Pubdate: Wed, 22 Aug 2007
Source: Daily Tar Heel, The (U of NC, Edu)
Copyright: 2007 DTH Publishing Corp
Contact:  http://www.dailytarheel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1949
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE?

Solution To Overcrowding Doesn't Lie In Bigger Jails

Orange could be the new it-color in Durham if the county's inmate 
population keeps growing at the present rate, according to a jail 
assessment submitted to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in June.

The review of more than 70,000 jail admissions since 1999 reported 
that by 2030, if current procedures stay the same, Durham's jail 
population could double. The increase would require the already 
overcrowded jail system to provide 664 additional beds at a price of 
nearly $60 million.

While county officials are struggling with how to guarantee the 
safety of its citizens without picking their pockets, expanding the 
size of Durham jails is a costly and unnecessary solution to the problem.

Instead, officials should examine ways to reduce the average length 
of jail stays for inmates who committed certain nonviolent 
misdemeanors and fund rehabilitative programs aimed at preventing 
ex-offenders from returning to jail.

The average length of jail stays in Durham is particularly high. Most 
of the long stays are for people charged with nonviolent misdemeanors 
who cannot post bond.

With this practice, a sex offender could have a better chance of 
being released into the community than someone accused of driving 
with a revoked license simply because he could afford to post bond 
whereas the person charged with a lesser crime could not.

One possible solution to prolonged jail stays for economically 
disadvantaged individuals would be to set bond prices according to 
need for individuals who do not pose a threat to the community.

For this to occur without endangering citizens, judges and law 
officials must have as much information as possible about criminals' 
histories, so individuals with a violent criminal history would not 
be released into the community while awaiting trial for a nonviolent 
or misdemeanor offense.

Aside from reducing the length of jail stays, county officials should 
invest in programs that assist former criminals with the challenges 
of reintegrating into society.

A study conducted by RTI International in the Research Triangle found 
that substance abuse treatment programs for drug offenders instead of 
prison terms could save the U.S. criminal justice system millions of dollars.

The study, which compared 130 drug offenders serving time in prison 
in 1995-96 with 150 participants enrolled in the Drug Treatment 
Alternative to Prison Program during the same time, determined that 
not only was the alternative program far less costly, but it was also 
more effective at keeping convicts from returning to jail.

Simply spending taxpayers' dollars to expand prisons is the wrong 
solution to jail overcrowding. Reforming bond policies and instating 
rehabilitative programs could ease the burden on Durham's jails 
without costing its citizens.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom