NEW RESEARCH SHOWS WHO BENEFITS FROM MASS INCARCERATION IN AMERICA & WHY REFORM FAILS

What does it say about America's that our prison population of 2.3 million people is larger than the population of 15 of the states that make up our union? Who benefits from so many of us being imprisoned and who stands in the way of reform? A new report Following the Money of Mass Incarceration finds some disturbing answers.

The report found some basic beneficiaries of prisons who fight reform that include the following:

• Bail bond companies that collect $1.4 billion in nonrefundable fees from defendants and their families. The industry also actively works to block reforms that threaten its profits, even if reforms could prevent people from being detained in jail because of their poverty. 

• Specialized phone companies that win monopoly contracts and charge families up to $24.95 for a 15-minute phone call.

• Commissary vendors that sell goods to incarcerated people — who rely largely on money sent by loved ones — is an even larger industry that brings in $1.6 billion a year.

Other beneficiaries are the builders of prisons and their bond holders, public and private employees of prisons, utilities, health care workers (an insignificant factor in places such as Pinellas where the jail is routinely unsafe for state and federal prisoners), as well as those who put people in prison by holding jobs such as judges, lawyers, bailiffs and police.

It's disturbing to see how many industries, companies and folks living happily in your neighborhood benefit from mass incarceration in America. No wonder so much inertia spins toward ever greater incarceration. For repeat violent offenders who commit battery, aggravated assault or manslaughter incarceration may be an inevitable means of punishment and a reasonable solution to protect society. But for nonviolent crimes such as drugs, marijuana possession, cocaine possession, grand theft or scheme to defraud a term of prison only ruins the lives of those convicted. 

Yet people are still being sentenced by our spineless judges to long terms of needless imprisonment for nonviolent offenses. Many of these nonviolent crimes should not even result in an arrest in Florida. Perhaps this reports stark exposure of those who benefit the most from mass incarceration will help end this American crisis.

WILL FEDERAL MARIJUANA INVESTIGATIONS & ARRESTS NOW BECOME MORE OF A PRIORITY WITH TRUMP?

The federal government should no longer prioritize marijuana investigations and arrests in Florida now that voters have passed the Florida constitutional amendment allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana. In other parts of the country where the legality of marijuana within a state has been called into question either by complete legalization or by allowances for medical marijuana the federal government has faced a dilemma on how to proceed because cannabis is still technically outlawed federally. In other states the DEA, FBI and the United States Attorney's offices have deescalated investigations and arrests in marijuana cases in states that have taken direct action undermining marijuana legality.

Will this be true in Florida as well? Will possession of marijuana continue to be draw federal interest? It should be, because otherwise even state sanctioned marijuana growers would be subject to conspiracy to traffic in marijuana laws that draw minimum mandatory drug sentences with very limited discretion for judges to go under the harsh sentencing laws. One thing we do know with certainty is that the majority vote for a failed marijuana amendment a few years ago had no effect on federal prosecutor's zeal to prosecute Florida marijuana cases. Yet presidential politics may undermine the people's movement to make marijuana legal and readily available for those who need it.

Under the Obama administration the U.S. Attorney's offices were directed to give states some leeway on legalization of medical marijuana as well as recreational marijuana use. The new Trump "law and order" administration may seek to enforce federal marijuana laws even in states or perhaps especially in states that have softened on drugs. Many of these states happen to be in those sane parts of the country that voted heaviest against Trump perhaps making enthusiasm for harsh federal drug enforcement within the new administration more likely as political payback.

In Florida it's often difficult to avoid harsh penalties for possession of even small amounts of marijuana. Within six months we'll know if criminalizing those who use marijuana will become a federal goal with the sad result of ruining countless lives needlessly for a nonviolent crime. Federal marijuana indictments may increase rather than decrease despite the Florida vote for medical marijuana. If so, the fact that a supermajority of Florida voters passed medical marijuana will be as insignificant as the fact that over a million more people voted for Clinton to be president than voted for Trump. A madman's whims will dictate our course.

WHY ARE SMALL QUANTITIES OF DRUGS STILL A HIGH PRIORITY IN FLORIDA INVESTIGATIONS & ARRESTS?

What we need in Florida are laws that protect citizens from over arrests in the same manner that our fisheries are protected from overfishing. Is that too much to ask? To any reasonable person the police should give the highest priority to investigating violent crimes, next to investigating property crimes and finally to investigating crimes where there is no victim such as drug crimes. Officers should be given incentives to catch big fish not small ones. 

Right now against all logic nonviolent drug cases provide incentives for officers that are skewed toward investigation and arrests. Officers who want to be promoted investigate drug crimes.
In Pinellas County and throughout the State of Florida the war on drugs is still a high priority for law enforcement despite the fact that possession or sale of drugs are nonviolent crimes. Reasonable expectations would indicate that police resources could be better utilized in investigation, prevention and reduction of violent crimes. Yet police departments and prosecutors continue to churn out prosecutions of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders such as those who merely sell or possess marijuana or commit prescription fraud violations.

