4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 9, 2003 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA JASON PESICK letters@michigandaily.com Editor in Chief Editorial Page Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of UNIE RSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not 1890 necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. N ot unlike other communities around o u n drently spent on incarceration, but also the state and the country, the ow n s n g th e P son s increaing the number of productive Washtenaw County Jail is facing an workers and citizena. acute oercrowding crisis, as The Ann Prison overcrowding could be fixed with better policies Of the possible solutiona to the over- Arbor News reported on Sunday, June 1. In ~ ~ 'AV~.1 A i1i VU J'L.'.V-"~ crowding, a program known as alterna- an effort to relieve the situation, a 13-per- --- tive placements appears to be quite son taskforce has been assembled to inves- lent crimes, such as minor drug viola- diverts even more funds to the prison sys- appealing. This method of rehabilitation tigate possible solutions. The taskforce is tions. Released prisoners would be tem, which currently sucks valuable dollars offers a stable place at night as well as the investigating viable remedies for the released on a short leash or to drug treat- away from other programs, such as educa- tools and knowledge for success in the prison, which is 40 percent too small. ment. This possibility could immediately tion and healthcare. Expanding the bloated world outside of prison, so that inmates These solutions include releasing inmates tackle overcrowding. prison system would be counterproductive will be able to contribute to society after who are non-threatening to the community, Just before handing over the governor- and is unnecessary. their sentences are complete. With these prison expansion and semi-alternative ship to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Furthermore, un-rehabilitated prison- acquired skills, ex-prisoners will be less placements, a program in which prisoners Gov. John Engler signed a bill on Christmas ers are one of the primary causes of over- likely to attempt to return to jail. work during the daytime but are watched day abolishing mandatory sentences for crowding at the Washtenaw County Jail. At the state-level, alternative place- by professional staff at nighttime. drug offenders. By doing this, Engler pre- The overflow is in part because of the ments are an advantageous route as well. The taskforce's first objective is to emptively contributed to easing overcrowd- high numbers of people who continue To invest in personalized and effective contact sentencing judges and have them ing in prisons. This landmark bill should committing crimes and returning to jail rehabilitation now would save the state consider which prisoners can be released. not only be upheld, but should retroactively after they have served their sentences. If money in the long run. Less crime later While this may seem like a frightening release such prisoners, to shave off some of an effective, intimate rehabilitation pro- translates into fewer prison costs down the step to take, if handled properly, releasing the current overcrowding. gram were implemented, the jail's popu- road. Focusing funds on prisoner rehabili- some prisoners is a reasonable solution to Another option being examined by the lation problem would be alleviated. In tation programs would be a fruitful invest- lessen the prison's overpopulation prob- taskforce is prison expansion. Though this addition, such a program would ultimate- ment for the state to make, not only for its lem, especially considering the high num- would accommodate all those incarcerated, ly reduce the number of repeat offenders, budget, but in order to improve the quality ber of prisoners incarcerated for non-vio- it does not solve the problem. This solution not only saving the state resources cur- of life for residents across the state. 4 4 4 Abortion legislation a violation Congress is passing unconstitutional legislation The right to vote Granholm should have allowed vote on Detroit board With conservatives controlling the levers of power of the federal gov- ernment, those who support reproductive rights have had reason to worry. This week's decision by the U.S. House of Representatives to pass legislation infringing on these rights is now proof that these advocates were right to be concerned. Last week, the House passed a bill that directly challenges the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. Opponents of this legislation are on the brink of losing an eight-year battle over a proce- dure the bill's sponsors call "partial birth abortion." The legislation, however, does more than criminalize this procedure, which is performed after the first trimester of preg- nancy; it could potentially put the health of mothers at risk, as it penalizes doctors who are looking out for the well-being of their patients. This legislation is part of a larger campaign to further prohibit women from making their own child-bearing decisions. The U.S. Senate has already passed similar legislation, and President Bush has promised to sign the legislation once it moves through the House-Senate confer- ence. Similar legislation was vetoed twice during the Clinton administration and defined as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court less than three years ago. So what has changed? Those sponsoring