Sunday, January 28, 2007 11:37 PM

The Rockefeller Drug Laws
- Drum Beat

I first got involved publically with the Rockefeller Drug Laws in Spring of 1998, joining the William Moses Kunstler Fund's actions against these laws by protesting in front of Rockefeller Center every week.  It was a silent vigil where we held up posters of those incarcerated under those draconian drug laws, pointing out the viciousness of the sentences, and the resulting cruel stresses to friends and family.  The families faithfully stood week after week, holding up the photos of their loved ones.  Randy Credico was a fearless spearhead for this group.  Later, the mothers of these incarcerated folks created a group, named after the famous Argentine mothers who fearlessly demonstrated against the disappearance(s) of their children, The Mothers of the Disappeared.  The New York disappeareds were lost in the tombs of our prisons, not literally killed, but the similarities were obvious.

There were many things wrong with the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the people closest to them wanted them removed from the books in their entirety. But cultural trends, political forces, the peoples' opinion all go into making decisions in a particular time frame. The Kunstler Fund and I were not interested in reform; we wanted major overhaul. The two BIG issues were sentencing (first time drug offenders were often doing more time than murderers) and judges' discretion (a judge was forced to follow the mandatory sentences and was unable by law to use any discretion).

In the past months, due to the tremendous pressures on our State Government by protesters, including those with good intentions and little legal expertise, such as Russell Simmons, these laws underwent changes -- that must be called a victory. But there is still much more that needs to be done to permit more judicial discretion and sentencing reform; we need to help those who have already been sentenced as well as those who will no doubt be sentenced in the future.

Here, taken from Margaret Ratner Kunstler, President of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, are the basic changes in the law.

"The bill passed in Albany will bring relief to thousands of people imprisoned or who will be imprisoned under New York's drug laws.  The bill both reduces sentences for some drug offenders and increases the quantity thresholds required to kick in tougher sentences.  Under the Rockefeller laws, Class A-1 felons faced 15-to-life; now they will face 8-to-20.  Weight thresholds for heroin, cocaine, and other hard drugs have doubled from four ounces to eight ounces to trigger a Class A-1 charge and two ounces to four ounces to trigger a Class A-II charge.  The bill also provides for persons currently serving the longest sentences to ask for court hearings to seek sentence reductions in line with the new sentences."

No, you can't just walk out of the prison if you were incarcerated under the old laws!  You have to be resentenced.  Yup, you have to go back and do it all over again.  So this will take time.  The first guy resentenced is about to go home: to Panama.  You see, the US Government has the right to deport anybody who commits a crime.  That's where he came from.  Inspite of the fact that he has a daughter, a wife and child here, they will probably send him to Panama. 

This is Grampa Al Lewis wishing you and yours all the best.

Al "Grandpa" Lewis, famous for his role in the classic early sixties series "The Munsters", also a well known actor, comedian, entertainer, book author and acrobat, and his wife, Ms. Karen Lewis, run an inmate pen-pal program as humantiarians. Grandpa and Karen Lewis are honorary lifetime members of the H.A.D. Organization since October, 2002. Grandpa, with his vast knowledge of life, will be regularly contributing articles on a variety of topics, along with his wife. Grandpa has his own radio show, known as "Al Grandpa Lewis Live", which airs every Saturday from 12:00 noon until 1:30 pm on Radio Station WBAI, 99.5FM. If you are interested in writing to an incarcerated individual, through Grandpa and Karen Lewis's penpal program, please feel free to email us at grandpa@hadofnyc.org with your information.