Newsletter

Puerto Rico: Incarcerated and Politically Active Prior to casting their votes in the Democratic primary politically involved inmates in Puerto Rico were interviewed by the Associated Press at the Correctional Institute 501 in San Juan. "Health plans, education, jobs - these are things I'm counting on when I get out," said 29-year-old Omar Gonzalez. In Puerto Rico the law affords people in prison the right to vote. Yesenia Lociel, a corrections department spokeswoman, said 130 of the 448 medium and maximum-security inmates at the prison asked to vote - a turnout comparable to local primary elections. Though U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans have no voting representation in Congress and cannot vote for president in the general election. Some of the prisoners, however, said they hope the population at large can have a larger say over national affairs in the future as the U.S. economy affects their progress upon release. Ghana: Ensuring Inmates are Able to Exercise Existing Voting Rights The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to facilitate general election voting by inmates within the Ghana Prisons Service. Article 42 of the Constitution states that "every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda," and does not disenfranchise incarcerated citizens. Inmates, however, have reportedly not exercised their right to vote. The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Afari-Gyan, said although it was not the commission's intention to disenfranchise anyone, it did not, by convention, set up polling stations in certain places like prisons. "If the EC takes these steps, then it will demonstrate its commitment to ensuring that Ghanaians who are entitled and eligible to vote exercise their franchise," said CHRI Africa Co-coordinator, Nana Oye Lithur. Mississippi: Individual Re-enfranchisement Bills Must be Sought for Each Citizen "I committed a crime, and I paid my debt to society for that crime by serving time in prison," said Mississippi resident Steven Hubbard. "But when I was released, my punishment didn't end. Being stripped of the right to vote is not fair to convicted felons who pay their debt to society and serve the time given to them by the courts. It's almost like I was exiled from the country. If I can't vote, then I can't be an American, right?" Hubbard is one of Mississippi's 150,000 people who are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. In Mississippi, after a sentence has been completed, anyone seeking restoration of voting rights must go to their legislator to persuade them to author an individual re-enfranchising bill. Both houses of the Legislature must then pass the bill, and the governor must sign it, according to the Mississippi Daily Journal. Ten to 12 citizens are re-enfranchised in Mississippi each year. Click here to read the article. An opinion editorial commenting on the recent disenfranchisement media coverage called Danza Johnson's Daily Journal report "the most thorough and flushed-out article." Published by the Daily Mississippian, the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi, the op-ed written by Camron Johnson stated that the Daily Journal piece featured proponents, including The Sentencing Project; opponents, including Roger Clegg; and pertinent bureaucrats and statistics from The Sentencing Project. "We have a mushrooming stigmatized class of people, untouchables, who after serving their time and enduring their punishment are never really allowed to return to society at all," Johnson writes. "Proponents of ex-felon voting bans rely on pigeonholing all former felons as uniformly dangerous and humorously intent on somehow using their votes to change the laws they'd break. Some proponents craft a straw man argument - break the law, then suffer the punishment - as if opponents of the bans are suggesting no punishment at all, instead of what they're actually advocating: amending the nature of the punishment." National: National Black Police Association Supports Automatic Vote Restoration with Resolution The National Black Police Association recently voted to approve a resolution in support of the restoration of voting rights. The NBPA is a nationwide organization of African American Police Associations dedicated to the promotion of justice, fairness, and effectiveness in law enforcement. The resolution reads: "Whereas, the NBPA recognizes that denying the franchise to people who are living in the community serves no law enforcement purpose and violates core principles of democracy and equality ... the NBPA believes that barring people from the political process hinders effective policing by undermining the ability for police to build strong community partnerships." Further, the resolution supports automatic restoration upon prison release. West Virginia: Why Not? In the Charleston Gazette's Reader's Voice, a section giving voice to West Virginia residents on various issues, one reader's comment stated: "I can't understand why a person would say a felon shouldn't vote. It is mean and vindictive to hold people's pasts against them. It is not the Christian way. After all, we are all old sinners saved by grace." Disenfranchisement laws in West Virginia ban those from voting until completion of a prison sentence and parole. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

