America, the land of the free, imprisons more people per capita than any other country in the world. For every 10,000 Americans, 69 make their homes in prisons, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group. That translates to some two million prisoners nationwide.
That load got a little lighter on January 20, 2001. That is when outgoing President Bill Clinton, as one of his last official acts, pardoned 140 people, ranging from Patricia Hearst Shaw to his half-brother Roger Clinton to Henry G. Cisneros, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But the pardon that drew the most eyebrows upwards was for Marc Rich, a fugitive commodities trader indicted in 1983 for tax fraud and trading oil illegally with Iran, who fled to Switzerland rather than face those charges. Rich was represented by Jack Quinn, former White House counsel, who plead his case at the highest level, he told the media, after U.S Attorney Mary Jo White gave him the "back of the hand" on the matter, refusing to consider it.
Rich's ex-wife, the songwriter and New York socialite Denise Rich, is a major donor to the Democratic Party. She has given $867,000 to Democratic Party committees since 1993, when Clinton first took office, according to analysis by the Los Angeles Times. In the 2000 elections alone, she gave more than $300,000 to Democratic candidates and party committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Denise Rich lobbied the president to pardon her former husband, writing to Clinton on December 6, "I support his application with all my heart," and that "you have the power in this matter not just to show mercy, but to do justice."
Rich denies that her contributions had anything to do with her success. "Her political fund-raising and charitable activities have absolutely nothing to do with the pardon granted to her former husband," states a statement released by her publicist. Meanwhile, Clinton says he pardoned Rich because he was convinced "on the merits" by Quinn, who made his case based on Rich's major philanthropy for Israeli charities and an argument that other people who had executed similar tax schemes had not been prosecuted.
For the families of the nation's prisoners, however, it is hard to believe these denials would pass a laugh test. They know that they do not have the same sort of access to a presidential pardon that a Marc Rich does, with his high-level connections, fund-raising and otherwise.
The fact is, prisoners have become a growth industry in this country, and the private prison industry dispensing campaign contributions like any other company vying to secure a government contract. In 1998 alone, private prison corporations and executives, such as companies such as Corrections Corporation of America, distributed more than half a million dollars - $540,000 - to candidates in 25 states, according to analysis of campaign finance records by the National Institute on Money in State Politics. To put that amount in perspective, it is about the same as what the National Rifle Association gave at the state level over the same time period. In addition, private prison companies help fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, DC-based public policy organization that supports conservative legislators, and lobbies for tough criminal justice legislation in the states. Tougher crime laws, of course, help keep the supply of prisoners up.
When a president gives special treatment to a fugitive like Marc Rich, we have to ask whether this country truly follows the principle of "liberty and justice for all." Perhaps the Pledge of Allegiance should end with the phrase "liberty and justice, particularly for those with money, connections, and plenty of campaign contributions."
