Sauter: Voters nixed term breaks for felons

The Nov. 29 LSJ had an article on legislation to restore "good time" to our state prisoners, supposedly to save money in a tight budget time. Unfortunately, the article put an inaccurate and rosy gloss on bills that would return us to the old days of revolving door justice.

The article inaccurately said the bills would apply only to nonviolent offenders. It didn't mention that the bills would make good time retroactive to current prisoners. And, the article didn't note that good time would continue to accrue at an increased rate beyond the fourth year.

For example, after 20 years, a prisoner could receive up to nine months credit for every year served! Consequently, violent offenders, who typically receive longer sentences, would actually serve a smaller percentage of their sentence than nonviolent offenders!

Our justice system depends on the truth. Witnesses in court must take an oath to tell the complete truth or face a criminal perjury charge. Shouldn't a judge's announced prison sentence be the truth? Under good time, the sentence is deceptive and doesn't mean what it says.

And, we've been down this "good time" road before. Our citizens were so confused and outraged by deceptive sentences and revolving prison doors that, in 1978, they passed a citizen initiative to ban those credits. It passed with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Crime victim rights groups and criminal justice leaders pushed for "Truth in Sentencing," which passed almost unanimously in 1998. At that time, the Michigan Department of Corrections predicted that the prison population would soar to more than 70,000, but it never got close. Judges use prison very selectively as punishment. Only 10 percent of felons are initially committed to prison, and even after probation violations are factored in less than 20 percent of felons ever see a prison.

Here's the "truth" about Truth in Sentencing: The defendant must serve the minimum sentence imposed by the locally elected judge. He can be paroled anytime after that by the Parole Board, until he serves the maximum sentence. The threat of being held past the minimum sentence is all the incentive a prisoner needs.

Our state's failure to manage the budget does not justify opening the floodgates of felons from the prisons and endangering our citizens. If the MDOC spends too much, perhaps they can explain why its management costs exceed those of other Great Lakes states?

Or explain why Texas can house twice the prisoners for the same cost?

These good time bills will undo the will of the people as established by constitutional initiative. The state will break its promise to victims and citizens by letting prisoners out sooner than the judge's minimum sentence. Prosecuting attorneys and judges will be returned to the days when they could not predict the length of a prison stay.

Michigan's citizens deserve 100 percent of the truth about prison sentences. Anything less is deceptive sentencing.