This proposal before the Ohio House would cost taxpayers and deny needy families resources they need to survive.

A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would subject Ohio Medicaid recipients to random drug tests in order to receive benefits from the state-subsidized health program.

[…]

Gary Daniels, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, doesn’t see Balderson’s legislation going anywhere. “I have a hard time taking it seriously as an actual proposal,” he said.

Daniels called the proposed law unconstitutional. He cited a case from about a decade ago, Marchwinski v. Howard, in which a Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a previous ruling that struck down a Michigan law that tied public assistance to drug testing.

Daniels said the approach Balderson calls for has been been proposed many times in the past by states but is too “costly and ineffective” to work. He noted that the bill doesn’t mention how the state would pay for the drug-testing program. He speculated that Balderson introduced the bill to appear “tough on crime.”

An in depth look at how the War on Drugs has created a bloated prison system in Kentucky, much like it has in Ohio.

Kentucky’s 35-year war on drugs has produced “brutally harsh sentences,” flooded the prison system with non-violent and small-time offenders and helped push the state budget to the “outer edge of fiscal distress,” the author of the state’s penal code says.

An array of penalties and enhancements for drug offenses have crowded the state’s prisons with offenders who pose little risk to others and who are forced to serve lengthy terms that used to be reserved for “society’s worst actors,” University of Kentucky professor Robert Lawson said in a new report on Kentucky’s skyrocketing prison population.

Lawson’s 60-page study, which has been distributed to some legislative leaders, could provide fuel for changing a patchwork of drug punishments that he says have “failed miserably” to distinguish between minor offenders and major traffickers.

The PD issues a call for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason to make good on his promise of reform to the criminal justice system after troubling racial disparities in sentencing were uncovered.

Minorities call it the “Just Us” system.

And it is. And it has been that way for far too long in Cuyahoga County.

In 2002, the Rev. Marvin McMickle — after completing a four-month term as a Cuyahoga County grand jury foreman — complained that the criminal justice system “had an apartheid feel to it.”

Last year, a two-part series in The Plain Dealer documented that white defendants were much more likely to have felony drug charges reduced to misdemeanors, or to receive treatment in lieu of conviction, than black defendants charged with the same crime.

The findings, based on a six-month review of hundreds of the lowest-level felony drug cases resolved between 2004 and 2007, cried out for immediate action to end the system of injustice.

Unfortunately, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason dragged his feet — his promised study only now materializing 14 months later with proposals for a team of Cleveland State University and University of Cincinnati researchers to study inequities at every stage of the process.

Scene follows up on disparities in drug prosecutions in Cuyahoga County and what is being done to curb unequal enforcement.

Local black leaders say the perception persists: At each turn, the criminal justice system crashes down harder on blacks than it does whites. Drug arrests occur at a greater rate on the city’s predominantly black East Side; Ohio prisons maintain a disproportionately black population; even the lines to get into the downtown Cleveland justice center seem overwhelmingly black, one leader says.

Efforts to understand and address apparent disparities in the system have come in waves, with varying degrees of success. Last year, academic and media reports about racial inequities in Cuyahoga County prosecutions brought the latest round of outrage and the latest calls for reform (”Disparate Times,” Scene, July 30, 2008). At the center of the reheated debate was county prosecutor Bill Mason, who vehemently defended his office after a October ‘08 Plain Dealer series highlighted favorable sentences and treatment programs for white defendants in low-level drug cases — the same types of cases that typically end in jail sentences and felony records for black defendants.

Mason put himself at the helm of the reform effort — one that is currently in a holding pattern. More than a year has passed since Mason and other county and city officials met with leaders in the black community to discuss inequities in drug-case sentencing, with no reports of progress.

And in other positive news on the medical marijuana front, legislators are drafting a bill that would allow Ohioans to use marijuana for medical purposes.

The federal government’s recent decision to ease up on prosecuting patients using medical marijuana has brought hope to activists in Ohio seeking a medical marijuana law.

But getting lawmakers here to approve therapeutic marijuana use promises to be an uphill battle.

