STATE MUST REDUCE ITS PRISON RECIDIVISM RATE

Panel Needs A Sense Of Urgency In Seeking Solutions

Oregon could save considerable money and grief by reducing the number
of released inmates who commit new crimes and return to prison.

For the past decade, that figure has held steady at about 30 percent.
The state has put up with that unacceptable rate for too long.

Last week, a panel appointed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski met for the first
time. Law enforcement officials, attorneys and directors of various
agencies will spend the next year seeking solutions.

Such blue-ribbon panels can wind up being just so much PR. However,
gains by the "No Meth" and "Meth Strike Force" efforts show that real
change can happen when officials cooperate across agency boundaries.

When city, county and state people started really talking with one
another about meth, they identified some key places where their
efforts bogged down. Then they figured out ways to eliminate those
roadblocks or work around them (and took less than a year to do so).

That same sense of urgency must be applied to Oregon's dismal record
regarding prisoner recidivism.

Many inmates exit prison with poor job skills and a black mark on
their record. Many have no place to live, which makes it hard to get a
job, which makes it hard to afford a place to live. Mental illness and
drug and alcohol abuse play a part in landing many people in prison,
and these problems continue to complicate life after prisoners are
released.

Some ex-cons are lucky enough to have families who will help get them
back on their feet. Some manage to pull their lives together, against
heavy odds. But for others, sliding back into crime looks like the
simplest way to survive.

That hurts every Oregonian. Even those who escape being actual victims
of crime pay a price in higher insurance bills due to burglaries and
car thefts. They pay more at the checkout line because of shoplifters.
Their taxes rise to cover the costs of caring for foster children,
prosecuting meth dealers, and of course, jailing prisoners for the
second or third or fourth time.

This isn't working for prisoners, for the state or for law-abiding
citizens. It's time to slow our prisons' revolving door.