[act-ma] CORRECTED: Thursday: Parole, Probation and Mandatory Minimums: The Need for Sentencing Reform in America

[Cole Harrison]

(Address was wrong in first send)

Parole, Probation and Mandatory Minimums: The Need for Sentencing Reform in
America



*When:* Thursday, February 6, 2014, 6:30 pm
*Where: *St. John Missionary Baptist Church * 230 Warren St * Roxbury
*Panelists:*State Sen. *Will Brownsberger* Former Boston City Councilor *Chuck
Turner**Tina William - *parolee *Wallace Holohan*, Esq., Northeastern Univ.
School of Law*Margret Burnham*, Esq., Northeastern Univ. School of Law *Arnie
King *- incarcerated but represented

[image: Will Brownsberger] [image: Chuck Turner] [image: Tina Williams] [image:
Wallace Holohan] [image: Margaret Burnham] [image: Arnie King]

Over 1/3 of parole violators are re-admitted into prison on a yearly basis.
That is over 230,000 men and women going back into the prison system, with
minority men being affected the most.  *The Pew Charity Report* states,
"Half of the U.S. jail population is the consequence of failure under
community supervision."

In the state of Massachusetts, parole eligibility has declined
dramatically.  The "three strikes you're out" sentencing laws has been
enacted, and harsher sentencing policies are causing an influx in the
already stressed prison population which is causing major problems such as
overcrowding.

In addition to this disparaging news, studies show that more than 3000
children have been sentenced to die in prison in the United States,
including kids as young as 13 and 14 years old.  More than 70% of the
youngest children are African American or Latino.

There are many small victories being won to end the epidemic of mass
incarceration amongst minorities.  United States Attorney General Eric
Holder has made it clear that the war on drugs and mandatory minimum
sentences are "counterproductive to public safety and criminal justice
reform."

Please join The Center for Church and Prison Inc. at their first annual
public forum to try to enact lasting change.

* The Center for Church and Prison Inc.*

www.churchandprison.org

*The Center for Church and Prison, Inc. is a resource and research center
working towards community revitalization through prison reform and
strategic solution development and intervention in the high rate of
incarceration and recidivism in the United States prison system.*

-- 
Cole Harrison
Executive Director
Massachusetts Peace Action
11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-2169 w
617-466-9274 m
www.masspeaceaction.org
Facebook: facebook.com/masspeaceaction
Twitter: masspeaceaction