State Rep. Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, is drafting legislation with groups that want Ohio to become the 15th state to allow those who are seriously ill to use medical marijuana. While working on getting backers to unite behind a single approach, Yuko was heartened by the recent decision by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to redirect investigations away from patients in states that allow medical marijuana.

“It’s definitely good news for people who care about this issue,” said Yuko, who has multiple sclerosis but is not seeking to use medical marijuana. “I hope this gives us an opportunity to get due consideration in the House and Senate.”

But Yuko acknowledges that it’s “not going to be an easy sell” to get a medical marijuana measure through the legislature, especially with the vehement opposition of prosecutors and police groups.

The Lima News praises President Obama’s recent announcement that the federal government will not prosecute people who live in states that allow medical marijuana use.

After almost a year in office, the Obama administration made a decision this week.

The Justice Department on Monday issued a memo to federal prosecutors in 13 medical marijuana states —Michigan among them — telling them to stop enforcing federal marijuana laws against medical marijuana patients. This should result in an end to the mean-spirited and bizarre federal attacks on people treating conditions such as glaucoma and chronic pain with a natural drug that’s far less harmful than an array of hard drugs the pharmaceutical giants push like candy.

The next logical step is to eliminate marijuana from the list of drugs no doctor can legally prescribe — a step arguably called for by the Controlled Substances Act itself — and allow doctors nationwide to prescribe cannabis for patients who can benefit from it. In Ohio, state lawmakers should grant patients the same access to a treatment for painful conditions as they could find as close as Michigan.

The drug court in Franklin County promises to help rehabilitate offenders and save taxpayers money.

Angela Hatem cradled her newborn son and started slithering toward the darkness of addiction.

Complications from the delivery of her youngest child in 2002 led to infections and 14 surgeries. Doctors, she said, handed her painkillers.

But after they cut her off, she found a street dealer to avoid withdrawal. To support her addiction, she turned to crime.

In 2007, Hatem was sentenced to four years in prison on 12 felony counts for cashing counterfeit checks with stolen account numbers from Franklin County Municipal Court.

The editorial board of the Lima News applauds the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Savana Redding.

It is encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court so strongly condemned the decision by officials in an Arizona school district to strip-search a 13-year-old girl because they suspected she might have Ibuprofen in her undergarments. The amazing thing is that one justice (Clarence Thomas) dissented, and that the court was not more forceful in condemning the drug-law-induced hysteria that made searching a child for a common pain medication even thinkable.

Savana Redding was 13 in 2003 when, in response to a tip from another girl (in trouble for bringing drugs to school) school officials in Safford, Ariz., conducted a strip search to see if she had any Ibuprofen. They found nothing. Savana’s mother sued, and after losing at trial court, won at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the school district and assistant principal potentially liable for damages.

The Supreme Court agreed, 8-1, that the search was unreasonable, affirming that children do not give up all their rights when they are in a government school. It didn’t find the vice principal personally liable (two justices in the majority disagreed with this) and asked a lower court to decide if the school district should be held liable.

Ohioans should call their state legislators and encourage them to support both SB 22 and 77. Both would greatly expand the rights of the incarcerated and relieve the overcrowded prison system in Ohio.

A bill that would expand DNA testing and try to improve the way authorities conduct investigations and another that would let prisoners earn shorter sentences each passed Senate committees yesterday.

But only the DNA bill appears to have a bright future.

The criminal-sentencing bill would allow most prisoners to get out early by earning up to five days of credit per month, up from the current one day, if they participate in education and rehabilitation programs. But even though it won the battle yesterday, it seems likely to lose the war in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, had hoped that the committee process would temper the strong opposition to the bill, but that didn’t happen. He wanted to include it in the new two-year budget, saving an estimated $50 million over the biennium to help close a $3.2 billion shortfall.

Lima police may be slowed down following up on anaonymous tips regarding people using drugs in the city.

A new system is available for residents worried about drug use in their neighborhoods.

[…]

Mike Brickner, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said there are a couple of issues with this e-mail system.

