O'Malley's pardon pace
As The Post reported Sunday, Martin O'Malley's reluctance to use his executive powers of clemency -- and, I would add, his overall lack of interest in aggressive corrections reform -- puts him out of step with governors facing overcrowded prisons and budget shortfalls. Here's more from reporter John Wagner's piece in the Sunday Post:
In Maryland, applicants for pardons must be crime-free for at least five years after they serve their sentences, including probation. Pardons can open doors for past offenders, including eligibility for jobs they would not otherwise be considered for.
"These are people who have been out many years, and they're looking for forgiveness," said Margaret Colgate Love, a Washington-based lawyer who specializes in executive clemency cases across the country. "I think withholding this sort of official forgiveness is not sensible, and it's not safe."
Love said O'Malley's stance is also out of step with a growing number of governors, including Ehrlich, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential aspirant who came to realize the benefits of clemency despite apparent political risks.
In Virginia, Kaine has accelerated the practice of restoring former felons' rights to vote and serve on juries, one of several types of executive clemency stepped up by his predecessor, Mark Warner (D), now a U.S. senator.
Kaine, who is in the final year of his term, granted 3,148 restorations as of June 12, eclipsing the pace of Warner, who granted 3,486 during his four years as governor.
The state's previous two governors, Republicans James S. Gilmore III and George Allen, granted 238 and 460, respectively.
In the Maryland prison system, there are some modest initiatives to bring "treatment behind the walls" and to offer vocational training to inmates. But we still don't see -- under the allegedly liberal Democrat O'Malley -- the kind of big-shift cultural reform that would give more inmates more opportunities to leave prison sooner, find a job and become productive members of society. "Corrections" has been lost from corrections for a long time, if it ever existed to any significant degree at all.
While the Maryland prison system lacks progressive reforms that might reduce the rolls of the incarcerated, supporting a true prison construction moratorium here one day, Montgomery County has been doing its part to reduce the risk of recidivist with a nationally-recognized prerelease program. I wrote a recent column on the Manhattan Institute's findings regarding the successful pre-release (read that, re-entry) program in Montgomery County. Here are more interesting excerpts from the report, descriptions of how the program works and commentary of the author, Anne Piehl:
In 2007, 736 screening interviews were conducted, and 591 inmates entered the (Montgomery County) PRC program. That is, over 80 percent who were judged eligible participated. Very few eligible individuals refused to participate.
Some 90 percent of program participants are male, and most are between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. About 40 percent of those enrolled are serving time for a drug or an alcohol offense; another 20 percent for violations of probation; and another 20 percent for property offenses. Violent offenders are not excluded from participation: personal and sex offenses account for 20 percent of PRC participants.
It is worth noting that companies with local hiring authority are more likely to hire PRC participants. When hiring decisions are reviewed by corporate parents, PRC inmates are routinely rejected. Caseworkers assist in the job search by pointing participants to companies that appear to be good targets, in view of the experiences of earlier applicants.
No bartending or cab-driving is allowed, for example. As a practical matter, retail and other jobs are frequently off-limits to those with criminal records for theft. This makes it particularly hard for women to find jobs. Collectively, these restrictions inordinately burden the low-wage labor market.
Mandatory savings are another deduction, so inmates accumulate savings balances by having a portion of their paychecks set aside. The hope is that they will use this money to secure an apartment or transportation when they are released and thus help support a productive civilian life.
The program’s economic value extends beyond the county corrections department. Taxes, restitution, family support, and payments to state and federal corrections sum to approximately $1.5 million, far more than the inmates keep for themselves.
Inmates' median wage is almost $10 per hour, in an area of the country with one of the highest costs of living. About 10 percent of placements end badly—either with dismissal by the employer or removal by concerned staff. Despite inmates' poor job skills and limited work histories, 86 percent are employed at the time of release from correctional custody. At the time of release, the average job tenure is fifty-eight days, or approximately three months of work. There is little information about how people fare after they leave correctional custody. The only follow-up information is collected from calls to employers two months after the inmate is released from the PRC. At that time, 54 percent are still with the same employer.
