Freedom Now!
Campaign for Mass Release & Closure of IDOC Facilities
IDOC Watch is preparing to launch a campaign for the release of several thousand people from Indiana’s prison and jail system, and the corresponding closure of several IDOC facilities that will no longer be needed if the prison population is significantly reduced. We have identified a number of “triggers of mass release,” changes in policy or law which, if implemented, would immediately result in the release of hundreds or thousands of people from prisons, jails, and parole.
We have also identified issues with conditions in the prisons and jails that we believe strengthen our argument for mass release.
In addition to releasing people from prison, jail, and parole supervision, our goal is to permanently close multiple prisons, prevent the expansion of jails, and decrease the use of e-carceration (home detention), by building a powerful mass-based political movement which understands that incarceration and surveillance do not increase public safety.
This campaign is still in the development stage, and a lot of research, planning, information distribution, and movement infrastructure building needs to be done before it is launched publicly and the mass mobilization that is necessary for its success begins.
Triggers of Mass Release
For each of these triggers, we need close estimates of how many people are in prison, jail, or under parole supervision and would be released if the policy or law was changed. We intend to begin the campaign by focusing on the first three Triggers of Mass Release listed here.
Releasing everyone over the age of 55, and everyone who is seriously medically vulnerable. Establishment of new mechanisms for Clemency and Compassionate Release that are accountable to the communities prisoners are from and will be released to.
Read about the issues with the lack of Clemency and Compassionate Release in these articles:
Indiana Clemency Update: “Release Leon Benson Now”
Compassionate Release in Indiana by Natalie Medley
Releasing everyone being held in prison on a technical probation, electronic monitoring, and parole violations and elimination of the possibility of re-incarceration on technical violations. Establishment of mandatory parole criteria for all prisoners and elimination of the Parole Board’s discretion over who does and doesn’t get released on parole.
Read about the issue of re-incarceration on technical parole and probation violations in this article:
Ulterior Reincarceration by Parole Revocation by Landis Reynolds
Read Revoked: How Parole and Probation Feed Mass Incarceration in the US, by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU
Release of everyone from prison who would already have been released if they weren’t serving disciplinary time ordered by a facility Disciplinary Hearing Board (DHB). Restoration of good time across the board to all people incarcerated in the state of Indiana and elimination of DHB boards’ ability to take prisoners’ good time.
Trauma-informed re-sentencing for everyone whose conviction resulted from a situation of abuse or domestic violence.
Immediate Release of all women convicted of crimes of self-defense, or railroaded as accomplices in crimes committed by male partners.
Releasing everyone being held in jail on a cash bond and eliminate cash bail. Read about the success of counties that have already eliminated cash bail other than for the most serious offenses
Releasing everyone sentenced before July 1, 2014 who remains in prison, who would already be out if they had been sentenced for the same crime on or after July 1, 2014, when new sentencing guidelines came into effect due to the passage of HEA 1006. HEA 1006 was marketed as a decarceral reform, but has actually caused an increase in both prison and jail populations. Read Crisis at the Crossroads: Jail Expansion as Prison Reform in Indiana from the Vera Institute for more information.
Reverse the changes in sentencing guidelines instituted as a result of HEA 1006 that increased the period of incarceration for certain crimes (return sentencing structure to incarceration for ½ the sentence for all crimes).
Releasing all incarcerated people with special needs and creation of neighborhood- based programs to aid people with special needs.
Ending the use of ICE holds in jails throughout the state of Indiana and release of everyone in ICE immigrant detention facilities (Clay County Jail). Closure of ICE detention facilities.
Complete decriminalization of marijuana and retroactive application of decriminalization to everyone in jail or prison for a marijuana-related offense.
Making 1 year the maximum period for probation and parole, and releasing everyone who has been under supervision for more than one year.
Establishment of new time-cut programs, enough so that no one in prison is “idle.”
Releasing everyone whose sentence would have already been completed, if they had been sentenced after 2005, when Indiana Code governing sentencing schemes was modified in response to the Smylie v. State decision in the Indiana Supreme Court. Retroactive application of the post-Smylie v. State sentencing reforms to everyone sentenced prior to that decision in the Indiana Supreme Court.
Re-sentencing with the opportunity for parole of everyone sentenced to life without possibility of parole.
Abolishing the Habitual Offender Enhancement (Indiana three strikes law) and reducing the sentence of everyone currently in prison who has a habitual offender enhancement on their sentence accordingly
Releasing all people convicted or held pre-trial for crimes related to sex work from prisons, jails, and parole/probation supervision, and full decriminalization of sex work.