U.S. House of Representatives

HCR 256 - LIFER GROUP RESOLUTION

This resolution has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee and has been assigned a number: HCR 256. Please write to your Representative and urge him/her to become a co-sponsor. Refer to the number above. Also write to your senators and send them a copy of the resolution urging them-to introduce a similar resolution in the Senate.

RESOLUTION: WHEREAS wardens have found that prisoners serving life terms (lifers) tend to be more reliable and less prone to disruptive behavior than most other prisoners; and WHEREAS lifers have been organizing themselves into Lifer Groups since the 1960's; and WHEREAS Lifer Groups have been vehicles for many imaginative and creative programs by prisoners, including: - Counseling programs for inner city youths at risk; - Workshop programs supplying prosthetic and other equipment to hospitals and health centers and toys to child care centers and children's hospitals; - Providing entertainment and cultural awareness to their fellow prisoners in form of dramatic productions, poetry groups, etc.; and WHEREAS the products and programs that Lifer Groups produce are conspicuous examples of prison accomplishment, achieved in democratic organizations by high status individuals, and therefore serve as models for other prisoners to emulate; and WHEREAS with the increasing number of life sentences and the virtual elimination of parole for lifers, those serving life sentences will make up an increasing proportion of our prison population; and WHEREAS with increasing numbers of lifers facing the certainty of dying in prison, there is danger that a previously cooperative and dependable population will become an antagonistic population; and WHEREAS a lively, vibrant Lifer Group will do much to prevent this result, at the same time providing prisoners with a chance to partially recompense society for the wrong they have done; and WHEREAS Lifer Groups require as much autonomy as is consistent with security, but no financing and no outside sponsorship; BE IT RESOLVED that the Congress urge the Departments of Corrections of the various states and the Bureau of Prisons of the federal government to encourage the formation of Lifer Groups in their penal institutions and to provide as much help for them as is possible and consistent with the reasonable organizational autonomy.

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