Author: Walter Lomax

Executive Director,
Walter Mandela Lomax
Secretary
Laure Bezold
Technical Advisor
Retired Delegate
Clarence T. Davis.
Tiger Associates LLC
Sponsors
Baltimore OSI
Baltimore Safe & Sound
Justice Policy Institute
Maryland CURE
Morgan State University
Dept. of Social Work
Research Associates Foundation
BMe
Supporters:
ACLU Baltimore Legislative Department
Fusion Partnership Inc.
Community Conferencing
Correctional Round-Table
Grassroots Criminal Justice Advocates Network
MSBA Correctional Reform Section
The Sentencing Project

Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative Quarterly Newsletter
Volume 9 Issues 10, 11, & 12
October, November, & December 2018

Quote of the month: Do not equate money with success. There are many successful
Moneymakers who are miserable failures as human beings. What counts most about success is how a person achieves it.

Lead Story Headline

The analogy, the squeaky wheel get the oil, is okay if you are talking about a car, or machines, but not when applied to someone who talks the loudest, or the most. Using such an analogy can lead to unjust attention being applied to a uninformed assessment.
We make decisions based on the information we have, when we have good information we tend to make good decisions. In this age of misinformation and some folk skewing the truth, it is sometimes difficult to ascertain real facts. This is why we do our research, to provide you with what we consider to be good information. We are not always 100%, but we come as close as we possibly can.
The issue we have been advocating for, parole reform, has taken many twist and turns. The first being the legislation passed in 2011, the 180 rule, and in 2012 the Unger decision. There have been others, but we won’t focus on these two. The 180 rule gave any setting governor 180 days to decide on parole recommendations sent to the office. The Unger decision allowed retrials for over 200 people serving parole eligible life sentences. While no one has been released on parole, over 188 have been released through the courts. All of these individuals were deemed to be a threat to public safety, yet in over five (5) years only a hand full have been involved with the criminal justice system. All the research being conducted on them indicate that this model should be replicated in other states. A recent report by the Justice Police Institute, ’A case study in safely reducing long prison terms and saving taxpayer dollars’, is an excellent example. These reports and studies greatly assist us in our advocacy.
The document sent in the last news letter, and will be sent along with this one, ‘The Paradigm Shift’, lays out the history of this issue, it is compelling and powerful. It is our way of giving you good information, so that you may make good decisions. We are providing this information to legislators as well, so that they can make informed decisions too.

MRJI Up-Date:
This time of year is suppose to be our down time, but we have been keeping busy, especially with this being an election year. There are many new Senators and Delegates, and the compositions of the committees have changed. Our primary concerns have been with the Senate and House Judicial committees. We know we have sponsors, and cosponsors, our biggest task will be getting the bills out of committee and to the full floor. We are confident that we can accomplish this, but we still need your commitment and support. Once we have the committees members information we will get that information to you, it is incumbent that you get this information to your family members and friends. A form letter will be sent to the coordinator to circulate to the population to be used in our letter writing campaign once we have bill numbers and hearing dates.
We knew in the beginning (way back in 1995) that this would be a difficult struggle, but we also knew that some of our lives depended on it. A great deal has happened since then: I was released in 2006, and lifers began being released under the Unger decision in 2013. Since then over 188 have been released. In 2011 we had the 180 day statute passed, and have had the class action lawsuit file on behalf of juveniles.
Our efforts has had many ebbs and flows, we looked at seeking to have legislation passed for juveniles and those convicted under the felony murder law. We sought to have 25 years as the benchmark, only to have more years attached to consideration for release. We fought back, and have continued to advocate for sensible criminal justice policies. We will not give up, all we ask is that you do not either. I spend close to forty (40) years in prison for a crime I did not committee, and have dedicated my life to fighting to change this policy, all I ask is that you don’t give up either.

This photo array is from some of the events we attended ; Senator Jill Carter, at the Civil Rights Breakfast, Denise receiving an award, named in honor of MRJI’s work, with one of my nieces at the BMe event, another niece while giving a speech to some youth, with Warren Brown at the BMe event, and finally at Copping University talking with Professor Brenda Shell’s criminal Justice class. She is a phenomenal woman, great professor and person.

