UNJUST PUNISHMENT

Prison Rehab Cuts Are Shortsighted

In Florida, the pendulum has long swung between two schools of thought
about prisons. One view is that even for nonviolent offenders, prison
should be no-frills warehousing without benefit of rehabilitation or
self-improvement.

The broader societal view is that prisoners should receive job skills
and education, making those who are released less likely to return to
a life of crime.

Though the Department of Corrections' own research supports the second
approach, Florida is gutting its prison-rehabilitation programs to
save more than $20 million. According to The Miami Herald, 339
positions - including chaplains, counselors and teachers - have been
cut, and vocational and GED course offerings have been drastically
reduced.

As if this move weren't regressive enough, it comes at a time when
lawmakers are spending more than $65 million on 4,000 new prison beds
- - a short-sighted response to a crime "surge" largely attributable to
nonviolent drug offenses such as cocaine possession. One official,
former DOC education bureau chief Bill Woolley, was sufficiently
offended to resign.

"If you get an inmate a GED, they come back less," Mr. Woolley told
the Herald. "If you get them a vocational certificate, they come back
even lesser, if you will. And if you get them a job, they don't come
back at all."

It's easy to appear tough on crime, but lawmakers would better serve
Florida by supporting programs that help prevent crime in the first
place. When the state received $500 million in economic stimulus money
from Congress in June, legislators didn't exactly clamor to bolster
education or anti-crime programs.

Instead of throwing money at prison beds, lawmakers need to work
harder at preventing them from filling up.