Regarding the drug programs in prison, you might want to expect to be disappointed if you are expecting any kind of worthwhile treatment.

There are a few state prisons that offer a drug program but they are very sub-par----close to non-existent, in fact.

You will think I am lying when I tell you what the drug program in Oklahoma consisted at the medium security prison I was at, but here it is-----The "class" consisted of about 20 inmates and was taught by a female case manager who knew absolutely nothing about drugs. The sessions were three hours a day for 30 days.

The first hour was started late as many times the case manager was 30 to 45 minutes late. The next hour consisted of a lot of laughing and BSing about prison. The last hour she read to the inmates from a book about drug dependency and addiction. Everyone just nodded their head.

The main purpose was for the inmate to receive 30 days good time credit off their sentences. Nobody was there to get any help and everyone knew it was just a farce.

The did have one drug program at one of the minimums that was a one year program which was much better, but still, they don't have the money or resources to hire outside counselors to come into a prison to help the inmates.

But your son needs to "play the game" so he can get all the good time credits possible.

rewdiazepam

So crazy!! And that is exactly what he said 'play the game' as we all know it is 'a joke'!! Whatever it takes to get the 'good time credits'!! He said it's like being around a bunch of little kids!! Lol

Whatajoke,

He has to learn to play the game----and he will. What else can he do? Nobody can make changes while in the system or reform the system from the inside, as they won't allow it.

Every inmate who serves his time and comes out OK, has learned to play the game. The system is too big, too powerful, with too many resources for an inmate to try to buck the system. The system is not set up to be changed from the inside.

The prison system is so broken that there is no way it can be changed anyway at the present time. The political climate in this country is such that change will be very slow.

As a mother, you will be amazed at how inefficient and broken the prison system is. Your son will probably tell you things that you will find very difficult to believe, but trust me, it is true.

You will probably lose a lot of respect for this country and its leaders for allowing a system that controls peoples lives to get into such shape. There is not excuse for any system to be so deplorable, but until we get the politics out of our criminal justice and prison system, things will probably never change.

So, I would advise your son----or anyone----to just keep a low profile, do his time, take all the programs he can to accumulate all the good time he can, stay out of trouble with no misconducts, and then get himself out of there to come home.

If he does his time wisely, he can learn more about the world and even more importantly, he can learn things about himself that he never knew before. He will come out different for sure, and hopefully wiser for the experience. I know I did.

Along the way he will have to bite his tongue, put up with some filthy inmates, endure a lot of ignorance, and bide his time. There will be lots of times when he will just shake his head in either amazement or disgust at the situations in there. And, plenty of times he will shake his head and say, "This place is a f*cking joke." And it is.

That's all anyone can do.

rewdiazepam

Thank you Rew!! He is doing exactly as you have said.

As shameful as the prison system currently is, it could be modified without a total revamp if the politicians and leaders would allow it.

Massive programs----drug programs, mental health programs, and educational programs----could easily be set up in the prison itself to rehabilitate offenders and lower their chances of re-offending and coming back. This would stop the revolving door situation we now have in our prisons. Not only is the revolving door policy costing this nation billions of dollars, but there is also a massive cost in human suffering.

Prisons have a lot of intelligent inmates, some of whom could help implement this program. I could teach the program on drug and drug addiction, but they would never allow an inmate to do so, as doing that would admit the inmate is more intelligent than the other staff. They can't have that as they have to continually remind inmates that they are stupid and don't know anything.

More rehabilitative programs, less nonsense, and a more efficient system is easily attainable.

But it will probably never happen. Why?

Two reasons-----1) too many people are making tons of money off inmates and their families for them to want this madness to stop. Prison corporations who own private prisons, DOC employees, the manufacturers of GPS devices, POs, polygraphers, therapists, counselors, and other groups of people have no reason to want rehabilitation as keeping people in prison or on paper time is job security. Let's not forget about the phone companies either and

2) Politicians and our leaders make their living on getting elected and re-elected by being "tough on crime." The media, with the 24/7 cable news channels have done a magnificent job of scaring the hell out of the general public by broadcasting and re-broadcasting the most terrible crimes. This instills fear into the citizenry and they call for tougher laws. The politicians play on this fear by passing more restrictive laws.

