We mentioned yesterday that here in Denver the other day, Senior U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane, Jr. got a standing ovation during a speech against the drug war. Columnist Diane Carman details the speech here, don't miss it. If only we had 100 Judge Kanes. Isn't it a shame that once Bush and the Republicans pack the federal bench with right-wing activists, we'll be lucky to have any.

Earlier this month we wrote about Ashcroft's new directive to the Bureau of Prisons to return certain offenders serving sentences in half-way houses to federal prison facilities. The directive was signed by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. Ashcroft promoted this directive as targeting white collar offenders. We learned from Philadelphia attorney Peter Goldberger that this was not the case. (See above post for his comments.)

Several federal courts around the country have been granting temporary injunctions against the policy. Last week, Judge Huvell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered a permanent injunction against the policy, ruling:

principles of equitable estoppel and due process preclude BOP from relying on its new policy to remove petitioner from her current placement. The Court will therefore grant petitioner’s motion, and enter an order enjoining BOP from transferring her from Fairview on the basis of the newly-announced DOJ policy regarding BOP’s lack of authority to substitute halfway house placement for imprisonment.

Here is the Order the Court entered:

For the reasons set forth in the attached Memorandum Opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that petitioner’s motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence is GRANTED IN PART; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that the Bureau of Prisons is enjoined from transferring Shawna Culter from the Fairview Community Confinement Center pursuant to the new inmate designation policy described in the December 16, 2002 Memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson to BOP Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer. It is so ordered.

Goldberger was correct in his assertion that females were disproportionately affected by the policy change. Judge Huvelle states in her ruling (Page 10, note 3):

At oral argument BOP reported that 132 CCC inmates nationwide have been affected by the Bureau’s 150-day rule. Interestingly, the burden of the changed policy and this arbitrary cutoff has fallen more heavily on female inmates. Over a third of those now faced with transfer (45 of 132) are women, compared with an overall federal inmate population of only 6.9% female. (Oral Argument Tr., 1/21/03, at 27-28.)

Todd Bussert of Connecticut and Peter Goldberger of Philadelphia wrote the Amicus Brief on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the case. Federal Defender A.J. Kramer wrote the principal brief.

Judges in San Diego, North Carolina and elsewhere have granted temporary restraining orders against the new policy. At last count, only one federal court-- in Detroit-- has refused to do so.

Correction: Todd Bussert and Peter Goldberger wrote the Amicus brief in an Eastern District of New York case, not the District of Columbia case. Other courts granting relief include two New Jersey courts, and courts in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Massachussetts and Idaho. An Eastern District of New York court denied habeas relief in one case.

"The City Council has barred police and other city workers from asking about the immigration status of people they deal with. The ordinance, which was approved 9 to 0 Monday, makes two exceptions. One is for anyone police have "reasonable suspicion" to believe was once deported and has committed a felony. The other allows police to assist federal agents as required by law."

"Backers said it was the first local ordinance of its kind to be adopted since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. However, many cities have similar laws dating from before the terrorist attacks, said Robert Okin, deputy district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service."

"A policeman and a farmer were killed in clashes between coca farmers and security forces in Bolivia, where the United States is backing a drive to eradicate illegal crops of the plant used to make cocaine, a government official said Sunday. Thousands of coca farmers, led by leftist former presidential candidate Evo Morales, have set up roadblocks on highways in central Bolivia to protest the anti-coca plan."

This is another place and another war we don't belong in.

Earlier this month we wrote about a new U.S. Bureau of Prisons policy implemented at the behest of Attorney General Ashcroft. The effect of the new policy, according to Ashcroftwould be that white collar offenders with short sentences would no longer be able to go directly to a half-way house. They would have to serve their sentence in a federal prison. For the past decade, the BOP has been allowing such offenders to go directly to a halfway house.

"In a December memorandum to Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, Mr. Ashcroft said that the practice violated federal sentencing laws that require imprisonment and that it offered favorable treatment to white-collar criminals. Based on his memorandum, a new policy was instituted, which is available <a href="The new policy is available here. It provides, "When an offender has received a sentence of imprisonment, the Bureau of Prisons does not have general authority, either upon the recommendation of the sentencing judge or otherwise, to place such an offender in community confinement at the outset of his sentence or to transfer him from prison to community confinement at any time BOP chooses during the course of his sentence."

Only, it's not the white collar offenders, e.g., low-level Enron types, who are being forced out of the halfway houses and back into prison facilities.

Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer and post-conviction/appeal specialist Peter Goldberger, writes in to say:

The new policy is not only a legal sham but more important is a political stunt -- and a cruel one at that. No big shot white collar defendant gets direct Community Corrections (CCC) designation, either because the guidelines come out too high from the dollars of loss or because of "central inmate monitoring" triggered by notoriety of the case. Direct CCC designations are mostly little nobody cases, borderline in terms of being worth prosecuting in the first place, who were then on the tipping point between some prison and straight probation, They go to CCC so they can work and make money for restitution and family support. Many are single parents (mostly mothers) whose ability to work while serving time allows the kids to stay with a family member who otherwise couldn't afford it, rather than go into foster care or adoption. The idea that the present system is not punitive enough on the lowest-level offenders is ridiculous.

