Tess Mattox

1. Shaneh Robertson says:

   May 27, 2016 at 6:28 AM

   I am certain that more than one of these people on this list will not be helped in any way by being incarcerated. I do agree with the efforts of law enforcement to eradicate repeat offenders from the community with intent to make it a safer place to live and raise a family. The problem is this, many of these people could be helped by being sent to rehab and professional therapy. It is a well known fact that drug offenders re enter society with worse drug addictions than they had when they were arrested. There are more easily accessible drugs inside our jails and prisons than out here in the free world. Most of these people will be released back into the community at some point. They will have gained nothing from the time they spent in jail. We need programs in place for non violent offenders. Places where these people can be truly helped. A place where they can recover from their addictions and learn life skills that will help them when they re enter society. Once a person is convicted of a felony it is harder for them to find a job. Having a job is the most important start toward building a life for oneself. Most of these offenders keep finding themselves right back in jail because they get out without a plan, with no direction and many times they are still actively using drugs while in jail or prison. The system is creating what I call super offenders. In jail and prison they are learning how to be better criminals. They are learning more ways to break the law with less chances of being caught. Those are the lessons jail and prison teaches them. They know they will be released into a world that will never allow them to improve themselves because they will be stigmatised and many of their legal rights will be forever taken away from them. The system takes an offender who given the proper treatment could be released with a toolbox that leads them on to a positive lifestyle. These are human beings with families and children. These are people who are loved and who have wonderful abilities, talents and qualities and the chance to help other people to (pay it forward). My question is, wouldn’t a program designed to help non violent offenders ,ones who have the desire for a better life, be far more effective, not only for the offenders,but for the rest of the community as well? This is not a one size fits all world. There are people who could go on to do amazing things in their lives given the opportunity. Criminals Thrown to the wolves in our prison system and only developing survival skills (usually violence) is not the way to make our community safer. Who is considering the lives of the children these offenders have? What about their futures? They will still love their Moms and Dad’s when they get out of prison. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if these people had options to go into treatment to actually better themselves and their lives rather than just being thrown into a system where they are turned into violent,bitter,addicted and traumatised individuals? There is a better way. The same person an officer arrests this year could truly be helped and be that same officers hospital nurse and save his life only a few years later. That same person who is traveling a bad road today could be leading our youth away from that same wrong path from behind a classroom desk four years from now if only that same person who is being arrested today had the option to keep their civil rights, to get actual help and guidance in safe and non violent environments then be released with proper life skills to set them up for success rather than the predestined failures of being incarcerated in our prison systems. Stigmatised out of positions in good jobs, unable to vote or work any government job. The check in the felon box on applications. It’s all a recipe for disaster for the lives of all of these people.

   Reply

Leave a Reply