mr. Wagner led a research team to expose the perverse incentives and price gouging in the prison and jail phone industry. Earlier this month, Mr. Wagner did an invited presentation of his research at a workshop held by the Federal Communications Commission on regulating the prison and jail phone industry.

Mr. Wagner's work has been featured in hundreds of papers around the country, and he has won editorial endorsement for criminal justice reform from publications ranging from The New York Times and the Boston Globe to the Terre Haute Tribune and Virginia's Roanoke Times.

NACDL State Legislative Affairs Director Angelyn C. Frazer said: "Peter's tireless efforts to educate the public, and in particular legislators, have been invaluable to criminal justice advocates seeking fairness and equity in an often unjust system. Through his extensive research and personal commitment, Peter successfully aided the advocacy community in Massachusetts as they sought reform of school zone laws for the first time since the 1980s. His work with Maryland legislators and others has led to effective campaigns seeking to abolish the practice of prison-based gerrymandering. He now continues in that vein by exposing the exorbitant costs of phone calls from jails and prisons. He is a trusted, passionate leader and I am honored to present him this award on behalf of NACDL's State Criminal Justice Network."

Mr. Wagner said, "I am deeply honored to receive this award from such an admirable organization of criminal defense lawyers who are in the trenches every day fighting to bring justice and fairness to our legal system."

Mr. Wagner is a 2003 graduate of the Western New England College School of Law.

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The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's approximately 10,000 direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.

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