Families of Prisoners Support Group
This community is dedicated to families that have been disrupted by prison. Having a loved one incarcerated or having been incarcerated comes with its own unique challenges that require support and understanding. Join the group to find others who know what you're going through, and to seek advice or share your experience.
In my work, I realize that many of the wives, mothers, and girlfriends have a husband, son/daughter, or boyfriend serving time in prison for low level drug offenses, a substance abuse problem, or alcohol related charges.
Many wonder why this happens and why more is not being done to correct the problem of so many low level offenders serving time in the our nation's penitentiaries.
The American criminal justice system will always be burdened down with these arrests and prison terms of low level offenders UNTIL---until--- we realize---REALIZE---- that drug abuse, substance abuse, and alcohol abuse is a MEDICAL problem and NOT a criminal justice system problem.
Not only have we thrown billions of dollars down the bottomless pit of state or federal corrections with nothing to show for it, the amount of misery for the family when a low level offender is imprisoned, with the resultant felony conviction----which drastically changes the offender's lives----is immeasurable and cannot be overstated. You fine ladies can attest to the emotional drain and heartache it is to have a loved one in prison.
Unless the offender was dealing large amounts of drugs for profit, he or she needs help, not prison. In all the prisons I was ever housed or all the prisons I knew, the rehabilitation of the offender was never a priority.
Oh, they might have some rinky dink three month program taught by a case manager, but no concerted effort was made to really rehabilitate these NON-violent offenders. Why spend the limited resources to help the offenders when the same money could be used to enhance a political agenda of being "tough on crime" which continues to be a sure ticket for our politicians to be re-elected?
Politicians do not win elections because they are humanitarians or because they are "smart on crime" but because they are able to appease the uninformed masses that the hard on crime attitude is the best solution to the problem.
We should have learned long ago that, in this foolish War on Drugs, we cannot ARREST our way out of this problem. But we didn't.
I was in the drug industry, as that is the field for which I was educated. I saw the day in day out number of people who were addicted---either physically addicted or psychologically addicted (sometimes referred to as "habituated") to controlled substances---- and did not even realize it.
As the drugs became easier to obtain and more difficult to manage----as in the case of the opiates----the problem spread to out youth.
We failed to educated them about drugs, but we also failed to offer them any viable medical treatment. All we had to offer was scorn and to label them as "a drug addict." That is not an effective method to approach any substance abuse problem, especially the one we have in American at the present time.
And therein is the problem. Stupid politicians and an uninformed public that does not understand----and most of the time, does not care---about the real problems that plague this nation.
As I said, for several decades we have attempted to arrest our way out of this problem with no success. To continue on this same path is nothing short of stubborn foolishness.
rewdiazepam
Many wonder why this happens and why more is not being done to correct the problem of so many low level offenders serving time in the our nation's penitentiaries.
The American criminal justice system will always be burdened down with these arrests and prison terms of low level offenders UNTIL---until--- we realize---REALIZE---- that drug abuse, substance abuse, and alcohol abuse is a MEDICAL problem and NOT a criminal justice system problem.
Not only have we thrown billions of dollars down the bottomless pit of state or federal corrections with nothing to show for it, the amount of misery for the family when a low level offender is imprisoned, with the resultant felony conviction----which drastically changes the offender's lives----is immeasurable and cannot be overstated. You fine ladies can attest to the emotional drain and heartache it is to have a loved one in prison.
Unless the offender was dealing large amounts of drugs for profit, he or she needs help, not prison. In all the prisons I was ever housed or all the prisons I knew, the rehabilitation of the offender was never a priority.
Oh, they might have some rinky dink three month program taught by a case manager, but no concerted effort was made to really rehabilitate these NON-violent offenders. Why spend the limited resources to help the offenders when the same money could be used to enhance a political agenda of being "tough on crime" which continues to be a sure ticket for our politicians to be re-elected?
Politicians do not win elections because they are humanitarians or because they are "smart on crime" but because they are able to appease the uninformed masses that the hard on crime attitude is the best solution to the problem.
We should have learned long ago that, in this foolish War on Drugs, we cannot ARREST our way out of this problem. But we didn't.
I was in the drug industry, as that is the field for which I was educated. I saw the day in day out number of people who were addicted---either physically addicted or psychologically addicted (sometimes referred to as "habituated") to controlled substances---- and did not even realize it.
As the drugs became easier to obtain and more difficult to manage----as in the case of the opiates----the problem spread to out youth.
We failed to educated them about drugs, but we also failed to offer them any viable medical treatment. All we had to offer was scorn and to label them as "a drug addict." That is not an effective method to approach any substance abuse problem, especially the one we have in American at the present time.
