Minnesota: Second Chance Day on the Hill

[Courtesy of Second Chance Day on the Hill] Greetings, On February 13, 2008 in the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol between the hours of 11:00 and 12:00, large numbers of people will converge for the first ever "Second Chance Day on the Hill." In Minnesota, our prison population has increased by over 45% in the past five years. 6,000 people per year leave corrections and return to their communities. They cannot find jobs at a living wage. They have great difficulties finding affordable and adequate housing. They are ineligibile for Financial Aid to go to school and for many other basic services. Representative Michael Paymar, Senator Julianne Ortman, Anoka County Attorney Bob Johnson (Former Chair, ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions), Dan Cain (RS Eden, former MN Sentencing Guidelines Commissioner), Les Green (SCSU, former Parole Board Commissioner), and our good friend, Sue Watlov-Phillips (Co-founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless, ED of Project Elim) will be amongst those speaking--full slate attached. We have one of the best corrections systems in the United States, yet I submit that if we continue to increase the number of incarcerated at the current levels, the system will break...as it has in 5 other States where, according to a recent study by the Justice Policy Centers, the budget for Corrections exceeded the budget for Education. Whether you are driven to the table via work on; Racial justice: (3.5% of our citizens are Black, yet they form 35% of our prison population; Natives 1%, with over 7% of the incarcerated); Homelessness: Wilder's last survey noted a 30%+ increase in the number of those without housing (of our 20,000+ homeless) who cited criminal records as a barrier to sustainabilty. Mental Health: We have become the "New Bedlam" after the infamous hospital in 19th century England where the mentally ill were indiscriminately housed with predatory offenders. In a city (Minneapolis) where a schizophrenic panhandler who was homeless was arrested 47 times...how was his behavior corrected? Answer: It wasn't. Veterans: In 1998 there were over 221,000 veterans in prison and Jail in the USA, and now we have over 200,000 on the streets, homeless. As our young women and men fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan they fight for Democracy and Freedom in the name of a nation that imprisons more of its own citizens than any nation on the face of the earth. No matter who you are, surely you see the problem in that set of statistics. The Chemically Dependant: Since 1980, the number of those in prison for non-violent offenses in the US has increased 600%. Our corrections budgets exceed the costs of the current conflicts in the Middle East. In the words of Justice Kennedy (paraphrased) in his 2002 to the ABA Hall of delegates, "I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that an 18 year old sentenced to 10 years in prison cannot conceive of what 10 years means." How does a jail cell "fix" an addiction? Members of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession: Surely, you must see this series of problems more clearly than all of us...the endless chain of men and women in their 20s who mull through the dockets day after day, year after year...in time, perhaps, they (we) become just numbers. Surely, what you see each day must strike you as an impossible equation to carry out for another 25 years. This day is a day for all of us. It is the chance to turn back the tide and NOT end up like Illinois, with 47 prisons and 30,000 inmates in re-entry each year. Or, Wisconsin, with 32 prisons. My grandfather was a physician at the Mayo Clinic. My Dad a College professor for 37 years. I, like so many of us in the 70s, strayed. I've been a soldier, a homeless veteran, a teacher and a social worker. I've come to see and understand the need for Second Chances. Once, we believed in and took pride in being the State that treated those who were ill...now we lock them up. Surely, this situation is not tenable for much longer and I think we all sense that. Join us for this event. It is one last chance for us to pause and ask, "Is this really what we want for our children, for the next generation?" Surely, we were meant to be so much more. Guy Gambill Community Organizer Second Chance Day on the Hill (612)-208-1815 (612)-644-4817