Greetings of the Season. Last year, this was a Christmas Update -- this year it is a Holiday Update so as to acknowledge the diversity of faiths and perspectives over the system.
Take Note: I read absolutely everything that comes in and I try to answer
everybody in the best
way I can. However, some of you have not received a personal answer this year. Let me tell
you that your
input is very much appreciated. When I can solve the problem, I do. When I can't solve the
problem, I keep
it in mind so that when I get a chance, I am prepared. Right now, as I write, the pile of mail
I am working on
is seven (7) inches deep. There is no way I can handle everything, except to write this Holiday
newsletter and
hope everybody has a good Christmas, New Year or whatever under the circumstances.
The Legislature: 1994 was an election year. Not only
do we have an
amended set of politicians from the top down, but the legislature came through with some
momentous pieces
of legislation affecting almost everybody.
The numbers in brackets below refer to "chapter" numbers. Have your librarian call
Legislative
Reference in Annapolis (841-3810) [D.C. area: 858-3810] to stock up on free copies for your
library. You
should always try to check the full version before filing any grievances or taking other
action.
Separation of the State Police from the Department of Public Safety. One way of
looking at
it is that the Department of Public Safety has managed to get rid of the State Police that used to
take up 24%
of its operating budget and 95% of its public profile. It is hoped now that the Department can
concentrate its
efforts on guiding the flow of convicted persons from maximum security to parole and probation
in optimal and
cost-effective fashion. (The other way of looking at it is that the State Police have been liberated
from the
enervating effect of the prisons, parole and probation systems.) [165]
The "Crime" bill. Briefly, on your second felony, you now
get a
mandatory ten which, as it turns out, is parolable (different from the mandatory 25, not
parolable). Everyone
is parolable (even "Life Without Parole") at the age of 65 if at least 15 years have been served
by that time.
If you come back for a violent crime done while out on parole, you get no credit for the time
on the street.
Your parole hearing may be declared "open" depending on the efforts of the victim or victims.
You won't come
up for parole until half instead of a quarter of your sentence has been served. These provisions
will vary
depending on when you came into the system and your past history.
Another effect of the "Crime" bill is that the Allegany prison will be doubled even before
it is opened.
We're talking about $92.5 million up front and another $65 million a year to keep each half
going. At the
going rate, your mother will need $40 just to get there for a visit and will have to sleep in the
back of a
Greyhound bus after it is over. [716 and 717]
Fees for Health Care. There is now a law out there that says
something
about $4 for a doctor visit. Be advised that visits to nurses or P.A.s are expressly
excluded from the
new law and so is "necessary treatment" (their words). So if the P.A. is the one who sends you
to the doctor,
your treatment can be considered "necessary" and therefore at no charge. If all you see is a P.A.
or nurse, there
is also no charge. In other words, any way you look at it, almost nobody will legally qualify for
the $4 charge.
Already, I've become aware of a number of people following up on this issue both inside and
outside the
Division. It is anticipated that this "healthcare" law will be shot down for any number of legal
reasons in a very
few months. [519]
Burglary. The legislature removed burglary and daytime
housebreaking
from the 643B definition of violent crime, trying to distinguish crimes against people from crimes
against
property. That means that there will be people sentenced before October 1, 1994 doing
a mandatory
25 while people after that date, having identical criminal histories will have some
other sentence.
The Chief Public Defender, Stephen E. Harris, in a letter to the Governor dated August 19,
1994 requested
an across-the-board commutation from mandatory 25 to a maximum of (parolable) 20.
Identifying all persons
who could be subject to the commutation will be extremely difficult because the information is
stored
only in the basefile at each institution and not on a computer. In that there may be
"Equal Protection"
and/or "fundamental fairness" at work, it may perhaps be possible to challenge the
mandatory 25
sentences at some future date either in court or through this or another Governor. There are
no
guarantees but I am compiling a Registry of persons affected and I would like to know from
you when the
people not affected by the law start to show up in the institutions. If you have written me on
this topic anytime
this year, especially if you got a letter back, you are already in the Registry. In addition, I have
received two
lists showing 30 persons with mandatory 25 from MHC alone. [712]
Death Penalty. The State of Maryland finally managed to kill
someone in
mid-May of this year. But the House and the Senate together could not agree on a new Death
Penalty statute.
