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Judiciary Committee questions Libby commutation; FAMM urges broadening of commutation use On Wednesday, July 11 in Washington, D.C., the House Judiciary Committee will investigate President's Bush's show of mercy to White House insider Scooter Libby. The hearing will consider the use and misuse of Presidential clemency power for executive branch officials. Although Mr. Libby’s high-profile commutation merits discussion, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) has written to the committee urging it to also explore how commutations should be used to reduce excessive sentences of deserving, nonviolent federal prisoners. Click here http://www.famm.org/Repository/Files/Letter_to_Conyers%5B1%5D.pdf to read FAMM's letter. Many such prisoners have applied for and not received commutations, although they have served long portions of their sentences and their behavior in prison has been exemplary. It is especially troubling that many prisoners wait years to receive a decision and some petitions filed as far back as 2000 have not been acted upon. In 2001, President Clinton commuted the sentences of nearly two dozen nonviolent drug offenders, all of whom served significant portions of their lengthy mandatory sentences before their release. These individuals rejoined their communities and became productive citizens. Click here http://www.famm.org/oldsite/October/FAMMGRAMS/2001/Spring%202001%20commutations/FGspringFINAL.pdf to read more about them. Julie Stewart, president and founder of FAMM, says, "President Bush should grant commutations to the deserving individuals who have sought them. By granting commutations, the President will show mercy, do justice, and prove that clemency is available to all deserving prisoners and not just to the well-connected.” Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a national non-partisan nonprofit organization that promotes just sentencing policies. Many of FAMM's members are prisoners, children and families torn apart by unjustifiably harsh mandatory minimum penalties. Click here http://www.famm.org/ExploreSentencing/TheIssue/FacesofFAMM.aspx to read their stories.

On Friday, July 6, a pair of common sense Opinion items hit North American newspapers, with one being reprinted in numerous newspapers across the country. This creates an excellent opportunity for those who endorse smarter public policies for dealing with marijuana in the 21st century. Gone should be the days of Reefer Madness - the late 1930s attitudes which have remained entrenched in federal government marijuana policies for over 70 years now. Friday's Los Angeles Times featured an OPED authored by Tony Newman of the Drug Policy Alliance. He emphasized the need to either offer help and appropriate treatment options for Americans with true drug problems. And he also noted that we should not waste criminal justice or valuable treatment resources on Americans who are only casual drug users without a problem. Newman also illustrated the disparity in our society where certain people of note receive easy access for alternatives to jail - using Al Gore III, Noelle Bush and Patrick Kennedy as prime examples. Read Newman's LA Times piece here: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n802/a04.html Also on Friday, Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group released her latest column in which she aptly notes that the younger Gore's high-profile arrest offers Americans an opportunity to get real about drug prohibition, especially about marijuana laws. MAP has over a dozen placements of Parker's column. A continually updating link to her columns may be seen here: http://www.mapinc.org/author/Kathleen+Parker Please consider sending a Letter to the Editor to the Los Angeles Times sharing your personal support for Newman's OPED. And please consider also creating a letter in response to Kathleen Parker's column and then direct it to the newspaper closest to your hometown. If you elect to write to more than one newspaper, we strongly suggest at least some modification of your message so that each newspaper receives a unique letter. MAP has archived numerous clippings on the arrest and pending prosecution of Mr. Gore III. They may be easily be viewed here: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Al+Gore Letters of 200 words or less have the best chance of print unless otherwise noted in MAP headers. Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do ********************************************************************** Contact: The Lost Angeles Times http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter Contact links for sending letters on Parker's column are displayed in the header for each of the MAP clippings. Learn more about how you can help deliver the messages of The Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org ********************************************************************** Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Or contact MAP's Media Activism Facilitator for personal tips on how to write LTEs that get printed. [email protected] ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ([email protected] ) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ( [email protected] ) will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form ********************************************************************** Prepared by: The MAP Media Activism Team www.mapinc.org/resource === . DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards. Or, mail your check or money order to: . DrugSense 14252 Culver Drive #328 Irvine, CA 92604-0326. (800) 266 5759 . DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive "War on Drugs." Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

