Advocates frustrated with the Arizona Legislature's incremental progress on sentencing reform have set their sights on the ballot box.

Proponents of the Second Chances, Rehabilitation and Public Safety Act began collecting signatures last week to place the sweeping citizens initiative on the November ballot.

The cornerstone of the measure involves "earned release credits," which offenders can use to shave time off their prisons sentences.

Offenders currently have to serve at least 85% of their sentences under Arizona's “truth in sentencing” law, with a chance to spend the remainder under community supervision. The citizens initiative could cut nonviolent offenders' sentences by up to 50%, with participants earning a one-day reduction for every day served.

The measure wouldn't require prisoners to enroll in corrections programs, since offerings vary from unit to unit, but participants would be expected to maintain good behavior and be willing to participate in the programs available to them.

The reductions could help trim the state's prison population, which is the fourth-highest in the United States.

"The idea here is that we're wanting to have people in prison for long enough where it has a deterrent effect, but not so long that it breaks people to the point where they can't reenter into society," said Roopali Desai, an attorney who helped craft the measure.

"I think voters really understand that, and they want people to have second chances."

What else would it do?

People who commit violent crimes, including crimes against children, would not be eligible for credits. But nonviolent offenders already serving time would.

The initiative also would give judges discretion to hand down shorter sentences than the state's current mandatory minimums require. This would apply in cases involving nonviolent offenses.

For example, if someone with a drug addiction committed a crime to feed that addiction, a judge could consider rehabilitation when sentencing that person instead of handing down a predetermined prison term.

The measure would clarify when a nonviolent offender should receive a more severe sentence based on prior felony convictions as well.

Legislation that aimed to do the same made it to Gov. Doug Ducey's desk last year but was vetoed.

Finally, the measure would establish a fund for victims of violent crimes and first responders using money from the state's medical marijuana fund. The money would address post-traumatic stress disorder and other needs.

READ THE MEASURE: Second Chances, Rehabilitation and Public Safety Act citizens initiative

Years of attempts

The American Friends Service Committee-Arizona, FWD.us, the American Conservative Union, the Alliance for Safety and Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona worked together to craft the initiative after asking the Legislature to implement similar changes.

Despite a nationwide shift toward sentencing reform — including in states that historically have embraced harsh punishments — advocacy groups and formerly incarcerated people found Arizona lawmakers largely reluctant to make substantial changes, given backlash from county prosecutors.

Advocates were particularly frustrated to see several bipartisan reforms stymied by a handful of lawmakers last session. Even some measures sponsored and backed by Republicans didn't get hearings, despite the state's overcrowded prisons.

This year, a release credit bill sponsored by Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, has fared better, advancing out of the House Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 2808, however, would not go as far as the citizens initiative in expanding earned release credits: Under Blackman's legislation, people could only earn up to 35% off their sentences and would be required to participate in corrections programs. And it's not clear whether the bill will make it through the legislative process.

"The (citizens initiative) — regardless of whether it makes it to the ballot or if it passes into law — is a wake-up call to legislators," advocacy organization Middle Ground Prison Reform said in a statement.

"The fact that the initiative is in process, in and of itself, forces legislators to genuinely consider all sentencing reform bills that will be proposed during the 2020 legislative session on subjects related to matters contained in the initiative … because legislation passed by initiative cannot be repealed or restricted by the Legislature."

Supporters must collect 237,645 valid signatures by July 2 to get the measure on the November ballot. Advocacy groups plan to hire professional signature-gatherers using money from the Alliance for Safety and Justice's action fund, a spokesman said.

Lawmakers would need three-fourths votes in both chambers to tweak the law.

'Potentially very problematic'

Middle Ground, which was not involved in drafting the bill, said it supports reducing the time nonviolent offenders serve.

It also believes certain provisions of the initiative would put the state's sentencing practices more in line with how they were meant to operate.

But its leaders say a possible 50% reduction in time served is too aggressive, preferring to cut sentences by up to one-third instead. They also worry the initiative could have unintended consequences, such as prosecutors incorporating lengthier probation terms in draft plea agreements if the initiative passes.

"The other thing we still have a concern about is, when judges have complete discretion to depart from the sentencing matrix, how does that affect racial or ethnic minorities?" director Donna Hamm said. "How does it differ in rural counties versus metropolitan counties? Will there be very disparate sentencing going on? That’s potentially very problematic."

Middle Ground also took issue with the proposed elimination of state rules requiring offenders to complete certain corrections programs or educational milestones to earn release credits.

"The point of programming is is to have people recognize where their thinking, their behavior, their attitudes are wrong and get them to think about ways to change that," Hamm said.

"When the board reviews someone for release approval, they’re asking those questions. 'What’s your understanding of your crime? What would you have done differently if you were presented with the same circumstances? What is your release plan?' So it's unclear how this would affect recidivism."

Supporters: We won't set prisoners up to fail

Proponents of the measure counter that the initiative aims to standardize access to earned release credits, since the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry doesn't have the resources to offer the same programs at every prison unit.

"What we wanted to do is to allow people to get the reward for doing what is possible for them to do right now, but not set them up to fail by requiring them to participate in something that they can't access," said Caroline Isaacs, program director for AFSC-Arizona.

In the meantime, the ballot measure would take money from the state's medical marijuana fund and put it toward recruitment and hiring of substance-abuse counselors, mental-health coordinators and other corrections staff.

Rafael Batain, a Tucson resident who spent five years in juvenile detention and 19 years in prison, recalled having an interest in programs at certain prison yards. In most cases, he said, he couldn't take advantage of them due to his location or sentence length.

Since his release, Batain has started a landscaping business largely staffed by workers who've spent time in prison. He also co-founded the Tucson-based If Project, a coalition of law enforcement officers, currently and formerly incarcerated adults ,and community partners that aims to stop youth and adults from ending up in or returning to prison.

In 2018, a few months before President Donald Trump signed the First Step Act for prison reform, he was a guest speaker at a leadership summit at the White House.

Batain said he'd found success despite his time in prison, not because of it.

"Some of the same stuff that I picked up from AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and everything else that actually helped me with my thinking — that stuff could have been made available to me years before," he said. "I ended up going back. But had I been able to earn credit for that, there might not have been another sentence."

Prosecutors contacted by The Arizona Republic either had not taken a public position on the initiative or did not return calls seeking comment.

Reach the reporter at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807. Follow her on Twitter @mpolletta.

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