Thanks partly to greatly expanded rehabilitation and treatment programs, Texas sent 11 percent fewer ex-convicts back to prison in recent years a significant drop in recidivism that is being replicated across the country, according to a new study.
The study, to be released today by the Council of State Governments' Justice Center project, shows that Texas' recidivism rate — the number of felons who return to prison within three years after they are discharged or paroled — posted the double-digit drop for prisoners released in 2007. Read more...
Showing posts with label Treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Treatment. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Report: Prison cuts could cause bed shortage in 2 years
In the latest sign that Texas' budget woes could prove even tougher than expected, a new study warned Tuesday that the state could face a shortage of as many as 12,000 prison beds within two years if it whacks corrections programs as planned.
Cuts of up to $600 million over the next two years would hobble rehabilitation, probation and treatment programs that have saved taxpayers almost that much in the past four years, the report said, and the resulting flood of Texans that would be sent to prison would quickly overwhelm the current capacity of state-run lockups. Read more...
Cuts of up to $600 million over the next two years would hobble rehabilitation, probation and treatment programs that have saved taxpayers almost that much in the past four years, the report said, and the resulting flood of Texans that would be sent to prison would quickly overwhelm the current capacity of state-run lockups. Read more...
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sentence reform could save state money
A Texas lawmaker came to Tallahassee to give lawmakers advice about prison reform -- help those with addictions stay out of prison.
Both Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders have pledged to offset the state's nearly $4 billion budget shortfall with cuts to the prison system.
With that in mind, Florida lawmakers heard testimony Monday from Texas state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, who sponsored prison reform legislation in his home state.
The overriding message: Save money by keeping people out of prison with programs that address drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness.
Madden said prisoners can largely be divided into three categories: Those who will never return, those who are guaranteed to return, and those who won't return if they are enrolled in the right programs. It's the third category that gives you the most bang for your buck, he said, so it's worth it to invest in drug and alcohol treatment programs. Read more...
Both Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders have pledged to offset the state's nearly $4 billion budget shortfall with cuts to the prison system.
With that in mind, Florida lawmakers heard testimony Monday from Texas state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, who sponsored prison reform legislation in his home state.
The overriding message: Save money by keeping people out of prison with programs that address drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness.
Madden said prisoners can largely be divided into three categories: Those who will never return, those who are guaranteed to return, and those who won't return if they are enrolled in the right programs. It's the third category that gives you the most bang for your buck, he said, so it's worth it to invest in drug and alcohol treatment programs. Read more...
States Help Ex-Inmates Find Jobs
Faced with yawning budget gaps and high unemployment, California, Michigan, New York and several other states are attacking both problems with a surprising strategy: helping ex-convicts find jobs to keep them from ending up back in prison.
The approach is backed by prisoner advocates as well as liberal and conservative government officials, who say it pays off in cold, hard numbers. Michigan, for example, spends $35,000 a year to keep someone in prison — more than the cost of educating a University of Michigan student. Through vigorous job placement programs and prudent use of parole, state officials say they have cut the prison population by 7,500, or about 15 percent, over the last four years, yielding more than $200 million in annual savings. Michigan spends $56 million a year on various re-entry programs, including substance abuse treatment and job training. Read more...
The approach is backed by prisoner advocates as well as liberal and conservative government officials, who say it pays off in cold, hard numbers. Michigan, for example, spends $35,000 a year to keep someone in prison — more than the cost of educating a University of Michigan student. Through vigorous job placement programs and prudent use of parole, state officials say they have cut the prison population by 7,500, or about 15 percent, over the last four years, yielding more than $200 million in annual savings. Michigan spends $56 million a year on various re-entry programs, including substance abuse treatment and job training. Read more...
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Gov-elect Rick Scott's team bucks GOP ideology, urges easing prison policy to cut costs
TALLAHASSEE — Conservatives have been known to be tough on crime. Now they're saying they have to be tough on criminal justice spending as well.
Rick Scott's "law and order" team is telling Florida's incoming governor, who considers himself a conservative's conservative, to cut costs by diverting nonviolent offenders to drug treatment and requiring inmates to get an education and vocational training.
