TREAT DRUG USERS AND MENTALLY ILL BEFORE RELEASE

IN RESPONSE to your Nov. 9 news article "Program gives jail needed space":

The fact that the Roanoke County-Salem Jail has placed 12 inmates in a home
electronic-monitoring program recently to ease jail overcrowding is
somewhat helpful.

However, it's a proven fact that substance abuse and mental health
contribute to a major portion of incarcerations, not just locally, but
statewide and nationally.

Many of those persons incarcerated go unidentified and therefore don't
receive adequate attention before being released back to society. Thus,
they return to jails and prisons again and again.

I believe the most sensible approach to ease jail overcrowding is to
provide substance abusers and mentally ill recidivist offenders with a
stringent but cost-effective plan that adequately provides the necessary
components to provide much-needed rehabilitation for such individuals
before releasing them to the community.

Alan Collins

Vinton