How to Reduce Racial Disparity in Prisons

• Originally published in The Washington Post February 28, 2005

Copyright 2005 The Washington Post


Maryland's mandatory sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenders negatively affect the state, particularly African American families. These laws not only have contributed to Maryland's mushrooming $1 billion prison budget; they have exacerbated the stark racial disparities in Maryland's prisons.

According to a 2003 study by the Justice Policy Institute, while 28 percent of Maryland's population is African American, 76 percent of the prison population is African American. That is the third-highest rate in the country and is driven by the imprisonment of drug offenders, many of whom are incarcerated under mandatory sentences. Nine out of 10 persons imprisoned in Maryland for drug offenses are African American, even though national studies show that African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates.

The institute's report also showed that African American men in Maryland are imprisoned at nearly eight times the rate of white men. African American women in Maryland are incarcerated at 4.2 times the rate of white women. On the flip side, less than 1 percent of white men are incarcerated in Maryland, whereas 5.6 percent of the state's African American male population is incarcerated.

Last year, the legislature and the governor took steps to divert nonviolent drug offenders into treatment. But mandatory sentences still tie the hands of judges in trying to balance the need for incarceration against the potential to turn around the lives of nonviolent, drug-addicted offenders.

As someone who worked for the U.S. Marshals Service for 13 years, I have no problem with locking up bad guys for a long time. But prisons alone cannot solve our state's drug problems. The clearest way to reduce the racial disparities in sentencing and get nonviolent drug offenders the treatment they need is to abolish mandatory sentencing laws for such offenders and allow judges the necessary discretion to determine the best sentence for each individual case.

DARRYL A. KELLEY
D-Prince George's
Maryland House of Delegates
Annapolis