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?

STB56 gave this response on 3/23/2000:

The issue of jails and prisons is a very complex and delicate issue. In the same manner so is that of punishment and crime. There are 3 ideas of thinking when one is thinking about crime and punishment. 1 that a person is responsible for his own actions and should be held accountable for such. Thus you get punishment of some sort, fines, jail, prison, also you have paid your debt to society when you are released. 2 That people need help and should be rehabilitated or given the help that they need. So here we have court ordered rehab, drug counseling, probation, 3 That the person if nothing else should be taken out of society so that they may not cause havoc to the rest of society. These people are usually given the death penatly or life in prison. These 3 issues and viewpoints of looking at crime and punishment are so complex, it is very hard to tell what is really going on. I often struggle with this daily, asking myself are we really responsible for our own actions? My thoughts differ almost daily, however I have made some conclusions. Your subconcious drives you no matter if you see it or not, in almost everything you do. From the way you dress to the job you preform, to the car you drive. Now you subcouncious is there to protect you and usually develops in response to trama. Every person has a form of this trama some more severe depending on how the person takes the trama and what the trama is. Second that almost universally everyone knows what is right and what is wrong. A serial murder though driven by a subcounsious desire to kill, obviously does not do such things when the circumstances are such where it would be likely to get caught unless he wants to get caught. Therefore he may hunt his victim and wait for the right time to take advantage of her, or him, where he is least likely to get stopped or made to face the punishment for his actions. He also has a concious desire to get away with it, and knows that it is wrong, and what will happen to him if he gets caught. So you can look at it 3 different ways, the most obivous is that your husband knew what he was doing and is paying the penalty for his actions and hopefully this will teach him that if he drinks and drives again he may face the penalty of more jail time. Who knows this may in fact rehabilitate your husband. I know that if I went to jail I would be more careful so that I did not go back again. The second and more subtle viewpoint is that he needs help for his drinking, however this is a symptom of a larger problem, and maybe he should take the initiative on his own to see a counsolor of some type. The third is that he should just be taken out of society for a while so that he is not in jepardy of hurting someone while he is drunk driving. This is a little absurd in this case, however an argument can be made for it. I have a sense, and you are not going to like this, that you feel the need to blame someone else for the fact that your husband was driving drunk. You state that "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." However why won't he be more wiser, won't this in fact teach him an important lesson that he needs help. Why is it the criminal justice's problem to help someone who needs help? Why can't he take it upon himself to find the adequate help that he needed and knew he needed all along? I am not saying that there should not be help along the way to people who need it, I am simply saying why should it be forced upon them when they could have easily gotten, or go get, treatment before or upon his release. In other words it is not the criminal justice's responsibility to provide treatment for a problem it is your husbands responsibility to live up to what he did and to realize what he did and then make steps from now on to do what is right, and if that is to get treatment then he should go get treatment. This point is often difficult to see because we have the notion that someone else is to blame most notably the system. Therefor we are no better than we went in with because we feel that it was someone else's fault and do not address the issue or issues at hand. Namely I made a mistake, and now I have to live up to it, and change, if that means getting proffessional help so be it, or suffer the consequences of continually lax behavior. I hope that this sheds some light into the criminal justice system and my own personal philosophy on crime and punishment if there is something that I can make clearer please don't hesitate to get back to me :o).

olomus asked this follow-up question on 3/23/2000:

You have a new and different way of looking at the situation and in most cases would be correct, I'm sure. Your answer gave me something new to toss around in what little space is left in my brain still vacant and I shall do just that.

I am extremely glad he was caught driving drunk. I'd much rather he lost his license, and suffer the consequences for his actions than have to live with knowing he killed an innocent family or being crippled or killed as a result of DWI. Believe me, I know better than anyone that everything he did that night was his own doing, from touching that first drink at the race track to putting the key into the ignition.

In my situation, however, my husband had just gone through his longest ever stretch of sobriety (3 1/2 years, prior stretches were from 6 months to 2 years) when he fell off the wagon. He had, prior to and during those 3 1/2 years voluntarily been in rehab (30 days) and taken extensive out patient treatments, counseling and AA.

