strated his “commitment” to the state of New York by proposing the harshest drug laws in the United States. Governor Rockefeller argued not only that drug dealers be imprisoned for life but also that plea-bargaining should be forbidden in such cases and that even juvenile offenders should receive life sentences. Rockefeller drug laws, which were enacted a few months later, were quite severe. The penalty for possessing four ounces of an illegal drug or for selling two ounces was a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life. These new for=und laws also included a provision that established a mandatory prison system for many second felony convictions, regardless of the crime or its circumstances. Meanwhile, Rockefeller proudly states he enacted the “toughest drug crime laws in the country”. It was not until the Anti-drug abuse act was incorporated in 1986 won the campaign to revive federal mandatory minimums. Nelson Rockefeller set in New York a shift in national sentencing policies, but since he became b=Vice President a year in a half later he did not have to deal with its consequences. In 1984, Mario Cuomo was elected governor of New York state government was in bad condition. The inmate population had more than doubled since the passage of the Rockefeller drug laws and the prison systems in the United States were dangerously overcrowded. Although Cuomo was a liberal who opposed mandatory minimum drug sentences President Ronald Reagan had just launched the war on drugs; it was not the best time to go against mainstream America. Cuomo, unable to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws left no choice but to build more prisons. Building these prisons however would require money. In 1981, New York voters defeated a $500 million bond issue for a new prison construction. The only alternate source of financing this construction would be to use the states Urban Development Corporation funds to build the prisons. T...
