From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ >From verdant@student.umass.edu Mon May 3 19:04:08 1993 Date: 03 May 1993 17:45:05 -0400 From: Sol Lightman To: pauls@css.itd.umich.edu Subject: prison:UMACRC_requested_file Justice Mocked; The farce of mandatory minimum sentences. By Colman McCarthy A year ago Patricia Martorana, a 20-year-old woman I came to know and admire when she had been a gifted student leader at Vero Beach (Fla.) High School, was attending Valencia Community College in Orlando. She waited tables to earn tuition money. Her career plans included earning a degree to work for the Florida forestry department as a wildlife conservationist. Today Martorana is caged in a federal prison in Marianna, Fla. She is three months into a two-year sentence after plea bargaining to a charge of conspiracy to distribute LSD. I doubt if any member of Congress had Patricia Martorana or citizens like her in mind when the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed. Amendments that were a pitched response to get tough on drug offenders set mandatory minimum sentences. Judges were left with no sentencing options. The congressional intent was to cast a judicial net so wide and tight that, at last, drug lords and kingpins would be snared and given the stiff punishment they deserved. And members of Congress could champion themselves as winning the war on drugs. They're winning all right - small. Patricia Martorana, whose case is not unusual, according to legislative and judicial groups that monitor the effects of mandatory minimums, was a nonviolent first offender. She did not deal, buy, sell or use drugs. Her "conspiracy" to distribute LSD, as detailed in the plea agreement with a federal prosecutor, was marginal and fleeting at best. Last May, Martorana was phoned at home by an undercover agent posing as a buyer. He had been given her number by a high school friend of Martorana. The agent, along with a government informant who was cooperating to have time cut from his sentence from an earlier drug crime, was directed by Martorana to someone she knew at work who was a dealer. The agent paid him $1,340 for 1,000 dosage units of LSD. Martorana was given $100 as a commission by her co-worker. In a stakeout of the young woman's apartment, surveillance agents learned it was there that the dealer transferred the LSD to Martorana's high school friend, who then sold it to the undercover agent outside. For this role in a relatively minor drug deal set up by legal entrapment, and in a state teeming with violent and huge drug rings, a young college student is now a federal prisoner. When Martorana was sentenced in early November, a family member recalls, the judge expressed a sentiment of frustration routinely heard from the bench: the mandatory minimum sentencing law gave him no choice but imprisoning the student for two years. He was forbidden to consider that this was a nonviolent first offense or that Martorana's participation was small or that her mother recently died of cancer and her father is disabled. Probation, community service or counseling was out. On Feb. 17, Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.) introduced legislation calling for an end to mandatory minimums. He was responding to the increasing opposition to the restriction from the American Bar Association, judges in all 12 judicial circuits and the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Occasionally a jurist can no longer take it. In late 1990, a Reagan-appointed federal judge in San Diego resigned because of mandatory minimums: "They have destroyed the discretion of judges," J. Lawrence Irving said. "They are grossly unfair to the litigants. For the most part the sentences are excessive, particularly for first-time offenders." It works the other way, too, as in "guideline sentences." This is a process by which drug kingpins can bargain for lower sentences if they cooperate with prosecutors by fingering others in the ring. A mandatory sentence can be avoided by naming names. "The moral of this story," says Julie Stewart, director of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington advocacy group, "is that if you're going to get caught on a drug charge, be a kingpin. You can talk and get off lightly. It also means that those who have little or no information to bargain with get the hardest hit. They're the least guilty." FAMM's files bulge with cases of citizens serving drug sentences of 5, 10 and 20 years without parole chances for first and often minor offenses. Inside her Florida prison, Patricia Martorana sees the injustice up close: "There are women here serving 10 to 15 years on charges of drug conspiracy. They are doing more time than some murderers. I would say that over 50 percent of the women here are first offenders." All are doing hard time, compliments of a simplistic law passed - and kept on the books - by an unthinking Congress. In addition to brutalizing the lives of people like Patricia Martorana, justice itself is mocked. Forced to obey mandatory minimums, judges can't judge. They can only process, stamping defendants as they pass by like slabs of meat on a judicial conveyor belt. If the 1986 law has had a measurable effect on drug deals, it's news to the judges. >From the LA Times page A3, Sunday, Jan 31 (I think -- give or take a day): "Swamped by Smuggling" "Surge in Drug Seizures Forces Border Officials to Weigh Eased Guidelines on Prosecutions" By H.G. Reza, Times Staff Writer The two smuggling incidents during a recent weekend are hardly isolated cases. They symbolize a growing problem at San Ysidro and the other four ports of entry along the California-Mexico border, where marijuana smuggling has reached epidemic proportions, customs spokeswoman Bobbie Cassidy said. Marijuana seizures at the border have increased so dramatically that the upswing has forced San Diego-based federal law enforcement officials to rethink their policy on prosecuting smugglers. Because of a lack of prosecutors, judges, and funding, the U.S. attorney's office can no longer prosecute all drug cases -- including marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and other narcotics -- that originate at the border. As a result, for the third time in recent years, the U.S. attorney's office is considering changing its guidelines on marijuana smuggling, which amounts to a loose formula to aid prosecutors in deciding which cases to handle as felonies. Under the proposed changes, it would be possible for a first-time smuggler to face only a misdemeanor charge if caught carrying up to 220 pounds of marijuana into California. If the amount is more than 220 pounds, the smuggler would probably be charged with a felony. Other factors, such as a criminal record, would be taken into consideration and the prosecutor would not be bound by the guidelines. