INMATES LESS MOTIVATED, WARDENS FIND

Motivating inmates to enroll in prison drug and alcohol treatment
programs and other rehabilitation programs has become increasingly
difficult under truth in sentencing, according to some state prison
wardens.

"They know they are not going to get out any earlier, so they simply
don't want to take the time to do the programming and don't want to
invest in it," said Jane Gamble, who was warden of Kettle Moraine
Correctional Institution in Plymouth until her retirement this summer.
"It is a shame, because we have excellent programs here."

Truth in sentencing, which applies to anyone who committed a crime on
or after Dec. 31, 1999, requires inmates to serve every day of their
prison term with no chance from the parole board for early release.
Instead of time off for good behavior, the law adds time on for bad
behavior.

Of the 168 offenders who refused to participate in one drug and
alcohol program last year at Kettle Moraine, 131 were
truth-in-sentencing inmates, she said.

"That is a dramatic difference from what it was before," Gamble
said.

"They go out and they will probably have to do the treatment somewhere
on the streets if they can find treatment," she said. "We are just
kind of moving the problem along with the offender."

Even with the refusals, she added, the treatment programs at Kettle
Moraine have long waiting lists. One program, she said is full through
August 2005 and another had a waiting list of about two months.

Budget pressures

Gamble and other wardens who were interviewed said they also had long
waiting lists for rehabilitative programs and are seeing inmates
coming in with longer prison terms under truth in sentencing.

"We have had to shift treatment and education dollars just for the
beds," said Daniel Bertrand, the warden of Green Bay Correctional
Institution. "We have lost positions - inmate complaint examiners,
maintenance positions. I have about 300 inmates who don't have a job
or program because there are just not enough staff."

Meanwhile, Bertrand and other wardens said, inmate disciplinary
problems have increased along with psychological problems. Additional
segregation cells have been added at Green Bay to deal with the
problems, he said.

Gary McCaughtry, who retired this month as warden of Waupun
Correctional Institution, said that he sees pros and cons about truth
in sentencing but that the law does not "produce an incentive for
inmates to participate in programs and try to earn their way out of
prison by rehabilitation means."

'How much is enough?'

"I think incapacitation is a legitimate goal of the criminal justice
system," he said. "People who are away from society can't victimize.
It's really a challenge from a public policy standpoint to come up
with the right amount of incapacitation for the right individual. How
much is enough? That is a very good question."

Some inmates have shown signs of increased desperation, he said,
because they know there is no way to earn their way out of prison.

"From the public standpoint, they are going to start knowing more
ex-inmates," McCaughtry said. "They are going to be coming out. They
are going to be in their neighborhoods. They will be cooking their
food, pumping their gas. There are just going to be more of them out
there. We have to protect the public by keeping them in the best shape
when they go out."