A small jolt: Gov. Nathan Deal announces new prison education program
On Thursday, Denis O’Hayer of WABE (90.1FM) was the only journalist who made it to Gov. Nathan Deal’s speech to a gathering of the United Negro College Fund.
And so he was the only one to hear the governor announce that he would ask state lawmakers next year to approve a major expansion of education programs in the state’s prisons.
Listen here. Said Deal:
”One out of every 13, I’m told now, of our citizens in the state of Georgia are either in jail, in prison, on probation, or on parole. One out of every 13. That is a statistic we need to change.”
Afterwards, O’Hayer asked the governor for details that clearly haven’t been developed yet. But Deal said he had reconvened the criminal justice commission that produced legislation this spring to divert non-violent drug and property offenders to treatment rather than hard time.
Said Deal:
”We’re going to continue to explore what we can do within the prison population to better equip them to be productive citizens once they are released from the system. It will be an issue that I bring before the criminal justice commission, that we have reinstituted via an executive order. They are the ones that did the work that led up to the criminal justice reform last year.
“It’s [something] that we’re already doing work on with our heads of the Department of Corrections and our vocational college system to do what we can to infuse some abilities and skills into that population group before they are released from prison so that they can get a good job.”
The governor hasn’t put a price tag on the effort yet. “We’re going to see what we can do with the money we have,” he said. “I believe in the motto that your conduct earns you into our prison system. If your conduct is good, it ought to earn your way out.”
Check out O’Hayer’s post. Includes a photograph of a familiar figure – former Fulton County commission chairman Michael Lomax, now president and CEO of the UNCF.
Back in May, my AJC colleagues Aaron Gould Sheinin and Bill Rankin talked to the governor about where criminal justice reform might be headed next. Here’s some of what they reported:
The special council is also expected to be called on to address two initiatives the Legislature did not take up this year — decriminalizing many of the state’s traffic offenses and allowing “safety valves” for some mandatory minimum sentences.
Georgia criminalizes minor traffic offenses — more than 2 million a year — while most other states treat them as violations with a fine as the penalty, the council said in a November report.
These cases do not contribute to the prison population but they clog court systems, the council found. This can occur when someone demands a jury trial, for example, for being ticketed for running a red light and for hearings for offenders who fail to pay their fines or run into other trouble.
The council suggested changing minor traffic offenses from misdemeanors to non-criminal violations, tying enforcement of fine collections to driver’s license renewals and vehicle registrations. The council said it would not decriminalize driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and other, unspecified “serious traffic offenses.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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39 comments Add your comment
honested
June 22nd, 2012
7:37 am
This will be bad news for the bad idea known as ‘for profit prisons’.
Too bad our state had to take part in the faulty experiment.
Raquel Morris
June 22nd, 2012
7:44 am
I love when Deal governs from his Democratic side.
Double Zero Eight
June 22nd, 2012
7:48 am
The “lock em up, throw away the key” mentality
has not worked. Deal has apparently come to the
conclusion that this approach would be cost effective
for the state. Realisticallly, it would still be extremely
hard for these individuals to find jobs after completining
vocational training. Most applications ask if “you have
ever been convicted of a felony”.
Hazel
June 22nd, 2012
8:12 am
How is it possible that the AJC doesn’t have a reporter at EVERY speech by the Gov?
Janet
June 22nd, 2012
8:20 am
No matter what a person tries to do in a positive way, everybody wants to drill him down. If we don’t try, nothing will ever happen – good or bad. And no reporter at the Gov’s speech – that’s party politics and that’s the Democrat AJC.
Hazel
June 22nd, 2012
8:40 am
“And no reporter at the Gov’s speech – that’s party politics and that’s the Democrat AJC.”
OK. The Gov. is speaking to the UNCF. How is not sending a reporter to cover that “party politics” and ” the Democrat AJC”? Please elaborate.
Penny
June 22nd, 2012
8:45 am
I’ve thought this for so many years. I am a right wing Conservative but something has to be done about rehabilitating these people and making them productive citizens (where possible)! Teach ‘em a trade!
BB
June 22nd, 2012
9:08 am
The past ten years have witnessed Georgia’s prison/parole/probation system sinking into the abyss. Consistently in the top seven or eight states ranking for incarceration rates, the percentage of inmates that have a high school diploma is less than 20%. Prison rape is unchecked and studies have indicated as many as one in four inmates suffer some form of sexual abuse. Many people have this mindset that, “prisons are supposed to be bad, why should we care?” What they don’t consider is that all sentences are not for “life” and almost every person in prison will return to society. Suggestions for Gov. Deal
1. Introduce legislation that makes prison personnel mandated reporters for prison sex crime and make meaningful sanctions for failure to comply.
2. Focus corrections resources on “soft bed” facilities (detention-substance abuse treatment-work release facilities).
3. Eliminate parole supervision and move those personnel to probation so that the probation arm of corrections can have regular personal contact with probationers. It is odd that the “treatment courts” recognize the importance of this, but the state probation policies of the last two years have virtually eliminated persona contact. (probationers now just call a central phone system)
The other suggestion is to redirect focused resources to middle school truancy violators. If we know that most felons didn’t graduate high school and that most drop-outs can be identified as middle school truants, then targeted education resources in the schools and homes of those truants would seem to have the most meaning impact on reducing the prison population and creating , as Lester Maddox once said, “…a better class of criminal.”
Ray Brent Marsh
June 22nd, 2012
9:19 am
Hazel–I’m not sure why the AJC didn’t have a reporter at the Guv’s conference, but it could have something to do with the fact that newspapers are having an extremely hard time surviving in the new digital environment. With declining ad revenue and a dwindling subscriber base, newspapers have been cutting staff and focusing on how they can compete in the new “info-tainment” model. The abandonment of what used to be standard journalistic practice–i.e., sending a reporter to the governor’s conference–is the result. If you don’t like it, support your local paper by subscribing.
Just Wait
June 22nd, 2012
9:27 am
For the longest time, the citizens demanded that state government lock up criminals for the max. So they did, and in the process overfilled the prisons and spent the money to do it. Now, government is the bad guy, wasting all that money to keep criminals in jail. Drug courts, treatment and now (again) education are being touted as the solution. There are exceptions, but the majority of prisoners will not benefit from these programs because, like the alcoholic, they don’t see themselves as having a problem. Their problems are more complex and long developing than the state can ever fix. The citizens must make up their minds: do the crime, do the time or coddle and continue.
clyde
June 22nd, 2012
9:42 am
Since these clowns have already spurned one free education,what makes anyone think that a second chance is going to work any better?Try it and see but keep close tabs on the results.
Auntie Christ
June 22nd, 2012
10:01 am
Another vestige of saint ronnie raygun’s regime, the mandatory sentencing for behaviors that should not have been criminalized in the first place, is at long last being recognized by his devotees as counter-productive and destructive to society. Like genital herpes, the raygun legacy just keeps on giving, from his deregulation of the banking and stock markets leading to such disasters as the S&L crisis, insider trading scandals, Enron, and our latest depression, along with the fairy tales still being posited about ‘trickle down’ economics, ‘businesses will regulate themselves,’ ‘we are over taxed,’ and ‘government is the enemy.’
sheepdawg
June 22nd, 2012
10:08 am
auntie christ- bravo!!
Jack
June 22nd, 2012
10:23 am
If a 1% sales tax was used to build new jails, I’d vote it if it appeard on a ballot.
The Goobernator
June 22nd, 2012
10:27 am
We’ll let you out of jail when you learn to pass the standardized test! Even though passing such test will not get you a job.
Aquagirl
June 22nd, 2012
10:33 am
I am a right wing Conservative but something has to be done about rehabilitating these people and making them productive citizens (where possible)! Teach ‘em a trade!
I’m not sure the problem is lack of technical skills. These people live in an environment where the slightest gesture of “disrespect” demands aggressive retaliation, or they end up on the bottom…literally. When their boss in the outside world “disrespects” them for chronic lateness, the result is unemployment or a trip back to jail.
mark
June 22nd, 2012
10:42 am
Maybe we need to rethink our drug pxolicy. I bet most of the folks are in jail, arrested are for simple possession. Legalize and regulate and Tax drugs. Put the cartels, prison unions and the DEA out of bussiness. Look at the savings!! $68billion a year on policing pot. $80 billion earned by the cartels. If you tax drugs at 10% plus the savings in policing and prison,and peeing test we save a total of $76billion.
Terry F.
June 22nd, 2012
10:48 am
“Coddle and continue”? Really? Like the policies you are promoting are working SO well? Yes, there are some “bad apples” that one can never rehabilitate, but the VAST majority of people in the prison system ( and the criminal justice system as a whole) are there for NON-violent drug offenses. Drugs are a public health problem, NOT a “criminal” problem! Until one offers a way OUT of the quagmire, one is stuck IN the quagmire. Only by programs like what the governor is proposing can we even begin to start reducing the number of people who are incarcerated in one way or another. But then, that doesn’t fit with your “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” mentality, does it?
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 22nd, 2012
11:13 am
I was against legalizing some drugs until I saw the numbers on it. My tax dollars should not be funding this kind of thing. Private Prisons sound like a bad idea, but if they help me lower taxes then I’m all for it. But I am mixed. Conservatives say they save money and liberals say they cost the state money. But I do know the market is always right, so corporations are more efficient, but…I’m not sure how the market works for private prisons. Those seem more like a utility, and I don’t like the Georgia public works comminssion…thing. They keep raising my rates. Why should *I* have to pay for their power plant?