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Paradigm Shift:
+Two Former Governors, Robert Ehrlich, and Parris Glendenning both concur that Maryland’s parole system has become too political, and in need of reform. Mr. Glendenning instituted the ‘Life means Life’ policy, and Mr. Ehrlich commuted five (5) sentences while in office. No one serving a parole eligible life sentence has been paroled out right since 1993. Mr. Glendenning did not parole any during his 8 years in office; Mr. Ehrlich commuted 5 sentences during his 4 years in office; former governor O’Malley did not parole any during his 8 years in office, maintaining the Glendenning policy.
The Maryland parole system has not been operating according to legislative intent for over 25 years. When legislators established the parole commission, requiring the governor’s signature, there were less than 300 people serving parole eligible life sentences, and they were released in less than 20 years. There are now over 2600 people requiring a governor’s signature for release.
Two significant incidents are note worthy to understand changes in the criminal justice system landscape: Willie Horton, responsible for derailing former governor Michael Dukakis presidential bid; and Rodney Stokes, responsible for former Governors Glendenning ‘life means life’ policy in Maryland.
The statute and legislative intent functioned as intended until the Horton, and Stokes incidents: During Governor Marvin Mandel’s terms in office (1969) 92 people were paroled; during Governor Harry Hughes term in office (1979) 64 people were paroled; during Governor William Donald Schaefers term in office (1987), 25 people were paroled. No one has been paroled out right since Glendenning’s ‘Life means Life’ policy in 1993.
Legislators made an attempt to address the issue in 2011 when they passed the 180 days statute, giving any setting governor 180 days to make a decision on parole recommendation sent to the office. However, shortly after the legislation became effective, former governor O’Malley denied all the recommendation sent to his office.
Some rationales often used in denials are nature of the offense, and threat to public safety. Ironically, in 2013 people who were serving parole eligible life sentences began being released under the Unger decision by the Maryland court of appeals. This decision mandated that anyone tried by a jury trial before 1980 were entitled to new trails. Since May of 2013, over 188 people who were formerly serving parole eligible life sentences have been released. Recidivism for those released during the Mandel, Hughe, and Schaefer administrations (181) are less than 6%, and for those released under the Unger decision (188) are less then1%.
The fiscal note for legislation introduced in 2018 to address this issue did not increase the budget; in fact it decreases it. The fiscal note also stated that in 2017 DPSCS had an intake of 52 inmates with life sentences, (35 with parole and 17 without). The intake of inmates with split life sentences was 49, a total of 111. This is just for one year of inmates coming into Maryland prisons that a governor would have to approve releases. From a fiscal perspective, any governor should be encouraging passage of legislation of this nature, as it relieves any governor of the redundancy, or a denovo of parole commissioner functions. Decisions of this nature must be in the hands of parole commissioners who are experts in this field; that use a thorough process, vetting individuals for decades or more
The changing landscape of our criminal justice system, and the reality of those changes, the Willie Horton syndrome, (that no political figure will admit) must be acknowledged.
The current parole scheme, as it exists, has no incentive built into the system. Judge Motz once said, ‘Hope and the longing for reward lay at the heart of every human endeavor, in its absence there is no reason for anyone to change.’ The system originally had a parole expectance built into it: Starting at maximum security, progressing to medium, minimum, prelease, work release, family leaves, and eventually paroled. The spirit of the process has been broken.
An analogy of how it operated today, is an individual goes to college, passes all the courses, gets an excellent grade point average, and then are told they cannot graduate because the rules has changed. That is not fair, it is not just, nor is it human, and not what legislators intended with the statute.
We must acknowledge this paradigm shift;, and start the narrative to reverse this course Maryland has taken with the criminal justice system. Maryland has needlessly spent millions of dollars to incarcerate this aging prison population, who could live safely in the community, (as those released under the Unger decision have demonstrated) simply because of politics. Legislators are urged to consider passing legislation, and do away with this outdated parole policy.
It would have cost the state 7,144,000 dollars a year to continue to warehouse the 188 people released under the Unger decision. It has saved 35,720,000 in the 5 years since their release. It cost approximately 38,000 a year per pensioner to warehouse; at 38,000 X 2600 it cost 98,800,000 a year. The state has spent 494,000,000 in the 5 years since the Unger’s has been release.

Organization

Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative

1111 Park Ave. Suite 151
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
P.O. Box 33313
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Your Address Line 3
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waltermandalalomax@hotmail.com
mrji4phases@yahoo.com
Mrji.org
Mandalaenterprise.org
Cell: 443-413-6076

The strength of any effort, is the exact measure of its result.
“Never give in – Never give up.”