And therein is the problem. Stupid politicians and an uninformed public that does not understand----and most of the time, does not care---about the real problems that plague this nation.
As I said, for several decades we have attempted to arrest our way out of this problem with no success. To continue on this same path is nothing short of stubborn foolishness.
rewdiazepam
"ACLU Pushes For Lower Drug Penalities
Crowded prisons, overworked guards, and mounting costs have prompted the governor and many lawmakers to look at the way the state handles the criminal justice system.
A new plan at the Capitol aims to reduce prison time for some drug offenders.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is asking state lawmakers to lower penalties for some drug offenses.
The plan would reclassify penalties of one gram of controlled substances like methamphetamine. heroin and cocaine.
Punishments would change from a class 4 felony with a one to three year prison sentence, to a misdemeanor with a maximum of one year in prison.
Rudall says a lot of times treatment leads to better results than incarceration.
"The evidence shows that incarceration doesn't really a great deterrent effect on people who commit crimes, especially people are addicted to drug and who are motivated by an addiction that is beyond their own self control."
Rudall says if the plan was implemented three years ago it would have saved the state about $57 million.
And that money could've went toward treatment, which is more effective for drug users.
Many of the lawmakers agreed this plan could lower prison populations to help stop overcrowding."
I was a wrongly imprisoned sex offender for almost a decade, and I work for both prison reform and reform of the sex offender registry. If you think the issues of the criminal justice system regarding drug offenses are misunderstood, you should look at the same issues regarding low level sex offenders. They are much, much worse.
What will probably have to happen in both situations----low level drug and sex offender situations----is that enough families with a child or husband in prison who are negatively affected by these laws will become "madder than hell" and demand change. Nothing seems to matter until it happens to our family. Until then we never think too much about these situations.
Using commons sense and statistics to further the case for reformed drug laws is difficult because you have the media and the politicians continuing to push for harsher laws. Most people do not understand the studies regarding the drug problem anyway.
Most people don't realize---or really mind---the expense that carrying on the drug war and continuing to imprison low level offenders entails because they do not actually see the money come out of their pockets in the form of taxes.
If there was somehow a law that ten dollars was deducted from everyone's paycheck every week to "pay for the rising prison costs" there would be change as everyone would demand it.
The government, since they do not treat low level offenders as a medical, problem do not listen to medical experts who have a vast knowledge about these drugs. Pharmacologists tried to tell our government officials for years that Marijuana was relatively harmless, yet nobody listened as the propaganda war in favor of the War on Drugs was in full force.
There have never been any valid medical studies that I am aware that says Marijuana has any appreciable harmful effect on the body.
To show you that this is all politics, tobacco is legal even though nicotine, the main ingredient in tobacco, is a know carcinogen. Yet until recently, Marijuana charges could possible mean a prison sentence.
This is how disjointed we are in this country.
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(Keeping in mind that marijuana is NOT yet legal in the state of IL. So how does that work for all the people already there & with these charges on their record?
Individuals caught with a small amount of marijuana in Cook County will no longer face prosecution.
"I have come to the conclusion that what we are currently doing here in Cook County in handling our low level drug cases is simply not working," said Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
Alvarez said the court system has been clogged with a revolving door of non-violent drug users, who need treatment, and not punishment.
Among the sweeping reforms announced Monday, people with fewer than three arrests who are caught with less than 30 grams of marijuana will no longer face prosecution on misdemeanor charges.
Those with three or more arrests will be sent to a drug school program and have their charges dismissed upon completion.
And those charged with felonies for small amounts of harder drugs, like cocaine or heroin, who don't have a violent record, will be eligible for alternative sentencing, including treatment and social service programs.
"I believe we need to take a hard look at where and how we allocate our resources, and that we put as many of those resources as possible towards fighting violent crime," said Alvarez.
lavages said the new rules will reduce the number of felony cases in the Cook County courts by nearly 25-percent, and the number of misdemeanor cases by five percent.
Advocates for marijuana reform said Alvarez is sending a message to law enforcement.
"That the thousands of people that are still being arrested every year should not be arrested. That this is not a law enforcement priority for prosecutors. It should not be an enforcement priority for police to arrest non-violent offenders who possess cannabis as their only crime," said Ali Nagib of Illinois NORML.
Alvarez added, This isn't being soft on crime at all. I think it's being smart, and I'm not advocating for legalization or encouraging people to be drug users."
At the same time, there's a bill working its way through the general assembly in Springfield that would reduce penalties statewide for pot possession under a certain amount. Instead you would get a ticket, so there would be no possibility of arrest anywhere in the state.