BearCat vs. packed jail: Here's one alternative

It's been a few years since I served on the Kootenai County Jail Commission so I Googled a few questions about criminal recidivism. Purpose was to get a handle on new studies influencing whether spending $300K+ for the Bearcat was a better decision than funding a full blown Restorative Justice Program in the jail.

Yes, I know we have been told repeatedly there are counseling programs, but when former inmates were interviewed about their participation in counseling programs while in jail, the most common response was a blank stare.

So, considering my passion for "Restorative Justice Programs," I began Googling.

In 1999 an article by Tad Leach, local justice officer and NIC instructor indicated, "On a typical day, almost 85 percent of inmates had prior arrests, averaging nine per repeat offender. 64 percent had one or more felony charges." (Quoted out of context.)

Quoting from an October 2013 Spokesman Review article by Betsy Z. Russell, referring to a study performed by the Justice Center, The Council of State Governments, Collaborative Approaches to Public Safety:

The offenders who were sent back to Idaho prisons from either probation or parole in 2012 alone will stay in prison for an average of nearly two more years, and will cost the state $41 million, the researchers found. "There's a real financial stake," Mark Pelka, program director at the Justice Center, which is operated by the Council of State Governments, told Idaho lawmakers today.

Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, Idaho's House Judiciary Committee chairman and a longtime Idaho State Police officer, said, "I had no idea it was that high. ... That's absolutely staggering when you think about it."

The answer may include major reforms to Idaho's supervision systems, so fewer offenders fail those programs and head back to prison, along with more targeted consequences for probationers or parolees who violate rules.

"You could spend less on prisons and corrections if you received better outcomes from supervision," Pelka told the Idaho Legislature's Justice Reinvestment Interim Committee. "If you can do that right ... you will see less cost, you will see less people coming to prison, and you will see less crime."

For the entire article see http://csgjusticecenter.org/jr/idaho/media-clips/study-idaho-prisons-swelling-with-returned-parolees-probationers/

With no particular criminal statistics education, rather a 20+ year, lightweight interest in Restorative Justice Programs impacting prison and jail overcrowding, referencing hundreds of published studies, I offer a personal opinion. It seems clear to me that spending $300K+ on a piece of equipment that will depreciate and become obsolete vs. spending $300K+ on a proven effective restorative justice program that will continue to reduce jail and prison population resulting in lower crime rates is a no-brainer.

I have a dream: Kootenai County Correctional System reduces jail population using expanded drug rehabilitation programs, domestic violence programs, juvenile justice programs. For a detailed article on juvenile justice programs:

www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/highlights/18_02_Highlights.pdf

From that Princeton piece I close with this conclusion:

"Reform of the juvenile justice system makes sense from all perspectives. Many states are poised to begin this work today, if for no other reason than to save taxpayer money being spent on building prisons. We need to create a system that decreases the number of youth becoming delinquent in the first place and prevents those youth who do stray from becoming adult criminals."

Shirley Thagard is a Hayden Lake resident.