Friday, June 19, 2009
With the nation’s prisons bulging with convicts, many of whom wind up back behind bars after being released, isn’t it time to try a different approach to operating correctional facilities, argues writer Pamela Gerloff. The current system just isn’t working, not when recidivism rates are 50% (or higher), and the cost of keeping so many repeat offenders in prison eats up billions of dollars each year.
The alternative, according to Gerloff, is a little known program called the Community Model in Corrections, which, according to officials at the Southside Regional Jail in Emporia, Virginia, has reduced recidivism to less than 10%. This model (created by Morgan Moss and Penny Patton of the Center for Therapeutic Justice) seeks to change “the culture of incarceration” to one of respect by giving inmates, 85% of whom are eligible to volunteer for the program, responsibility for managing their prison unit, while “maintaining high security standards,” promoting the emotional and psychological development of prisoners, “changing inappropriate behavior,” and helping them become functional members of a community. Prisoners must earn their right to stay in the program.
Not only do statistics show the Community Model works, Gerloff insists, it doesn’t require any significant changes to the rules and operations of the prison system, thus it doesn’t add to operating expenses. And it makes the jobs of prison officials and guards a lot easier.
In addition to the jail in Emporia, the Community Model Program is also used at the Knox County Jail in Vincennes, Indiana, for prisoners recovering from drug and alcohol additction.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
What If Released Inmates Stopped Committing Crimes?: Prison Reform that's Already Working--Like Nothing You've Seen Before (by Pamela Gerloff, Huffington Post)
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