He knew he was in trouble after that first drink because he fell right into old patterns of drinking, fast and hard. He wanted to stop and he was in the process of getting that initial consultation for evaluation, the info on local AA meetings, etc. when he got the DWI.

When they put him in jail he was enrolled in an extensive out-patient program - 3 nights of group a week, 1-on-1 counseling every other week, and AA meetings 5 times a week. Not mandated by any court, but because he knew he needed help to stop and couldn't do it alone. Now, all those sessions have stopped. None are offered where he is.

He is NOT learning anything from being in jail (this is his second long term alcohol related jail term). He gets to work out, play cards, watch tv, read...play the waiting game (and he has the patience of a saint). I'm all for jail terms for alcoholics, druggies, etc as long as there is some educational value to the process. Like you said, it keeps them out of society for awhile if nothing else. I believe my husband did wrong, he knows it and has to pay the price. But, what if that price has no long term advantages on society. Wouldn't it be more effective to cram education down their throats or make the programs for rehab available to them, while they're a captive audience then allowing them to "vacation" away from home, return back to society none the wiser?

STB56 gave this response on 3/23/2000:

I very much agree with you however the point is not to cram something down their throats. I do agree that programs that help people do a world of good rather than letting them sit there and play cards, play games, work out, ect. Also many prisoners learn how to be better criminals next time and not get caught. The point being you can only learn or get help when you want it, however it should be made available to you if you do really want it. The juvenile system is much better at this, and the point being that juveniles are less mature and not fully capable of understanding everything, also there is a much likely rehabilitation rate for people when they are young. Some people however can not be rehabilitated. Sociopaths or psycopaths who do not feel any emotion except what they want can not be rehabilitated, nor can child molestors. Your husband is neither of these as far as I can tell, and we should not give up trying to help anyone we can. However the vast majority of the people working in the criminal justice field often feel that a person deserves what they get, and I believe rightfully so, because they made a concious decision. Your husbands alcholoism is something that needs to be dealt with. We all make bad decisions and all do stupid things. Most of the time they are minor and can be overcome. My suggestion would be to analyze what had made him to relaps. Was it more stress lately? Couldn't handle being away from it for so long? Only your husband really knows why I can only guess. Once you find that issue then you have to deal with that. The process is no easy but nothing that is worthwhile is every easy, and people often tend to give up too soon or to quick. I do agree with you that there should be more time and money spent in helping people who get involved in the criminal justice system. Unfortunately not everyone is as understanding as I am. Also there are political motives too, as well as non understanding motives. A new mayor, or a new warden can come into a prison and say this is going to be a strictly no frills prison. I want people to be punished while in here, and they earn brownie points with votors, especially victims or people who are scared of crime and think that it will some how reduce crime. Education programs take money that some people are not willing to pay for as well. Other motives are that people tend to think that everyone thinks like they do, and if they can get through life without going to jail why can't eveyone else. But they miss they key point, they are not everyone else or even someone else they are them and only they are responsible for how they act, and may not experience everything that another person may go through. Sometimes victims also may not want rehab or education in prisons or jails. If someone murdered someone you cared about, would you want them to earn a hs degree, or a college degree or even a masters degree while supposedly being punished for the crime? Some people may be as understanding for counseling but other people would simple cry out for blood. These are a couple of the many reasons why crime and punishment are very technical and very confusing. I agree with what you are saying, there should be counseling and we should try better rehabilitation techniques. I would like to ask you a question if you did not have a stake in any of this would you still think about it? If your husband was not in jail would you think about other people who need counseling or rehabilitation, and would you think about a person who did you wrong as needing counseling or rehabilitation?

The average rating for this answer is 5.

olomus rated this answer a 5.

I would like to think I'm caring enough to consider the needs of someone who harmed me, however, not being in that spot I can't answer definately. I see your point in that people who aren't in a situaton seldom think about it. Thank you very much for your time and answers. More food for thought.