Criminal rehabilitation in prison has a lousy record, so when a rehab program works, it deserves all the encouragement it can get - and so it is with the Augusta Transitional Center, and other such centers around the state and nation.
Basically, the centers reduce the number of discharged inmates who commit new crimes and have to be re-incarcerated. This is because the transition centers provide a period of time, from six months to three years, for the men to readjust to life on the outside and to prepare themselves to stay on the outside. The centers are a kind of halfway house where offenders acquire job training, assistance with job placement, cognitive programming, and related support systems such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
"Years ago we would just lock them up and throw away the key," says Superintendent Ronald Brawner, who's been at the Augusta facility for the seven years it's been open. "Now these guys want a fresh start... Without having some sort of transition, they leave the prison without having tools" to stay out of trouble.
He's right, of course. Those who have a place to stay and to learn a trade are less likely to commit crimes.
Candidates for the re-entry program must be physically and mentally able to work and have a clean disciplinary record three months before they're released. Nearly 9 million inmates cycle in and out of state and federal transitional facilities each year and only 19 percent of them return to prison, compared to 29 percent that return who don't transition.
Moreover, the re-entry program saves taxpayers money on two counts: first because more ex-inmates are out and working instead of returning to prison and, second, those who get to take advantage of the transition contribute to paying for their own room, board and toiletries.
This is win-win for everybody which is why legislatures in Georgia and elsewhere should allocate more of their criminal justice budgets to transitional centers. They really work. Our state plans to increase the number of transitional center beds by 30 percent over the next year, says the Department of Corrections, which is a good start, but more facilities would be even better.
The Corrections Department budget, like any bureaucracy, should be encouraged to spend its money on programs that work and rid itself of the programs that don't.
Comments
This is government smoke for justifying the use of taxpayer money. The tiny percentage that profit from this project is minuscule. If the nonviolent inmates were sent to a military style work camp and taught a trade, as well as basic reading and math skills, and where their release date was contingent on their willingness and ability to prepare themselves for reintroduction into society, prison rehabilitation would be a reality. Any program that is less demanding is just bureaucratic b.s. .
The postings of factchecker and patriciathomas are spot-on, and beautifully worded. I am normally in direct opposition to their views, but this time I could not possibly agreee with them any more that I do. Maybe 2009 holds some promise after all!
Why next thing you know they will be requireing inmates must have a High School diploma or at least a GED before release.
dissman..that would actually be a great idea.
Prison should be a school, instead of a thug pit. If all inmates educated themselves, they would stand a better chance of breaking the cycle of doom. It only stands to reason, lack of, or poor judgement and social understanding is what put them in prison to start with. There are those who should be locked away permanently or put to death, but the majority could become beneficial citizens. I think all prisoners should be required to go to school. None being allowed to exit confinement without at least a two-year or four-year degree, depending on length of confinement.
disssman, I don't see why that would be such a bad idea.
Not certain what your starting point is with your reasoning factchecker, my comment assumed the person put in the training center was already incarcerated because of an inability or unwillingness to support himself. My concept was a way to deal with those that missed the early training and education the rest of us took advantage of, not a way for anyone to choose as a viable alternative to education.
How about actually making prisoners serve their full time, and in a prison that makes them work, not work out? What happened to chain gangs? Sorry, is that just too hard? Is that embarrassing for the prisoners? Tough! If it were easy, then it wouldn't be prison, and these dirtbags would fear the law because would be rock hard on them. Get caught with a few bags of coke in Singapore. You won't be sitting on your cot reading magazines or watching tv. You'll be clearing jungle in tropical heat with chains on. Guess what their crime rate is compared to ours. They, and many other countries don't live in fear of criminals because they don't let the American Criminal, I mean American Civil Liberties Union control the courts. The ACLU is only interested in criminals rights, not law abiding citizens rights, like the right to live in safety. Makes me want to throw up!
Once you get the lawyers, criminals and the rights of the criminals all mixed together along with the Justice System, the Criminal Justice System is out the window.
Unforgiven, you said lawyers and criminals. Aren't you being redundant?
I guess 50,000 a yesr for the rest of their lives is a smaller price to pay factchecker. There ain't no better idea. We pay for them to get degrees now, so why would it be any different my way? If they became educated in the public schools, chances are, they wouldn't wind up in the Criminal Justice System to begin with. They aren't going to work, thanks to some liberal [filtered word] Legal Organization, so why not make them learn? At least, when they DID get out, they would have no excuse for coming back. Yeah, if you want to go through the hell that is prison life, I think we could reward you with a degree. Go For It!
A recent study by Pew reports that more than 1 in 100 adults in the US are incarcerated. We have just 5 percent of the world's population and a quarter of the world's prisoners. In fact we rank number one in incarceration rates and number eight in crime rates on the world stage. (If incarceration were a deterrent, we should be doing much better on crime!) We have emptied our nation's mental health facilities into jail and made criminals out of substance abusers with no access to community treatment. Half of all people in prison are there for non-violent offenses. Many were caught trying to escape poverty by committing crimes to supplement/substitute for wages that are less than livable. These people have a very different frame of reference than most. Tougher sentencing could deter some but the thought that chain gangs etc would have an effect on those that are suffering from mental illness, substance dependence or abject poverty is absurd. That is the popular thinking that has produced our extraordinary rate of incarceration which is breaking the bank and wreaking havoc on communities across the nation. America both deserves better and can do better.
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