People convicted of marijuana offenses — even minor ones — may face punishments that go far beyond whatever fines or jail sentences the court imposes, according to a new study. These "collateral sanctions" can haunt offenders for their whole lives and, in some cases, be worse than those faced by violent criminals. The report, issued by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, was funded by MPP's grants program and is the first report to analyze the extra punishments faced by marijuana offenders. Some key findings of the report include: Sanctions triggered by a marijuana conviction can include loss of access to food stamps, public housing, and student financial aid, as well as driver's license suspensions, loss of or ineligibility for professional licenses, other barriers to employment or promotion, and bars to adoption, voting, and jury service. Sanctions triggered by felony marijuana convictions can be more severe than those for a violent crime — and a felony can be as little as growing one marijuana plant or possessing over 20 grams of marijuana. Marijuana offenders are subject to the most severe collateral sanctions in Florida, Delaware, Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Utah. Marijuana offenders are subject to the least severe collateral sanctions in New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Maine. Please click here http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/rpts/col_sanctions.htm to see the ranking of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These types of reports are important because they systematically highlight the injustices caused by marijuana prohibition. Indeed, the issue of collateral sanctions is getting attention from officials: A story on June 24 in the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey described Mayor Cory Booker as incensed about laws that keep people with minor drug convictions from having a driver's license or getting many types of jobs, saying, "The drug war is causing crime. It's just chewing up young black men." The laws that create a kind of "double jeopardy" for marijuana offenders are too often a "feel-good" way for legislators to appear tough on drugs. But the results can be devastating to people's lives.

Best Medipot Dispensary: Mellowest practitioners of the good work Named after the military spy plane, SR-71 offers high-grade to the low-key in Downtown Oakland. Like many of the dispensaries of the bay, the caregivers are compassionate, attentive, and concerned. Unlike many, SR-71 captures the look, feel, and attitude of the coffeeshops of Amsterdam. To walk in the front door is to step thousands of miles east into a black-lit tavern replete with a timeless atmosphere that demands you to order a cappuccino, pull out a copy of Fanon, your journal, and contemplate the big questions of life, art, and love to the music of John Coltrane, Gil Scott-Heron, and some Cypress Hill for good measure. Even if you don't smoke, SR-71 is a great old-school coffeeshop. Link to East Bay Express article: http://bestof.eastbayexpress.com/bestof/award.php?award=424024 SR-71 is found at 377 17th St., Oakland, CA, T: 510-251-0690

For Immediate Release: June 27, 2007 – 12:00 EST Contact: Laura Jones, Phone: 202-558-7974, ext. 307 or Cell: 202-425-4659 or Jason Ziedenberg, Cell: 510-332-6503 New numbers show “alarming growth” in incarceration; Justice Department survey shows biggest increase since 2000 California responsible 1 out of 5 new people in prison last year WASHINGTON – After six years of slowing growth prison and jail populations, new statistics due out Wednesday from the Justice Department show an alarming increase in incarceration across the U.S. According to Prisoners and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006, a new survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics embargoed for release noon Wednesday, June 27 the midyear accounting for prison and jail growth found that “in both absolute numbers and percent change, the increase was the largest since midyear 2000.” The new survey showed that about 6 out of 10 people in prison and jail were African American or Latino, and that nearly 5 percent of African American men were in prison or jail. The new survey showed that one out of every five new people added to prison in the United States were in California. “Once again, communities of color are paying for our troubled criminal justice policies,” said Jason Ziedenberg, Executive Director of the Justice Policy Institute. “The population increase in the already overburdened prison system indicates an alarming growth that should not go unchecked. Billions of public safety dollars are absorbed by prison expansion and limits the nation’s ability to focus on more effective strategies to promote public safety.” When considering the growth, JPI points out that: There is little relationship between prison growth and change in violent crime: Coming just weeks after the Justice Department released its preliminary crime statistics for 2006, regional imbalance in the growth of prison underscore how little relationship there is between crime and the use of incarceration. The two regions that experienced the least change in prison populations (the Northeast, +1.7 percent increase, and the South, +1.2 percent) either experienced a decline in violent crime, or marginal change in violent crime.[1] By contrast, the West saw the biggest increase in violent crime of any region (+2.8 percent), and the biggest increase in the use of incarceration (5.2 percent). The Midwestern region also saw an increase in violent crime (+2.1), and prison growth (+3.0 percent). Some states have reduced prison populations and closed prisons, and others have enacted billion dollar expansion plans. Some states and jurisdictions (8 out of 51) saw no growth, or declining prison populations. Maryland, where prison populations have been falling for the last 4 years, recently closed a prison, potentially saving the state tens of millions of dollars. By contrast, 20 percent of new prisoners added last year were in California, where numerous proposals to reduce prison sentences, reform parole, and provide more resources to drug-involved people in the criminal justice system failed to be enacted. California legislations recently voted for multi-billion dollar prison expansion plan. ### The Justice Policy Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration and promoting effective and just solutions to social problems. See www.justicepolicy.org.

