Response to Angela Lewis

The following is my response to Angela Lewis concerning her efforts for reducing the prison population with programs for non-violent offenders. It was off the cuff and not meant to be negative towards her work, just my personal feelings. She is trying to accomplish what so many have talked about for too many years but have not acted on. She is to be commended. Here is what I wrote to her:

 

I like the concept of treatment vs prison but having been through the system and living with the people you are talking about I personally don’t see it as positive as you present. There are violent offenders in prison who would be less dangerous in the community than some drug offenders. There has to be some classification of the violent offenders and the offenses considered violent offenses. But everything has to be tried and I get that.

It will no doubt reduce the prison population but if the halfway houses are not used properly and as they were intended to be used (as has been the case in Pennsylvania) how is this going to work? There has to be consequences of some sort and with drug offenders there just doesn’t seem to be. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard drug offenders in both county and state prison say the first thing they were going to do when they got out was _____________. You fill in the blank and it won’t take a lot of imagination to get it.

People in prison take the drug programs because they are told they have to or they won’t get parole consideration. Then the parole process is so subjective there is no guarantee. How is that productive? Sure, some will learn and take the programs to heart but does anyone know the real success rate? They are already in prison. Put someone in a halfway house and tell them to take drug program and the outcomes will be either release from the halfway house on completion and evaluation OR go to prison. There is a consequence – prison. You cannot take that away.

As you haven’t been where I have, I have not been in your shoes. I know the definition of addiction but to be honest, I don’t know what being an addict is. I don’t understand it – the part of not being able to stop destructive behavior. When I was first out of the Navy I drank a little but it wasn’t that I had to or felt a need to do it. It wasn’t on a daily basis, mostly only over indulging socially.

Two things happened. One time friends had to drive me home and take me up to our third floor apartment for my wife. Pathetic. The second was that I just decided I didn’t like the way it made me feel. End result is that I just said I am not going to do it and I never got that way again. Today I might have a couple beers or a glass or two of wine in certain situations but no hard liquor. I just don’t want it.

In prison in casual conversation guys who had alcohol or drug offenses would talk about what they did and blame it on the drugs or alcohol and I just didn’t get it. It sounded loud and clear like justification or an excuse for not taking personal responsibility. We had a guy who was in on a double homicide arson for setting a building on fire when he was drunk because someone owed him money. He got two life sentences reduced to 20-40 years (I think on a technicality of some kind) and then got out on parole. Never did I ever hear him take responsibility and it was all because he was drunk. That really bothered me. He didn’t do any programs while in prison and he got out of prison before his maximum sentence. He was a really smart guy and spent lots of time in our Law Library reading about the law.

Anyway, I just don’t understand and have never felt the pull of an addiction. I only know way too many people I had contact with in prison for drug and alcohol offenses talked about going right back to the same lifestyle. My point about violent offenses is that some people, myself included, had violent offenses and did some bad things but many, like myself, were not a danger to ever do those things again and thus they were not a danger to society or the community.

What you and Peg and others are doing is great. Too much money goes to the prison systems and this country imprisons more people than any other country and your state (Wisconsin) and mine (Pennsylvania) are two of the worst. I remember an older statistic of PA, Texas and Wisconsin having the highest rate of the length of time prisoners were kept in prison.

A secondary issue is getting people jobs so they have a life and a purpose. Idle time is useless and dangerous. Unfortunately I don’t think the recent election results were wrong for that issue, but that is just my political view. Unions need to go and people need to adopt attitudes that the government is not responsible for handouts. People need to get off their ass and take control and responsibility. People need to accept they might have to work for minimum wage. Look at all those people now out of work from Hostess. They weren’t willing to work for lower wages and now they aren’t working at all.

Just keep pushing forward for positive change. We need to spend the money going to corrections on education and as you say, programs for addictions that are far less costly than incarceration. It would help is society would change its attitude and accept that people make mistakes and they deserve (in most cases) a second chance.

 

And that is all I have to say about that.

 

Steve Gordon