Khalil Rushdan

opinion contributor

My last day in prison didn’t seem real. I was serving time for a murder I didn’t commit. I had arranged a drug transaction that turned deadly. A prosecutor failed to convict the real killer and charged me with the murder instead.

After 15 years, a judge recognized this as prosecutorial misconduct and vindictive prosecution and overturned my conviction.

When I got the news that I was going home, I hid my tears of joy because men don’t cry in front of other men in prison.

But when I returned to the dormitories to gather my things, my friends weren’t hiding their tears of joy for me.

I would use my new freedom to fight for theirs.

Drug offenses drive incarceration rates

Our country is in a crisis. Since 1970, the number of people incarcerated in the U.S. has increased by 700 percent to 2.3 million people behind bars. I joined the ACLU of Arizona’s Campaign for Smart Justice to advocate against needlessly locking people up.

Our campaign just released an eye-opening analysis of Arizona’s prison system. It’s part of the ACLU’s 50-State Blueprints project — the first-ever comprehensive, state-by-state analysis developed to examine the drivers of incarceration and recommend better ways to manage criminal justice and reduce racial disparities.

The report confirms much of what I observed in prison. For example, drug offenses are driving incarceration rates in Arizona. I’m not surprised because many of the men I knew in prison were reminiscent of the boys in my childhood. We sold drugs because it was the only way to put food on the table. It was a neighborhood norm.

Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining prisons is astronomical, about $1 billion per year, leaving less money to invest in resources that could improve those same neighborhoods.

What we can do to break the cycle

The paradoxes continue regarding the length of people’s sentences. Arizona limits the amount of time people can shave off their sentences by taking part in educational and vocational programs. The few programs that were available when I was incarcerated were outdated and, frankly, useless. People aren’t receiving the rehabilitative programming they need to ensure success upon release.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Over the years, state legislators have passed laws that mandate stricter punishments with little opportunity for rehabilitation. The result is 20 percent growth in the rate of imprisonment from 2000 to 2016. Arizona now has the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the United States.

Our research offers a path forward.

Our Legislature could amend our state’s sentencing laws , which are some of the strictest in the nation, to reduce sentencing ranges, especially for drug offenses.

, which are some of the strictest in the nation, to reduce sentencing ranges, especially for drug offenses. We could expand opportunities for people to reduce their sentences .

. We can ensure county attorney’s offices are fostering a culture that favors substance abuse treatment , mental health care, and restorative justice programs and treats incarceration as the last option, not the first.

, mental health care, and restorative justice programs and treats incarceration as the last option, not the first. If we cut the prison population in our state in half by 2025, we would have saved Arizona taxpayers more than $1 billion. We would prevent countless families from being torn apart.

On my last day in prison, I stepped outside, and the sun felt different on my skin. The air I inhaled felt different in my lungs. It was a new day.

I envision Arizona one day ending its extreme overuse of incarceration and investing in people, not prisons.

Arizona is ready for a new day.

Khalil Rushdan is community partnership coordinator at ACLU of Arizona. Reach him at krushdan@acluaz.org; on Twitter, @RushdanKhalil.

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