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- excerpts from an Associated Press article as it appeared in today's Tallahassee Democrat (Knight-Ridder) ABA Study Shows Leap in Drug Imprisonment More people are being locked up for drug offenses -- particularly minority youth -- at a time when drug use is decreasing and other violent crimes are on the rise, the American Bar Association said Sunday. "We have a criminal-justice system in this country that is on a fast track to collapse" because of the heavy emphasis on drug enforcement, said Neal Sonnett, charman of the ABA's criminal justice section. "The criminal-justice system is devoting more of its resources and attention to drug offenses and less to violent crime," Sonnett said. "Unless we do something now ... we are going top have a criminal-justice system that is crushed under the caseload of criminal cases without any appreciable decrease in crime." [The article continues with other quotes and statistics from the report. In particular: - drug arrests rose by 24% from '85 to '91. drug users in that time dropped from 12% of the population to 6%. - adults in prison for drugs rose by 327% from '86-'91. " " " for violent crime rose by 41%. " " " for all crimes rose by 50%. - adults in prison for violent crimes still double those in prison for drugs, (346,000 vs. 165,000 in '91) but drug prisoner percentages are growing, and this growth is resulting in early release of violent criminals. - minority youth arrests for drugs rose 78% from '86-'91. nonminority " " " " fell 34%.] REUTER MJM KG SJ UPce 12/10 1558 Corrections investigating drug overdose CHESTER, Ill. (UPI) -- Illinois Corrections officials want to know how a Menard Correctional Center inmate who died of an apparent drug overdose last month managed to smuggle a syringe into the maximum- security prison. DOC investigators are examining the Nov. 29 death of Michael LeCrone, 34, a convicted killer who was serving an 80-year sentence for a Champaign County murder and other crimes. Passing inmates found LeCrone dead on the floor of his one-man cell in the Southern Illinois prison. Randolph County Coroner Neil Birchler said the dead inmate had a makeshift tourniquet tied around his arm and there were needle tracks on his hands and feet indicating he was a longtime intravenous drug abuser. Also found in LeCrone's cell were a syringe and several rubber bags containing a white powder believed to be cocaine or heroin. Birchler believes LeCrone died of a drug overdose but won't make an official ruling until lab tests confirm the identity of the drug. Corrections officials acknowledge pills, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs often are smuggled into the state prison system, sometimes by guards and other times by visitors or prison workers. But intravenous drugs are rare and deaths from overdoses are almost unheard of, said Michael Mahoney of the prison watchdog group the John Howard Association. State law makes it illegal for any Illinoisan, in prison or out, to possess a hyupodermic syringe without a prescription unless they are a health-care provider. DOC policy also bans needles in prisoners' cells and says all inmates must go to prison infirmaries to receive injections. The state's most publicized prison drug overdose was in 1987, when a Pontiac Correctional Center inmate choked to death on a packet of cocaine as he tried to hide the drugs from guards who were moving him to another cell. Prison gangs blamed guards for the inmate's death and killed Pontiac Superintendent Robert Taylor in retaliation for the incident. The gang leader who ordered the assassination and two inmates who carried it out were sentenced to death for the crime. UNICOR's Use Of Prison Labor For Private Buisiness Has Wide Ranging Rights and Social Implications By Len Martin Reprinted from Farmers and Consumers Report The federal government is cooperating with private financiers in a scandal that is contributing to the demise of independently operated buisinesses and is costing taxpayers big bucks. The scandal is a buisiness enterprise called UNICOR. You probably haven't heard of it because the mass news media, which is controlled by the /big money boys/, isn't telling about it. I had heard about UNICOR from prisoners who had called me on other matters. But it wasn't until Rudy (Butch) Stanko, who is incarcerated in the federal prison system, sent me the manuscript of _Slavery Survives in America_ for publication that the full story became known to me. For daring to /blow the lid/ on UNICOR, Stanko has been grossly mistreated in prison. Out of the first 600 days in prison, Stanko had spent 313 in isolation (the hole). Since then, he has been in /the hole/ for extended periods of time. There is no doubt this is due to his exposing UNICOR. The mistreatment is designed to serve as a warning to other prisoners to keep their mouths shut about UNICOR -- or they will get the same treatment as Stanko. What is it about UNICOR that such drastic measures are taken to keep the UNICOR operation from being exposed? Stanko exposes several facets of the operation of UNICOR that give cause for concern: /First/, UNICOR is a shady operation. Stanko describes it as a private corporation using prisoners to work in their factories and paying them an average of 60 cents an hour. The private owners of UNICOR aren't required to match social security, or pay unemployment, workmen's compensation, health insurance, or