Protest Targets Special Session

Twelve days before state legislators gather for a special session, New Haven criminal justice-reform demonstrators urged them to pass a proposal eliminating ​“drug-free zone” laws for drug-users.

“We’ve got to fix this,” New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield (pictured) told the dozen or so protestors assembled Wednesday evening in front of City Hall.

The proposal is scheduled for a vote during a special session of the state legislature called for June 29 and 30.

Winfield authored the proposal, which would eliminate mandatory two-year minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders caught with illegal substances within 1,500 feet of a a school, day care center or public-housing development. In dense cities like New Haven, that covers pretty much all the habitable land — only portions of East Shore Park and the Yale Golf Course lie outside the ​“zone.” Given that cities have larger black and Latino populations, that means blacks and Latinos disproportionately serve longer sentences. One estimate showed whites accounting 70 percent of the state’s population, yet just 28 percent of drug-free zone arrests. (Click here for an in-depth look at ​“What happens when an entire city becomes a drug-free zone.”)

Winfield has promoted the measure for years, to no avail. This year it advanced after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy included it in his ​“Second Chance Society” criminal-justice reform initiative. The governor last month came to East Shore Park to promote the drug-free zone proposal. (The proposal does not include eliminating the zones for drug-sellers.)

Demonstrators Wednesday praised Winfield for supporting reform.

“Gary [Holder] is the one leader who is bold enough to bring real change,” said protest organizer Barbara Fair (pictured).

Holder said his efforts must be coupled with visible and constant protests from constituents. ​“You need to be visible, you need to be loud,” Holder said, adding that giving people second chances is about more than decriminalizing possession near schools.

American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut Communications Director Patrick Gallahue said the bill, if passed, will successfully reduce the number of people in prison for nonviolent drug possession.

“I think we are seeing a rethinking to our approach to drugs,” Gallahue said. Republican and Democratic state lawmakers nationwide have supported proposals to decriminalize drug possession and keep non-violent officenders out of jail. He added that hospitals, clinics, and the police can also reduce the incarceration of drug abusers.

Fair has organized protests annually for the past 10 years to mark the anniversary of June 17, 1971, the day President Richard Nixon presented a drug abuse prevention program to Congress.

Wednesday’s protestors called the war on drugs a problem of race, not of drugs.

Tracy Davis and Joan Ciano (pictured) are members the Anti-Racism Team of the Unitarian Society of New Haven. Ciano noted that black people are disproportionally incarcerated for drug possession.

Tamara Lanier, chair of the Connecticut NAACP’s criminal justice committee, said high rates of incarceration destroy communities. She added that policing should focus on the locations where drugs cause the greatest loss of life — the suburbs.

“[The war on drugs] is about controlling certain populations in our country,” Fair said. She called the high rate of incarcerating African Americans a surrogate for Jim Crow laws.

After 45 minutes of speeches, the protest drew to a close, ending with hope for the future. ​“Something big is going to happen in the next few years,” Gallahue said.