The public is so grateful that the politicians are "protecting" them with these laws, that they continue to vote for said politician. Why would the politicians want anything to stop that gets them elected?

So everyone is happy. The public is safe, the media is making a lot of money with high ratings for their sensational reporting of crime, the politicians are sure to get re-elected, and all these groups stay employed.

Everyone benefits, I suppose, EXCEPT the families of inmates and the inmates who are sentenced to a very long sentence for a minor crime.

But, you see, the politicians and leaders don't care about inmates or their families. Inmates are felons, and in many states cannot vote, and their families are much of the time poor people. Who cares about the poor people in this country? Certainly not the politicians or our leaders.

It has become the American way.

rewdaizepam

It sounds very similar to the program here. He told me about it in letters- they were all expected to comment on one another's behavior and attitude, and if anyone had an issue with someone, it was aired in nightly meetings in front of everyone in the platoon (it was prison boot camp/rehab). He said it was worth every humiliating moment, because it took a lot of time off his sentence. It sounds like your son has the right idea- lay low, do what he's told, etc.
I think prison is a monumental waste of human life and money. They don't learn anything useful. The programs are not helpful. But they do take time off, so they are worthwhile. The less time spent in, the better.

When mine was in TREATMENT last time, there was ten guys in the unit where he was doing his. A couple months or less after he got out, only him, and one other guy were still free. The other 8 had already " re offended" and were back in.

It is a joke. At first when he started it, he had lots of homework, group assignments, etc. It seemed he was trying so hard to really take it all in and get it right.

But then you add in all the humiliation, and the anger it puts inside them, and it's only normal that when they get out, they are going to rebel, and do things they normally wouldn't. It didn't scare them straight, or whatever purpose they really had.

In the group, yes, they were criticized by the facillitator constantly. Nothing that they wrote or said was right. Who wouldn't rebel?"

The guys as a group would be punished if someone did something wrong according to her. In society if we mess up, the individual who messed up gets punished, not the whole neighborhood.

When a kid misbehaves, he gets grounded, gets a toy taken away, or something like that. In prison, one person misbehaves according to them, the whole unit can go on lock down. This absolutely does nothing but creates more anger in there and more problems.

Rew is right. The mission of these places is not to rehabilitate them. Prison's are a money making industry. It would not be beneficial for them to " cure" them all. It is job security. It makes them money to keep them in.

Prison teaches them to be cunning and manipulative just to survive. So what does that do to them when they get out

And yes, we learned very quickly how inefficient & broken the judicial system is before he even got there... A states atty that adamantly (for 2 yrs) denied allowing him in drug court, a judge that gave him 2 wks of false hope to be placed as an inpatient (most places he didn't qualify because he did not need to detox & was not actively taking drugs), his atty that promised us over & over & over that on his charge he would NEVER be sent to prison as he had never even been sentenced or done any time in jail & that our own Govenor is wanting to change his exact charge to be a misdemeanor with a fine, & yet same judge that gave him hope, sentenced him to max of what he could get so he could get 'treatment'!! So there he sits!! Yep, it's a complete joke!! And a broken system to say the least!!!

Yes, all of this is so true, One county my son served a 90 stint in the mid west region is inhumanely disgusting. Yet, the politician (mayor leading the pack), is so corrupt- NO ONE will even try to change anything as it will only ripple effect back to the inmates. It's crime committed in the open eye of the public.

Our Addicts, Loved Ones and even our Mentally Ill (truly ill), must learn to be strong and yes, play the game, my son already is, but, he is grabbing all of the self help literature and 3 book limit until he is yarded and can occupy more of his time working. Hopefully, they, well, mine will hate it enough to change their lifestyle, reach out for REAL addiction Programs on the outside and keep their head, bodies and environments clean and drug/alcohol free. I know it sounds like the "Rubber Tree" song, but It's ok to hope :)