|
|
| Addictions Keeping Inmates in Prison; Call for Rehab Grows |
| By The Express-Times (NJ) |
| Published: 03/18/2003 |
|
Jamie Kinghorn has been in and out of the Northampton County penal system since 1999 for theft, fighting, drug use, drunken driving, and leaving the state in violation of her parole. Her mother, Betty Jackowski of Nazareth, said most of Kinghorn's problems stem from an addiction to crack cocaine. Even though the 26-year-old was originally arrested on a car theft charge, her addiction has caused several technical parole violations that have kept her in the system for four years without adequate counseling for addiction and emotional problems, Jackowski said. 'I don't think they're dealing with the drug issue. They just incarcerate people,' Jackowski said. And she's right, several county officials say. Many officials support adding more treatment and counseling for the three-quarters of Northampton County inmates doing time for drug-related offenses. Northampton County Prison has a small men's rehabilitation program that includes drug counseling, and some offenders are sent to external rehabilitation centers. But society, through its elected leaders, has told prison officials that county lockups should not be rehab centers, said Scott Hoke, a county deputy warden. Yet Hoke and others freely admit drug rehabilitation is the goal they've been hired to carry out. 'You hold up a mirror and say, 'Is this where you want to be?' We're not trying to solve the problems that got the inmates here. We're trying to get the inmate to recognize their problems and say, 'OK, I'm going to get some help,'' Hoke said. In the 1970s, voters became fed up with the century-long goal of rehabilitation and began electing legislators and executives who put the emphasis on punishment and warehousing criminals, Hoke said. Crime rates fell during the 1990s as incarceration rates soared, but many inmates like Kinghorn were being jailed for drug offenses and technical parole violations. With expensive prison expansion plans mounting here and across the nation, some officials have begun to take a fresh look at the situation. At the end of a Feb. 14 meeting of officials from all three branches of county government, drug rehabilitation was suggested as one way to control the rapidly expanding inmate population in Northampton County. It was the closed-door committee's first meeting. Hoke estimated 75 percent of the prisoners in Northampton County are serving time for drug- or alcohol-related offenses, such as drug possession, driving under the influence and theft to support drug habits. 'If you're going to make a meaningful impact and stop the revolving door, there's got to be significant attention paid to therapeutic methods that focus on dependencies,' said county Court Administrator James Onembo. An 'inordinate' number of young people enter the penal system addicted to drugs, he said, and the ages of these addicts are dropping as times goes on. 'Unfortunately, there is a large number of young people who are unable to manage their lives because of a drug addiction,' Onembo said. Jackowski said her daughter probably began using drugs in her early teens to escape a tumultuous family life. She ran with a tough crowd and attracted the worst men while sinking deeper into addiction. In 1999, Kinghorn was sent to county prison on charges of illegal use of a car and stealing a Virgin Mary statue. When she got out, her lifestyle proved incompatible with the terms of her probation. She missed meetings with her parole officer, got into a bar fight and tested positive for drug use before finally getting a DUI after a night on the town. She fled to Tennessee, where her mother said the young woman worked two jobs and had a house. But when police showed up at her door on a complaint of domestic violence, they discovered she was wanted in Pennsylvania and extradited her. Jackowski said she's willing to give her daughter one more chance. When Kinghorn is released -- possibly in January 2005 -- Jackowski hopes to offer her a job at the family business, a beer distributorship. 'This will be my last time. I don't want to give up on her, but somewhere along the line, you've got to grow up,' Jackowski said. 'It's going to be tough when she gets out. All those old friends are going to be just around the corner.' Jackowski said she doesn't want probation officials to suggest drug treatment for Kinghorn -- she wants them to require it as a condition of parole. Ironically, if Kinghorn violates her parole again, she may finally get the help with her addiction. But this time, it'll come from officials at the state's penitentiary for women in Muncy. When she gets out, she'll be released for probation under the custody of the state parole board. If she violates the technical terms of her probation again -- by missing a meeting with her probation officer, leaving the state, or testing positive for drug use -- she'll be sent straight to a state prison. County judges are loathe to send local, first-time drug offenders to state prisons because they say the tougher environment hardens offenders. In an interview last month, state Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard agreed with county officials that first-time drug offenders do not belong in the state prison system. 'My personal feeling is, that's not the kind of person who should be coming to the state prison. We're better dealing with the serious drug offender,' Beard said. 'If possible, especially with non-violent offenders, we're better off keeping them in the community prison.' The state system has two advantages in dealing with serious drug users: money and time. The state system's budget is far greater than any county prison's, and it can afford to pay for the staff to operate sophisticated rehabilitation programs. The state system also has more time to deal with offenders' addictions. The average length of stay in Northampton County Prison is 80 days. To go to state prison, an offender must have a maximum sentence of at least two years, and most state inmates have more than that. Hoke said the county system has made strides in the past five years to address drug and alcohol addiction as part of an overall Community Reintegration Program. In addition to chemical dependency, the class teaches about communicable diseases, anger management, diversity training, first aid and CPR. But in a prison with hundreds of minimum-custody inmates, the class only has room for 46 people. Other inmates are sent to in-patient rehab centers as part of their sentences, but most only go for a few weeks. Prison officials last year sought to implement a long-range plan to quadruple their complement of counselors from two to eight over a number of years, but county council declined to create the positions. The initial request to create two new counselors came on the eve of a tight budget season, and council eventually split 4-4 with one member not voting. 'We go in front of county council and ask for more counselors. If they say no, society has spoken,' Hoke said. Besides questions of public policy, however, there are logistical issues that make drug rehabilitation in prisons very difficult. Rehabilitation often involves confessing deep feelings and memories to a group of supportive people. But Hoke said inmates in county rehab programs in the past complained that once they got out of the sessions, they were ridiculed for what they said in the group. 'That is not what you want in jail. A sign of weakness is not a good thing,' Hoke said. Despite the difficulties, officials involved in the Feb. 14 prison population control meeting appeared open to the idea of developing more rehabilitation programs. 'As a means of beginning to positively affect that growth in the future, I believe there should be an examination of in-patient therapeutic treatment in place of prison beds,' Onembo said. 'I think there's got to be some balance between locking them up and making treatment options available.' One location for such a facility could be the Allentown State Hospital, which reportedly has large swaths of vacant space and would be a convenient location for a regional treatment center. Staffing of such a center would be costly -- Hoke said the private centers cost between $150 and $300 per hour. But if county officials opt to build a new center, the construction costs would be much lower than a cell-block prison like the one being planned today. Onembo and nearly all other officials agreed that such a building should not stall or interrupt the construction that is slated to begin this summer on the planned $31 million prison expansion. 'That's something that is not in the immediate future. That would be something to look at in the future,' County Executive Glenn Reibman said. If construction of the prison begins in June, as anticipated, the earliest it would be open is December 2004. County Councilman Nick Sabatine, who attended the prison population control committee meeting Feb. 14, said he has long favored rehabilitation programs over expensive bricks and mortar. 'The place to deal with (drug addiction) is at the county level,' Sabatine said. 'I think the money would be better spent rehabilitating people than incarcerating them in maximum security facilities.' |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
If you’re looking for a lawyer in Waco, you’ll need to know that the first to hire Dunnam & Dunnam usually wins. If you have a personal injury claim, an insurance claim, or other matter involving a court or business transaction you should contact the Best Waco Attorney to explain your legal rights. You can contact them on the website link above.