i'm an incarcerated guy. incarceration was not the same as rehabilitation for me. it just wasn't the same. but i have been over 500 jails and prisons in 23 years. i speak nine languages now. they're all english, but i speak fortune 500. i speak corporate, i speak kid. i have a 5-year-old. he is safe all day in the home that i have created, not the one i grew up in. my wife is an afflicted convicted lady. she actually did more jail time than i did she has seniority at home. [laughter] >> normal people don't laugh right there at all. don't the wives only have seniority? yes, especially in the penal system. but that was a double-edged sword there, i hope you got it. some of your pot smokers or ex-pot smokers, the jokes won't kick in for a long time. marijuana retards the ha ha muscle. three months from now somebody will go they're all different dads. sorry, your honor, i apologize, i wasn't laughing at you. [laughter] >> the concept here of humor as a basis for approaching a topic that is awkward to discuss has never been a mystery to us. the art of that is sometimes

we are speaking about building a system which we call mass incarceration. we have many of people who don't need to be locked up and that is to provide public safety. that's one of the reasons i see bail as so critical. it's not a sexy topic. it's one of the reasons it's languaged for decades. it's really the beginning that leads to incarceration and i would suggest to you that what happens beginning with the failure of the bail reform effort of 60s to achieve a constitutional right to bail. i would like to come back to that because if the constitutional rights can find to incarcerate, they can talk about bail. i think what is so dangerous about that moment and it came to a surface in the bail reform act of 1984, the federal law, the birth of preventative detention which one thought was clearly unconstitutional and then became a public good that changed the whole view of a system. now we live in a justice preemptive justice, but they will commit other crimes in the future. i would say if we all now agree or at least many of us agree with justice kennedy that

since it costs about $50,000 a year to incarcerate somebody.when i look at the collaborative court models. when we look at the pretrial supervisory models we are talking about here. they are really a fraction of the cost. and i don't think we have that on system down as fluidly we would like, i think many of these are eligible for that program. and that requires pretrial to staff and have expanded population. >> george, we will give you the last word, we are pretty much at our time. >> we are underway, the reality that several of us here are members of the sensoring commission, including our public defender, mrs. mccracken and sheriff mirkarimi and myself. and this is an effort that started last year, the goal is a two-year process to look for sentencing reform and looking at best practices to determine what is appropriate. and certainly pretrial detention is part of the mix. i go back to what i said earlier, i believe that pretrial custody should be based on appropriate -- and i want to underline appropriate, risk assessment tools. that will b

san francisco has a significant housing problem important those formerly incarcerated those whodunit we send out on an early release and that's from discretion discrimination. about doing everything we can to find alternatives to incarceration or shifting from categorization to a more post custody supervised program the person needs housing and that confronts our department you don't reels someone who's homeless. how many homeless folks do we have coming into our jails. that also i am cats part of the population we're talking about. now we're beginning to assess what's working always has other questions we hadn't looked at. so it's a population such as in district 10 and in districts 11 districts 57 he 6 which is the largest populations that are hosting people on probation or parole or people libel to return to the neighborhoods in which they come from that were the highest in incarceration levels we have to do a better jobs in providing housing. >> i want to interject my office is talking that up and we're going to remain from discussion. >> love to support you in any arrest warrant

and if you look at other jurisdictions throughout the state, you'll find heavy incarceration rates and not used. in fact the prosecutor is not using those programs. we're very fortunate in our district attorney. he is very visionary, and i just commend him for his stepping out there and taking this position which i support, also, in terms of we have got to focus on treatment rather than say, well, there's this program or that program when in fact the state hasn't funded it. so it's placed that burden on the local counties. >> tal, can you respond to marty's point and wendy's? >> i can say just based on my experience in dealing with individuals who have drug problems, most of the time i don't think that the threat of a quote, unquote, felony conviction is going to necessarily prevent them from using. i think what would make more sense is to provide them with more services and to be more individualized in terms of treatment and how we address specific individuals. i also would note that when you are facing a misdemeanor charge, you're facing up to a year in county jail. now, sometimes yo

i do not believe that incarceration has taken us where we need to be. i believe the war on drugs has been a failure. when we institutionalize people over extended periods of time, we take low-level offenders in the early stages and harden them and we send them to the university of crime. by the time they get out of prison, they become a bigger social problem. where i come from, whether it is the [unintelligible] i am on the side of saying we need to reform our system and reduce the number of people we send to jail or prison. we need to reserve that space for people that are truly dangerous and have no way of fixing themselves. we have to realize there will be some people that will go to prison because the rest of us need to have some people in prison in order for us to be safe but that is a small minority. there are many other solutions out there whether it is someone who has engaged in drugs or has a drug addiction. or engaging in some other low- level crime. every move away from a cursory those people in the early stages and deal with different forms

