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| La. Corrections Head Seeks to Revamp Inmate Care |
| By Shreveport Times |
| Published: 04/18/2003 |
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Louisiana's prisons are undergoing changes that Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder says will better prepare inmates, especially those in juvenile facilities, to re-enter society. 'Every year in our state, 15,000 individuals who are in state custody leave our prisons and our jails,' Stalder told the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday. 'Within five years, 50 percent of those individuals will have returned to prison.' To address that problem, which Stalder said mirrors national recidivism statistics, every state adult and juvenile facility is instituting the release preparation program Corrections Organized for Re-entry. The program starts working with inmates two to three years before their release time with classroom education, job training, substance abuse treatment and social skills, including the development of a work ethic. 'CORe is the reaffirmation that we can change people's lives.' Another part of the program links inmates with employers so they can be assured a job the day they leave prison and with state agencies that provide the kinds of support, including drug treatment, that many newly released inmates need. Corrections Department records show 75 percent of those incarcerated did not have full-time jobs when they committed crimes. About 80 percent were drug users. Stalder said he has developed two committees, Getting Ready and Going Home, to work directly with adults and juveniles 'to help them get a start when they get back on the street.' Asked about closing Swanson Detention Center in Tallulah, he said he's working on a plan to reshape its operations, as well as the overall handling of juvenile offenders.'You can't close a facility and then go build the community services because you're going to have a lot of kids who don't get services they need.' The first step would be to eliminate the large dormitory settings at Tallulah, which he said is a major reason the facility has problems. As many as 200 youths would be released to community-based programs Stalder said can be developed within the next 30 months. Stalder also is interested in legislation that creates a children's agency, but he believes it requires considerable study to make it work. 'If we're going to have a children's agency, let's start with kids who have never broken the law, never even been accused of breaking the law, that are in Public Safety and Corrections (care) and put them in an agency that's more appropriate to their needs.' As many as 300 young people are under supervision of probation and parole officers. 'I can tell you unequivocally that there's no one in a secure facility that has not broken the law and been adjudicated for breaking the law,' Stalder said. Many are there for an accumulated record of offenses, which he said the public is prohibited from knowing by 'an appropriate veil' over their records. |
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