(Philadelphia Public Record, Jun. 4, 2009)

STRAIGHT ON THE STREETS

by Tony West

One thing is clear about imprisoning ever-more criminals for ever-longer sentences: it has not cut violent crime in Philadelphia.
Thirty years ago, in response to a rapidly rising crime rate, Pennsylvania launched an expansion of its prison systems that has turned into a massive experiment in incarceration. City prisons added thousands of beds, even as the State system ballooned from 7,800 inmates to 50,100 today – one-third of them from Philadelphia.

Yet over that same time, violent crime continued to increase – by 43% in Philadelphia from 1980 to 2005, and by 12% in the rest of the state.

The reason is simple enough, shrugs Jeffrey Roth, a criminology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “For years now, states have been truncating or abolishing parole. But in the end, they all come back.

“We didn’t avoid any violent crimes by incarcerating these persons; we just postponed them.”

Most offenders don’t get life sentences. That means they will be back on the streets some day. And even if it was fair to sentence everyone to life imprisonment, society couldn’t afford to. We already lock up more people than any other country in the world. Our current campaign of tougher sentences has created a staggering multi-billion-dollar prison bill that drags like a ball and chain on taxpayers. We can’t keep doubling it indefinitely.

Following the horrific murder of a Philadelphia Police Officer by a paroled violent offender, Gov. Ed Rendell halted paroles and ordered a comprehensive review of the State parole system by a team of researchers led by John Goldkamp, the head of Temple University’s Dept. of Criminal Justice. Released in December 2008, the Goldkamp Report called for parole, even of violent offenders, to be resumed – but in a smarter way, and with more funds.

“The development and implementation of the special management of violent offenders may require additional resources for staffing, training, monitoring and programming,” the report stated.

When prisoners exit on parole, Goldkamp pointed out, they receive at least some transitional supervision on reentry to society. If they serve out their full sentence instead, they receive none. Which is wiser?

The Goldkamp Report affirmed “structured transitions, with carefully planned supervision, accountability and service at all stages, from prison to community residential placements to parole supervision for the greatest number of offenders” is the best way to promote public safety. This is crucial in the first six months after discharge, when ex-cons may be homeless or jobless or broke or addicted or deranged, or all of the above.

Will parole get the resources it needs, though? That’s an open question.

“The Governor added a $10 million line item to improve parole programs,” says State Sen. Mike Stack, who sits on the Law & Justice Committee. “But Republicans in the Senate stripped it out.” Yet $10 million is a drop in the bucket of $1.8 billion the State spends on Corrections. And State Parole is actually the best-funded system in Pennsylvania.

Needed: Strong Parole

In county systems as well, probation and parole departments have long been the orphans of criminal justice. Although it costs much less to supervise an offender on parole than in prison (less than 10%), Pennsylvania courts have been reluctant to invest a few extra pennies in beefed-up parole departments – despite the fact Parole Officers, not Corrections Officers, are the ones saddled with managing the vast majority of offenders.

Philadelphia’s Chief Probation Officer Robert Malvestuto did not respond to repeated requests for an interview as this series of articles was written. However, Louise Carpino, who leads AFSCME Local 810 that represents County Parole Officers, has testified before the Law & Justice Committee they are grossly underpaid and overloaded.

Carpino has called for Parole Officers to return to the streets, in communities where offenders are living. That’s the best way to monitor offenders who are at risk of backsliding and recidivism, she argues.

Carpino is joined by several elected and appointed public officials who are showing increased interest in putting new juice into community courts. They would establish permanent courts in high-crime neighborhoods to intervene with petty offenders before they graduate to major felonies, providing them with enhanced supervision and guidance into educational, employment and treatment tracks that provide them with an alternative to a life of crime.

Community courts have support at the highest level of City administration. After studying a model community court in New York, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison said he “went away very impressed.”

The model Philadelphia is studying, Gillison says, “looks at people problems across the board and empowers the Judge to handle them across the board.”

Because all courts are directly administered by the State, Philadelphia will need approval of the Pennsylvania Unified Court System before it implements experiments like these. The City may, however, find a sympathetic ear in Harrisburg, attached to the head of Justice Seamus McCaffery, who sparked his career on Common Please Court by an imaginative community court in Veterans Stadium.

Lowering Philadelphia Co.’s prison population is an urgent legal requirement the Criminal Justice Advisory Board is working on. CJAB is a policy-making group uniting Police, Prisons, Courts, DA, Public Defender and Health Dept. It is really the only point where coordination between the separate fiefdoms of criminal justice takes place.

Prison Commissioner Lou Giorla says 1200 of his 9,000 inmates can be handled elsewhere, with proper management. While 200 can be transferred to State prisons, the bulk of them are fit for probation or parole, he says – under proper supervision. All these individuals need mandatory followup treatment for substance abuse or mental illness to succeed on the street. Housing and employment arrangements are equal keys to maintaining them crime-free.

In or out of prison, Giorla states, “Rehabilitation at this point is a necessity.” Incarceration must lead to efforts to change lives, he says.

And prison-based rehabilitation needs to be continued by effective parole programs, Giorla says. “APPD has not in the past been funded to the degree that was necessary for all the work that needs to be done.”

Some reentry reforms must take place at the State level. With the City budget pinched, a new infusion of State funds would help. As it happens, the State has been under court order to almost double its contributions to county court systems for many years.

However, the General Assembly, which must appropriate such funds, hasn’t taken kindly to the idea of being told what to do by the Supreme Court and so far has simply ignored the order.

Backed by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson recently introduced a bill to establish a review of the Commonwealth’s entire criminal-justice system. Its goal is to “refocus incarceration policies to reduce the overall incarceration rate [and] establish meaningful reentry programs for ex-offenders.”

Taking care of manageable offenders effectively on the streets is vital if we are to make the room to keep deeply dangerous people under lock and key, argues Stack. Separating the sheep from the goats is part of legislation he will introduce next week that would prevent violent offenders from being released to halfway houses. Stack’s measure would also eliminate parole for people convicted of three or more crimes.

State Rep. Brendan Boyle has introduced get-tough legislation that would increase prison terms and eliminate early release for repeat violent offenders. It’s a bill that enjoys strong support from police and others. But without a simultaneous, equal effort to remove less-dangerous inmates from cells, it is guaranteed to be another budget-buster.

The ultimate goal of prisoner-reentry is to lead to a productive, happy citizen whose criminal life is behind him. However, a criminal record can dog you literally forever. That doesn’t make it easy to get good jobs and get ahead in life.

State Sen. Shirley Kitchen is preparing legislation that would allow individuals to purge their records of criminal offenses after five crime-free years – in effect, a new beginning. This is an important incentive for newly released offenders who are struggling to stay straight. Under current law, prisoners can have nonviolent convictions expunged from their records only when they reach age 70, which isn’t much help in the job market.

“I believe other changes can be made,” Kitchen vows. “While it is crucial that thugs not get out, we should not use prisons to make a broad sweep of youthful mistakes.

“If we can release people who can be nonviolent with appropriate drug and mental-health services, we can prevent the incredible waste of money that is involved in in locking them up.”