Pubdate: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 1999, The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://www.dmregister.com/ Author: William Petroski HARD TIME MAY NOT BE ANSWER Prevention starts early, some say Oakdale, Ia. - Mike Nellist of Sioux City is back behind bars for the third time, at a cost to Iowa taxpayers of about $18,500 a year. Nellist, 25, is like many young inmates. He is defiant and refuses to take the criminal justice system seriously. Iowa politicians often say they want to send criminals a message. So they build more prisons and pass tougher sentencing laws. Nellist is not listening. He's among 27 percent of Iowa's 7,300 inmates who have been in prison more than once. "I have so far spent three or four years of my life in prison," Nellist said while playing checkers with a fellow inmate in a cell house at the Oakdale state prison. "I know what this place is all about. It is for some people to make a lot of money. This place doesn't help nothing. All this place is to me is like a kiddie camp." All Iowa's new inmates - an average of 380 per month - are brought to the state prison at Oakdale, just north of Iowa City. About half the inmates have committed new crimes. The other half go to prison after getting in trouble on probation, on parole or in other community corrections programs. After an orientation period and processing at Oakdale, most of the inmates are assigned to other state prisons. Most of Oakdale's 940 inmates are men, but there are facilities here that house about 75 women, including some who are pregnant. The prison includes a 23-bed psychiatric hospital. Donald Black, a University of Iowa psychiatrist who wrote a book titled "Bad Boys, Bad Men," is familiar with defiant inmates like Nellist. He said one of psychiatry's "dirty little secrets" is that it lacks effective medications or therapies for anti-social personalities - a diagnosis that fits most prison inmates, he said. "However, the natural history of this disorder is that it tends to get less troublesome with age. This is why "three strikes and you"re out" laws or the very extended prison sentences make no sense," Black said. The criminal careers of these people peak in their late teens and early 20s and rapidly taper off, Black said. By the time they hit their mid-30s and early 40s, most of them are fairly safe, from society's point of view, he said. One percent of Iowa's inmates are 61 or older. Two-thirds are 35 or younger, including 9 percent who are 20 or younger. Because defiant attitudes are prevalent among new inmates, the job of running Iowa's prisons is more challenging than ever. "The younger ones that we get really have no idea or concept of respect for anyone in authority," said Oakdale Warden Rusty Rogerson. "It is part of our society." Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, a former public defender, said he sees a lack of conscience when he compares many of today's convicts with criminals from 20 years ago. "These are people who are trying to immediately gratify themselves, and they don't care what it takes to get done what they want," Sarcone said. "There is no thinking about anything. That is a big change." Lettie Prell is a researcher for the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning and has studied Iowa prisoners extensively. She agreed with Black that many Iowa inmates can be classified as anti-social, based on widely accepted psychological tests. But she said it is clear that repeat offense rates and arrest rates decline as Iowa offenders get older. Dustin Avery, 22, of the Waterloo area is serving a 14-year sentence at the Fort Dodge prison for selling marijuana and for a host of other offenses. He said he believes long prison sentences have no impact on criminals. "I think you are about as rehabilitated after your first week at Oakdale as you would be after numerous years in prison," Avery said. "If you are going to do the same things over again, you are going to do them whether you are in for 30 days or 30 years." State officials are attempting to work with some Iowans who repeatedly commit crimes by providing courses intended to change the way criminals think. Offenders in the classes are encouraged to reconsider how they handle stressful situations, including marital disputes and job problems, and to act less impulsively and in a more constructive manner. This approach, known as "cognitive behavioral therapy," may help offenders with mild anti-social personalities, but more research is needed, said Black. If there is a solution to Iowa's prison crowding problem, it must include programs to help children with education and human services needs, said state Sen. Gene Maddox, R-Clive, co-chairman of a legislative prison budget subcommittee. The idea is that it is easier to turn someone's life around when he or she is a child than when that person is a delinquent teen-ager or a troubled adult. The National Institute of Justice released a report last year on crime prevention programs that have proved successful. They included a host of efforts with children: frequent home visits by nurses and other professionals for infants; classes with weekly home visits by preschool teachers; family therapy and parent training for delinquent and at-risk adolescents; and several school programs, including teaching of social competency skills. Sarcone believes that the cycle of crime and punishment will be difficult to break unless Iowa families have a major role. "If you grow up in an environment where there is nobody to tuck you in at night and to say "I love you" or give you a warm meal, gee whiz, what do we expect these kids to turn out to be?" he asked. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck