Marijuana Policy Project

PROVIDENCE — For a time, it looked like a memorable year for the prisoners rights lobby.

Lawmakers secured more lenient treatment for suspected probation violators and eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.

But the celebration ended last week when the governor vetoed both those bills and a host of others. Now advocates are blasting Carcieri and pleading with lawmakers to return to the State House for a veto override session.

Beyond helping prisoners, revised sentencing laws will help the state save money, they say.

"Despite the fact that he's admitted that the prison budget needs to be reevaluated, [the governor] still refuses to reevaluate his perception of people who have criminal records," said Nick Horton of the Family Life Center, which supports prisoner reentry programs.

Nationwide, Rhode Island has the second highest rate of people on probation, with skyrocketing percentages in some sections of the state. The result is thousands of violators flooding the already overcrowded prison system each year, under a state law that orders violators behind bars. Some will see their charges dropped, or otherwise cleared. Yet the state provides no recourse or means for such people to get out of prison.

Soaring probation rates "are one reason why this issue here is bigger than in other states," Horton said. "You have a population, like in South Providence, where 40 percent of African-American males are on probation."

Anthony Donald, 23, is one of those men. On probation for marijuana possession, Donald said the cycle is a familiar one.

"I've seen a lot of good kids being sent back just for being in the wrong spot at the wrong time," he said yesterday.

Whether or not they actually committed the crime in question is almost irrelevant, he said. They remain in prison.

But Carcieri in his veto message said the equation isn’t quite so simple. A person on probation "enters into a contractual agreement with the state that requires 'keeping the peace and remaining on good behavior,'" he wrote. A Rhode Island Supreme Court decision also suggests the burden of proof for a probation violation is "considerably lower than in a criminal case" and "does not require the commission of an illegal act," he noted.

When it comes to eliminating Reagan-era mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, Mimi Budnick, of the civil-rights group Direct Action for Rights and Equality, said that change, too, could help end the cycle of imprisonment in urban communities.

But Carcieri, in his veto message, said the state can’t afford such leniency. "Whether intended or not, the practical import of this legislation is that the General Assembly is directing the judiciary to ease up on sentences for serious drug offenses," he said.

Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, who sponsored the drug sentence legislation, yesterday slammed both vetoes as an affront to the minority community.

"Several of the bills he vetoed deal directly with minorities," Almeida said. "I've said this before, but this is a reflection of how Governor Carcieri has done nothing to reach out to the minority community."

Almeida cited a third bill, that changes the jobs of "mortgage foreclosure consultants," giving them less-intimidating titles and a better presence in communities hardest hit by foreclosures. By vetoing that proposal, the governor proved he doesn't quite understand how the foreclosure problem affects low-income neighborhoods, Almeida said.

Carcieri's office did not respond to a request for comment late yesterday regarding Almeida's remarks. His veto message cited concerns about implementing such changes without oversight from the state Department of Business Regulation.

Horton and Budnick say it's now up to the General Assembly to return and override Carcieri's decisions.

They may be out of luck for the moment. House spokesman Larry Berman reiterated yesterday that the Assembly has made no decisions about whether to return for a special session or what bills they might then take up.