Because 90% of all prisoners in the United States are in state facilities, the work that states are doing to reduce their prison populations is crucial. Attempting to end mass incarceration necessitates realizing this is a situation requiring not one national solution, but fifty state solutions. Below are current state solutions that could be effectively modeled by other states for meaningful reform.
“These bills are a step in the right direction, but I encourage Oklahoma's leaders to take additional steps to ensure that punishments meted out to Oklahoma's mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts are fair and proportional. Our nation's decades-long experiment in over-incarceration has shown, over and over, that harsher sentences don't yield safer streets, and locking women up unnecessarily is a poor use of taxpayer dollars.“
The Oklahoman
September 29, 2018
Read More“If Amendment 4 passes it will enshrine into our state constitution discrimination against convicted murderers and sex offenders that will make enfranchising them virtually impossible. While some may point to the serious nature of their offenses, they have nothing to do with voting; the punishment of disenfranchisement does not fit the crime.“
Florida Sun Sentinel
September 28, 2018
Read More“To its supporters, Amendment 4 (which would also allow former felons to serve on juries and run for public office) represents a potential civil rights triumph: It could enfranchise more people at once than any single initiative since women’s suffrage.“
New York Times
September 26, 2018
Read More“Wisconsin is positioned to address the problems of overcrowded and unsafe prisons at the same time. Assuming there is only one solution, e.g. building new prisons, to a problem is folly. Old prisons that pose significant risk to officers and inmates alike need to be addressed and closed if necessary. It would be foolish to not examine why so many prisons are needed in the first place. The legislature and the administration should closely examine if truth sentencing, as it exists today, simply results in warehousing people. As Governor Thompson suggested it’s not benefitting public safety.“
Right on Crime
September 24, 2018
Read More“In an era of both mass incarceration and rampant, divisive partisanship, Georgia has become the standard bearer for bipartisan criminal justice reform. It is critically important that our state continues its work in reducing overreliance on correctional control through strong, evidence-based policy reforms. We will be safer, stronger, and better for it.“
Atlanta Magazine
September 24, 2018
Read More“Smart Justice Connecticut draws upon the expertise of people living with criminal records, like Curtis, in the belief that those closest to the situation are best able to offer innovative solutions to the problems of mass incarceration and its systemic inequities. Yet, those with this special, experiential expertise are typically kept out of the conversation. They remain furthest from the centers of political power, are excluded from decision-making, and lack the resources to effect change. Smart Justice seeks to empower them.“
Greenwich Time
September 23, 2018
Read More“Correctional officers and their families never forget the daunting conditions they face every day inside the state’s prisons. The money they pay into their union’s political coffers ensures that elected officials won’t forget, either.“
LA Times
September 23, 2018
Read More“Chicago's homicide clearance rate – the percentage of cases in which police arrest or identify a suspect – fell from 17.1 in 2017 to 15.4 during the first six months of 2018, the data shows. If that rate holds through the end of the year, it would be the sixth consecutive annual decline.“
USA Today
September 21, 2018
Read More“The problem with Amendment 4 is that it perpetuates discrimination and bigotry against a sub-class of former prisoners and convicted felons, namely those convicted of murder and sex offenses. All the talk of Amendment 4 supporters about second chances, redemption, reintegration into the community, etc. rings hollow and opportunistic when they made the decision to exclude murderers and sex offenders from the franchise and to enshrine this form of discrimination into the state constitution.“
Prison Legal News
September 19, 2018
Read More“In the Sunshine State, Floridians are permanently excluded from voting because of a prior felony conviction — one of only four states with a lifetime ban. If we want people returning to society to be productive, law-abiding citizens, we need to treat them like full-fledged citizens.“
Tampa Bay Times
September 14, 2018
Read More“Our research found that the proposition had no appreciable impact on crime in the year following its enactment. Specifically, it had no effect on rates of homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery or burglary. Larceny and motor-vehicle thefts did seem to have increased moderately after Prop 47 went into effect, but these results were both sensitive to small changes in our modeling and small enough that we cannot rule out spuriousness.“
Governing Institute
September 11, 2018
Read More“The state should also consider alternatives to incarceration, such as substance abuse treatment and diversions to other support services, as well as the decriminalization of marijuana. Programs that include substance abuse counseling can actually help correct people’s behavior and keep them out of prison. Legislators could also enact sentencing reform that reduces the amount of time for less serious drug and property offenses.“
Mississippi Clarion Ledger
September 9, 2018
Read More“Today, a snapshot of the Louisiana prison system shows that the majority of individuals incarcerated are there for violent offenses and that the number of individuals imprisoned for non-violent offenses has dropped 20 percent since the fourth quarter of 2017. There has also been a 7.4 percent decrease in prison admissions.“
Shreveport Times
September 7, 2018
Read More“Nearly 1 in 3 people imprisoned in Massachusetts had an open mental health case in 2017. 74 percent of imprisoned women had a mental health case in 2017. 15 percent of imprisoned women had a serious mental health disorder in 2017.“
Bay State Banner
September 7, 2018
Read More"The committee will examine the state's growing prison population and the disproportionately high incarceration rate of individuals of color, relative to the general population. The committee will consider state and local policies and practices, which may contribute to the disparities. The committee members will also seek alternative policies and practices with the demonstrated potential to address such concerns."
University of Arkansas
September 5, 2018
Read More"State Sen. Sharif Street (D-3) joined state Reps. Jordan Harris (D-186) and Donna Bullock (D-195) in spearheading a bicameral hearing of the Democratic Legislative Policy Committee at the State Correctional Institute — Dallas in Luzerne County, where they discussed proposals aimed at reforming Pennsylvania’s justice and prison systems."
Philadelphia Tribune
August 31, 2018
Read More"For Lewis Conway Jr., deciding to run for office was the easy part. The Austin native was a community activist looking for another way to make change. But until mid-August, the fate of his candidacy for City Council was uncertain. He had served eight years in prison and 12 on parole, and although his voting rights were restored, city officials questioned his eligibility. Only this month was he officially cleared for the November ballot."
The Appeal
August 30, 2018
Read More"A speaker told listeners Wednesday night at Lincoln University that Missouri is one of eight states whose prison populations have continued to grow in recent years, putting pressure on state revenue and resources."
Jefferson City News Tribune
August 30, 2018
Read More"Gillum has campaigned on a platform that could change that. His campaign’s official site touts measures similar to those adopted in some Democratic-led states, like reducing the number of crimes that carry mandatory-minimum sentences and reforming the cash-bail system, which disproportionately harms lower-income Americans. Others are more bold: Gillum went further than his primary opponents and called for the full legalization, rather than just decriminalization, of marijuana."
New Republic
August 29, 2018
Read More"'The question is how high can we aim?' Zeidman said. 'A governor can set a tone. They can use the bully pulpit, and say, ‘I’m going to keep talking about this issue until there’s a bill on my desk'.”
The Appeal
August 28, 2018
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