For Immediate Release: June 27, 2007 For More Info: Tony Newman, T: (646) 335-5384 Justice Department Report Finds Largest Increase in Prison and Jail Inmate Populations Since Midyear 2000 2.24 Million Behind Bars, Giving the United States the Shameful Title of World’s Number One Incarcerator Prison Growth Persists Despite Growing Public Sentiment for Alternatives to Incarceration; One in Four Locked Up for Drug Law Violations The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reports today that the number of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails jumped by 62,037 in the year ending June 30, 2006. That jump represents the largest increase since 2000. There are now 2.24 million people behind bars in this country. The United States continues to rank first among all nations in both total prison/jail population and per capita incarceration rates – with about 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s incarcerated population. The failed drug war policies of 30-plus years are a major contributor to America’s prison population explosion. Approximately 50,000 people were incarcerated for drug law violations in 1980. The total is now roughly 500,000. (This number does not include hundreds of thousands of parolees and probationers who are incarcerated for technical violations such as “dirty urines,” nor does it include non-drug offenses committed under the influence of drugs, or to support a drug habit, or crimes of violence committed by drug sellers.) “Two powerful forces are at play today,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “On the one hand, public opinion strongly supports alternatives to incarceration for non-violent, and especially low-level, drug law violators – and state legislatures around the country are beginning to follow suit. On the other hand, the prison industrial complex has become a powerful force in American society, able to make the most of the political inertia that sustains knee-jerk lock-‘em-up policies.” The Drug Policy Alliance has played a pivotal role in reforming drug sentencing laws around the country, including Proposition 36 in California, reform of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York, and equalization of crack and powder cocaine penalties in Connecticut.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2007 Contact: Terrence Stevens, T: 917 939 5349, E: [email protected] Saigon, Atlantic Records Critically Acclaimed Rap Sensation & Remy Martin Supports Non Profit Organization In Arms Reach, Inc. /Abandoned Nation For At Risk Youths Tonight in the U.S. 2.5 million children will go to bed denied access to their parents because that parent is behind bars Saving Lives for Children of Incarcerated Parents New York, NY - Remy Martin is working with Atlantic Records Rapper Saigon and nine other hip-hop artists across the country in a national celebration of hip-hop music, kicking off Black Music Month (June) and running through the summer. Saigon, under Hip Hop Since 1978 and Just Blaze Fort Knocks production identified In Arms Reach Inc. (a non-profit art, music, prison visitation and educational mentoring organization that services youth whose parents are or were formerly offenders of the criminal justice system) as the organization he would like to support. As part of the sponsorship program, with In Arms Reach as Remy’s New York charity, on June 22, 2007 Saigon and Remy Martin Brand Manager presented a check for $10,000.00 to Program Founder Terrence “T-Wheels” Stevens to help support their continued work on behalf of youth with imprisoned parents. While at “In Arms Reach,” Atlantic Records Rapper Saigon participated in an open group discussion with 15-20 constituents aged 14 to 17. Sophie Davis Pre-med students who serve as tutors and mentors for the organization were on hand. Media outreach around Saigon will focus on In Arms Reach, Inc. charity visit and driving traffic to the getinteresting.com web site. A GCI photographer was on-hand to take pictures which is available to be serviced to media. The organization is headquartered at The City College University of New York. Harlem Native & Program Founder, Terrence “T-Wheels” Stevens is wheelchair confined, virtually paralyzed from the neck down. “The brother is a mental power house rolling around on 4 wheels, and doing more good in the community than half the brothers out there with all their physical limbs, says Saigon.” “I admire T-Wheels and as my record career take off, so will this program.” Rapper Saigon and T-Wheels set out to fight a serious mission. That mission is saving the lives of youth who have loss their mothers and fathers to incarceration. Children of incarcerated parents face some of life's hardest challenges, including poverty, limited opportunities for a good education, and a future that seem to hold little to no promise. The program addresses social problems in urban communities and the break up of families caught up in this cycle. With little to no support they provide children of incarcerated parents with the love, guidance and mechanism for healing they so desperately need. In 2002, T-Wheels began picking up children in a handicapped accessible van to keep the kids off the street. He later landed weekend program space with a friend at a local community center. As the number of kids increased, he fund raised to purchase a 15 passenger van. He scheduled field trips to recording sessions in NYC at Sony Recording Studio, took children to amusement parks and youth to celebrity functions. Program space was obtained in the historic gothic quadrangle of The City College University of New York. T-Wheels is now President & Chief Executive Officer of In Arms Reach Inc., Parents Behind Bars: Children in Crisis. His unique program model empowers children by giving them mentoring, positive role models and academic assistance. The program addresses root causes of crime, low self-esteem and emotionally functionality via providing on site one-on-one and group counseling sessions. As result of his dedication, In Arms Reach, Inc. has provided 3,450 hours of tutoring services, 368 after school mentoring sessions, and over 37 free transportation trips to upstate prison facilities for children to visit and be reunited with their incarcerated parents. If you know of any children impacted by parental incarceration who can benefit from this program, or are interested in sponsoring or pledging a donation to help keep programs and services open, please contact In Arms Reach, Inc. Donors Dept. Mr. Frank Lewis at, 212.650.5894 or email: [email protected] Web site: www.mysace/inarmsreachab, www.abdonednation.com