the institute of policies has called the bail system a failed policy that leads to excessive incarceration and mostly of pretrial detainees who cannot afford to buy their freedom. time and time again commercial bail has proven itself to most effective with those released on assurity bonds with 60 percent less likely to become fugitives. let me introduce the panel, der a dwight is with the association, she owns carson bail bonds and in the industry for 4 decades and former mistake mayor of carson california and helen for the juvenile and criminal justice system and currently on the and ralph on the commission of san francisco and works closely with the sheriff's department which now leads the program for violent offenders. >> san francisco, he has over 3 decades of experience in law enforcement including his former role as chief of police in san francisco. he's been a critic of current models in the criminal justice system that rely too heavily on incarceration. will looeng is the c e eo of diversion project from ranging from final alternatives to rehabilitative programs to more comprehensi

we rank first in the world in the per capita incarceration of our fellow citizens. the russians are fading fast in second or third place together with the belarus people. the rates of the incarceration are five, six, seven, eight times than most in other societies, europe and elsewhere, though their rates of nonviolent crime and drug use are not that much different than ours. so if another country were to lock up its own people at the rate that we do, and if our rates of incarceration were more normative to the rest of the world, we would regard with that other country was doing as a massive violation of human rights. that's the way we would look at it. now, the other point here is what we're doing is not even consistent with american history. i mean, we had 500,000 people behind bars in 1980 and now we have 2.3 million, 2.4 million people behind bars and almost have 5,000 people behind bars just for a drug violation. there are as many people behind bars for a drug violation than we had for everything in 1980. it's not consistent with global standards and not consis

participation in the reentry council has spurred our efforts to make sure that formerly incarcerated individuals have housing. so we focused on expanding vertebras access to all folks with a criminal record. we combined a model screening policy that requires awe our affordable housing agency to screen them in rather than screening them out. so providers are expected to seek evidence to provide mitigating circumstances and that that will not be repetitive of their future behavior. let's go back to that slide. mroishts. i'm not sure where intak is there a missing slide? that you might have it on our hand out and what's the missing slide. >> the describes that they created a model screen policy that was fully implemented in our local support units that's about 15 hundred units and those units receive a higher level of city funding and also receive support from other departments so they're able to help with the reentry population. so we asked those unit to provide the access. we have more affordable providers and their expected to screen but the policy allows them a little bit more discr

we are speaking about building a system which we call mass incarceration. we have many of people who don't need to be locked up and that is to provide public safety. that's one of the reasons i see bail as so critical. it's not a sexy topic. it's one of the reasons it's languaged for decades. it's really the beginning that leads to incarceration and i would suggest to you that what happens beginning with the failure of the bail reform effort of 60s to achieve a

he's been a critic of current models in the criminal justice system that rely too heavily on incarceration. will looeng is the c e eo of diversion project from ranging from final alternatives to rehabilitative programs to more comprehensive case management and finally jonathan simon is adrian craig in professor of law, teaches courses on criminal laws, criminal justice, law and consulted culture and law risk and studies. his book includes parole and the social control of the under class 1890-1990 how the war on crime transformed american democracy and created fear. welcome our panelist. [ applause ] >> i'm going to start with catherine mccrack in, the organization on juvenile and criminal justice has done extensive reach on the bail system and pretrial detention. is the system currently working would you say and what reforms would you support? >> thank you for having m e here today. the center for criminal justice has released a report last year that did examine the bail industry particularly around the lobbying effort. i want to talk a little bit about the criticisms of the commercial bai

i think that you still have the majority of those individuals who were incarcerated with state prison for possession either had strike priors, serious offenses, or they had pled down from a sales case. >> tal, let me ask you to respond to perhaps marty's point. you're a deputy public offender in san francisco and you've handled dozens of drug case, drug possession cases, you've been -- a lot of people caught their attention when you were quoted in the press saying the way we handle drug enforcement here in california is in effect a war on crumbs instead of the often used phrase on drugs. how do you respond to his remarks? >> well, i think the first thing that we have to recognize is that the majority of people who are caught up in the criminal justice system and who are prosecuted for this type of offense for possession offenses and to some degree possession for sale offenses, the vast majority are indigent people and the vast majority of those indigent people are people of color. so what you have are two systems in place. you have a system where privileged white middle class people b

as you can see since 2011 the department has reduced the number of folks on incarceration. this past november this should lead to a increase in place we ask that they have a monitor process to track those placements to evaluate the effectiveness. and additionally to the county grants the state provided resources to public defenders and for public realignment. in july 2013 there's a new phase of public safety realignment which will shift from state to county u county level. at the time of the audit we recommended that the community corrections perspire closely evaluate the impact of the transfer, plan accordingly and assess any staffing needs in relation to that staffing. the program is guided by 3 vair degrees of 3 bodies the community perspire and the commission. while each of those bodies has a specific area of responsibility they generally share the same purpose which is to implement the best practices and to reduce recidivism and to reduce the incarceration and to help with public safety. as you can see there's an overlap here as well which menus they're meeting regular

