olomus asked this question on 3/22/2000:
I understand why the legal system feels it necessary to place people in jail for certain "crimes". However, I also believe there should be programs available to help rehabilitate them, educate them, and prepare them for "changing their ways".
My husband is currently service a jail sentance for a DWI. There are no AA meetings, no alcohol/drug counseling (1-on-1 or group), no church services, no education classes for drug and/or alcohol abuse, at this jail. He merely has to play a waiting game until his sentance is over and will be no more the wiser for "paying his dues to society" upon his release.
Why doesn't the justice system "see" that this method isn't rehabilitating (educating or helping) these people who (and most of them in jail are) in for alcohol/drug abuse situations? Is there anything in the works to change this?
flightofpain gave this response on 3/29/2000:
I almost hate to answer this question because I am so passionate on the subject. I firmly believe that when people are locked up in jail, or in any type of confinement, there should be programs for rehabilitation. Whether a person needs rehab due to the use of drugs and/or alcohol, or a person needs treatment for a mental or emotional illness, or even if a person in jail has no earthly idea why his/her behavior got him into trouble. Many of the people in our jails today are there because of drugs; mostly they are users who get caught with the drug, or who sell drugs to pay for their own habit, oe commit other crimes because of their desperate need for drugs. What they do is wrong, and if they are committing crimes because of their addictions, they should be taken out of society until they can function in society again. That is what I have always thought prisons should be for, to teach the men and women in them how to function on the outside without having to harm others to survive. It does no one any good, not the person in prison, or the society he returns to, if that person is treated with no respect or caring, and is not given some basic skills to survive on the outside. If you beat a dog enough, he will bite you. If you treat a human being like an animal, he may act like one. The system definitely needs to be changed. I wish you and your husband the best of luck, and hope he will seek help for his drinking problem as soon as he is able to. flightofpain
The average rating for this answer is 5.
olomus rated this answer a 5.
Bravo, someone who is as passionate as I on the subject. Thanks for your time and answer.