Part of the reason for the continued push for finding and arresting nonviolent personal drug use is that many of the police chiefs and other leaders of local police agencies came of age in their professions when the war on drugs was in full bloom. They regard any drug use as morally and legally indefensible to the point that law Clearwater law enforcement even used fake subpoenas to obtain evidence in drug cases. They believe that any drug use leads inevitably to the use of other harder drugs. Many agencies have long-standing policies of specific quotas for drug arrests. When the numbers of arrests go down, officers are told to look deeper, investigate harder and to find the drugs, because by God, those drugs are there. Naturally the result is that more drugs arrests are made, but those investigated and prosecuted are of less significance as the net for taking the catch grows larger and larger. The shame of this is that there is now harsh federal drug sentencing even for cancer patients.

One solution for stopping the overfishing of fellow citizens by police is to only allow investigations and prosecutions for drug weights that are now categorized as felony amounts. All the others could be thrown back into the sea of humanity until they grow large enough to be regarded as a fair catch worthy of the time and effort to reel them in.

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS IN FLORIDA PURSUE CRIMINAL MARIJUANA CASES DESPITE MEDICAL MARIJUANA VOTE

Wouldn't you know it - the fact that Floridians overwhelmingly voted for medical marijuana has not stopped the feds from vigorous pursuit of marijuana cases in the Middle District of Florida. A couple of years ago more than 58% of voters supported a failed constitutional amendment for medical marijuana in Florida, just under the 60% threshold for passage. Recent polling indicates that medical marijuana is likely to surpass 60% to become the law in Florida at the next election. Further, many local Florida jurisdictions such as Tampa and St. Petersburg are following Miami's example by decriminalizing small quantities of marijuana.

Yet these events seem to mean nothing to federal prosecutors. Instead of tamping down the number of federal marijuana indictments there's been an increase in cases over the past few years. Once these cases are in the federal system federal judges have very limited discretion in avoiding long minimum mandatory sentences from the antiquated federal sentencing guidelines. And it's difficult to avoid harsh penalties under Florida law even when the state of Florida prosecutes marijuana cases. More troubling is the fact that the federal government for the most part no longer pursues marijuana in other states that have either decriminalized marijuana possession or allowed for medical marijuana. 

How can it be fair that marijuana indictments have increased in the southern United States while in many other parts of the country marijuana prosecutions are a thing of the past? Clearly the federal law should no longer be applied anywhere if it's not being applied everywhere. The foundation of the criminal law is that it be fairly applied in an equal manner. 

One wonders if the real cause of increased marijuana enforcement is a lack of other available productive work for the DEA. As arrests and indictments for hard drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine have shriveled could it be that DEA agents as well as prosecutors simply do not have enough to do? It's frightening to contemplate the very real possibility that drug investigations, arrests and indictments are not based on targeting actual threats to the public. Once medical marijuana is legalized what will nosey officers smelling marijuana without a search warrant do then? Will cough medicine be next on their list?

FACTORS PUSHING PINELLAS COUNTY FLORIDA TO DECRIMINALIZE SMALL QUANTITIES OF MARIJUANA

Many of the states and major cities in America have decriminalized marijuana with no backlash of an uptick in crime. Now major cities and counties in Florida are finally taking notice by pushing for their own decriminalization in an effort to focus law enforcement on more serious drug and violent crime offenses. But for many areas in the State of Florida avoiding harsh penalties for possession of even small amounts of marijuana is difficult. Yet resources are being wasted in a state that recently admitted that there were literally thousands of backlogged rape kits which the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has failed to test. Decriminalizing marijuana would seem to be an effective way for the state, cities and counties of Florida to better utilize limited resources.

Just give me the damn marijuana ticket, officer!

In Florida Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties have successfully decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. Instead of branding countless otherwise law abiding citizens as criminals these counties fine those caught with small quantities of marijuana. Councilmen in St. Petersburg are pushing their city attorneys to draft an effective ordinance transitioning toward fines rather than criminal sanctions for possession of marijuana in weights of 20 grams or less within the city limits.

Will this progressive city action have enough leverage to force Pinellas county do something as well? The Pinellas County Sheriff seems to be a stumbling block against reasonable change. For example, after initially saying he was for medical marijuana, he came out forcefully against the actual medical marijuana constitutional amendment by implying that illegal pot and other substances would flood the safe streets of Pinellas if it passed. Clearly, he prefers having more arrests as higher stats from misdemeanor and felony marijuana arrests fuel his arguments for ever greater funding even at a time when studies show that violent crime is down in Pinellas County. The Pinellas county commission should direct more police funding toward reducing violent crime or support a capable sheriff who will.

Ultimately it's a question of fairness. Do we really want nosey officers smelling for marijuana to avoid procuring necessary and proper search warrants? Is it fair that a college student in Miami with a small amount of marijuana is treated differently than a similar student in Largo or Clearwater? Is it fair to spend limited law enforcement and prosecutorial funds on a nonviolent offense that's legal in over half the country? Is it fair to make rape victims wait for justice because the State of Florida does not have enough money to fund thousands of backlogged rape kits?