By
Rep. Teresa Tanzi
Note:
With final passage in the Senate, the
General Assembly has approved legislation aimed at preventing those serving
time for particularly serious crimes from earning time off their sentences for
good behavior. Rep. Tanzi sponsored the House bill while Senator Sue Sosnowski
sponsored the Senate version. The Governor has signed the bill in law. It will be known as "Jason's Law" in honor of Jason Foreman.
In
light of last year’s release from prison of murderer Michael Woodmansee, it was
clear that Rhode Island ’s
system of awarding time off to prisoners for good behavior was too generous to
people who had committed very serious crimes.
After
learning last year that Woodmansee would be released after serving just 28
years of a 50-year sentence, 40 to serve, for the heinous murder of 5-year-old
Jason Foreman in 1975 (fortunately, he later agreed to remain in voluntary
institutional confinement), I filed legislation on behalf of the attorney general
that would have amended the “good time” law to prevent those convicted of
crimes of violence from qualifying for it.
But
the issue proved too complicated to reach consensus on so quickly, and instead
I filed another bill, which passed, asking the state Criminal Justice Oversight
Commission (CJOC) to study the issue and recommend reforms to the General
Assembly.
The
commission’s report suggested that the General Assembly work to balance the
need to encourage prisoners to follow the rules and participate in
rehabilitative programs with the rights of the public to be protected from
dangerous criminals. A delicate balance, indeed.
Accordingly,
I worked over the past year in conjunction with members of the CJOC to draft a
bill to ban those convicted of the most serious offenses – murder, attempted
murder, first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping of a minor and first- or
second-degree child molestation – from earning time off their sentences unless
they actively participate in their own rehabilitation.
Under
the current system, merely existing in prison without incident earns a prisoner
significant time off his or her sentence, as much as 10 days a month. That blanket
policy was too generous and often resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
When
victims and their families are told the person who committed the crime against
them will be locked away for a long time, they should have some reasonable
assurance that they will not be let out as much as one-third earlier simply for
not committing any new offenses while in prison.
Under
my legislation, which passed the General Assembly with broad support, going
forward the only way a serious offender (as described above) could earn time
off his or her sentence would be by actively participating in rehabilitative
programs, such as substance abuse or educational programs that teach useful life
or career skills.
Such
programs deliver as much good for society as they do for inmates; by offering
offenders opportunities to acquire “soft” skills they may otherwise lack, or
career skills that will give them employment options when they are released,
such programs reduce the probability they will turn again to crime.
I
firmly believe it is in society’s best interest to reasonably encourage inmates
who are going to be released at some point to take advantage of those programs,
since they better enable offenders to lead productive lives once released – and
remember, the inmates this law will affect will all be released back into our
communities at the end of their sentences.
What
I believe to be reasonable is to entice prisoners to pursue correctional
programs that directly correspond to becoming a useful citizen upon release,
better prepared to engage with our world in a productive manner. Their time
spent in the custody of our Department of Corrections can help do this.
What is
not reasonable is the status quo: a system in which a prisoner serving time for
a heinous crime can do absolutely nothing to rehabilitate himself or herself,
and still be disproportionately rewarded for their “good behavior” with a
significant sentence reduction.
For
the families whose lives have been torn apart by violent acts perpetrated
against their loved ones, I am grateful for the courage they showed through
this long and awful process.
In
particular, I want to acknowledge the strength, perseverance and grace of the Foremans,
the Shermans and the Wilmots who relentlessly channeled their pain and suffering
into momentum for needed reform to a flawed system so inmates will no longer be
rewarded with early release for doing nothing at all.
It
was their tireless efforts that rallied the support and kept the pressure on
the General Assembly to pass this bill. Though it will not do a thing to change
the sentences in their cases, they continued to fight for future victims and
families they may never know. I hope this brief moment of victory will help
transform their suffering into a legacy of which they can all be proud.
Rep. Teresa Tanzi
represents District 34 in South Kingstown and
Narragansett. The first-term Democrat is the sponsor of the “good time” bill,
which passed the General Assembly May 30.