JAIL INMATES NEED CHANCE AT REHABILITATION

Editor: I would like to bring to the community's attention a problem that
has gone on for far too long. The state's courts hand down just and
reasonable sentences only to have them ignored by county jail staff members
and the Probation and Parole Department. Because I am only 17 years old,
the court sentenced me to one year in jail with four years of probation
(which is fair in my case) with requirements that I get my high-school
equivalency diploma, attend drug and alcohol counseling and undergo anger
management treatment. I have spoken to numerous people, including
corrections officers and my probation officer, and have written to the jail
administrator, about attending these programs and have so far been denied.

Since the jail won't offer such programs, I believe that if an inmate has
work-release privileges, he or she should be allowed to attend
court-ordered programs outside of jail to obtain the skills necessary to
become a productive member of the community upon release. If we have to
wait until we are released without those skills, we are doomed to repeat
the same mistakes and will easily fall into drug addiction or alcoholism or
crack under the pressures that our old ways and life on probation place
upon our shoulders.

Until county jails provide inmates with such rehabilitation programs, we
should be allowed to attend court-ordered classes so we are prepared to
return to society.

Travis Kurth

Lincoln County Jail, Merrill