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Resolutions Adopted at the
67th Annual Conference of Mayors
New Orleans, Louisiana
June 11-15, 1999 |
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CRIMINAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
DRUG AVAILABILITY, TREATMENT AND TESTING IN
PRISONS
WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors, after holding extensive meetings
across the country including The U.S. Conference of Mayors National Forum on Drug Control
in 1997, has compiled "A National Action Plan to Control Drugs"; and
WHEREAS, the Action Plan states that, "for young people especially,
incarceration should focus on rehabilitation, and the availability of drug treatment is
essential to this; and
WHEREAS, a report issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University (CASA), entitled "Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and
America’s Prison Population," found that drug and alcohol abuse and addiction
are implicated in the crimes and incarceration of 80 percent -- some 1.4 million -- of the
1.7 million men and women behind bars in America; and
WHEREAS, among these 1.4 million inmates are parents of 2.4 million children,
many of them minors; and
WHEREAS, from 1993 to 1996, the number of inmates needing substance abuse
treatment climbed from 688,000 to 840,000, while the number of inmates in treatment
hovered around 150,000 -- with much of the treatment they are receiving being inadequate
according to the CASA report; and
WHEREAS, the CASA report estimates that for an additional $6,500 a year, an
inmate could be given intensive treatment, education, and job training, which upon release
would provide a return on investment of $68,800 in reduced criminal activity, savings on
the cost of arrest, prosecution, incarceration and health care, and benefit to the
economy; and
WHEREAS, the availability of illegal narcotics in prisons across the nation is a
growing problem which hinders efforts to provide treatment; and
WHEREAS, a study conducted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the
Pennsylvania Prison Drug Testing Program has shown that a comprehensive drug strategy
aimed at eliminating drug use in prisons can work. The Pennsylvania strategy includes
using electronic drug-detection devices, increasing drug-sniffing dog teams, monitoring
inmate telephone calls, conducting daily, random urine tests, and expanding substance
abuse treatment, and has made Pennsylvania Prisons nearly 99 percent drug free according
to the NIJ study; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors has worked closely with the
Administration, especially Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, on a policy to support
drug-free prisons, increase drug treatment in prisons, and encourage the drug testing of
prisoners prior to release and while on parole or probation; and
WHEREAS, the Administration has put forward a "Zero Tolerance Drug
Supervision Initiative" which would support comprehensive programs for drug testing,
treatment and sanctions for prisoners, parolees, and probationers; support the Drug Courts
Program; and fund the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the
"Zero Tolerance Drug Supervision Initiative" and urges Congress to enact this as
a positive first step in reducing the availability of drugs in prisons and ensuring that
adequate monitoring and treatment exists for prisoners prior to their release back into
society and while on probation or parole; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the nation’s governors, who control state
prison systems and receive federal funding in support of prison construction, implement
tougher controls to keep drugs out of prisons and increase the availability of treatment
to meet demand, so that every prisoner, upon release, has received adequate treatment and
has been tested to be drug-free, and continues to be tested and receive treatment if
needed while on probation or parole; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government should adopt a policy that
every prisoner pass a drug test prior to release from the federal prison system, and
continues to be tested and receive treatment if needed while on probation or parole.
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