Rep Rubel has partnered with Rep Perry to sponsor H179 which was introduced but not given a full hearing where the committee could vote on the merits of the bill. Instead, this past week in Judiciary and Rules, we heard 4 and half hours of informational testimony about the history of mandatory minimum laws in Idaho, proponents and opponents of the law, and a number of personal stories about how this law has missed the mark, putting addicts in jail and not just dealers.

There are only 4 laws in Idaho that qualify for mandatory minimums: murder, repeated sexual abuse of a child, DUI involved homicide, and drug trafficking in marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine. According to testimony, there are approximately 300 people incarcerated in Idaho right now with a mandatory minimum sentence for “drug trafficking.” Many of these people did not have the intent to sell, but had enough in their personal possession for personal use to get the mandatory minimum sentence. Each inmate costs the state about $55.00 per day to house, which means we are spending a little over $20,000 per inmate per year. That’s $6 million per year and about $42 mill over 7 years for this group of inmates, many of whom are not really trafficking, but were caught with enough personal supply to qualify as trafficking under the statute.

We heard heartbreaking stories of people who became addicted to heroine and because of the addictive nature, kept upping their doses and were then caught with an amount that qualified for a trafficking sentence even though they were not selling it.

Of course, there is an expectation of accountability for actions, but sending someone addicted to a drug to prison for 7 years is not going to help them get their lives together.

We must reform our thinking and our systems so the most serious offenders that are a danger to public safety are incarcerated instead of drug offenders who may be addicted to substances. We could use that $42 million on substance abuse programming and detox services, and reinvest that money into the system for more proactive outcomes.