“A lot of times tips are faulty and unsubstantiated,” Brickner said. “It creates more work for the police because they have to investigate each claim and it could take away from real police work.”

Brickner also mentioned the damage a false claim could have to someone’s reputation.

“What happens to the list of the names and tips if there is no police follow-up - they could be used for something bad,” he said. “That person’s name would be associated with bad behavior.”

More fallout from the Mansfield drug case that led to a major investigation on how drug stings are conducted throughout the state and the use of informants in these cases.

The federal justice system will determine the guilt or innocence of Lee Lucas, the federal drug agent indicted last week on 18 criminal counts involving his alleged failure to monitor a dishonest informant.

But the indictment of Lucas, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, is an important step toward justice obscured for years by false drug charges against 17 people from the Mansfield area — 12 of whom were convicted and sent to prison.

Spurred by the stories of Plain Dealer reporter John Caniglia, this newspaper has long demanded a thorough review of Lucas and his mendacious informant, Jerrell Bray. A convicted killer serving a 15-year prison sentence, Bray admitted he falsely accused innocent people of drug dealing. He has maintained Lucas also was involved in the phony drug stings.

More and more legislators are joining the call for fair and reasonable sentencing guidelines for drug offenders.

President Barack Obama wants to stop punishing crack cocaine offenders more harshly than those caught with powder cocaine.

It’s a notion that has had growing support among judges and lawmakers, but is only now being championed by the White House.

In 1986, when the use of crack cocaine was taking off, Congress set mandatory sentences of at least five years in prison for convictions with 5 or more grams of crack. It takes getting caught with 100 times as much powder cocaine — 500 grams — to run into the same five-year sentence.

The Dispatch makes a case for immediate action on relieving the prison overcrowding problem in Ohio.

Ohio prisons are dangerously crowded, at 132 percent of capacity, and they consume an ever-growing part of the state budget.

Ohio pays $1.8 billion a year for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, most of that to run prisons, and unless someone can find the money and the political will to build more prisons, something should be done to relieve the pressure building in the ones Ohio has.

Senate Bill 22 offers solutions that save money, ease crowding in a way that doesn’t require building new prisons and might even cut down on repeat offenses.

Some Ohio legislators propose pulling sentencing reform out of the state budget. Opponents argue this would delay much-needed changes, endanger prisoners and correctional officers, and wreak havoc on the budget.

Sentencing reforms that the Strickland administration has touted to reduce prison crowding by nearly 7,000 inmates a year and save about $30 million might be pulled out of the proposed biennial budget.

Strickland’s sentencing plan, along with a counterproposal by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association that focused primarily on relaxing drug-law penalties, may be shifted to another legislative committee to be considered separately — and later.

That could spell trouble, both for the proposed sentencing overhaul and the state budget, which would spring another leak with the removal of cost savings, according to prisons chief Terry Collins.

[…]

The Akron Beacon Journal urges lawmakers to act in the best interest of Ohioans when reforming prisons rather than out of fear of looking “soft on crime.”

Fearful of the criticism ‘’soft on crime,” state lawmakers are unlikely to include Ted Strickland’s sentencing reforms in the next two-year state budget.
State Rep. John Carney, a Columbus Democrat and a key voice in this debate, admitted this week that constituents’ fears about rising crime are overwhelming the hard evidence presented by the governor and Terry Collins, the director of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, about rapidly rising prison costs.

Carney and colleagues on both sides of the aisle are in danger of succumbing yet again to the tough-on-crime reflex. The trouble is, decades of harsh sentencing laws are pushing Ohio and other states to the edge of fiscal disaster, with voters also demanding cost-cutting in government. The common-sense plan advanced by Strickland and Collins would meet both demands. It would reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses and save the state the cost of housing and caring for a rapidly rising prison population.

[…]

Given the current budget squeeze, state lawmakers should consider leading rather than fanning fears. They should keep the governor’s proposals in the budget bill.

[…]

ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Chris Link weighs in on the recent troubles at the Mansfield Correctional Facility and actions the Ohio General Assembly must take in order to alleviate Ohio’s overcrowded prisons.

