National
groups support Rep. Yonts
efforts to safely reduce correctional costs. Their letter of support is
posted here. The groups include:
- Crossroad Bible Institute
- Grassroots Leadership
- In The Public Interest
- International CURE
- Pretrial Justice Institute
- Prison Policy Initiative
- Southern Center for Human Rights
- The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
- The Sentencing Project
The
legislative package offers lawmakers the opportunity to address sentencing
reform and save money in 2015 that could be
used to provide more treatment for heroin addicts. The package of bills
includes:
- HB 305 -
Reduce low-level misdemeanors to violations with pre-payable fines,saving
jail, prosecution, and defense expenses;
- HB 286 -Permit local jailers to grant limited
service credits against an inmate's sentence for good behavior and
educational achievement, saving jail costs and encouraging good
behavior, and also mandate alternative sentencing for flagrant non-support
(instead of imprisonment), saving prison costs and better enabling
delinquent parents to work to support their children;
- HB 285 -
Require parole after a fixed period for nonviolent offenders serving a
Class D sentence (currently the minimum is one year up to a 5 year
maximum; offenses include trafficking marijuana near a school building)
and release for misdemeanants who have good behavior, saving county and
state incarceration costs;
- HB 284 -Adopt
of a “clear and convincing” standard for pretrial release decisions and
findings specific to the defendant, guaranteeing that defendants who are
low-risk and entitled to release are not needlessly held in jail at county
expense; and
- HB 304 -
Modify the persistent
felony offender statute, saving prison costs and reinforcing public
safety by facilitating proportionate sentences that align with the
seriousness of the offense. The measure limits application of
persistent felony offender sentencing to specified triggering offenses;
give jury discretion in this sentencing; allow previous offenses to
be used only if defendant was incarcerated and finished serving the
sentence within 15 years prior to committing the present offense.
Contributed Ed Monahan
