Speech given by: Brother Walter Ridley on behalf of the Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr., Senior Pastor of Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Washington, Maryland and the Right Bishop Adam J. Richardson of the 2nd Episcopal District AMEC.

Location: Lowe House Judiciary Hearing Room, Annapolis, MD

Date and Time: Friday, October 27th 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Greetings and thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of this crucial social justice cause in Maryland.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) is the twelfth largest religious denomination in the United States, with 2.5 million members. For more than 200 years, the denomination has been in the forefront of the struggle for equal justice for all people.

I am the Senior Pastor of Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Washington, Maryland., representing 12,000 members. I am speaking at the request of Bishop Adam J. Richardson of the AMEC’s 2nd Episcopal District, who represents 150,000 members of AMEC congregations in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., who, unfortunately, could not be here today. There are more than 100 AMEC congregations throughout Maryland. Joining me today is Bro. Walter Ridley, currently serving as the Church Administrator at Ebenezer A.M.E. He also serves as the Chair of the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards and is former Director of Corrections in Washington, D.C.

I am here to support the repeal of all mandatory minimum drug sentences for non-violent offenders today because of the tremendous harm that mandatory drug sentencing laws have caused to poor and oppressed communities, especially African-Americans.

In Maryland, African-American people comprise 28 percent of the general population and roughly the same percentage of drug users; however, we comprise 68 percent of people arrested for drug offenses in Maryland and 90 percent of those incarcerated.

Jesus taught us that “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:43-44) Even if these sentencing laws were not intended to have this racially-biased effect, we must recognize that racial injustice is the fruit this tree bears.

There’s something terribly wrong with this picture, and we believe that the only way to correct this injustice is to allow judges to determine appropriate sentencing for drug offenders on a case-by-case basis.

This is not a trivial issue for the AMEC’s 2nd District: Indeed, our seven-point vision explicitly includes “Ministry to the Incarcerated.” How better can we serve this population than to ensure that people are not incarcerated any longer than a judge deems necessary? Our other vision-points include: “Ministry to Youth and Young Adults”; “Ministry to Men”; and “Ministry for Health and Personal Development.” All of these missions would be helped by repealing mandatory minimum sentencing.

The Bishop and I are committed to making a priority of mobilizing our congregations in support of sentencing reform. We hope that we can tell our congregations the good news that their state legislators supported just and compassionate sentencing laws.

This is not an abstract issue for me: As an AMEC minister, I know several families suffering from the loss of their loved ones to excessive mandatory drug sentences.

Over the years, numerous members of the Church have been severely impacted by the sentences received by a mother, a father, a parent or significant other. The offender, in several cases, was a low-level drug dealer who had a major drug problem and could either not afford or obtain meaningful treatment in our great state of Maryland. The result, as it often is: a family is left without the major bread winner, children are left without a parent and to complicate matters, they were already in a depressed economic condition. The children frequently become extremely expensive “wards of the state.”

The parent who is left behind will unfortunately, yet likely, become dependent upon the state or become involved in a life of crime and drug addiction in order to survive. Ultimately, everyone loses: the children, the parents, the tax payer and the individual who is sentenced to a long prison term where treatment is not available.

I am moved to fight for these families, and I know that other AMEC congregations in our district also have experienced the devastating effects of these laws. Many have felt helpless, knowing that judges’ hands were tied by the legislature.

Now they have the opportunity to do something about it. By working to change these laws, AMEC members can help people in their communities and countless others in similar situations. We can restore justice to our state’s criminal justice system and restore hope and the opportunity for healing to those whose drug addiction has gotten them into a legal mess.

Make no mistake: Neither I nor AMEC’s congregations are naive to the problems of drug addiction and drug trafficking. I have seen the challenges of substance abuse.

I am reminded of a man that spent more than seven years in a Maryland prison without treatment services. He was released while still struggling with an active addiction.

If we could have provided treatment in lieu of incarceration, he would not have posed a threat to the community at large. Fortunately, the Church was able to respond to his needs and provided the requisite supportive services in order for him to become a success case. We contend that recidivism for substance abusers can be significantly impacted by programs requiring treatment for addicted offenders. Recidivism will be reduced and human lives positively impacted. Therefore, it is imperative that mandatory minimum drug sentences, leading towards lengthy periods of incarceration in the State of Maryland, be repealed.

I recognize that some drug dealers are immoral profiteers, exploiting others’ addictions to get rich at any cost, including the use of violence and intimidation, damaging entire communities because of their greed. Fortunately, repealing mandatory minimums would still allow judges to impose long periods of incarceration when necessary.

However, many of the people currently given mandatory sentences are themselves victims — of poverty, despair, addiction, abusive family situations, and so on. That should not absolve them of their responsibility to society, but judges should be given the opportunity to consider each and every defendant’s role in the offense, likelihood of committing a future offense, or the role of addiction and the possibility of recovery.

Those of us sitting here in this room today are not omniscient. We cannot pretend to know all of the facts about each and every individual who will someday be charged with a drug offense. We cannot know, for certain, exactly what sentence would be most appropriate for each and every offender based solely on the quantity of drugs involved. That’s why we have judges. That is why justice can only be served on a case-by-case basis. Some people might deserve a lengthy prison sentence; for others, some combination of a shorter stay in prison, combined with treatment and community service, might be best. That is a matter for judges, not legislators, to decide.

If I thought that there was any chance repealing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders would increase drug abuse and addiction, I would not be here today. Instead, this bill will reduce drug addiction by giving people a chance to transform their lives. All people, even those arrested on drug charges, are precious children of God with inherent worth and dignity. We can’t paint them all with the same brush through a mechanized system of sentencing that fails to give each one fair consideration and an individually-tailored sentencing and treatment package. Such dehumanization feeds the feelings of alienation and disenfranchisement that foster drug abuse and addiction and erode entire communities’ respect for the justice system. We can do better. We must do better. I implore you to do everything in your power to repeal mandatory minimum drug sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Thank you.