What's more, defense lawyers have been filing challenges to the new policy in federal courts around the country --and winning. Several judges around the country have granted defense requests for temporary injunctions preventing the offenders from being moved out of the halfway houses.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is providing assistance to lawyers and updates on the challenges here.

The Office of Legal Counsel memorandum underlying the Bureau of Prison's recent policy changes regarding the use of Community Corrections Centers can be found here.

This mostly affects white collar offenders, as we reported here and here.

"Bolivian farmers blocked highways for a fifth day demanding their right to grow coca, from which cocaine is processed, as 20,000 retirees marched on La Paz demanding bigger pensions."

"Coca farmers wielding sticks and stones have battled with police using tear gas since Monday for control of a stretch of the key route through central Bolivia, high in the Andes. Growers of coca demanded repeal of a 1988 law prohibiting farmers from growing the leaves Andean indigenous people have chewed for thousands of years, also used in a non-narcotic tea thought to help fend off altitude sickness."

"But the leaves are not just a traditional plant; they are also a temptingly lucrative cash crop in South America's poorest nation."

Back to the court martial trial of the American Air Force pilots who accidentally bombed Canadians last year in Afganistan while taking speed pills(dexedrine) to combat fatigue: An Air Force physician took the stand today and defended the pilots' use of speed.

An Air Force physician sang the praises on Thursday of amphetamines used by two U.S. fighter pilots who bombed a Canadian infantry unit in Afghanistan, saying fatigue, not ``speed,'' kills. Col. Pete Demitry of the Air Force Surgeon General's office told reporters that Dexedrine, which the Air Force provides for pilots making long flights, was a life saver, not a dangerous drug that distorts judgment as attorneys for pilots William Umbach and Harry Schmidt have argued.

Ok, it's not a dangerous drug that distorts judgment. It increases alertness. It prevents fatigue. So why can't everyone else have it without risking a jail sentence?

Seems to us, what's good for the goose....

LA Police Chief Bill Bratton unveiled a new offensive against gangs in the murder-torn city.

The latest strategy will involve pooling hundreds of officers from across the department, including detectives from homicide and narcotics units, to form gang-busting teams. They will receive help from probation and officers, prosecutors and school district officials. The teams will also work with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In addition, the LAPD is trying to engage members of churches and neighborhood groups to join the effort -- and to dispel the years of mistrust and rancor felt by many in the black and Hispanic neighborhoods whose residents describe the LAPD as an invading army.

This is a major restructuring of the Los Angeles Police Department. It's certainly due, as far as we're concerned. At a news conference, Chief Bratton said,

The department should shoulder blame for the city's soaring murder rate because of poor management and deployment of police officers, low morale, rogue officers, and timidity and disengagement that made anti-gang efforts ineffective.

"We got out of the business of going after gangs," Bratton said at a news conference in South Los Angeles, the neighborhood that has experienced the most violence. For example, he said, the former anti-gang squads did not work on the weekend and did not pursue drug cases.

"This department has been on the bench," Bratton said. "We've been totally out of the game when it comes to dealing with crime."

How bad is it in LA? Here are some numbers. 658 homicides, mostly centered in south and east Los Angeles, home to many of the city's poorer black and hispanic residents. 432 gangs with an estimated 52,000 gang members.

In some families, gang membership is generational, from grandfather to father to son. Most of the active members are in their teens and early twenties, after which time they are either incarcerated, retired or dead. Many gang members pursue lives of "opportunistic" crime, but they are not highly organized, like drug cartels or the Mafia. Many of the killings are reportedly over issues such as "respect" and the control of a block or corner.

In a bid for more funds, Bratton and Mayor James Hahn will go to Washington next week to meet with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge.

We commend Bratton's efforts to involve the community in his policing. We know he is cognizant of the tension between enforcing the law and respecting constitutional and civil rights. He's an innovative law enforcement agent. But the residents of Los Angeles have good reasons to fear the LAPD--years worth of them. We hope Bratton can earn their trust, as we see that as a critical pre-requisite to any success in restoring sanity and some semblance of order to the streets of LA.

"A federal judge in Atlanta has imposed a one-year prison sentence on a former intelligence analyst charged with stealing government information and leaking it to a London newspaper.

The U.S. Attorney said, "We have to send that message to everybody within the justice system." Duffey's prosecution of Randel is in line with a report by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's interagency, anti-leak task force, which last year recommended that government administrators use laws already on the books to identify and punish employees who leak information."

Very interesting article.

"Police in Los Angeles have settled on a new way of handling those pesky burglar alarms that take up so much of their time. They will now ignore them -- unless someone can prove that there is a genuine emergency."

"The change was approved by the Los Angeles police commissioners at the request of chief William Bratton, who said that 92 percent of the alarms are false -- wasting time and money in a city struggling with gang violence, a spike in violent crime and a shortage of officers."

Security companies have said they will challenge the move. We support Bratton on this one.

Mark Fiore on Ashcroft, civil liberties, medical marijuana and more....excellent. (sent in by Progressive Racine).

Then check out Nick and Norm: How the Drug War Commercial Should Read by Sierra Times (sent in by one of our more frequent commentors, Kevin Conners).