On the whole, if it turns prisoners into productive citizens that sounds like recycling to me, and I’m all good with that. Just not in my back yard. Or anywhere near Timmy. I think the punishment should fit the crime and if you do the time you should get the crime.
Cliff
June 22nd, 2012
11:57 am
The ideas the council mentioned about decriminalizing minor traffic offenses and tying renewals of licenses and registrations to payment of fines are intriguing. My guess is that fines would be paid more promptly and completely if there were a more immediate reckoning. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to subject people to collections agencies. On the other hand, we have companies like Park Atlanta writing tickets willy nilly, so I know there is the potential for abuse. I think there would have to be some kind of meaningful dispute process with private enforcement companies to make the system more fair. (Not that I am in favor of private enforcement companies to begin with!)
yuzeyurbrane
June 22nd, 2012
11:58 am
I wish Deal could find the same enthusiasm and money to help our basic public education system from kindergarten through college. Instead he engages in diversions like this and increasing state funding for the private education consultants, managers and on-line for profit industry. Funny how money is always available when you want something when you are Governor.
Acer706
June 22nd, 2012
12:06 pm
What’s wrong with allowing them to pursue a degree online?
zeke
June 22nd, 2012
12:34 pm
fun to watch pendulum swing, conservatives (old dems and repubs) wanted tougher prison time, pink suits and hard labor, boot camps, cut educational programs, so they did. now they realized how wrong they were and time to go the other way. if economy does not pick up more they won’t have money to do this.
shady
June 22nd, 2012
12:49 pm
Gov. Deal: Congratulations on at least trying to come up with a solution to a big problem. You could possibly kill two or three birds. One you could employ underemployed teachers to teach these kids who can’t read, write and spell to a large extent. You can let them know that they can work towards rehabilitation back into mainstream society and find productivity work. Three by decriminalization of a whole lot of petty crimes you could teach rather than punish. Did Grover Norquist slap you too hard or something? What is the deal Governor. Could it possibly be that you are thinking about reelection that is tied to the people and not idiots like Norquist!
BIg Hat
June 22nd, 2012
12:59 pm
The state needs to implement its own version of “Operation Condor”, immediately and in a massive way. This would solve the prison problem, the illegal immigration problem, the drug problem AND the America-hating liberal problem. It worked very well in dealing with troublemakers, undesirables, criminals, druggies and malcontents for a number of Latin and South American countries in the 70s and 80s (ironically, funded by this country) and would work in this country as well.
Auntie Christ
June 22nd, 2012
1:19 pm
Educate them to the level of a Ph. D. but it still does not address a major roadblock to employment and reintegration into society, the problem of answering the question, “have you ever been convicted of a felony?” This becomes the deal breaker. If the only conviction of an ex-con is for Violation of GA Controlled Substances Act (VGCSA), then that record should be sealed and not found on a records search. As a former volunteer teacher at a correctional facility, I state from experience that the ‘average’ VGCSA felon already has a HS diploma, and does not lack for smarts.(Poor judgement does not necessarily equal stupidity) A large majority, while not exactly thrilled to be locked up, were glad to be finally clean and sober, and anxious to get back into society to provide for their families and jump start their lives. Wearing the scarlet letter of a felony conviction prevented most of them from accomplishing this. Removing this stigma costs nothing and would be the greatest service the guv could perform for these people.
Auntie Christ
June 22nd, 2012
1:31 pm
big hat, another freedom loving, good Amerkin. He luvs Amerika, but he hates most Amerkins. He luvs the Constitution, he just hates that we adhere to it. He luvs Amerka, but he wishes it was run like a tin horn dictatorship. Great news big hat, flights leave every day for places like China, Iran, N. Korea and other countries that you would feel so much more comfortable in. I’ll bet that many of us readers here will even pay for your ticket, because we desire your happiness so much.
shady
June 22nd, 2012
1:32 pm
Jack Kingston Congressional District 1 , Please VOTE FOR his opponent: The Honorable Mrs. LESIL RAE MESSINGER. Lyne Westmoreland is also on our Target list. For for his Opponent. Name to follow later on. Congressional District 6: Tom Price. Vote for his Opponent: Democrat, The Honorable Mr. JEFF KAZONOW out of Rosewell. District 10, Paul Broun against, The Honorable Mr. STEPHEN K. SIMPSON-Democrat from Milledgeville. District 11 Gingrey versus DEMOCRAT: THE HONORABLE MR. MICHALE S. OPITZ, District 13, David Scott, VOTE FOR HIS OPPONENT: THE HONORABLE MR. S. MALIK from Riverdale. District 14. Mortgage Man Tom Graves versus Mr. DANIEL “DANNY” GRANT-DEMOCRAT from Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. PLEASEW vote in the Primaries that will take place in July for these candidates and against the Republicans, We will have jobs then! Yes, we are aware that the primaries happen first. But, look up the information and get out and VOTE, VOTE VOTE.
shady
June 22nd, 2012
1:33 pm
We will provide you Information on the State General Assembly shortly.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 22nd, 2012
1:46 pm
I saw that movie. I like Condor Man.
