The Second Act Law Signed by President Bush: Possible Help for Our Drug Addicted Population

What do you do with a nonviolent offender? How effective are the correctional facilities in deterring crime? What is the result of locking up millions of our US citizens for things like drug use or alcohol abuse with violent criminals? Does it increase the moral fiber of the nation to release hundreds of thousands of prisoners each year? What tools do the penal institutions offer for those they keep incarcerated? What exactly has the penal institutions done to better inmates and prepare them for society?

These are some of the questions I have thought about and can't seem to find answers for. We take a major crack-down on those afflicted by drugs and alcohol (often repeat offenders) and put them behind bars. During the time behind bars, they have restricted privileges, very little exposure to any treatment for their problems- if any, have them rub shoulders with sex-offenders, pedophiles, murderers, rapists etc., and what results are we getting?

America currently houses 2.3 million of its citizens in jail or prison. Check this against the change in crime rates- especially when some 650,000 inmates are released each year. In our country we are spending upwards of $23,000 to build one prison cell to hold someone who may have committed a minor infraction- but drugs or alcohol was involved. It has been compared to building a bridge to nowhere.

Jails and prisons are big business. Sure I believe we need to lock up the violent criminal. But what are you offering those who violated strict drug laws but haven't committed anything heinous? We use things like drug-courts and treatment centers to help turn an individual around and become better citizens, but those able to take advantage are few and far between because of the need to work and provide for themselves and sometimes a family.

President Bush just signed a law called the Second Chance Act in April. This is designed to offer addiction treatment and other services for offenders reentering the community. Somehow this seems, in my opinion, to put the horse behind the cart. If they actually receive funding for the Second Chance Act, then it could help change many lives. It would however make more sense to me to offer the treatment in the place of jail or prison to those who have done nothing more than become repeat offenders.

There are a couple of popular sayings that might apply to this scenario- "If you keep doing what you have always done, you will continue to get what you always got". Or, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

What are the benefits of locking up non-violent offenders? Why is the judgment for all crime- jail or prison? Why pour billions of dollars into building more jails and prisons while neglecting the need for better treatment centers? What are the returns for the taxpayers' money? We have more educated criminals- educated by their fellow inmates.

I truly hope this Second Chance Law actually gets the funding it needs and not just offers what we currently know as run down buildings and ill funded programs as all that we have to offer our addicted. Republican Danny Davis said of the Second Chance Act "A second chance means an opportunity to turn a life around. A chance to break the grip of a drug habit. A chance to support a family, to pay taxes, to be self-sufficient."

A quote from Malakkar Vohryzek, an administrative associate at the Drug Policy Alliance, recently wrote in a column on AlterNet that the signing of the Second Chance Act brought "an ounce of sanity to our drug laws."

Vohryzek, while fiercely critical of drug Prohibition and the Bush administration's broader drug policy, described the Act as a "second chance for our nation's failed drug policies because it acknowledges that people with problematic relationships with drugs need treatment and other kinds of assistance, not jails and prison records.

If America really wants to make a change in the lives of it's addicted society, it needs to get to the root of the problem and not make money off of those who have nothing to repay. Focus needs to shift to helping those with addiction problems, who are suffering from mental health and dual-diagnosis issues.

Without a proper focus, the taxpayer will continue to fund this hamster wheel referred to as correctional facilities. Our current answer to the non-violent criminal seems to offer a lot of action, but truly is going nowhere.