The greedy, corrupt prison lobbyists and their bosses are back at it
again, using false and misleading statements and statistics to scare the
public into pushing even more non-violent, diseased drug addicts into
long-term sentences. It has been evident over the years that these
lobbyists and their cronies will fill their expensive prison “hotels” at
any cost. These institutions have become some of the best schools in
America, teaching non-violent drug offenders how to become
hardened-criminals, ultimately becoming life-long card members of their
finest “hotels.” That is exactly why we worked for years on reforming
the Rockefeller Drug Laws, so we would no longer treat our most
vulnerable the same way we treat those who are real threats to our
public safety. Through drug courts, rehabilitation and the end of
mandatory minimum sentences, we have made much progress since 2009,
however the full implementation of the reforms is still a ways away.
The statistics stated in today’s New York Post op-ed “Why Crime’s
Rising: Drug Law ‘Reform’ Plaguing NY” by former Rockland County
District Attorney Michael E. Bongiorno are grossly misrepresented. Mr.
Bongiorno’s position that crime is rising in certain parts of our state
because of drug law reform is unfounded and based on assumptions, rather
than facts. His entire argument is based on the increase of violent
crimes, however, the vast majority (more than 75 percent) of those incarcerated
for drug offenses have never been convicted of a violent felony.
Fewer than 1000 people have been released under the Rockefeller Drug Law
Reforms, and those re-sentenced under the reforms have remarkably low
rates of return to prison — less than 9 percent, compared to an overall
recidivism rate of nearly 40 percent — and generally for parole violations,
not the commission of new crimes. These ugly stereotypes about drug
offenders, that most are violent criminals, is one for the Reagan/Bush
years…we no longer believe the hype.
The “War on Drugs” and the “Rockefeller Drug Laws” were major failures
of our society. In New York, both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman have recognized these failures and have been
strong supporters of the present reformation of the Rockefeller Drug
Laws. We waged WAR against our own people and that war has destroyed
our communities. Nearly 90 percent of those statewide and 95 percent of those in New
York City convicted of drug offenses are Black and Latino, even though
blacks and whites sell and use drugs at the same rate. We now
understand how the war was fought, with phase one being the misleading
and manipulating of the public. Phase two is to legally bribe, through
lobbying and “fundraising,” for our elected officials who ultimately put
terrible, destructive, racist laws on the books so they can continue to
fill their “hotels.”
This is a new America. An America that believes that drug addiction is
a disease and not a crime. We will no longer subject ourselves to the
old ways of destruction. We will fight for a fair justice system that
uplifts our people from the drug war devastation of the past 39 years.