Jane C. Murphy
Recent headlines suggest that we’ve finally decided to address mass incarceration. We all know the statistics. Over the past three decades, the number of people jailed in America has tripled to almost 2.3 million, more per capita than any other country in the world. The racial disparities in our criminal justice system are flagrant and well documented.
And so President Donald Trump just endorsed First Step, federal legislation that would reduce or eliminate mandatory sentences for selected crimes and address racial disparities in penalties for drug possession, among other reforms. In Maryland, we’ve just reached the first anniversary of the Justice Reinvestment Act, which aims to shrink the prison population and reinvest the savings in efforts to reduce recidivism.
But these efforts are focused on non-violent offenders. We are kidding ourselves if we believe that these reforms will meaningfully address the human, financial and moral cost of this problem. Every non-violent offender could be released today, and we would still have mass incarceration. Missing from the conversation are the hundreds of thousands serving extreme sentences for crimes classified as “violent.” American prisoners serve longer sentences than those given for similar crimes in most countries. We are, for example, one of a handful of countries who sentence children to life in prison.
The majority of people serving long sentences deserve to be considered for release. As I can attest from working with clients sentenced to life as children, many people convicted of violent crimes have been overcharged or wrongfully convicted. But — and this is crucial — even those who are guilty of the crimes for which they are serving long sentences must be included in reform efforts.
We now have compelling support from a Justice Policy Institute report. “The Ungers, 5 Years and Counting” examines the experiences of 188 people convicted of violent crimes and released as a result of a 2012 court decision, Unger v. Maryland, finding the jury instructions in their cases unlawful. Most of the so-called “Ungers” went into prison while in their 20s and had served an average of 39 years at the time of their release. The experience of the Ungers is thus, as the report notes, “a natural experiment on how states can safely reduce their aging prison population, regardless of their committing offense.”
The Ungers faced a range of problems upon release. The conditions in prison for those serving long sentences left most with little education or job training, and many with health issues. Some had family, but many were without housing. Most had never touched a smart phone or computer. Despite these challenges, the release of the Ungers has had virtually no negative impact on public safety. Out of 188, only five have returned to prison — an amazing 3 percent recidivism rate, compared to 40 percent for the general prison population. How was this accomplished?
We know that recidivism rates for older persons are significantly lower than the general prison population and that “lifers” who are released are less likely to reoffend than non-lifers. But the Ungers benefited from more than their favorable demographic. Anticipating their release, a collaboration of social workers, lawyers and law students from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the University of Maryland developed multi-tiered re-entry plans to address the many issues facing this group. They helped find housing, medical care and employment for those who could work. They worked with community organizations, particularly the Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative, to provide opportunities for the Ungers and their families to meet and receive support from each other as well as from outside resources.
What lessons are to be derived from the Ungers? Violent offenders cannot be “off the table” in criminal justice reform. With modest investment in re-entry services, many can be released without threatening public safety. The Unger report estimates that the government could provide a similar level of support to all people released from prison at a cost of about $6,000 per individual, a fraction of the cost for continued incarceration. Instead of continuing to age in prison, the Ungers are leading meaningful and productive lives. They have obtained employment, gotten married, helped raise children and grandchildren, cared for elderly siblings and parents, returned to school to finish degrees begun in prison and volunteered in organizations that benefit at-risk youth.
The Ungers provide the blueprint. Let us take the lessons from this remarkable story and begin a new, more meaningful conversation about criminal justice reform.
Jane C. Murphy directs the Juvenile Justice Project at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Email: jmurphy@ubalt.edu; Twitter: @familylawprof.

MRJI is a program of Fusion Partnership Inc. Supported in part by a grant from Baltimore OSI , Research Associates Foundation, and BMe

Initia Lettau, Chief / James Nichols, Deputy Chief / Jennifer Caffrey, Supervisor / Eli Braun, Supervisor	Graham Bennie, APD / Brendan Costigan, APD / Bethan Haaga, APD / Norman Handwerger, APD / Elizabeth Hilliard, APD / Gabriela Kahrl, APD / Hannah Kon, Assigned PD / Rachel Krane, APD / James Johnston, APD / Judith Jones, APD / Matthew Lynn, APD / Melissa McDonnell, APD / Natalie Novak, APD / Karla Showalter, APD / Makia Weaver, APD / Scott Whitney, APD	Sheila Sloan, Office Manager / Brittney Bennett, Secretary / Chakyra Cottie, Paralegal / Kellee Myers, Secretary / Lynette Ray, Secretary / Rudy Hill, Law Clerk

Brady Litigation Team / Eli Braun / Matthew Lynn / Extradition / Norman Handwerger / Immigration Unit / Gabriela Kahrl	Parole Revocation Unit (DOC) / Karla Showalter / Youth Resentencing Project / Jay Johnston / Judith Jones	Unger Litigation Team / James Nichols / Scott Whitney