RAN 11/28 1.By CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS Telegraph Staff
NASHUA Republican presidential hopeful Phil Gramm wants to convert federal prisons into industrial parks, he told local police Monday. The proposal is one component of a three-pronged approach he said he would implement aimed at combating crime if he won the White House next year. Speaking to a roomful of officers at the Nashua Police Department, the Texas senator outlined his goal toward cracking down on criminals while reforming federal prisons and the legal system. Laws barring prisons from selling products crafted by prisoners should be overturned, he said, claiming the profits reaped by the prisons would enable them to defray operating expenses by an estimated 50 percent. "I want to turn our federal prisons into industrial parks," he said, noting prisoners could produce component parts now made overseas. Prisoners should work 10 hours a day, six days a week and leave prison with an employable skill, he said. Those who choose to work would get better housing during incarceration. Ex-convicts also should have a high school diploma equivalent when they gain their freedom, he said, advocating night school to teach literacy. Air conditioners, cable televisions and weight rooms that give prisons a "Holiday Inn" atmosphere should be removed, he said. He noted it cost taxpayers last year $22,000 apiece to house and feed more than 100,000 federal prisoners, more than Harvard University's tuition. Gramm called crime a "major problem," in the country. "I want to get so serious with dealing with violent crime as president that by the end of my first term, my mother can take the bars off her windows and off her doors. I want her to be able to walk around her neighborhood on the darkest night and not be afraid, he said. "And I want all the people she's afraid of today to have bars on their windows." He called for mandatory 10-year sentences for gun-toting felons, 20 years if the gun is discharged and execution if the gunshot results in death. Death row inmates only should have one chance for appeal in federal court, unless "new, clear and convincing" evidence is introduced arging their innocence, he said. "I think we have made a mockery of the criminal justice system in this country," he said. By contrast, he noted that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's would-be assassin in 1933 in Miami was executed five weeks after the assassination attempt. "That kind of link between crime and punishment need to be re-established in America, in my opinion, to give law enforcement the credibility it needs again." Capt. James Mulligan said Nashua police are frustrated when criminals they capture and turn over to the courts are back on the streets. Gramm said he would combat that trend by appointing federal judges who share his views on criminal reforms and support the death penalty. Promoting the concept of local control, Gramm said the purview of the FBI should be to train, advise and assist local and state law enforcement authorities. Incidents such as Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where aggessive federal agents clashed w ith private citizens should be handled locally instead, he said. "I think we've gone entirely too far in having federal law enforcement independent of local input," he said. In response to a question posed by police Lt. Roger Vallaincourt of the Narcotics/Intelligence Division, Gramm said he was a "strong supporter" of so-called "assets forfeiture," a program in which money and motor vehicles u sed in the commission of drug crimes are seized and used to fund drug-related law enforcement. Despite Nashua's reputation as one of the nation's top 10 safest cities, Deputy Police Chief Donald Gross pointed out there has been an influx of criminals from surrounding cities. He said tight budgets have been a struggle, too. Capt. Robert Hodges complained that nearby cities with higher crime rates such as Manchester and Lowell, Mass., receive federal funding. Gramm acknowldged there is a "reverse incentive" in the eligibility requirements for federal money. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Telegraph The daily newspaper of Nashua and P.O. Box 1008 southern New Hampshire since 1869 Nashua, NH 03061 voice: (603) 882-2741 fax: (603) 882-2681