Why Prosecutors Should #VisitAPrison

By Molly Gill

Long before I worked at FAMM, I wanted to be a prosecutor and put people in prison.

I went to the University of Minnesota Law School, and I quickly fell in love with sentencing law. I worked in the school’s misdemeanor prosecution clinic, prosecuting people for traffic violations and other minor offenses. Then, I became a law clerk and helped the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s gang unit prosecute gun possession offenses and murders. I got to see every part of the prosecution process up close. I did a lot of writing and research. But I also argued motions, drafted jury instructions, prepared witnesses, responded to appeals from people in prison, watched a lot of trials, and calculated a lot of sentences.

One of my classes required a visit to the state prison in Stillwater, Minnesota. It was my first time seeing the real-life consequences of all those sentencing guideline calculations and guilty plea negotiations. It was a life-changing experience.

I was struck by what many people notice when they visit prisons: the dreary, noisy, crowded conditions; the constant banging of bars and heavy doors; the sense of boredom and hopelessness; the tiny cells housing two or even three people; correctional staff who were stressed out but plugging along in challenging circumstances.

But the moment that changed everything was when we stood in front of a long row of barred cells. The people in them looked out at me like caged animals. My faith and empathy kicked in then. I thought, We can’t put children of God in cages unless they are so dangerous there is no other way to keep us safe.

My prosecution work continued after that visit, but with more consideration of the consequences of what we were doing. Most gun possession cases we prosecuted required mandatory minimum sentences, and increasingly, those punishments seemed excessive and unnecessary. Was this person so dangerous they needed a year in prison, or five? Would a person’s family stay intact through this sentence and be there for support at the end of it? Would a person find the help they needed for their drug and mental health problems in prison?

By the end of law school, I decided that I wanted to reform our sentencing laws. I’ve been fortunate to spend the last 15 years at FAMM doing just that.

Now, FAMM is asking lawmakers across the country — including district attorneys and their prosecutors — to visit prisons and see for themselves what our sentencing laws and prison policies do. Fair and Just Prosecution has partnered with FAMM in the effort to get prosecutors to visit prisons.

Prosecutors need to visit prisons. It’s prosecutors who decide most sentences, through plea bargains and the use of mandatory minimum sentences. They should know what those sentences mean and achieve. The best and fastest way to learn that is to visit a prison and talk to the people they put there.

Prosecutors should feel and see the environment of prison. They should talk to correctional staff and incarcerated people about their needs. They should drive the miles and hours from their cities to prisons far from home and family, to appreciate how hard it is to maintain family ties. Most people going to prison need drug and mental health treatment, good health care, and meaningful education and job skills. Prosecutors should find out if prisons are providing them.

Prosecutors need to visit prisons because increasing public safety isn’t just catching “the bad guys” and locking them up. Public safety is also about who we put in prison, whether the experience makes people better or worse, and when enough is enough.

You can ask your lawmakers to visit a prison by taking action here.

Molly Gill is FAMM’s Vice President of Policy.