the bill have grossly distorted the proce- dure commonly known as partial-birth abortion, emphasizing only details that describe how gruesome the procedure can be. Advocates of the legislation have also coined the term "partial-birth," which is not recognized by the medical community. A major issue of disagreement sur- rounding the legislation, which prevented Clinton from signing it, is that while it makes an exception for the life of mother, it does not make an exception for the health of the mother. There are foreseeable circumstances in which there does not exist an immediate threat to the life of the mother, but there are potential health risks to seeing the pregnancy to term. In these situations, the legislation could criminalize medical staff that terminate the pregnancy while looking after the health of the mother. There is nothing in the legislation that protects doctors who do not have the skills or the tools to use a method other than dialation/extraction. Plainly, the legislation leaves out protec- tion for the practitioner in order to further limit access to an abortion by intimidating abortion clinics and medical professionals from performing the procedure. Most importantly, the decision is unconstitutional, purging the right of choice in regard to the woman's body and her health. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), is noted for calling the proce- dure "a grave attack against human dignity and justice." This is highly debatable; how- ever, limiting a woman's right to control her own body could have grave, immediate consequences to those unfortunate enough to be faced with the choice between their personal safety and the safety of the fetus. This issue will undoubtedly find its way back to the courtroom as opponents of the legislation have promised to chal- lenge its constitutionality in court. A like- ly opening in the court in the near future will bring public debate over the issue back into the spotlight. It is important that the public let its government know that at the very least, some serious concerns must be ironed out before this legislation can be allowed to stand. When former Gov. John Engler mandated a state takeover of the troubled Detroit school district in 1999, the state passed legislation allow- ing the school reform board to function until 2004. Many Detroit residents and state Democrats opposed the change, which took control away from a popularly elected school board and placed it in the hands of appointed officials from Lansing. Under the current law, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appoints six of seven board members, and the state superinten- dent or his designee serves as the seventh member, who has veto power over the other board members' votes. Even if the six mayoral appointees were not tethered to a state watchman, there is small chance that the board would be making Detroit-centered decisions. During its four-year existence, the school reform board has been composed of auto- motive executives and the mayor's politi- cal pals, many of whom do not live in Detroit and whose children do not attend Detroit public schools. Though the state took over the board as a result of rampant corruption and failure to improve the dis- trict, many Detroit residents lack faith in and feel detached from the board. Control over the school district should be returned to Detroiters as soon as possi- ble, as city residents have the right to vote for the officials who are supposed to rep- resent them. To that end, state Sen. Martha Scott (D-Highland Park) introduced Senate Bill 157. The bill would have allowed Detroit to vote this August on whether to return to an elected school board, rather than in November of 2004. The bill, which passed with the majori- ty of Republicans in the Legislature on board, met an unexpected death on the gov- ernor's desk last week. Gov. Jennifer Granholm said repeatedly during last year's campaign that she supported returning to an elected school board in Detroit, so her stance on the bill surprised and frustrated many who supported it. A spokesperson for the governor listed cost and concerns about voter turnout as the primary reasons for not supporting the legislation. The cost of holding a special election this August is estimated at $1.3 million. The state is indeed benefiting from Granholm's budget-conscious policies, but that stern balance-the-books quality should be tempered with an examination of all the factors involved. Giving Detroiters an opportunity to vote earlier would have been more than a gesture of goodwill; it would have given the city a voice and a chance to make changes a year in advance. Some critics of an August vote argue that Detroiters would be reluctant to vote to change the status quo, so that an early election would be irrelevant. It is true that Detroit may vote to keep the current board. It is important to point out, howev- er, that educated guesses about election results cannot serve as a substitute for Detroit's own voice in an election. Many Detroiters have lost faith in their state government as a result of policies that seem to be motivated as much by antagonism toward Detroit as legitimate concern for its well-being. Tlese types of policies divide the state by region, class and race. For this reason, it is unfortunate that Granholm, whose "One Michigan Campaign" in the 2002 election was intended to ameliorate these concerns, chose to simplify the issue and silence Detroit for another year. 4 { I