A federal judge today granted John Hinckley's request for unsupervised visits to his parents. He has been at a mental facility since 1982 when he was acquitted by reason of insanity of shooting then President Reagan. Hinckley is 48.

We thought this was a joke. It isn't. On Friday, the Bush brothers, Jeb and GW, along with Attorney General John Ashcroft, announced plans for the first faith-based prison. It will be at Lawtey Correctional Institution in rural Northern Florida and all inmates will be required to participate in the faith-based programs.

Update: Link fixed.

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Vince Schiraldi, executive director of the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute, has an excellent op-ed in today's Washington Post about the decline of the lock 'em up and throw away the key mentality that politicians have foisted on us the past few decades.

We've written about this several times, here and here for example, providing the usual explanation--states are facing unprecedented budget crunches. But, Vince writes, there's another (more heartening) factor at play here as well:

So history suggests that dollars have never been the single motivating factor in prison policies. Rather, some policymakers are stepping back to evaluate corrections systems, finding that there is a better way to achieve public safety that is supported by opinion leaders and public opinion alike.

In state after state, research has called into question the effectiveness of imprisonment and supported the use of treatment and other alternatives to incarceration -- and policymakers have taken notice. After the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that certain treatment options reduced rearrests and yielded better public safety outcomes than prison, officials there enacted legislation diverting offenders from prison into treatment. The reforms saved the state $50 million over two years, $8 million of which was spent to expand treatment options. Joe Lehman, Washington state's corrections secretary, stated, "It's not just about money, it's about informing our sentencing policies with what we know from research works in mitigating the risk of offenders and enhancing community safety."

[link via How Appealing.]

Gov. Arnold has paroled a second killer--this time a woman who killed her husband's mistress.

What a welcome change from Gray Davis on this issue.

If you have to go to jail, and you're not severely overweight, stay away from Alabama. It feeds it prisoners on $1.08 a day--usually by providing dehydrated meals to which the prison justs adds water, then brings to a boil.

The multicolored dish is the centerpiece of Tuesday lunch at Kilby Prison, and one of the many mysterious items that Food Service Director M.A. Warren serves to cut costs.

$1.08 covers three meals a day with two on Sundays and holidays. If you have the stomach for it, read the whole article. [Thanks to Howard Bashman of How Appealing for sending us the link.]

Signaling a welcome break from the rigid policies of former California Governor Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger has granted parole to an inmate convicted of murder--heeding the recommendation of the parole board. Gray Davis was almost unilaterally intransigent in his refusal to consider parole for convicted killers.

The governor's actions may be the first steps in crafting his policy on crime and punishment. During the campaign, he said virtually nothing about the criminal justice system, disclosing only that he supported the death penalty.

A spokesperson for Schwarzenegger gave a general outline of the governor's approach to parole cases. "Gov. Schwarzenegger intends to let the Board of Prison Terms do its job,'' said Vincent Sollitto. "Only when he has a strong conviction that a clear error has been made does he intend to review the granting or denial of parole.''

Gray Davis unjustly converted almost every sentence of life with parole into life without parole--disregarding the Parole Board's recommendations.

Last year the Parole Board, hardly a conservative group, granted parole to 140 inmates. Davis vetoed all but two. "When a judge issues a sentence that includes the words "with possibility of parole," it reflects our society's belief that a small number of criminals can be rehabilitated, as well as our constitutional right to a fair and impartial hearing."

Don't miss " Jails for Jesus" in the November/December issue of Mother Jones:

President Bush wants faith-based programs to take over social services. But what happens when evangelical Christians try their hand at running prisons?

....Aided by friends in high places -- such as the White House -- legislators in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, and Minnesota have, in the last six years, turned over portions of their prisons, and corrections budgets, to the politically powerful evangelical Christian group, Prison Fellowship Ministries.

....The largest prison ministry in the world, PFM sends more than 50,000 volunteers into prisons in every state with the goal of "declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to those impacted by crime." The Ministries' "Angel Tree" program has presented more than 4 million children of inmates with Christmas presents and evangelistic materials. The goal is clear....

Maryland's Republican Governor, Robert L. Erlich, Jr. is putting into action his long-held vision of putting rehabilitation over punishment.

The major part of Mr. Ehrlich's plan is allocating $2 million to hire 210 staffers to rehabilitate prisoners before their release. "It is giving people who are coming back to the community a choice not to re-offend." he said. "Basically, they [will] have a choice now."

