«
»

“Good Time Bill” Could Reduce Prison Times for Environmentalists and Animal Rights Activists

Mar 18th, 2009 by Will Potter

Two federal Green Scare prisoners, Jonathan Paul and Daniel McGowan.

Two federal Green Scare prisoners, Jonathan Paul and Daniel McGowan.

I have sat through so many sentencing hearings for environmentalists and animal rights activists when the judges and prosecutors have noted, and even applauded, how activists are not like “typical” defendants. By this, they mean that the defendants have solid education backgrounds (some even pursuing law degrees and master’s degrees while incarcerated), they have supportive family and friends, and they frequently have letters of support from professors and clergy.

By all accounts, judges and prosecutors often say, there is every reason to believe that these activists can, and should, be leaders in their communities.

That’s exactly why new legislation called the Good Time Bill (H.R. 1475) is so vitally needed. It will reduce the sentences of people in federal prisons by increasing the “good time” credit they can receive. The bill would impact all federal prisoners (except those serving life sentences), but Green Scare prisoners would be some of the ideal candidates.

That being said, this is an issue that impacts everyone, regardless of how you feel about environmental issues or animal rights, and regardless of how you feel about these defendants. Along the lines of my previous post, “5 Reasons Why Republicans Should Care About the Government Labeling Activists “Terrorists,” here are three reasons why every taxpayer should support the Good Time Bill:

  1. Money. The bill could save taxpayers more than $2-billion per year. It costs about $40,000 per year to keep each federal prisoner behind bars. With the greatest economic crisis since the depression, this money shouldn’t be spent on prisoners with a long, demonstrated track record of good behavior and rehabilitation.
  2. Safety. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is over 40% overcrowded and many facilities are operating at 100% capacity. Increased incentives for good behavior will keep prisons at a more controlled level, and make them safer prisoners and staff.
  3. Priorities. Nearly three out of every four federal prisoners are serving time for a non-violent offense and have no history of violence. They aren’t the only ones who suffer from being locked up: they have children, spouses, and friends whose lives have been impacted. People in federal prison deserve a second chance to make positive contributions to society.

The bill was introduced last week, and has 11 cosponsors. It’s still early in the process, which makes it a great time to get involved and take action. Visit GoodTimeBill.info for a list of things you can do.

Related posts:

Tags: , , , , ,

Posted in Federal Terrorism Laws, Legislation, Prisoner Support

  • victoria
    yes i am absolutely agaisnt prisons i think they should be abolished it keeps the government in jobs and us paying the governments wages to take trips and go where ever while ones in prison and families suffer especially the animal rights activists ,
  • KAREN
    Federal prisons are "for profit" serveral judges have investments in prisons, it's a big investment for investers and the prisoners are kept as long as possible or put back in cause the investors want to make lots of money at the expense of prisoners. Good luck at getting a bill to get them out early, they have lots of excuses not to let them out.
  • Joe
    Will, are you saying that the quotes I listed were untrue and were never spoken by those I quoted?
  • Actually, Joe, what I am saying is: I don't have time for this. You've been repeatedly making the same comments on mulitple posts about this, and there have been plenty of responses. The trolling is getting out of hand.
  • Joe
    When I posted some quotes here without proving who, where and when it was said, everyone got very upset. I later posted the information requested, I see nothing wrong with holding others to the same standards that I held to.
  • Joe: I said that, based on my experiences with mulitple sentencing hearings, this is what I've observed. That's not the same as posting a list of quotations from a corporate front group's website.
  • Ashley
    Joe, referencing something that is obviously a matter of public record is a far cry from cutting and pasting unattributed quotes from a meat industry front group website.
  • Harry
    Damnit, I've been censored! Come on Will, what happened to free speech? Didn't Joe deserve a good lashing, even if it was crude and immature?? :P
  • Sorry, Harry, my mom reads this site :)
  • Joe
    ahh, good where could I see a copy of the transcript where the judge said that about these two?

    I only ask because when I posted some quotes from Ingrid Newkirk the other day, everyone got on me because some of the quotes didn't have names or dates on them. I wouldn't want you to go through the same.
  • Joe
    so there is no public record of those statements then?
  • Yes. They're called court transcripts.
  • Joe
    Will, you said "By all accounts, judges and prosecutors often say, there is every reason to believe that these activists can, and should, be leaders in their communities."

    Where and who said this? I have looked and I can't find any judge or prosecutor who has said this of these two.
  • Joe: I attended both of their sentencing hearings, and many others. Comments along those lines were made at many.
  • steph
    The bill is H.R 1475 (H.R. not 1457)
    See www.Thomas.gov
  • Shoot, thanks Steph, I didn't realize I switched the last two digits.
  • dt
    All prisoners are political!
  • Well, I think it's a good idea. Also, for some reason I also think that "Good Time Bill" would be a great name for a flapper-era scallywag who takes unsuspecting women for joyrides in his car.
  • Sigh. If only I went by Bill instead of Will.
  • Steve Schuller
    Just to respond to Tyler Durden,

    I'm with you all the way on prison abolition, but here's the thing-getting the good time bill passed does not preclude any other types of actions. There's no legislation that would be useful in a prison riot, but that doesn't mean that would should also work on things that will make a tangible difference in prisoners lives. Also, as far as not keeping activists separated from social prisoners, this bill affects *all* prisoners, not only activists. There's alot of people working on getting this bill passed, and most of them have no connections to "activism" in a traditional sense.
    Lets keep working on ways to get rid of prisons, but also on ways to get our friends and family out sooner, rather than later.
  • Tyler Durden
    Hmmmm. I feel kinda wierd about this, I mean, it IS good for the political prisoners, and they shouldn't even be in those cages anyway, but I am always a little bothered when people spend so much time defending *political* prisoners, and not caring about the others. As an anarchist, my goal is to abolish all prisons, and release all prisoners, and what about prison struggles where there are riots or taking over certain parts of the prison, or hungerstrikes or whatnot, what good would a 'good time bill' do in that situation? Keep the activists seperated from the others? Don't we wish to bring struggles together?
    What I'm trying to get at is that I hate the usual seperation of *political* and regular prisoner and would like to see the lines blurred more. Just something I'm thinking about...
    Haven't really clarified the entire thing in my head yet....
  • Hey everyone. Just wanted to tack on this note to highlight that this would benefit all political prisoners, not just environmentalists and animal rights activists. There are plenty of reasons to support this bill, I just focused this article on these activists because of the nature of the site.
blog comments powered by Disqus