retirement benefits. These UNICOR factories, located at the various federal prisons throughout the United States, are producing 192 different products. Using prison labor at slave wages, UNICOR presents a real problem to regular buisinessmen. It is estimated that labor costs in the United States factories average of over $9 an hour. It is impossible for them to compete with UNICOR which pays an average of 60 cents an hour to prisoners. In UNICOR's instructions for managers of their various factories, it states that UNICOR is a government corporation. This isn't possible, because on December 6, 1945 Congress passed a law (31 USCA 866) which reads: /No corporation shall be created or organized, or acquired ... by the federal government ... No wholly owned government corporation ... shall continue after June 30, 1948 ... the proper corporate authority of every such (government) corporation shall take the necessary steps to institute dissolution proceedings before that date/. UNICOR is sometimes referred to as a quasi-government corporation. This is a sure give-away that it a privately- owned operation. /Second/. UNICOR is expanding rapidly. UNICOR is growing rapidly. This is even stated in the manager's instructions. That it is expected to become gigantic is indicated in the last paragraph of an article appearing in a daily newspaper. In effect it states: "Prison industries could grow to rival the military/ industrial complex." A /New York Times/ article said: "The federal government needs to more than /double its prison capacity/ `We are getting to the edge of a very serious crisis,' said Stanley E. Morns, director of the United States Marshals Service." One prisoner told me that UNICOR plans to /double its output/ and that the U.S. Justice Department assured UNICOR there would be sufficient manpower (prisoners) to fill the need. Another prisoner told me: "You won't believe the number of prisoners who are foreigner. They are being kidnapped and held in United States prisons supposedly on drug charges. "The real reason is the need for slaves to work for UNICOR. The prisoner said about one third of the prisoners where he is incarcerated are kidnapped foreigners." The expansion of prison facilities and the $34,000 plus a year cost to keep each prisoner incarcerated adds up to big money -- to be extorted from the taxpayers. Is this prison expansion really necessary? Apparently not, according to information being compiled by private investigators. /Third/, the news of a drug crackdown is faulty. There is no doubt drug abuse is a major problem in America. Reliable sources have pointed out that the drug problem could be drastically curbed if the government officials really wanted to do so. But apparently there are enough government officials who do not want to stop the flow of drugs into America. There is no doubt that there are officials high in our government who are working to weaken America and force it into a one-world government, and drug abuse greatly weken the moral and physical strength of a country's citizens. Too, the tremendous profits from dealing in drugs is too great for people in power to resist. Drug distribution could not continue at its present high rate if people in law enforcement and in the courts were doing their duty. Some law enforcement and court officials, along with other government officials, are actually involved in drug dealing -- and have been for years. /Fourth/, high federal government officials are involved in the drug buisiness. Emerging information points a finger at high federal officials as being responsible for the continuing drug importing into the United States. Former police officer Jack McLamb, in one issue of his newsletter /Aid and Abet/, relates a meeting between Colonel Bo Gritz and General Khun Sa, overlord of Asia's /Golden Triangle/. Khun Sa offered to stop a shipment of 900 tons of illegal narcotics and expose dirty United States government officials. It's all recorded on video tape. Copies have been widely circulated in the United States. In a letter to then Vice President George Bush, dated February 1, 1988 Col. Bo Gritz wrote: /If you have any love or loyalty in your heart for this nation; if you have not completely sold out, then do something positive to determine the truth of these serious allegations. You were director of the CIA in 1975, during the time Khun Sa says Armitage and CIA officials were trafficking in heroin/. Gritz goes on: /Richard Armitage is named along with Theodore Shackley (your former Deputy Director CIA for Covert Operations) and others among whom you, Armitage, and General Richard Secord are prominently mentioned/. Was Bo Gritz rewarded or even congratulated for providing the documentation? He was rewarded by being arrested on an apparently phoney charge. It is apparent that those in charge of our government have no intention of stopping the illegal drug trade despite their phoney campaign rhetoric. It is also apparent that the planned doubling of federal prison capacity is not for the purpose of incarcerating illegal drug offenders (at least not the key figures), but it is merely a reason given for providing housing for slave prison laborers for UNICOR's factories. For daring to expose UNICOR, Stanko was also denied parole -- since there was no other apparent reason. A number of Congressmen have asked Congress to investigate the Parole Commission reguarding the Stanko case. But nothing has resulted from requests. Are Americans going to allow such injustice to go unchallenged? We must remember. When the rights of one of us are violated, it endangers the rights of all. -- The University of Massachusetts at Amherst | _________,^-. Cannabis Reform Coalition ( | ) ,> S.A.O. Box #2 \|/ { 415 Student Union Building `-^-' ? ) UMASS, Amherst MA 01003 verdant@titan.ucs.umass.edu |____________ `--~ ; \_,-__/ * To find out about our on-line library, mail a message with the * pattern "{{{readme}}}" contained IN THE SUBJECT LINE. * You will be mailed instructions; your message will be otherwise ignored ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan site by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)