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jilortlaub (Obscrln'r
March 6, 2013
Path Awayfrom Prisons
$ 120 m illion to build in 2008 and was nearly half, failed on pro b atio n o r h av io rs?” she said. “ W hy are drugs
m eant to house 1,228 inm ates, sits p o st-p riso n su p erv isio n .”
so p rev alen t? M ental illness has
m ent rate has grow n more, than three em pty w ithout funds to run it.
H ad the fo rm er inm ates been e n ­ b eco m e m ore o f an issue every day.
tim es the rate o f the national av er­
O re g o n ta x p a y e rs n o w sp en d rolled in com m unity corrections pro­ I w o n d er if w e p unish people if they
age in the last decade, locking up an m o re th an $1 .3 b illio n e ac h b ie n ­ gram s, the co st to supervise an in ­ have a p ro b lem by w hich they have
estim ated 14,000 inm ates.
n iu m to p ay fo r c o rre c tio n s, a c ­ dividual w ould be $ 12 a day as o p ­ very little c o n tro l.”
“W hat d oes that say about us as c o rd in g to the c o m m is s io n ’s re ­ pose to $85 a day o f incarceration.
B o sto n says m any people en ter
a people?” said C larin er B oston, p o rt. T h e state p ro je c ts p riso n s to
Justice D e M uniz cited a need for the crim inal ju stic e system as in ex ­
executive d irecto r o f B etter People, c o n tin u e to g ro w , fillin g b ed s w ith “robust re-entry p ro g ram s” to d e ­ perien ced youth. W hen they should
a P ortland non-profit w hose m is­ m o stly n o n v io le n t o ffe n d e rs and crease the recidivism rate across be learn in g skills and getting jo b s,
sion is to reduce recidivism and help c o stin g ta x p a y e rs an e x tra $ 6 0 0 O regon, save m oney, and “get a they are getting 5 to 10 years in ja il,
individuals w ith legal histories adapt m illio n dollars.
return on hum an cap ital.”
often fo r n o n v io len t crim es.
back into the com m unity.
W ith O re g o n ’s L egislature now
in session, the topic o f d ebate has
sparked a m ovem ent and new bills
that co n sid er the costs o f sen ten c­
ing— b oth in term s o f m oney and
hum an life.
B etter P eople held a public ed u ­
cational forum on the issue last w eek
at the M ultnom ah Public D efender’s
O ffice w here a panel and F orm er
C h ie f Justice Paul D e M uniz, ch air
- Clariner Boston, executive director of Better People
o f the Public S afety C om m ission,
d is c u s s e d w a y s to im p le m e n t
changes in state sentencing law s.
O regon offenders are also stay­
T ro u b led b y the statistics, and
“ H ow is that serving the in d i­
Panelists included M ultnom ah, ing lo n g er in prison today than they w orking on b eh alf o f form er inm ates vidual, th e ir fam ilies o r society in
C lackam as an d M arion county d is­ have e v er in the last decade, said the struggling to turn th eir lives around g e n e r a l? ” s a id B o sto n . “ W h e n
trict attorneys and represen tativ es report. M ean w h ile reso u rces fo r after prison, B o sto n argues h arsher p eo p le are y o u n g they m ake p o o r
o f the c ity ’s M ental H ealth and com m unity corrections program s an d lengthier sentencing do not al­ decisio n s, bu t unfortunately those
A ddiction S ervices and the D ep art­ and treatm ent have shrunk.
w ays erad icate crim e. She says that co n seq u en ces follow them fo r the
m ent o f C om m unity Justice.
E choing recom m endations from w e need to lo o k at the roots o f the re st o f th eir lives— in term s o f h o u s­
Justice D e M uniz opened w ith the c o m m issio n ’s report, Justice D e problem s am ong those w ho com m it ing, em p lo y m en t and even, so cial­
the m atter-of-fact statem ent: “T here M uniz said, “W e need re in v e st­ crim e instead o f to punishm ent.
ization.”
is no m o n ey .” A m o d em prison in m en t.” O n any given day, he said,
“W hat are the real p roblem s that
A t th e forum , a defense attorney
M adras, O re., w hich cost the state “O f 14,000 prisoners, 4 6 percent, are supporting those kinds o f be- spoke o f a 15-year-old client w ho
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fr o n t
Why are drugs so prevalent? Mental
illness has become more o f an issue every
day. I wonder if we punish people if they
have a problem by which they have very
little control.
à
w as sentenced to 70 m onths in ja il
f o r a c rim e h e c o m m itte d . H e
s a id , “ H is c a s e is o n e o f th o u ­
s a n d s w e a re p a y in g f o r in lo n g ­
te rm s e n te n c in g .”
T he attorney called for a return to
discretionary sentencing, w here a
ju d g e can decide to issue w hatever
sentence they believe fits the crim e.
W h e n a s k e d h o w $ 6 0 0 m illio n
o f ta x p a y e r ’s m o n e y c o u ld be
b e tte r s p e n t, p a n e lis t Je a n
D e n tin g e r , M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty
d iv e r s io n c o u r t m a n a g e r, s a id
sh e lo o k e d to c o m m u n ity p r o ­
g ra m s a s a g o o d a lte r n a tiv e to
in c a r c e r a tio n .
O th er panelists agreed that fund­
ing ev id en ce-b ased program s, like
B etter People, w ill help p eople stay
out o f prison.
“W e know that a large percent­
age o f p eo p le that are incarcerated
and re le a se d , re tu rn [to p riso n ]
w ithin three y e ars,” said B oston.
B e tte r P e o p le o ffe rs c o u n s e l­
in g a n d e m p lo y m e n t re a d in e s s -
p ro g ra m s fo r th e fo rm e rly c o n ­
v ic te d . O th e r tre a tm e n t p ro g ra m s
fo c u s o n re c o v e ry , m e n ta l h e a lth ,
an d h o u sin g .
B o sto n w as stu d y in g fo r h er
M asters D eg ree in B usiness A d ­
m in istratio n w h en she got in te r­
ested in crim in o lo g y , particu larly
the statistics w h ich show the d is­
p ro p o rtio n ate n u m b e r o f p e o p le in
p riso n w ith o u t m ean s— m inorities
and p eo p le w ho are poor.
“It is n o t som ething you can turn
y o u r b ack o n ,” said B oston. “It im ­
pacts y ou p erso n ally and y o u r tax
d o llars.”
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