Those actions, which the transition team said could reduce the number of criminals returning to prison and allow the state to stop building new prisons, sound more like past Democratic suggestions than traditional conservative approaches to criminal justice. Read more...
Rick Scott's "law and order" team is telling Florida's incoming governor, who considers himself a conservative's conservative, to cut costs by diverting nonviolent offenders to drug treatment and requiring inmates to get an education and vocational training.
Those actions, which the transition team said could reduce the number of criminals returning to prison and allow the state to stop building new prisons, sound more like past Democratic suggestions than traditional conservative approaches to criminal justice. Read more...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Mentally ill prisoners get a second chance
Mental health courts are operating in 29 California counties, helping offenders and reducing crime in their communities.
Milton Conley's mental illness has cost him — and society — more than he cares to tally.
An abusive father recruited Conley at age 9 into a life of what he calls "doing wrong things." A psychotic break in his 30s was followed by homelessness and four imprisonments, products of schizophrenia; addiction to crack cocaine and marijuana; and what Conley dolefully labels "being lonely." Read More...
Milton Conley's mental illness has cost him — and society — more than he cares to tally.
An abusive father recruited Conley at age 9 into a life of what he calls "doing wrong things." A psychotic break in his 30s was followed by homelessness and four imprisonments, products of schizophrenia; addiction to crack cocaine and marijuana; and what Conley dolefully labels "being lonely." Read More...
State's picking ex-cons' poison, hopes new drug Suboxone will keep inmates off heroinState's picking ex-cons' poison, hopes new drug Suboxone will keep inmates off heroin
State officials plan to give some junkies an addictive drug while they're in prison and supply them with it when they're paroled, the Daily News has learned.
The experiment, designed to keep inmates off heroin when they hit the streets, is drawing fire from those who fear it will fuel a black market for the pill.
It's called Suboxone and it's the only opiate addiction treatment prescribed by doctors and available from the local pharmacy. Read More...
The experiment, designed to keep inmates off heroin when they hit the streets, is drawing fire from those who fear it will fuel a black market for the pill.
It's called Suboxone and it's the only opiate addiction treatment prescribed by doctors and available from the local pharmacy. Read More...
TYC reduces use of anti-psychotic drugs
Texas: Anti-psychotic drugs meant to treat mental illness were being used instead as chemical restraints on youths incarcerated in Texas Youth Commission facilities, Commissioner Scott Fisher said.
The medications, which have a sedating effect, are intended to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but were used on youths who did not have those diagnoses.
Fisher, a Bedford pastor, said the commission has worked over the past year to implement a system that focuses on matching drugs to need. Statistics show that since last year the commission has throttled back spending on the drugs. Read More...
The medications, which have a sedating effect, are intended to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but were used on youths who did not have those diagnoses.
Fisher, a Bedford pastor, said the commission has worked over the past year to implement a system that focuses on matching drugs to need. Statistics show that since last year the commission has throttled back spending on the drugs. Read More...
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Controversial parole law goes into effect in NH
CONCORD, N.H.—Robert Audette's son was convicted of setting fire to a vacant building in 2007 and is being released from prison nine months before his sentence is up as part of New Hampshire's new mandatory parole law.
Audette, of Hooksett, says he's glad his son, 20-year-old Robert Shawn Audette, is coming home this week, but he believes criminals should serve their full sentences.
"I'm kind of like being put in the middle of two places," Audette said. "Some of the sex offenders are coming out and that worries me. My son wasn't in for a sex crime. But what he did was wrong. They're put in for an amount of time and they should do that amount of time." Read More...
Audette, of Hooksett, says he's glad his son, 20-year-old Robert Shawn Audette, is coming home this week, but he believes criminals should serve their full sentences.
"I'm kind of like being put in the middle of two places," Audette said. "Some of the sex offenders are coming out and that worries me. My son wasn't in for a sex crime. But what he did was wrong. They're put in for an amount of time and they should do that amount of time." Read More...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Governor signs law named after Chelsea King: Measure sets longer prison sentences, tougher parole conditions and targeted treatment for sex offenders
When Doug Lambell remembers searching for Chelsea King six months ago, he feels anew the sad invigoration of a community coming together to stop a family from falling apart.
