Sen. Webb Plants a Seed for Criminal Justice Reform

[Editor's Note: Below is Michael Santos' biweekly dispatch from Taft Camp federal prison. Last week, Michael learned that his application to the U.S. Pardon Attorney's office was being actively reviewed. Michael is serving a 45-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense and served 21 years in prison with a spotless record. He works tirelessly for prison reform and to provide assistance to his fellow prisoners. If you believe he could do more good for our country on the outside, please join me in writing to the Pardon Attorney's office here.]

On March 26, 2009, Senator Jim Webb took initial steps to create the National Criminal Justice Act of 2009. The senate bill has broad support, including an enthusiastic endorsement from The New York Times editorial page. When it becomes law, that legislation will bring a panel of experts together to form a commission. The commission will have the responsibility of initiating an 18-month study of the criminal justice system. Upon completion of the study, Senator Webb expects the commission to present findings along with concrete recommendations for reform to the President, members of Congress, and state lawmakers.

Many of the men with whom I serve time in federal prison felt disheartened to read the details of Senator Webb’s legislation. They had been hoping for more immediate relief. These were men who had been locked inside prisons for several years already and they had had enough of corrections. They were prisoners without a history of violence, most of whom were convicted for selling drugs to consenting adults. Such prisoners thirst for legislation that would restore parole in the federal system; they were less enthusiastic over legislation that would initiate an 18-month study.

With nearly 22 full years of prison behind me, I had a perspective that differed from many of my fellow prisoners’. Although I wanted to see relief for all nonviolent offenders as quickly as possible, for me, Senator Webb’s bill brought a kind of quiet victory, one that signaled more to come. Simply reading the proposed legislation rewarded me with a sense of freedom and pride in the new leadership of our country.
When I began serving my term, in 1987, Ronald Reagan sat in the White House. He and his conservative acolytes led the charge for what became a prison windfall. As a consequence of the tough-on-crime legislation that conservatives initiated, and many Democrats supported, America earned some dubious distinctions.

During the past few decades, the United States incarcerated a higher percentage of its population than any other country. We currently incarcerate people at five times the world’s average incarceration rate. Minorities make up a disproportionately large share of the prison population. The entire criminal justice web keeps the lives of 7.3 million people under some form of supervision. Senator Webb said that America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a” national disgrace.” He also said that “we are locking up too many people who do not belong in jail.” Slate columnist Glenn Greenwald described Senator Webb as a man of courage and principle, putting the interests of our enlightened society ahead of his own career.

Prior to Senator Webb’s leadership on this important issue, every word I seemed to hear or read about prison called for tougher sanctions and more punitive living conditions. Soon after I began serving my term, federal prisoners ceased to become eligible for parole consideration. Opportunities to earn good time dropped significantly. More prisoners were being locked inside cages, they were serving longer sentences, and fewer were being released.

Legislation passed that prohibited prisoner eligibility for Pell grants to fund education programs. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich actually discussed the need for laws that would result in the death penalty for some nonviolent drug offenders. Had Mr. Gingrich’s proposal been law when I was convicted, I would have been a candidate for death.

My fellow prisoners yearn for relief that would end their confinement now. They have been reading media reports describing how state systems are shortening sentences for nonviolent offenders because of budgetary problems. They had hoped Senator Webb would offer similar, more immediate relief. Instead, prisoners must wait until the end of 2010 before the commission will make its recommendations. Reform laws may not pass until after 2011, when many nonviolent prisoners will have concluded their sentences.
Too many decades in confinement has rendered me comfortably numb to the prison experience. It is no longer a punishment for me. Prison has simply become a way of life. My release date may or may not advance as a consequence of Senator Webb’s legislation. Either way, I expect release will come for me within four more years. After 22 inside, that doesn’t feel so far away.

Whereas my emotions do not roller coaster with highs and lows over the possibility for personal relief, I do feel empowered by this surge in interest for prison reform. I will work tirelessly to advance the cause by writing about the prison experience. My payoff comes in reading our country’s leaders indict our criminal justice system as a national disgrace. Such acknowledgements comfort me with feelings a bit more in common with humanity, even if I must sleep on a steel prison rack tonight.