Erlich is not alone. 25 states have replaced mandatory minimum sentences with programs that substitute treatment, rehabilitation or early-release over long prison sentences.

Kansas is one of these states:

Kansas legislators, for example, needed to build $15 million worth of prisons but instead passed a law that sends some nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail. John Vratil, a Republican and chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, said the change could reduce Kansas' prison population by about 15 percent.

Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Washington also have passed similar legislation for first-time or nonviolent criminals.

Who's driving the shift away from long sentences? Believe it or not, it's the Republicans.

The shift away from "get tough" sentencing has been led mostly by Republican lawmakers who are faced with a state budget crisis and are unwilling to increase taxes to build more prisons.

We hope the Democratic congressional and presidential candidates across the country take notice and add this to their platforms.

Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini reports on the generosity of inmates in that state.

... At about the same time that the good-hearted football fans at Sun Devil stadium were drunkenly depositing Iraqi dinar and Monopoly money into collection buckets, a group of inmates at the women's prison in Perryville decided to take up an actual collection for cancer research.

Just about 800 inmates participated, collecting what officials estimate to be about $13,000. These are convicted criminals who make about 50 cents an hour doing prison labor. Their average donation was $16 per person, or five times the average of those attending the football game.

And that's just a portion of inmate generosity. According to Virginia Strankman, who coordinates charitable giving for the Department of Corrections, the state's prison population has donated more than $38,000 so far this year. And that doesn't include the as yet undetermined totals from two prison complexes.

A coalition in Chicago is working along with U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-ILL) to provide more resources to inmates as they leave jail. 30,000 inmates will leave Illiniois jails by the end of the year. Where will they live? How will they get work? How do we avoid the vicious cycle of recidivism? Congressman Davis has a good starting plan: a bill that would grant a low-income housing credit to developers who provide housing for past offenders.

Davis represents the 7th District, which includes six Chicago neighborhoods that are home to more than 30 percent of Illinois' outgoing inmates--Englewood, West Englewood, East Garfield Park, Austin, Humboldt Park and North Lawndale.
Predominantly poor, these communities do not have the resources to accommodate former offenders, many of whom were incarcerated for drug-related crimes and now need substance-abuse treatment, said Sharron Matthews, public director for Safer Foundation, an organization devoted to the successful reintegration of offenders.

Current public policies block inmates' access to such treatment, other forms of health care and educational and employment opportunities, she said, and this fuels recidivism. As a result, inmates are released without the skills or the support to survive. Almost half of them return to the penitentiary within three years, Davis said.Davis' bill would create incentives for developers across the country to build 100,000 units where ex-offenders could live while re-establishing themselves.

The bill failed in Congress' last session. We hope it passes this time around.

This just in from the folks at the Federal Prison Policy Project:

We told you that we would find a sponsor for LERA which will increase good time for federal prisoners. We've done that in the House. Now we are orking on obtaining a sponsor in the Senate. Next week we will meet with numerous Congressional members are their staff members to discuss co-sponsorship of LERA. We will find a sponsor in the Senate. We are working round the clock to make increased good time for federal prisoners a reality. BUT we need your help and your financial support! We are doing what you asked us to do now we need you to do something for us. Please make a donation today so that we can continue working to insure that increased good time becomes a reality for the 173,500 federal prisoners.

The Federal Prison Policy Project
Board of Directors

Here's more on the legislation.

[comments now closed. For more information on the bill, visit Federal Prison Policy Project:

This makes us ill. Send an e-mail to Jeb Bush and tell him it turns your stomach too.

DEATH ROW PRISONERS COMPLAINING OF ROTTEN FOOD
Is Aramark in Violation Of Its Contract?

Reports coming out of Florida prisons indicate that portions have been cut, and more frequently, rotten food has caused prisoners hungry enough to eat it to become ill with symptoms indicating food poisoning.

Support groups for FL death row inmates have long been receiving messages about the food service suggesting sub-standard food, uncooked food, filthy trays, dirty utensils, foreign objects found in the food, food served at the wrong temperature, etc. Recent food poisoning incidents on death row might have been prevented had the prisons paid reasonable attention to the grievances which have been filed by the inmates, in accordance with Department of Corrections rules. However, the DOC chose to ignore such grievances, ostensibly on the basis that "because the food [mentioned on the grievance] had long since been discarded, no investigation [was] possible." While the DOC acknowledged the problem, no action was taken to investigate or remedy the problem.