The bill they did come up with (after extensive legislative effort) died without comment on the
last day of the
1994 session. Fortunately for you, you came out of the session with your Post Conviction rights
intact. [Senate
bill 303 and House bill 499; no chapter number: it didn't go through]
Legal Aid and Public Defender: Very frequently, I have people
writing to
me with legal problems either having to do with their case or challenging conditions of
confinement such as
access to legal materials, an instance of food poisoning, involuntary transfer, personal injury,
brutality (if any),
and/or civil matters such as name change, bankruptcy, child custody or foster care.
You should know that, for your case, about the only source of aid is the
Public Defender
Collateral Services Division, 300 West Preston Street, Room 213, Baltimore, Maryland
21201. (410) 225-
4868.
But for all those other problems, about the only source of aid is the Legal
Aid Bureau
Prisoner Assistance Project, 500 East Lexington Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. (410)
539-0390.
If you write to me with one of their problems, I will simply have to pass it
along to them.
In particular, if you are past your mandatory release date or if you have some other time
counting problem
such as loss of Industrial or Special Credits, the best and only source of assistance is
Legal Aid Bureau.
I am simply not set up to handle that kind of problem.
Legal Aid wants you to write them directly instead of you describing your problem to me
and hoping it will
work out one way or another. If you write to them directly, particularly when it's more
appropriate, you might
be saving yourself a stamp and getting a faster response instead.
From the Parole Commission: Due to the 1994 State "Crime" bill, parole hearings
may be "open"
for defendants upon the request of a victim. Brand new regulations were announced on
December 9. Delays
because of the new law are not expected to be more than 90 days. Provision was made such that
victims could
not cause indefinite setoff. Public comment is invited. Ask LASI (through your librarian) for
Maryland
Register, vol. 21, issue 25, Friday, December 9, 1994, Title 12, pp. 2094-2101.
For those people who have relatives in other states but no one in Maryland to help them out
after release,
it is important to contact your Case Manager as soon as you are able in order to file for transfer
under the
Interstate Compact. Be aware that the Maryland Parole Commission has no control over the
receiving state's
processes and procedures. For example, the District of Columbia usually takes six months or
more to process
an application. In general, your release will go better if you plan ahead.
According to Paul Davis, Chairman, paperwork processing depends on the type of decision
requested. In
the case of parole, it would be good to submit letters and other recommendations 30 days in
advance. A pardon
may take 15-21 days longer, and commutation could take considerably longer. In addition to
letters in your
favor, it is best to also submit evidence of mitigation or regret concerning the fact situation for
which you were
convicted.
Lifers. After years of waiting, by December 6th, we had been
through not
only one lifer policy change but two. The bottom line at the moment is that
(parolable) lifers
are restricted to medium security or higher. At this writing, we are hoping for some relief out
of the Governor's
office but we are mindful of the upcoming legislative session and the possibility of more harm
than good due
to the federal version of the "Crime" bill.
Data Diskettes. Commissioner Lanham is this year's
Grinch that
stole Christmas. An Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge had ruled earlier this month
(Case No.
C-94-11487) that: "Inmates in the Division of Corrections are permitted to have data discs for
use with their
typewriters that have word processing capabilities." but Headquarters has reacted by trying to cut
off any
access to electronic writing machines.
Understanding and insight might be had if you realize that Warden Eugene Nuth of the
Penitentiary (and
probably others in the Division) is also without computing power. Certainly, with Nuth's
annual
operating budget in excess of $32 million, over 300 employees and about 1200 inmates, it must
be a heroic
effort trying to keep track of overtime, disciplinary actions, ARP filings, requests for transfer, etc.
using only
paper, paperclips and manual filing systems. No wonder Lanham is a Grinch. Maybe
next year we
can get together on Ways and Means projects to get the wardens the data processing equipment
they want and
need but haven't been able to have before. We are not that many bean pies or Little Debbies
away from
reaching the goal.
