Pubdate: Mon, 03 Sep 2001
Source: Kentucky Post (KY)
Copyright: 2001 Kentucky Post
Contact:  http://www.kypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/661
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

A REVOLVING DOOR

Nearly a third of the inmates who leave Kentucky prisons wind up back 
behind bars within two years, a report issued last month found.

The report, which examined 1998 statistics, said 31.6 percent of the 
inmates who had left prison after serving their sentence, receiving parole 
or winning shock probation were back within two years. While plenty high 
enough, that recidivism rate was actually down from a 10- year high of 34.7 
percent in 1994.

Moreover, the Kentucky Department of Corrections report found an even 
higher recidivism among prisons who had been involved with drugs. 
Thirty-six percent of the violent drug offenders and 32 percent of drug 
offenders, in general, were back in prison within two years.

The numbers tell a story of the failure of our criminal justice and penal 
systems to deal squarely with a major contributor to crime - drugs.

While the public and politicians may clamor for tougher laws and harsher 
sentences, until dealing with drug addiction and treatment for dependency 
becomes a real focus of criminal justice and corrections, expect the prison 
door to continue to revolve.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager