Robert K.Ross

CA - Prison Reform Must Include Inmates (Editorial)
Robert K. Ross: Prison reform must include the inmates
By Robert K. Ross - Special To The Bee
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 3, 2006

San Quentin's gym houses more than 300 oveflow reception center inmates, some of whom live there for months. Office of the Receiver/Ray Chavez

Now that the midterm elections are behind us, the Legislature is looking forward to getting back to work on the business of the state of California. One of the most pressing matters has been the dysfunctional prison system. Unfortunately, the Legislature's latest attempt to relieve recidivism and record prison overcrowding did not work.
What is truly needed is a commitment from the state to focus on rehabilitating the prisoners, not just the prison system. The reason is obvious: Although the state is charged with handling California's prisoners, the impacts of the failing system weigh most heavily on municipalities, which bear the brunt of thousands of ex-inmates who commit new crimes and go back into the corrections system.
In 2005, more than 120,000 inmates were released on parole from California prisons, while more than 81,000 of them were returned to prison for violating the conditions of their parole. Many are homeless, uneducated, unskilled and lacking family support.

A significant number are battling alcohol and/or substance abuse issues. When faced with trying to find a job and an apartment and staying clean, it is no wonder many slide back onto the criminal conveyor belt that will deliver them back to prison.
Some ex-convicts say it's ironic that the state's recidivism problem has been described as a revolving door. Ex-convicts will tell you it's really a locked door. Sure, the state will let them out of prison after time served. But will society let them back in?
If state officials were to look around, they would realize there are local programs that offer proven models for addressing this problem. One promising approach is United African American Ministerial Action Council's Community Re-entry Program in southwestern San Diego. UAAMAC has enlisted five churches to provide health education and employment assistance to returning prisoners in the area. Congregation members help to create opportunities for ex-offenders to establish or rebuild connections with families and social support networks to support their transition back into the community.
Another example is Second Chance, a San Diego-based nonprofit that teaches ex-inmates how to find and keep jobs, and sends its employees into prisons to recruit inmates who are nearing parole. Those who qualify are picked up at the prison gate on release day, provided with alcohol- and drug-free housing and enrolled in a three-week intensive course to learn life skills and job-readiness skills. Participants are also provided mental-health counseling, case management and job-placement services for up to two years.
The results are encouraging. According to a recent study performed by California State University, San Marcos and funded by The California Endowment, only 30 percent of Second Chance graduates recommit crimes or violate their parole and go back to prison within two years, compared with nearly 70 percent of all parolees statewide. About 80 percent of Second Chance graduates find jobs, most of them paying well above the minimum wage. And 80 percent of this group will maintain employment after two years.
The data show that this model helps to equip ex-offenders with the tools, attitude and motivation necessary to overcome the stigma and related obstacles involved with having a criminal record. If this model could be replicated on a larger scale, it could potentially save the state millions of dollars. For example, it costs the state about $36,000 to incarcerate a prisoner each year, yet it costs only a small fraction of that, about $4,000 a year, to teach parolees life skills and job-readiness skills.
The Legislature is to be commended for creating a pilot program for prisoner rehabilitation in San Diego. But much more will be needed to put a serious dent in the problem on a statewide level.
During the recent special Legislative session on prison reform, while our representatives debated how many more prisons to build and how many more temporary beds could be stuffed into gymnasiums, Second Chance was planning how to mark an important milestone: Its 100th class teaching ex-inmates job-readiness skills and life skills. That class graduated Oct. 20.
As long as the state focuses on prison reform, and not reforming the prisoners, the problems of recidivism and overcrowding will persist.

About the writer:

* Robert K. Ross, M.D., is president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment.