| Everyone agrees that Enfield and north-central
Connecticut hosts its fair share of prisons and over
the years I have been be actively involved in many aspects
of our criminal justice system. Indeed, this past summer
I was a speaker at the National Conference of State
Legislatures’ (NSCL) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia
where I spoke with four other national panelists on
Cost Cutting Strategies in Corrections. I have attended
similar events both in and out of the state and have
consistently heard about the need for effective programs
to break the cycle of crime and recidivism. I will also
be serving on the newly formed Criminal Justice Policy
Advisory Commission that will look specifically at criminal
justice needs in Connecticut.
Our correction officers work around the clock to make
our prisons safe, but once prisoners are released, we
need to make sure there is proper programming and supervision
to keep them on the “straight and narrow”.
Inmates who leave prison either unprepared to enter
the workforce or with no employment opportunities are
far more likely to reoffend and end up back in prison.
There has been a national movement to keep non-violent
inmates out of correctional facilities and place them
instead into rehabilitation facilities. Programs like
this not only reduce the rate of recidivism, they also
attain important savings in state budgets. A recent
New York Times Op-ed by Charles M. Blow, “Getting
Smart on Crime” quoted a 2006 UCLA study that
showed sending an offender to a rehabilitation center
rather than prison saved $2.50 for every $1 spent. Even
if one takes this with a grain of salt, creating tax-paying
citizens and reducing victimization must be one of the
major goals of our penal system in dealing with non-violent
offenders.
Because such a large portion of our state budget (8.2%)
is for Corrections, the Connecticut Business and Industry
Association, under the leadership of John Rathgeber,
is beginning to look at ways to break the cycle of recidivism
and save tax dollars. I attended the first meeting on
this just last week at CBIA headquarters in Hartford.
There is a large group of people in Connecticut looking
at possible reforms to our entire criminal justice system
and I am certainly looking forward to being a part of
positive and innovative changes. If you have any suggestions,
I would love to hear from you.
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