Another View of 'Corrections'
While I appreciate his candor, I strongly resent your contributor's apparent lack of knowledge concerning the Corrections Industry and his seeming need to generalize in order to make/reinforce a point.After listing a group of crimes and social weaknesses that all of us in Corrections could quote from memory, he goes on to malign us all by saying, "All of which is, of course, ignored by the corrections industry." Let me assure those readers who might, for whatever reason, be inclined to jump on that band wagon and tacitly take the good Doctor's word for it..... It ain't so, folks!
Not by any measure. That we have a prison/jail population nationwide that is growing disproportionate to our Legislator's desires to support rehabilitation (and, yes, habilitation) programs to cope with; or that we are overloaded with a myriad of problems, not the least of which is substance abuse; we ALL are painfully aware.
My home state has taken a lead role in prioritizing substance abuse evaluations, in and out patient treatment programs, relapse prevention programs, and aftercare and self help programs. These are "cradle to the grave" innovations... from the day the perpetrator is admitted to pre trial confinement until s/he "maxes out" of our state system, they are evaluated, programmed and caused to become proactive and prosocial where recovery from their addiction(s) are concerned.
Lack of Public Support
Many re-enter the penal system and, sadly, some due to substance abuse. However, the relapse numbers are proportionate to the civilian/free population on a per capita basis.Another aspect which corrections professionals (with open minds and the strength of their convictions) have come to accept is the lack of community acceptance that there is a problem. "What!! In our town/neighborhood/school/workplace? We don't need UA or BA testing..... we don't have a problem".
"If elected, I promise to make prison time more cost effective. Those convicted people don't need all these expensive schools (treatment programs and other crime related programming). They don't deserve it. Make 'em work and pay their own way. Why should you/we have to support them?"
I offer to your contributor and readers this simple equation... as long as there is no public pressure to fund treatment programs in jails and prisons, both adult and juvenile, there will continue to be an increase in substance abuse related recidivism. Period!!
So, instead of issuing a public indictment of all corrections personnel and departments, the nay sayers would do well to campaign for more treatment dollars, more emphasis on professionalizing the chemical dependency treatment industry, and more community education concerning the cause and effect spiral of unrestrained drug and alcohol use/abuse. Thanks for this forum to defend an honorable profession, and one that I take a great deal of pride in being a member of... Corrections.
Larry W.
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