The recent turmoil at the Mansfield Correctional Institution illustrates that lawmakers cannot wait any longer to initiate meaningful prison reform (”Mansfield guards say prison riot looms,” Dispatch article, April 1). As we have learned from the past, the combination of prisoner overcrowding and inadequate numbers of guards can lead to disaster and must not be ignored.

The prison population has risen steadily for years with no end in sight. A large portion of the inmates are low-level offenders who are only incarcerated for a short time. In previous years, these people would have received rehabilitation in order to keep them out of the prison system and increase the likelihood they would not commit future crimes.

Unfortunately, our misguided prison policy from recent years has slashed many of these programs and relied solely on punishing prisoners.

As a result, many prison facilities have far exceeded their maximum occupancy. Coupled with overcrowding are the drastic cuts the state has made in personnel. Not only is this an obvious security risk, the lack of guards means that there will be fewer opportunities for inmates to be away from their cells.

This often causes psychological stress for prisoners and raises tensions in the facility. Legislation is pending in the General Assembly to reform our broken sentencing policies and direct more funds toward rehabilitation. If the prison population is reduced, there will be more resources to hire guards and fewer prisoners to monitor. This issue must be addressed now before another tragedy occurs.

CHRISTINE LINK
Executive director
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio
Cleveland

Officials in Cuyahoga County continue on the path of investigating racial discrimination in their justice system.

Cuyahoga County is one step closer to identifying possible racial inequities in the county’s criminal justice system and bringing transparency to what some judges call a culture of secrecy among the court’s players.

Five research groups from across the country have submitted proposals to analyze the impact of race on every aspect of case processing from arrest to sentencing.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason has assembled an advisory committee to help choose which firm is best qualified to slog through tens of thousands of court files, interview players at every level of the system, draw conclusions and recommend possible changes.

The ACLU of Ohio has been at the forefront of correcting disproportionate sentencing of drug paraphernalia cases in the City of Cleveland. We are dedicated to improving fair enforcement, judicial equity, and community relations.

Remember that public service announcement that the Partnership for a Drug Free American launched back in 1987 that starred an egg and a frying pan? An announcer told viewers that the egg was their brain. He then cracked the egg and, as it sizzled in the pan, he intoned, “This is your brain on drugs.”

The ad — a hit at pot parties — was about as effective in combating drug use as Cleveland’s policy of automatically leveling felony charges against people caughe with traces of drugs in pipes and syringes.

To his credit, Mayor Frank Jackson realizes that. This month, he changed the city’s procedure for handling drug paraphernalia cases.

Now, drug abusers arrested with drug residues in crack pipes and heroin needles will face misdemeanor charges, which means they can seek treatment through the Greater Cleveland Drug Court.

Giving offenders a better chance to kick their habit is the kind of strategic response required to truly help them. We already know that scary ads and prison sentences don’t often work.

The Lima News editorializes again on the failures of the war on drugs.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. If that’s true, U.S. policy on drugs is insane.

For decades, federal, state and local governments have fought the war on drugs, dumping billions of dollars into a bottomless pit, ruining thousands of lives, and ending many others. What kind of working relationship Lima police and the Allen County Sheriff’s Office should have in combating drugs was a central point of the sheriff’s race last fall. Massive prisons have been built to house victims of the drug war, many of them guilty of doing nothing our last three presidents haven’t done. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has proposed alternative sentencing for some nonviolent criminals, and common sense says that would include many people convicted of drug offenses. But regardless of the punishment, taxpayers have footed the bill for all this, assured by the government that their money was being spent to keep them safe.

More data has come out about the dangerous over population of prisons.

One in every 25 adult Ohioans is in prison, jail or on parole or probation, a study by the Pew Center on the States shows.

While the national average is one in 31 U.S. adults, the numbers are more dramatic for Latinos (one in 27), men (one in 18), and blacks (one in 11), according to One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, released yesterday.

Ohio’s one-in-25 rate was sixth among the states. Georgia had the highest at one in 13, and New Hampshire the lowest at one in 88.