and the other thing about the pre-trial incarceration figures.they are not there because the family can't release the money. and it's hard to get the numbers, the transparency is not there on pretrial release figures. but these people are in custody and they -- you know i lost my train of thought. that's a senior moment. i was going to make a good point and i apologize. >> let me go to your neighbor, because i want to actually find out if you are in the minority. mrs. mccracken, does your organization support the election of money bail? or are you focused on other reforms? >> we are focused on other reforms. we advocate for the expansion or the implementation of pretrial services. there is great demand for that across the state of california. the criminal justice institute has been just recently awarded only two counties. technical assistance services in implementing pretrial services. but the demand was from 20 counties to have those services. so there is a great interest from california counties to look at this deliberate intervention to reappr

we are speaking about building a system which we call mass incarceration. we have many of people who don't need to be locked up and that is to provide public safety.

and the commitment to really implementing all the alternatives to incarceration we need to take a look at that more carefully so that individuals that shouldn't otherwise be incarcerated should have an opportunity to be in the community and really integrate into the community. the public defenders office our mandate is to provide representation and provide die process for individuals that come into jail and we have met that mandate. so in the first year of realignment our office received only a fraction of the realignment funding and for individuals who might not know the total a b-109 in the first year was approximately $5 million with the adult probation department and the sheriff's department getting a significant amount of that. in 2012 and 2013 of the dollars the adult probation department and the sheriff's department office guarantee got an equal amount. but one of the things because we're seeing a recidivism rates are good we need to redirect and revisit some of this money so it can actually fund housing and treatment. the one of the challenges that the public defender has at th

what i announced yesterday, once someone has done a probation or incarceration and parole and paid all their fines and costs and don't have any pending charges, we will automatically restore their voting rights and their civil and constitutional rights, give them fully reintegrated into society, the law-abiding citizen. that will decrease this in -- chance they will repeat. >> virginia is one of only four states that do not automatically restore voting rights to felons once they've served their time rid the governor says he can only legally restore rights on an individual basis under the new process. this means the governor's office will send a letter to each former nonviolent felon it can find, telling them the rights are restored. a chance to amend the constitution to make the process automatic approved unsuccessful for more than 30 years. x offenders reacted to the governor's announcement on cbs affiliate wdbj in roanoke, virginia. >> i have forgiven myself. the other people involved in my situation have forgiven me, but it was like a dark cloud over my head. this finally feels like

flash incarceration does not work. as far as the treatment that do work for alcoholism, alcoholism is a chronic disease like diabetes. hypertension and emphysema. when we look at outcomes for chronic disease, a landmark study for the journal medical association in 1999, showed that results for treatments were no worse or better than any other chronic disease model. so treatment of alcoholism and addiction works. as far as new treatments for alcoholism, when it comes to substance abuse treatment, typically with any chronic disease it takes time and effort. let me give you a picture two of extremes. one extreme is the first of the month with $200 in your pocket and you are in tenderloin and the other extreme is the stationery outcome with handcuffs. so the illustration here is that somewhere between these two extremes, there is a level of treatment structure that is appropriate for the particular patient. when we think about the patients who end up in the revolving court's, they have trauma, bad thing that have happened

when we incarcerate somebody, we have to do something for them. i was incarcerated for 28 years. when they come out, they are worse than when they were in prison. the thing we need to do, be in touch with the individuals we work with. during the time they are going to sentencing. we need to provide something while they are incarcerated. you just wait for the time to go by. there is no criteria. what you need to do, but you need your high-school diploma. when your time is up, you go. ewing got to do anything. there is nothing you have to do. -- you ain't got to do anything. there is nothing you have to do. they get involved with other gang members and they get worse. the thing we have to do, and if we want it to work, i believe everybody is redeemable. i really believe that. [applause] it's not so, i would not be here. you know? i know i am making an impact on society. i know that. the thing we have to, as the community, -- come as as a community. that is the problem. when i am ready to go to juvenile hall, i have problems getting a pass. and i go there all the time. just to be ab

no new law violations and 55 percent have had no arrest or sanctions or flashing incarceration. and they are reporting to probation for services. we have a wide array of community services for individuals that need assistance. but i think really what san francisco has done was continue to be a leader with the outstanding public defender and district attorneys office and the public probation and we can achieve justice and success and at the same time change lives. so i'm very thankful to be part of the criminal justice partnership in san francisco. it's an honor and we are not only leading the way in california but we are leading the way in the nation to change it's approach to serving justice. so thank you for an allowing me to speak. [ applause ] >> next it's a great honor to present supervisor cohen to present a proclamation to us. >> supervisor cohen represents the district 10. which includes bay view hunters point and hill. >> hey, everyone! good morning. how are my justice fighters doing out there? today is invigorating and enlighten you to make sure we have social justice