Something Other than Prison

Something other than prison, or also know as Alternatives to Incarceration. The Sentencing Commission hosted a symposium on this topic last month, finally recognizing publicly that long prison sentences often do more damage than good -- higher recidivism rates, broken families, and ruined lives. Most of us in this business know there is a point of no return, when the shock value of prison has worn off, and our clients just learn how to do time. Such institutionalization does little to help them or our society upon release.

The materials from this conference are posted by link on our website, thanks to Paul Rashkind. The ideas are surprisingly open-minded and tuned to rehabilitation rather than punishment.

One of the more popular programs is the Second Chance Act, which your incarcerated clients already know about. You know the old rant -- halfway house the last 6 months of the sentence, or 10% of your sentence, whichever is less. Now, BOP can place prisoners in a half-way house (Community Confinement Center) the last twelve months, without regard to any percentage.
There are other benefits to the Second Chance Act -- BOP must assist with re-entry, treatment, education and employment. In other words, really help our clients re-integrate into society while lessening the risk of recidivism.

One other program of note is sort of a drug court for those on supervised release. It is an intensive program designed for those high risk drug addicts, and one incentive is reduced SR term. Thanks to the enlightened folks in our district, Kansas is looking to implement some variation of this program in the near future.

Finally, it seems, we're going in the right direction.
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