Christmas Lists around the System (from my mailbag). MCIH - Electrical
outlets that
really work. BBCF - typewriter ribbons that still have ink in them. ECI - a
Chairman of Inmate
Council who can't be transferred. MCPRJ - sex like Joycelyn Elder talked about.
Lifers - a well
thought out, rational and reasonable lifer policy. SUI and other workers - wages that
keep up with
postal rates. Everybody - two post convictions complete with effective assistance of
counsel and no
annual threat of losing either one of them due to overly zealous death penalty advocates.
A message for MCAC ("Supermax"). Many, many years ago, guys like
John Dillinger
and Al Capone (who ended up in the federal system) used to talk about "G-men", the federal
agents who sent
them up. Now, we're in a different era. The federal agents are no longer the "bad guys", they
are the "good
guys". Recognizing this change of heart in the Department of
Justice, you
might be seeing the new type of federal agent, known as a "DOJjie" (pronounced with
an "O" as in
"O.K." and an "E" as in "cheese"). The "dojjies" will quite possibly be at your facility
soon if they are
not there by the time you get this newsletter.
Tips for MCAC Residents. Some people mistakenly think
that writing to
me is better than writing an ARP. This is not so and can lead to misunderstanding and a
problem that might
get even bigger sooner. Unless you have extremely good reasons, you have to file an
ARP. There is
nothing I can do from here if the administration has not been formally notified of your grievance
by you.
The following books are all good stories. This year there is nothing too intellectual and
nothing relating
to prisons (?!). Check with your librarian for these and other good books: London, Jack.
The Call of the
Wild. Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and
Men. Twain,
Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Warning: These books may
contain scenes of
violence and other forms of criminality.
According to Maryland's 1995 Budget Book from the Department of Budget and Fiscal
Planning (DBFP),
DOC's official actual operating budget for 1993 turned out to be $350,093,773.
For 1994, the
number $368,023,597 is being projected by the Department of Fiscal Services, a
different State agency.
The final actual DBFP number for 1994 will not be disclosed until the 1996
Budget Book
comes out in the middle of January, 1995. This is your chance to participate in this important
process. You've
seen The Price is Right! on TV. The contest here is to guess DOC's "actual" operating
budget for
1994 as published by the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning in the official Budget Book
for Fiscal Year
1996.
I ran this same contest last year and got a dismal number of entries. I think the problem
might have been
that people thought it was a Pick 9 lottery. This is just plain not true. The first digit is
almost certainly
a 3. The second digit is most probably an 8, although it may go to 9.
That means
there are only 7 digits left, however, this fact alone does not make it a Pick 7. This
contest is different
from the regular Lottery, because you can win even if you're off by $20 or $30 or $40 million
or even more.
You might want to know that the Department of Fiscal Services reports their 1994 expenditure
figure is $2.2
million over the 1994 appropriation, meaning they did a pretty good guessing job last year, but
then again, they
have to do the same this year.
The person coming closest to the actual DBFP figure will win the cash equivalent of two
books of stamps
($12.80, taking into account the new 32 stamp) deposited into his or her commissary account.
The winner will
be announced in February, 1995 or whenever the final number is known for sure. All entries
must be
accompanied by a short paragraph explaining why DOC's budget is the way it is. There
will also be
a prize for the best paragraph and runner-ups will depend on the number of entries.
The contest is not limited to DOC inmates, but only DOC inmates may receive a prize. All
entries become
the property of the Prisoner Aid Association of Maryland, Inc. and may be used later to influence
the 1996 or
1997 operating budgets. Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 1994.
Nancy Moran Share an extra with a friend. Happy New Year to you, too!Recommended Reading List
Contest Announcement
Independent Prisoner Advocate
550 St. Mary Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Nancy Moran
Independent Prisoner Advocate
email: advocate611@yahoo.com
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