SOMETIMES DETENTION NECESSARY TO GET ATTENTION

I read John Lankford's recent column entitled "Dealing with a lockup
mentality" with interest, as he obviously is troubled by many of the same
issues that deeply concern those of us who have dedicated ourselves to the
corrections profession.

As we have been engaged in educating the community about our need for
additional jail and juvenile detention facilities, it is clear that many
constituents have serious questions about the balance of effective
prevention and education programs vs. more costly incarceration programs.

In my view, we are indeed very fortunate in Santa Barbara County to have so
many effective prevention and intervention programs in place. In fact,
their very existence have enabled us to delay addressing the very real need
for additional local custody programs.

I must say that we are continually amazed at the need most chronic juvenile
and adult offenders have for remedial education. I wish education alone
were the simple answer to the ravages of substance abuse and the adverse
impacts made upon youth, families, and society in general.

While delivering community corrections services to several thousand
probationers in our county at any given time, it has long been our
observation that for any alternative sentencing programs or therapeutic
jurisprudence, ie. drug courts, to work effectively, there must be custody
space available to provide swift and certain consequences to those who
continue to fail to obey the courts' orders.

Otherwise, the sanctions are meaningless and the cycle of delinquent or
criminal behavior goes unchecked, often ultimately escalating to a level of
seriousness resulting in commitment to prison. In fact, it is my opinion
that the failure of the local justice systems to adequately supervise
probationers and have sufficient space available to detain them for
violations is partially responsible for the expansion of the state prison
system.

When local intermediate sanctions are insufficiently funded and therefore
unable to succeed, a higher level of response is inevitable.

I do find it somewhat remarkable that most of our successful probationers
and drug-court graduates acknowledge that being detained during the course
of the programs actually got their attention and enabled them to ultimately
succeed.

A well-respected physician with whom we consult regarding our Substance
Abuse Treatment Courts, Dr. Alex Stalcup, refers to these necessary periods
of custody as creating "critical moments of clarity" for individuals while
progressing on the road to recovery.

All of the issues associated with juvenile and adult crime are obviously
quite complex.

I think it is very important to keep the big picture in perspective, and to
realize that the entire system is greater than any one discipline, agency,
or jurisdiction. When prevention and education have failed for one reason
or another, we must continue to remediate the problems while still
maintaining public safety throughout our county.

Susan J. Gionfriddo, Chief,

Juvenile, Adult Probation, Santa Barbara County