Friday, September 16, 2016

A chamber of horrors. This is the USA people. Are we proud of our inmate rehabilitation and record?

September 15, 2016
By Timothy Williams

A privately operated Mississippi prison (click here) that a federal judge once concluded was effectively run by gangs in collusion with corrupt prison guards, closed Thursday, its prisoners transferred to other state facilities, officials said.

Conditions at the prison, the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, were deemed so substandard by Judge Carlton Reeves of Federal District Court, that he wrote in a 2012 settlement order that it “paints a picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world.”...

The really beautiful part of effective rehabilitation programs is that judges can order a 'needs assessment' at the time of sentencing. Once the 'needs assessment' is done, programs can be assigned and achievements become a part of the release requirements. Reassessments can take place to realize if a prisoner has learning disabilities and programs adjusted to put forth a successful release strategy.

Judges can't possibly feel good about sentencing when realizing there is only recidivism plaguing the inmate population. I am confident judges would welcome the change to a prison system that truly honors them and this country.

"Educated prisoners are less likely to return to prison," (click here) By James S. Vacca, The Journal of Correctional Education, 55(4), December 2004.