The Beltway Sniper
The coming year will see the sentencing of John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, the two suspects accused of a series of sniper-style shootings across the Washington D.C.-area and other states. While the debate remains over what jurisdiction will first sentence the pair, Maryland, Virginia and Alabama all have capital punishment, making it inevitable that the death penalty will be an issue in their cases.

In the weeks leading up to the capture of Muhammad and Malvo, corrections agencies in the Washington D.C-area were also doing what they could to help the investigation. Following the first few shootings in early October, staff from the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Corrections assisted local law enforcement.

"Our staff, including officers, counselors, case workers and others, worked around the clock receiving phone calls from the community on the tip line for the first two weeks, until it was redirected to the FBI," says Arthur Wallenstein, Director of the Montgomery County DOC. '"Other staff members provided security at police headquarters so officers could be redirected to street patrol."

According to Bill Sondervan, Commissioner of the Maryland Department of Corrections, the DOC partnered with local law enforcement for intelligence-gathering purposes.

"We worked with the local police agencies in their investigative efforts to see if there was a connection to any inmate. We ran data on inmates released on parole to those areas," Sondervan said.

Supreme Court
The High Court made news several times over the past year in corrections-related cases. In June, decisions on a number of issues came down one after the other.

First, a divided court decided that sex offenders can be denied privileges if they refuse to participate in treatment programs that require them to accept responsibility for their crimes. This ruling overturned a previous U.S. appeals court ruling that had found the loss of privileges for non-participation was a violation of their constitutional right against self-incrimination.

A landmark decision against capital punishment for offenders with mental retardation followed. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court reversed its decision on the issue from 13 years earlier, with the majority citing changes in public attitude on the issue. At the time of the court's first ruling, only two states prohibited executing mentally retarded inmates, yet by 2002, 16 states had also outlawed the practice.

Later, in a 7-2 ruling, the Justices overturned the death sentences of nearly 150 convicted killers across the country, deciding that juries, not judges, must be the ones to hand down a death sentence. The court said that a capital punishment sentence handed down by a judge violates a defendant's constitutional right to a trial by jury. States across the country continue to deal with this decision and recently, a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether the high court's decision should apply retroactively to dozens of condemned killers.

At the end of June, Alabama's "hitching posts" were found to be unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment's cruel and unusual guidelines. The practice of chaining disruptive inmates to an outdoor post, revived in 1995 and then abandoned in 1998, "unnecessarily and wantonly inflicted pain" said Justice John Paul Stevens. The court added that an inmate subjected to the chaining could sue.

Towards the end of the year the court also heard arguments on the controversial "Three Strikes" law and Megan's Law. Decisions in those cases are expected in 2003.

Death Penalty
Capital punishment was as controversial this year as it has been in its long history in the criminal justice system.

The biggest news was made in Illinois as Governor George Ryan followed up his three year-old moratorium on executions by holding clemency hearings before the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. This occurred as Ryan hinted at blanket clemency for all death row inmates, yet recanted this move a short time later.

Earlier in December, a group of retired state and federal judges recommend Gov. Ryan to commute the death sentences of any inmate whose conviction was tainted by flaws in the state's capital punishment system. As his administration draws to a close at the end of this year, Ryan is expected to make his decision.

Elsewhere, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening issued a moratorium on executions in May until the state could complete a study on whether there was racial bias in the practice. Then, in November, his predecessor Governor-elect Robert Ehrilich followed through on his campaign promise, indicating he would lift the ban immediately after taking office in January 2003.

Other states making news included Indiana, which raised the age for executions from 16 to 18, Alabama, where lethal injection replaced the electric chair as the primary means of execution and Nebraska, where lawmakers rejected a similar initiative but approved a bill requiring juries - not judges - to determine death sentences.

Budget Crunch
The past year brought with it numerous budget issues as state departments of correction tried to tighten their belts, while also maintaining public safety. As recently as December, the states of Kentucky and Oklahoma tried to release non-violent inmates to ease both overcrowding and the cost of supervision for these offenders.

Meanwhile, states such as Georgia, Utah, Nebraska and Alabama are mulling over sentencing shifts that would give the courts more options for diverting offenders from prison in the first place.

States such as Virginia and Ohio closed prisons in 2002, reassigning both inmates and staff, while states like Iowa and Illinois were forced to lay off employees. Oklahoma was able to delay furloughs for employees after the legislature added another $9.8 million into the state prison system to offset a payroll shortage.

Alabama and Overcrowding
The state of Alabama was in the news throughout the year battling overcrowding in its prisons. In June, a judge fined the state $2.16 million in response to a 1992 lawsuit that counties filed to recoup money they spent feeding and housing inmates awaiting transfer to state lockups.

Recently, DOC Commissioner Mike Haley informed the judge that he could not pay the fine, since money from the prison budget, which is approved by the Legislature, does not include funds to cover fines. Yet, county officials continue to bring inmates from their facilities to state prisons, with 163 inmates recently arriving over a two-day span and more expected as the year draws to a close.

Meanwhile, the state also faces a ruling from a federal judge that its facility for women is overcrowded, understaffed and unsafe. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson has given Commissioner Haley and Governor Don Siegelman until the end of the year to come up with a plan for the Tutwiler prison, referring to it as "a ticking time bomb."

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