We believe that the character of society should be judged on
how we treat our most vulnerable members. The ACLU of Wyoming advocates for the
safe and humane treatment of prisoners – both for their sake while they are
incarcerated and for society’s sake when they are released.
While it’s easy to think we can just “lock ‘em up and throw
away the key,” about 97% of Wyoming prisoners will eventually return to our
communities. How we treat prisoners should give us an idea of what we can
expect from them when they come home.
Last week, we released our annual report, Incarceration in Wyoming, which compiles
data of complaints our organization received from prisoners in Wyoming in 2013.
Prisoners requesting assistance with their criminal cases generated nearly
fifteen percent of complaints from Department of Corrections prisoners, which
is more than double the number from the previous year, and over twenty percent
of complaints from prisoners in jails. Oftentimes, people sitting in jail
request help with their criminal cases before they go to trial. People who are
writing from prison are requesting help on cases for which they have been tried
and sentenced. This may reflect a growing loss of faith
in the integrity of the justice system. There was a significant decrease in
complaints of inadequate medical care in both jails and prisons; however, we
believe that access to adequate medical and mental health care remains a serious problem for
prisoners.
This year’s report focuses on the cost of
overincarceration in Wyoming, and across the country. More Americans are
imprisoned than ever before at a great cost to taxpayers, with limited benefits
to public safety. There are 2.3 million people behind bars in this country –
which is larger than prison populations in either China or Russia. Our bloated
prison system has grown not as a result of an increase in crime, but in large
part due to changes in sentencing policies and the war on drugs.
In Wyoming, less than one tenth of crimes are considered
violent – property crimes alone constitute approximately 91% of the crimes in
the state. A quarter of those incarcerated in America are locked up for drug
offenses, and in 2010, at least 67% of all drug arrests in Wyoming was for
simple marijuana possession. These are staggering numbers when you consider
that it costs between $35,000-$53,000 per prisoner per year to keep people in
prison in Wyoming. In fact, the biennial budget for the Wyoming Department of
Corrections rose to over $300 million in 2013-14.
Studies have shown that prison does not deter crime. In
addition to keeping communities safe and treating people fairly, our criminal
justice system should be cost effective – using taxpayer dollars and public
resources wisely. We can reduce the amount we spend on corrections – not by
slashing budgets and forcing prison officials to take shortcuts and cut
rehabilitative programming, but by reconsidering who we send to prison in the
first place.
In order to reduce incarceration, we recommend:
•
Expanding the use of deferred adjudication and expungement
of criminal records for
low-level offenders
•
Reducing reliance on pre-trial detention
•
Increasing use of alternatives to incarceration, such as
community sentencing
•
Instituting a review process to consider modification of
sentence after a period of
years
•
Expanding time credits for good behavior
•
Legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use and possession
Incarceration includes
a directory of all Wyoming Department of Corrections institutions and county
jails, along with “Know Your Rights” information. We distribute these resource
guides to inform prisoners of their constitutional rights depending on the nature
of their complaint.
