COMMISSION ON SAFETY & ABUSE IN AMERICA'S PRISONS:
Joint House & Senate Judiciary Committee
Commission on Safety & Abuse in America's Prisons

HARRISBURG, PA – On April 23 at 10 a.m., a joint session of the Pennsylvania Senate and House Judiciary Committees, chaired by State Senator Stewart Greenleaf and State Representative Thomas Caltagirone at the state Capitol North Building, Hearing Room 1, in Harrisburg, heard testimony about America’s prisons and how it affects Pennsylvania. The hearing room was packed with legislators interested in what to do about the state of our correctional system and citizens of our state that are looking for different answers to increasing public safety.

Public safety and public health are identified as two of the greatest concerns of our citizens. But does our criminal justice system and the decision of whom and how we incarcerate people, actually make us feel safer and healthier?

At the joint hearing, legislators heard from members of the Commission on Safety & Abuse in America’s Prisons. The Commissioners testified about the national landscape and helped to provide valuable input to our state in taking the lead to more successful public policy and procedures in our corrections system. The Commission completed an 18-month study last year examining what’s happening in our country’s prisons and how if affects all of us. This national, nonpartisan Commission final report, Confronting Confinement, can be seen on their website www.prisoncommission.org. Among the recommendations of the Commission are:

• Reducing overcrowding to prevent violence.
• Promoting rehabilitation by investing in programs that are proven to reduce violence and to change behavior.
• Using classification procedures and direct supervision.
• Supporting community and family bonds.
• Extending Medicaid and Medicare to eligible prisoners.
• Screening, testing and treating infectious diseases.
• Committing to caring for people with mental illness. Reducing the mentally ill in prisons.
• Making segregation a last resort and more productive place of confinement and stop releasing people directly from segregation to the outside.
• Recruiting and retaining a qualified corps of officers.
• Promoting a culture of mutual respect.
• Demanding independent oversight for jails and prisons. Creating a non-governmental group that can capably inspect prison conditions.
• Developing knowledge of the link between well-run, effective facilities and public safety.

In addition to members of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, the witnesses from Pennsylvania, who were Warden Craig Lowe of Pike County Correctional Facility, William DiMascio of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Dr. Enos Martin of PrimeCare Medical Services, Angus Love, Esq., of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and William Reznor of National Alliance on Mental Illness of Pennsylvania, testified about the work that is being done in Pennsylvania to improve conditions of confinement. At the hearing, topics of discussion included violence in prison, medical and mental health care, prison supervision and the use of solitary confinement. Recommendations were made such as:

• Allegheny County’s Mental Health Court provides treatment for mentally ill offenders rather than incarcerate them in a system that isn’t trained to treat them. Senator Jane Orie is sponsoring SB 587 which provides a Mental Health Court division through the Courts of Common Pleas of the counties or judicial districts.
   
• The nationally recognized Allegheny County State Forensic Support (Max Out) Program helps these people reintegrate into the community after they serve maximum prison sentences, a program that could be replicated in other areas in our state according to William Reznor of the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Pennsylvania.
   
• Angus Love, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, suggests that our state implement a practice of New York that recently decreased their prison population by 8,000 inmates partially by using merit time which allows a small reduction in sentences for good behavior and automatically released at minimum sentence dates without the necessity of state Parole Board approval if the Department of Corrections recommends them.
   
• The Pennsylvania Prison Society has been encouraging the county jails and prisons across our state to ensure humane conditions. They have recommended alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders that could be better served in less expensive, more treatment-oriented centers. In addition, paying upfront for such services as increased local police, more equitable education and economic development will decrease crime and recidivism in the long run.
   
• Pike County Warden Craig Lowe advises independent prison inspection teams that will enforce minimal standards of operations in the county jails and state prisons so the recent reports from other counties of officer abuse allegations, security breaches and lack of medical care will abate. In fact, he has created a model jail in Pike County that boasts a 10% recidivism rate at a time when other counties are faced with finding funds to build additional bed space. Warden Lowe encourages the legislators and the public to visit the jail to see first-hand his operation.

This hearing impacts not only the people involved in the criminal justice system but the general public. Over 95% of people incarcerated will be returning to our neighborhoods and all those who work in corrections will come home at the end of their shifts. The potential for contagious diseases is prevalent from those returning from prison and those who work in the institutions and could bring medical conditions back into the communities in which they live. According to state statistics, almost 20% of all prison and jail inmates who are incarcerated are diagnosed mentally ill and, as we close more state hospitals, the jails don’t have the means to care for them and have no where for them to go to be treated. With reduced funding for rehabilitation and treatment, violence is becoming more prevalent.

Officers in prisons are frequently underpaid and overworked. They need more training to do the stressful, dangerous jobs of maintaining security and providing a culture that is conducive to behavioral changes. We need more treatment programs to address the underlying causes of crime.

We need to look at effective ways to reduce crime instead of putting a larger percentage of our state budget into a failed system. Offenders can be properly corrected so they become productive citizens upon release. This Commission hearing was a good start at creating legislation that will make a positive difference.

Some other possible changes to examine are:

• Promoting more alternative sentencing such as house arrest and community treatment programs for nonviolent offenders.
   
• Advocating that the legislature to re-examine the effects of mandatory sentencing on the prison system.
   
• Using house arrests/GPS tracking devices combined with effective treatment programs for technical parole violators to help reduce prison and jail populations.
   
• Providing medical care that transitions inmates to outside treatment prior to release.
   
• Providing for medical release of inmates who are terminally or seriously ill through court procedures as in SB 1072 led by sponsors Senator Greenleaf, Senator Lemmond and Senator Costa.
   
• Having separate facilities to diagnose mental health/mental retardation inmates with trained staff including a location onsite for 302 and 304 commitments.
   
• Providing state funding with county allocations for specialized courts such as Drug Courts and Job Court in Lancaster County. Specialized courts can be regionalized for smaller counties to share resources.
   
• Providing more state funding for mental health services in the communities so the mentally ill can have the support they require and don’t end up incarcerated.
   
• Requiring strict criteria for correctional staff and more funding for salaries and wages that are competitive.
   
• Having independent investigation of jails and prisons to ascertain that they meet minimum standards of operation. Develop enforcement and provide funding for counties which need assistance by way of state loans or designated monies.
   
• Educating the public on criminal justice legislation; having designated funds that help clarify the state’s strategies to combat crime and reduce recidivism.

To continue the excellent work of those testifying before the joint judiciary committee, Justice & Mercy, Inc. is compiling a list of those people interested in meeting to work together with us to develop a strategy to move forward with needed changes in our criminal justice system.