The 49-year-old banker and father of two from Scripps Ranch remembers showing up in Rancho Bernardo to search for a teenager he didn’t know. He remembers seeing more than 1,000 people standing in the rain and being bowled over by the shared purpose of wanting to bring Chelsea home.
He still cries about it. Read More...
The 49-year-old banker and father of two from Scripps Ranch remembers showing up in Rancho Bernardo to search for a teenager he didn’t know. He remembers seeing more than 1,000 people standing in the rain and being bowled over by the shared purpose of wanting to bring Chelsea home.
He still cries about it. Read More...
Overcrowded prisons open Madison County judge's eyes
With state prisons stuffed beyond capacity and no signs of any slowdown in the volume of drug and theft cases that fill court dockets, Alabama's judges are being asked to rethink the sentences they issue.
The message came last week as all Alabama judges with power to sentence prisoners were invited by Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb to a three-day meeting in Montgomery. Cobb wants to find ways to reduce jail overcrowding and still enforce Alabama's laws in the face of significant state budget problems. Read More...
The message came last week as all Alabama judges with power to sentence prisoners were invited by Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb to a three-day meeting in Montgomery. Cobb wants to find ways to reduce jail overcrowding and still enforce Alabama's laws in the face of significant state budget problems. Read More...
Monday, September 13, 2010
Number of older adults treated for substance abuse doubles
The number of older adults admitted to substance-abuse treatment facilities has more than doubled since 1992, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The organization's latest Treatment Episode Data Set report, released Thursday, shows that the number of patients ages 50 and older has increased from about 102,700 in 1992 to 231,170 in 2008. Read More...
The organization's latest Treatment Episode Data Set report, released Thursday, shows that the number of patients ages 50 and older has increased from about 102,700 in 1992 to 231,170 in 2008. Read More...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Lifers lead classes to prepare other prisoners for success beyond cell walls
CLALLAM BAY -- The idea of lifers teaching release-readiness classes may at first seem counterintuitive.
To inmate Robert Rose, who is beginning to prepare for his release in 13 months from Clallam Bay prison, it is the part of the class that makes it worth attending.
"That is the best part about the class," he said.
"These guys know where we are coming from, and they really care about what happens to us." Read More...
To inmate Robert Rose, who is beginning to prepare for his release in 13 months from Clallam Bay prison, it is the part of the class that makes it worth attending.
"That is the best part about the class," he said.
"These guys know where we are coming from, and they really care about what happens to us." Read More...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Inmates' treatment bottleneck means delays in release
CONCORD – State prison inmates trying to earn parole, many of them with alcohol and drug abuse backgrounds, face a shortage of treatment programs they need to attend as a condition of being set free.
Alan Coburn, a member of the Adult Parole Board, told a committee studying parole issues yesterday that because treatment options are few, many inmates ready for release remain behind bars for up to a year while they wait their turn. Read More...
Alan Coburn, a member of the Adult Parole Board, told a committee studying parole issues yesterday that because treatment options are few, many inmates ready for release remain behind bars for up to a year while they wait their turn. Read More...
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sexual predator treatment is squeezing state budgets
Despite completed sentences, sex offenders are being kept locked up
MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Just off the highway leading to this woodsy Minnesota town, more than 400 men live behind tall fences topped with razor wire. They spend their days shuffling between meals, group therapy sessions and activities such as painting state park signs.
The men are sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences. But because they are still considered dangerous, they have been locked away indefinitely - part of a national trend that began when states were flush with cash. Read more...
MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Just off the highway leading to this woodsy Minnesota town, more than 400 men live behind tall fences topped with razor wire. They spend their days shuffling between meals, group therapy sessions and activities such as painting state park signs.
The men are sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences. But because they are still considered dangerous, they have been locked away indefinitely - part of a national trend that began when states were flush with cash. Read more...
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