HARD TIME MAY NOT BE ANSWER

Prevention starts early, some say

Oakdale, Ia. - Mike Nellist of Sioux City is back behind bars for the third
time, at a cost to Iowa taxpayers of about $18,500 a year.

Nellist, 25, is like many young inmates. He is defiant and refuses to take
the criminal justice system seriously.

Iowa politicians often say they want to send criminals a message. So they
build more prisons and pass tougher sentencing laws.

Nellist is not listening. He's among 27 percent of Iowa's 7,300 inmates who
have been in prison more than once.

"I have so far spent three or four years of my life in prison," Nellist said
while playing checkers with a fellow inmate in a cell house at the Oakdale
state prison. "I know what this place is all about. It is for some people to
make a lot of money. This place doesn't help nothing. All this place is to
me is like a kiddie camp."

All Iowa's new inmates - an average of 380 per month - are brought to the
state prison at Oakdale, just north of Iowa City. About half the inmates
have committed new crimes. The other half go to prison after getting in
trouble on probation, on parole or in other community corrections programs.
After an orientation period and processing at Oakdale, most of the inmates
are assigned to other state prisons.

Most of Oakdale's 940 inmates are men, but there are facilities here that
house about 75 women, including some who are pregnant. The prison includes a
23-bed psychiatric hospital.

Donald Black, a University of Iowa psychiatrist who wrote a book titled "Bad
Boys, Bad Men," is familiar with defiant inmates like Nellist. He said one
of psychiatry's "dirty little secrets" is that it lacks effective
medications or therapies for anti-social personalities - a diagnosis that
fits most prison inmates, he said.

"However, the natural history of this disorder is that it tends to get less
troublesome with age. This is why "three strikes and you"re out" laws or the
very extended prison sentences make no sense," Black said.

The criminal careers of these people peak in their late teens and early 20s
and rapidly taper off, Black said. By the time they hit their mid-30s and
early 40s, most of them are fairly safe, from society's point of view, he
said.

One percent of Iowa's inmates are 61 or older. Two-thirds are 35 or younger,
including 9 percent who are 20 or younger.

Because defiant attitudes are prevalent among new inmates, the job of
running Iowa's prisons is more challenging than ever.

"The younger ones that we get really have no idea or concept of respect for
anyone in authority," said Oakdale Warden Rusty Rogerson. "It is part of our
society."

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, a former public defender, said he sees a
lack of conscience when he compares many of today's convicts with criminals
from 20 years ago.

"These are people who are trying to immediately gratify themselves, and they
don't care what it takes to get done what they want," Sarcone said. "There
is no thinking about anything. That is a big change."

Lettie Prell is a researcher for the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile
Justice Planning and has studied Iowa prisoners extensively. She agreed with
Black that many Iowa inmates can be classified as anti-social, based on
widely accepted psychological tests. But she said it is clear that repeat
offense rates and arrest rates decline as Iowa offenders get older.

Dustin Avery, 22, of the Waterloo area is serving a 14-year sentence at the
Fort Dodge prison for selling marijuana and for a host of other offenses. He
said he believes long prison sentences have no impact on criminals.

"I think you are about as rehabilitated after your first week at Oakdale as
you would be after numerous years in prison," Avery said. "If you are going
to do the same things over again, you are going to do them whether you are
in for 30 days or 30 years."

State officials are attempting to work with some Iowans who repeatedly
commit crimes by providing courses intended to change the way criminals
think. Offenders in the classes are encouraged to reconsider how they handle
stressful situations, including marital disputes and job problems, and to
act less impulsively and in a more constructive manner.

This approach, known as "cognitive behavioral therapy," may help offenders
with mild anti-social personalities, but more research is needed, said
Black.

If there is a solution to Iowa's prison crowding problem, it must include
programs to help children with education and human services needs, said
state Sen. Gene Maddox, R-Clive, co-chairman of a legislative prison budget
subcommittee. The idea is that it is easier to turn someone's life around
when he or she is a child than when that person is a delinquent teen-ager or
a troubled adult.

The National Institute of Justice released a report last year on crime
prevention programs that have proved successful. They included a host of
efforts with children: frequent home visits by nurses and other
professionals for infants; classes with weekly home visits by preschool
teachers; family therapy and parent training for delinquent and at-risk
adolescents; and several school programs, including teaching of social
competency skills.

Sarcone believes that the cycle of crime and punishment will be difficult to
break unless Iowa families have a major role.

"If you grow up in an environment where there is nobody to tuck you in at
night and to say "I love you" or give you a warm meal, gee whiz, what do we
expect these kids to turn out to be?" he asked.