One of sources of the volunteers that we draw on at Habitat for Humanity is the Elkhart County Work Release Program. I continue to meet people that I probably wouldn't have otherwise through this relationship. These guys are serving time for back child support payments, traffic violations, drunk & disorderly conduct, or other seemingly minor offences. In talking to them I began to seriously doubt the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. For the most part they seem to have their lives in order but something unfortunate happened and now they're in jail.The prison system is that in its current incarnation endeavors to change inmates' behavior by making them not want to go back to jail rather than enabling them to become productive citizens. That doesn't sit with me.
This afternoon as I was on my way to Lowe's and I heard the last installment of a five part NPR series Beyond Prision by New Hamshire Public Radio. It was fascinating. It walks through James Gilbert's transformation from a troubled and violent youth into an educated professional 'in spite of' rather than because of 'the system'. I listened to the rest of the series this evening. It is a window into the lives of two men who eventually became cellmates and their quest to 'de-criminalize' themselves through self-discipline and education. If only this were the rule rather than the exception.
2 comments:
hey, at least you've got work to slightly look forward to...
..at this point, I'd gladdly give up my tv for work or, dare I say it, class...
...again, I seriously need to get out of my house...
Just FYI Dan. The Juvenile Detention Center is Goshen has an amazing program that is used by very few other detention centers around the country. While our first priority is always keeping the residents safe, we use something called a Positive Peer Culture (PPC) In short, this attempts to teach the youth the skills they need to live a successful life in society (if they choose to do so). While no rehabilitation program seems to be very successful, this is a very unique and amazing program. However, recently, the local county government has been cutting back on the funding for this program. Even worse, they are beginning to move officers from the jail into positions in the center. These officers are not trained in the PPC program and are minimizing the effect of the program. I am not exactly sure who you would contact to make your voice heard about this issue, but if you would like to talk about it sometime, I would be more then happy to oblige!
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