Mental Illness in Jail
One particular population in any jail or prison stands out more than any other, and that population is the one afflicted by a mental illness. Jails and prisons are the new asylums.
Consider that when I was working in the Philadelphia prison system, I looked at the percent of inmates who were identified …
December 27, 2011 Tags: commentary, news, PA
Category: Mental No Comments 
by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Sen. Rob Portman
The American people are rightly frustrated by Washington’s partisan bickering.
With every passing day, there seem fewer issues where Republicans and Democrats can find common ground. But when it comes to high recidivism rates among released prisoners, elected officials from both parties agree: We can pursue smart policies that …
December 14, 2011 Tags: commentary
Category: Policy, Reform No Comments
Too many of North Carolina’s youth are in deep trouble. They’ve made a mistake, committed a minor crime, and now must face the consequences. However, it is the consequences, not the crime itself, that pose the biggest danger – not only to our youth, but to all of us.
North Carolina is one of only two …
December 9, 2011 Tags: commentary, NC
Category: Uncategorized No Comments
I’m Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, what happens when a young woman who’s lived in the U.S. since she was three days old discovers that she is undocumented. We’ll hear her story in just a few minutes. It’s the latest in our series called In Limbo. It’s …
December 9, 2011 Tags: commentary, US
Category: Employment, Policy No Comments
A Public Safety Commission that has spent months quietly gathering data and other information about Oregon’s criminal justice system and best corrections practices elsewhere soon will present a report on its findings to lawmakers and the governor.
The report ought to be the beginning, not the end, of the Public Safety Commission’s work. When lawmakers gather …
December 4, 2011 Tags: commentary, news, OR
Category: Policy, Reform No Comments
Recently, I wrote about how locking up youth in juvenile hall only increased the chances that they would reoffend. This was based on the new study, “No Place for Kids.”
Another report that came out earlier this year, “Evidence-Based Interventions for Juvenile Offenders and Juvenile Justice Policies that Support Them,” takes a look at what works …
December 2, 2011 Tags: commentary, news
Category: Youth No Comments
In a small, drab office at the Charles Egeler correctional facility in Jackson, Mich., Corey Russell, a 34-year-old stickup man, is taking a test that will determine whether he is ready to be let out of prison. “In the three to six months prior to this incarceration, how often were you bored in your spare …
December 1, 2011 Tags: commentary, news
Category: Community, Parole, Policy, Reform No Comments
In a decade of teaching, I have approached many a semester’s end wistfully: another goodbye to students I have, week after week, intellectually bonded with. But this semester, wistful feels more like the blues.
I am soon to be exiled from pedagogical heaven: an English 101 class so academically voracious, they rendered my job effortless. My …
December 1, 2011 Tags: commentary, education
Category: Policy, Projects, Reform No Comments
“Our anger,” explained Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney Curtis Hazell, “is that they are saying the current system is broken because of recidivism.”
He’s talking about the fact that California sends 67 percent of criminals back to prison within three years of their release. It’s one of the worst recidivism rates in the nation, and …
November 27, 2011 Tags: CA, commentary
Category: Parole, Policy No Comments
GAO Questions Drug Court Effectiveness?
The drug war is forty years old this year. It’s time to step back and ask ourselves what’s the best way to solve the problem we’re trying to solve — how to reduce drug abuse and addiction — and use the best available evidence to guide us.
That’s why we can’t ignore a recent Government Accountability …
December 28, 2011 Tags: commentary, news
Category: Addiction, Policy No Comments