Friends: Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, testifies Tuesday, June 26, 2007 on the issue of Mandatory Minumum Sentencing before the House Judiciary Subcommitee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Mauer's testimony focuses on the experience with the current generation of mandatory sentencing policies in the federal system, the vast majority of which have been applied to drug offenses, and the lessons we should learn from that in order to develop more effective public policy. The main themes he will address include: Mandatory sentencing policies have been largely based on false premises, and are particularly unwise in the federal system; - Mandatory penalties in the federal system have not proven to achieve their objectives; and -A variety of policy initiatives could be enacted that would result in more fair and effective sentencing, and would produce better public safety results. See http://sentencingproject.org/Admin%5CDocuments%5Cpublications%5Csl_testimony_summer07.pdf to view his testimony.

Giveline.com is an online store created for the justice-minded shopper, offering more than a million bestselling products including books, movies, music, electronics, housewares, gifts and more. Every purchase generates a substantial donation to the Prisons Foundation - an amazing average of 16% of store sales, sometimes as high as 33%. Giveline has great products, great service, and great prices - the only difference between Giveline and other major online retailers is that every purchase earns money for our organization. Check it out today at http://www.giveline.com/default.asp?v=V072409564. We are about to go to press with the next monthly issue of Art for Justice, showcasing new art received by the Prison Art Gallery from talented prison inmates across America. If your organization would like to use space in it to make an announcement to reach over 20,000 readers in and out of prison, please contact us at 202-393-1511 or [email protected]. To view the current issue of Art for Justice (note the space used by NORML and The Aleph Institute on the last page), please visit www.PrisonsFoundation.org/ project2_newsletter.html. When in Washington, DC, visit the Prison Art Gallery. Located three blocks from the White House, the Prison Art Gallery is served by two Metro stations (Farragut North on the Red Line, and Farragut West on the Orange and Blue Lines). Note that the entrance is on 16th Street, at the corner of K Street. Open Mon to Fri, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 12:30 to 5:30 PM (also open evenings by appointment - groups welcome - admission is always free).