HELP ME, MAMA
June 22nd, 2012
1:48 pm
BB @ 9:08 AM…I like most of your ideas, except for the one about doing away with parole supervision and moving those staff to probation. You must be a probation officer or married to one. One idea I’ve always thought would work well is moving some probation staff to the Board of Pardons and Paroles where they could be used to really supervise offenders who need the supervision — thos who’ve been locked up for many years. Probationers are not the kind of challenge that parolees are. In fact, most probation officers sit in the office and wait for the probationer to come in and pay their fine or restitution. Parole officers are out in the streets supervising parolees.
BTW, I am not a parole officer or married to one.
Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs
June 22nd, 2012
1:54 pm
Thanks but no thanks Governor Deal. Here is the real deal. There is no way under the sun that integrationist African American leaders and their devilish black minions can turn their children out to the world in 1970 and earlier in the north via voluntary integration in exchange for money, fame, status, plush jobs, “education”, etc without suffering a painful spiritual backlash.
Governor Deal’s new education prison program would have been what the doctor ordered for the insignificant number of black prisoners confined by the State of Georgia prior to 1970 integration. Our problems were insignificant compared to what we are experiencing today. They were primarily physical i.e. inferior education, jobs, homes, cars, clothing, etc.
Prison education for an insignificant number of deviants would have been beneficial to us 50 years ago. But in 2012, African Americans are filling prisons and dying in neighborhoods across the country because of the poor selfish decisions made by their integrationist leaders and supported by their devilish black minions.
Amen?
Attack Dog
June 22nd, 2012
1:56 pm
Dixiecrat logic #1: Keep people incarcerated until they pass an exam, but don’t fund the required training. #2: Arbitrary interpretation of the laws and sentencing, like not arresting someone for killing someone, but convicting someone to 20 years to shooting into a ceiling. #3: Say teach them a trade, but won’t fund the training or give them a job. #4: Will allow a sex offender or murderer to receive HOPE, but not to one convicted of small time drug dealing.
Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs
June 22nd, 2012
2:21 pm
That’s a classic example of suffering from spiritual problems. Attack Dog believes that White people, Jews, Asians, and Mexicans etc should share their power with black people. He believes that other people should provide funding, fund training and give us jobs, or give the Hope scholarship to small time black drug dealers.
Prior to integration in 1970, African Americans did not expect or want any support from other races of people except in exigent circumstances. Expecting assistance for other races was viewed as evidence of a second class people. The only thing that the vast majority of us wanted from other races was an understanding not to improperly interfere with our efforts to build black power.
Amen?
Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs
June 22nd, 2012
2:38 pm
When other races of people refuse for whatever reasons to share their power with integrationist black people in 2012, African Americans shamefully cry racism with conviction. LOL
I may laugh out loud but it’s so pitiful to behold…
Amen?
ldb
June 22nd, 2012
3:26 pm
I attended the event yesterday and while I appreciated the Governor’s presence, I was a bit disappointed that his presentation did not focus more on the PROMOTING of post secondary education. The event was a fundraiser to help provide scholarships to those students who are trying to make something of themselves but are unable to provide the financial means to do so. Shouldn’t there be greater efforts made towards helping college bound students finance their education than developing programs to provide convicted felons a second chance? There was some inspiration in his message, it just seemed a little awkward for that particular event.
Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs
June 22nd, 2012
3:55 pm
When Whites, Jews, Asians, Arabs, Mexicans, etc build power for their particular group, they have earned the right to share or not to share their power with whomever they desire.
I don’t consider it racist if they choose not to share it with any group outside of their race. It’s their prerogative.
Amen?
Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs
June 22nd, 2012
3:59 pm
In a nutshell, integrationist African American leaders and their devilish black minions are pimping black people out to other races in exchange for money, fame, status, plush jobs, nearness to power, etc.
Amen?
Carole
June 22nd, 2012
4:23 pm
I think the first thing we need to review is the amount of money and effort put into schoos vs prisons. I was told by a State Senator that prisons generally prepare for “residents” based on their educationa performance by 3rd or 5th grade. I can’t remember which, because 3rd seems too soon. Bottom line, if our educational system is not preparing children for life as adults on the outside, then they certainly are preparing them for life on the inside.