REHABILITATING STATE PRISONERS IS IN OUR SELF-INTEREST

Sandra Brandt ticks off the many hurdles newly freed prisoners face in
Virginia. Those with felony drug convictions aren't eligible to receive
certain social services, such as food stamps. If family members stay in
public housing, the released prisoners cannot join them. Employment
applications ask if the job seeker is a felon; answering ``yes'' usually
means the forms are tossed in the trash.

``There are some immediate barriers when people get out of correctional
facilities,'' says Brandt, executive director of STEP-UP Inc. The employment
training agency, based in Norfolk, works with drug court participants and
people inside and outside correctional facilities.

Brandt paints a frustrating picture for prisoners returning to communities
across Virginia. That portrait mirrors statistics released by The Sentencing
Project, a national organization based in Washington that promotes criminal
justice reform. The group has compiled a series of essays titled ``Invisible
Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment,'' which was
the subject of a Washington Post article last week.

It's almost as if the greater society is trying to doom released felons to
failure. Because of the various restrictions, ex-cons often see drug-dealing
or other violent crime as their only means of income. It would behoove us --
all of us -- to remove barriers for those individuals who truly want to
alter their lives. That includes reversing laws that ban some government
benefits to drug felons.

Please don't consider me an idealistic boob. I realize that some inmates
defy all efforts at rehabilitation. But many of them are coming out; what do
we hope they have learned while they were inside? Is there a reasonable
chance they can be useful citizens?

Consider some of the statistics cited by The Sentencing Project and state
officials:

*- Some 600,000 inmates are released across the country every year. In
Virginia, the number hovers around 9,000 annually. That's about the same
number of people who live in Mathews County. So for good or ill, many
prisoners return to our neighborhoods.

*- The recidivism rate in Virginia was nearly 30 percent, according to state
corrections officials. Of the 9,002 offenders released in 1998, some 2,643
had returned to prison for a new crime or technical violation three years
after being freed.

*- Locking folks up, while making many citizens feel safe, does not come
cheap. The average per capita cost per inmate in Fiscal Year 2001 was
$20,979. The average daily inmate population in the state in June 2001
(minus out-of-state offenders housed here) was 27,315. By my calculations,
that's $573 million. (The department spent $752 million in fiscal 2000, the
latest year statistics were available on its Web site.) That's a lot of cash
to warehouse people; of course, many of them are exactly where they belong.

For those who get out, however, it's in our own interest to ensure they have
a decent shot at making it. First of all, we don't want to become victims of
ex-felons. Also, greater assistance from the state and from local
communities might just make the difference for some of them.

Such help seems to be lacking right now, say activists who assist ex-felons.
Not enough halfway houses are available, according to Jean Auldridge,
director of Virginia CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of
Errants), a nonprofit group based in Northern Virginia. Even before they get
out, Auldridge says, educational, vocational and drug treatment programs
tend to be limited. (A separate state agency, the Department of Correctional
Education, runs courses for incarcerated juveniles and adults, but waiting
lists are long.)

``It seems there's not a broad enough opportunity for them when they get
out,'' Auldridge says. ``Plus, they're not qualified to do anything.''

Which is why Virginians should be concerned. We know thousands of prisoners
are coming home every year. Do we want them with more education and life
skills, or do we want to just mark off the days till their next conviction?