There’s a powerful tool everyone interested in improving drug policy can put to good use, “Google Alerts”. Just visit: http://www.google.com/alerts and type in the information requested. We suggest the search terms (drug) and (marijuana). When you get an alert check out the story, a lot of them allow comments. Voice your opinion by posting comments every chance you get. This is an effective and free way to get the word out about the need for drug policy reform. I’ve been doing this for about a week and I can tell it’s working by the number of hits on our website from areas where I posted comments. Nate Miller, a Legislative Analyst for Marijuana Policy Project suggested using Google Alerts for this purpose. Nate’s been helping us be more effective at implementing drug policy reform. He stressed that public opinion is powerful when it comes to getting politicians to take action and politicians pay great attention to both articles and comments. I chose to include a few facts that a lot of people don’t know and invite readers to visit our website. Here’s a copy of one of my posts, please include a link to our website when you post comments:

Drug prohibition has never worked, from the place of origin to the point of sale there can be up to 17000% markup. People aren’t going to stop dealing when they can get rich selling drugs. We're building 900 new prison beds and hiring 150 more correction officers every two weeks in the USA. We arrest someone on a drug charge every 17 seconds. We jail more people than any nation. We spend $69 billion a year on the drug war. In 1914 when all drugs were legal 1.3% of our population was addicted to drugs, today 1.3% of our population is still addicted to drugs. Over 100,000 people have been killed because of this war on our own citizens. The only way to control drugs is to regulate them and end the profits available to criminals just like ending alcohol prohibition did. No argument justifies devastating society with drug prohibition. Watch the video:

Internet Explorer: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home

All other browsers: http://jsknow.angelfire.com

--------------------

Once again another life has been needlessly sacrificed in the name of our heinous drug laws. Rachel Hoffman would still be with us today except for the way we choose to deal with drug use and addiction. To Ms. Hoffman’s family and friends, please accept our deepest condolences and heartfelt regret for your loss. The pain and suffering Ms. Hoffman and you have been forced into by those sworn to protect us is inexcusable. This absolutely unnecessary tragedy will not be forgotten. There is no excuse for this. The shameful unfounded defense offered by the authorities attempting to shift responsibility for the tragedy of their own incompetent actions to the victim is nothing short of reprehensible. This story should outrage all of Florida, all the USA and all the world. Florida has some of the toughest drug laws in the country and they have not accomplished any positive results, only harms. The harms of our drug policy are vividly reflected in Ms. Hoffman’s case. By all accounts in the news stories about her, Ms. Hoffman was a vibrant, well educated, well adjusted young woman with a bright future. She was loved by her family, a college graduate, well liked by her peers… in short the reflection of the vast majority of casual drug users. We also learned Ms. Hoffman supported at least two of the drug policy reform organizations we work with. Most people who use drugs are not addicts or criminals by any stretch of the imagination, except that we have allowed their right to ingest certain substances to be criminalized. The results of prohibition are well documented. Any time you prohibit anything you instantly create a black market commerce for that item and the results are always the same… criminals take over the business and violence and death follow. We’ve seen our ridiculous drug policy cause tragedy, corruption, waste of resources, harm to citizens and society beyond imagination and once again needless death. There’s a growing movement to change this but we must all take action or tragedy will continue. Visit our site and take civic actions that will make a difference. Sending an email or making a phone call to your elected representatives can do more good than you might think. If not now, when? If not you, who? Enough is enough! Just shaking your head and saying “that’s a shame” will not stop this. We posted another “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” video on our home page. Take a few minutes and watch it and then be sure to contact your elected representatives and tell them to end the drug war now! There are much better ways to deal with drug use and addiction without the death, disease, violence, corruption, arrest of 1.9 million non-violent Americans each year and countless other harms directly caused by drug prohibition. Tobacco is the only success story in dealing with drug use. Almost half of all tobacco users have stopped and no one was arrested or killed. These amazing results came about through honest education and regulation not a war on tobacco users. PROHIBITION DOES NOT WORK, NEVER HAS AND NEVER WILL!

If you’re using internet explorer web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home

If you’re using any other web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html

Use this link to locate and contact your congressional representatives. Tell them you are in favor of HR 5842 (medical marijuana patient protection act) and HR 5843: (act to remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by responsible adults). These two important legislative measures will greatly improve the lives of all Americans. HR 5842 Will provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various states and HR 5843 will remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by responsible adults.

If clicking the text above doesn’t take you to the web page, copy and paste this into your web browser:

http://capwiz.com/norml2/home/

You can also contact your representatives by calling this number: 202-224-3121.

This is critical! Take action now, don’t wait. Ask all your associates to take action too!

CLICK HERE AND ENTER THE SEARCH WORDS BELOW TO READ THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT:

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c110query.html

TO READ H.R.5842, SEARCH USING THESE WORDS:

Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act

TO READ H.R.5843, SEARCH USING THESE WORDS:

Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults