A sign in front of Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut declares the area a drug-free zone. CREDIT: Christie Thompson
Several hundred yards away from the dealer’s apartment was Kolbe Cathedral High School. It didn’t matter that the deal took place at 10 pm, indoors, and well after Kolbe’s students had left for summer vacation. The undercover officer took the stand during King’s trial and simply pointed to a map. An investigator for the state’s attorney’s office told the jury he measured 911 feet between the apartment and the high school. That was all the prosecutors needed to prove.
Police could have pointed to any spot on that map of Bridgeport: almost the entire city falls within a drug-free zone. But had King committed the same crime in Canaan, Bridgewater, or any of Connecticut’s other suburbs or towns where drug-free zones cover relatively little ground, he likely would have faced one fewer felonies, and three fewer years in prison.
“There’s an additional penalty just for residing in an urban zone,” said Aleks Kajstura, legal director for Prison Policy Initiative. “The law has the power to push people toward pleading guilty to avoid mandatory minimum charges.”
In total, King was sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was later reduced, when courts found his lawyer had failed to advise him of his option to settle out of court. He is now in custody on a different charge and could not be reached for comment. His lawyers declined to comment on the case.
Drug-free zones seem like a common sense solution to what many consider a big problem: to keep drug dealers from selling to children, increase the penalties for drug crimes near schools. States started passing versions of the law in the 1980’s, riding the wave of panic over crack cocaine and the mounting enthusiasm for the War on Drugs.
“Schools have long been the target for drug pushers looking to find new dependent sources to sell their drugs supply,” said former Shelton, Connecticut Mayor Michael Pacowta in a 1989 hearing on the state’s bill. “[This] sends a strong message to the state’s drug dealers to stay away from the children.”