Posted on 12/30/2006 4:48:22 AM PST by radar101
For thousands of parolees getting out of in-prison drug programs, aftercare is just an option. Starting Monday, under a new law passed by the Legislature this year and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's going to be a requirement. While some offenders at first blush might howl about the added restriction, correctional officials believe that in time they'll be knocking down the doors to get in, because completion of a residential stay of at least five months in aftercare will carry with it a fairly sweet reward: discharge from parole.
It's a deal that sounds great to Eric Newman.
Locked up at California State Prison, Solano, on a drug possession conviction, the 30-year-old Merced native is looking forward to aftercare as a way to redirect what has been a methamphetamine-driven lifestyle. Newman also likes the idea of shortening a parole that otherwise could extend for three years.
"This prison life is not for me -- I hate it with a passion," Newman said, between group-therapy meetings in the Center Point bungalow at the Vacaville prison. "That's why I'm taking this on. And I don't want to be looking behind my back for three years, walking across the street the wrong way and winding up back here."
Senate Bill 1453 was written by the termed-out Democrat from Hillsborough, Sen. Jackie Speier, and passed by virtual party-line votes in the Legislature, with Democrats generally in support and Republicans opposed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Great idea California! You guys are full of those, right?
And the problem with drug rehab after release from prison is what?
The use of rehab versus incarceration works well in some other countries, so this should improve the recidivism rate.
I think it's a great idea for first time offenders who might be addicted.
Of course the alcoholics that lurk here who can't admit they have a problem think it is bad along with those who can't imagine what it is like to have a substance abuse problem think it is bad.
In fact, they think helping other people is also bad.
In reality they just hate themselves.
You mean reduce it, right? It sounds like a good idea,but I wonder. The first requirement for a successful rehab is the person has to want to stop using the substance. Carrot and stick rehab will work on people who were being silly and getting high, but I think it won't work on the people who are genuinely addicted. We'll see.
Sometimes forcing people into treatment works. I have seen it. But institutional care is just a first step and recovery really happens in AA.
I think drug treatment is a great idea. Besides the fact that there are probably some otherwise decent people caught up in the hell of addiction, treatment costs less than jail.
It places drug dealers in contact with drug users. At our expense.
What a country!
to lib/dems & socialists....any idea that has the govt. spend more tax payer money is a good idea!!!!
Drug users are always demanding the right to use drugs. They moan that any harm they cause should be paid strictly at their own expense.
This policy completely contradicts their argument, yet they fully support it as a convenient tool for rebuilding their lives - at taxpayer expense - after they so graciously promised to die in the gutter rather than leach another dime off of our paychecks.
This sounds more like a halfway house program and if succesfuly completed release without parole.Many tax dollars will be saved by not having parole officers keeping up with someone that used drugs in the past. If the offender goes back to using or dealing then he will no doubt be reincarcerated.Prison needs to be so rough that no one would want to go back. Sure there is gonna be reoffenders, but by making rehab manditory some I am sure will be helped.
Many times an addict has to wake up in a puddle of puke or a hospital bed before the see what they are doing to their lives, sometimes they still don't get the message.
I wish I could be more enthusiastic about this but most states have some kind of rehab program for first offenders whose charge is solely posession. Recidivism remains fairly high and rehab is now a big bucks industry.
"It places drug dealers in contact with drug users."
Bingo. I've never known anybody, personally, to come out of rehab in better shape than they went in. Usually they just meet new dealers.
Especially a rehab group where some of the members come from prison! More than likely they were sent to prison because they were drug dealers or were financing their drug use by dealing.
Drug rehab in prison? Fine by me. After that, no way.
**I've never known anybody, personally, to come out of rehab in better shape than they went in.**
Well, I have.
Personally.
Addiction is an insidious thing. One day you're a social drinker, and the next thing you know you're a full blown alcoholic, with very few clues in between.
Those that want help should get it.
It is the second time round for this crowd. They abused health insurers to the point that they stopped covering rehab. So, of course they took refuge in the government, the last recourse of useless parasites.
sadly lacking in the discussion here is the success or lack thereof where this has already been tried. Instead there is a bunch of moral preening. Does it work or not? That these people have some moral failings is obvious. Any good rehab program will point them toward recognizing this (read the 12 steps). If it is cost effective, go for it. If not, scrap it. Any studies out there? Anybody care, or is it just easier to call them scum, and point out the obvious?
"Those that want help should get it."
Amen. Problem is the large number in rehab who are just doing as ordered instead of what they want. Everybody I've known HAD to go for some reason or other, usually to avoid some worse punitive action or because parents sent them. They would go in because of a little teen rebellion and come out feeling betrayed, angry and with new drug connections.
A friend's ex-wife went because she got caught a couple times with meth. When she got out of rehab, she fell in with a really bad character (met through a nother rehab antendee) started transporting the crap and ended up going to prison.
I find mandatory rehab or rehab as a punisment for a crime a waste of time and money that actually contributes to the problem.
As you said, those who want help should get it. Everyone else, well, that's another thing altogether.
So have I, EEDUDE. As a conservative trial court Judge, I have personally sentenced hundreds of drug-addicted Defendants to prison and, because there is no real treatment and aftercare in the Department of Corrections, I have also sentenced many of those same people to prison again after their release and subsequent commission of new felonies. I have also seen numerous success stories after forced treatment. Treatment and aftercare is a must for some addicts (including alcoholics) if they are going to succeed. Spending $100K per year to imprison an addict, and then releasing him without treatment is unhelpful and unwise. It is no longer even debatable whether incarceration is more cost effective than consequences coupled with treatment. The latter is clearly more cost-beneficial. Imprisonment of an addict without treatment is a complete waste of tax dollars.
Please see post 13.
I agree, time will tell. Data from other countries should be helpful but we may not get the same outcome here.
The current system doesn't seem to work very well so some new ideas based on the success in other countries is useful.
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