In the latest numbers released by TDCJ, figures state that over 20,000 offenders currently incarcerated in Texas prisons are convicted of non-violent drug offenses and or DWI. Texas generally spends on average of $42-$50 a day to house this class of offender. That translates into roughly 365 million dollars a year in tax payer dollars spent on these offenders alone to house them in prison. That doesn't include special needs offenders in this category requiring special medical care behind the walls. Could community or state run programs or probation programs step in and keep these offenders out of prison and still allow them to repay their debt to society ? And under what circumstances ? It may be up for debate in the Legislature soon. What are your thoughts ?
Until the next time a repeat DWI offender kills someone. Then it'll be 'why wasn't he/she locked up?' Just this past week a guy in Beaumont was caught DWI with a child. To compound the issue he was out on bond for intoxication manslaughter at the time.
ReplyDeleteIs there any difference between driving drunk or driving high ?
ReplyDeleteHell, for $50 a day they could somehow rehabilitate them for less time,,,or put them on probation and get their money's worth out of them in community service....if the felon is going to be a harda** then they should spend their time in prison,,,but I know lots of offenders that coulda been given that chance outside the prison walls for less money on us taxpayers...
ReplyDeleteAnd the car theief only used your car for a little while. He didn't hurt anyone. You know the rules before you break them and now they must pay for them. Make prison harder. Make them pay to use the craft shop, gym etc. Let them out and we prove that people can do what they want.
ReplyDelete20,000 offenders currently incarcerated in Texas prisons are convicted of non-violent drug offenses and or DWI. Texas generally spends on average of $42-$50 a day to house this class of offender. That translates into roughly a million dollars a year
ReplyDeleteI don't know about your math-
$50/day x 20,000 inmates = $1,000,000/day
Now I bet you're really pissed ;-)
wow... your right. An oversight on our part. Have to fire our accountant ! We fixed it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLets see, 1 nice lady has a few drinks after work. Drives home, and on the way hits an older couple head on, kills the older gentleman. His wife is now a widow, his children are now fatherless, his grand kids are now without a grandpaw. Their lives are devastated. They will never be the same. Is there REALLY a price we can put on this gentleman's life? What amount of money will bring him back for his family?
ReplyDeleteThe young lady who decided to have just a few drinks after work goes to prison, does a few years, gets out. She now lives on. But, the lives she's devastated will never be repaired.
It's a true story. Perhaps it happens often. I don't know. The young lady was a friend of mine once.
I'm no expert. I don't know what the answer is. What I do know is that we certainly do NOT want to allow anyone who drinks to be driving. They are a danger to us all. And, if putting them in prison gets them off the streets, so be it. They belong there. At least in prison there is no chance for them to get a drink, drive, and destroy anyone's life.
It gets them off the streets for some defined period of time. But you have to let them out. I've never seen prison cure an alcoholic. Period.
ReplyDeleteNor does it stop someone from a life of drugs, murder,robbery,sex crimes on and on and on. But if you change the rules then the ones that would not comply before still will not comply and this world gets to be a worse place to live all the time. I have seen many travel cards and 99.999999% of the people locked up are NOT first time offenders. Most have a long list of crimes. I don't think we will ever cure the ones locked up but maybe that offenders life will effect someone and make them think before they mess up. We by far don't have the best system but travelling the world I have seen many much worse.
ReplyDeleteThe "prison sentences deter DWI" defense of locking 'em up vs. better and more diversion and treatment programs doesn't pass the evidence test, either.
ReplyDeleteDon, I know, and understand your position about prison not curing alcoholism. I've worked in prisons for nearly 30yrs.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest it's not alcoholics that disturb or scare me. It's people who have a few drinks, think they can drive, then get behind the wheel of a vehicle and drive. They are the most dangerous people on the roads. They don't believe they're impaired, yet they are. And, like the young lady mentioned in the story above, they kill people on our highways everyday.
The people who CHOSE to drink and drive are a danger to us all. The longer we keep them off the roads, the better. Is it worth it to me to spend the money for a cell to keep them in if they are kept away from my young children, my wife, and my family? Hell yes it's worth it to me. I don't want them anywhere near me or mine when I'm out on the roads.
BTW, for what it's worth, in nearly 30yrs working corrections I've not seen any program worth a darn at rehabilitating anyone. Not even any community based programs. What I've seen and experienced is that the individual has to make a conscious decision on their own that they want to do right. Nobody can help them with that. They have to come to that decision on their own. And, until they hit rock bottom most of them won't make that decision. In fact, many try to blame others for their own failings. They refuse to take responsibility for their actions. And, until they do true rehabilitation will never happen, no matter what program you put them in.
The issue is the cost of keeping them locked up. I've always thought it laughable that folks that get caught in DWI don't get a more severe punishment. I don't want them in the prisons, but I would think there would be a more sensible way of curbing their bad decisions. We can't afford to lock them up. Some people think that locking them up is going to keep someone else from doing the same thing by their example. Yeah, right- just like the death penalty keeps murders from happening. People start to drink and then their reasoning and logic go out the window. Hit them in the wallet, and take away their license. If they still can't keep from driving, then lock them up. But don't put them in the big house, for pete's sake. That just makes them part of the huge group of A-holes that are teaching each other to be better criminals. I think you gotta keep the #'s in our max sec prisons as low as possible. Those places are just breeding grounds for more criminals.
ReplyDeleteTruth is, most get out. That being said, does the state currently have an effective treatment program in place that will help deter the long term issues ? Or is it a lock them away and warehouse them until they come back type of situation ? DWI is deadly and takes the lives of innocent people true enough. But will lock up help in the long run or is it just merely a short term solution to a bigger issue ? I once read a travel card that stated this guy was down on his 6th DWI within a 10 year period. So whats the answer on recidivism ?
ReplyDeleteTEXAS does not claim to rehab anyone and there does not seem to be an answer to recidivism.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 1:56: You may not have seen any program "worth a darn" at rehabilitating anyone, and on an individual basis, you may be right, at least from your perspective, (and most of the public). But empirical evidence is that programs do help recidivism rates. That's a fact. I, as a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, have worked in the addictions field, mostly in criminal justice, for almost as long as you have worked in prisons. I have worked in prisons, SAFPF, probation, private treatment centers, non profits, MHMR facilities, CRTC's, private practice, education, really can't think of a venue I haven't worked in. If I didn't know programs could help someone, I wouldn't have done it, especially for half the salary of other so-called professions. You see people coming back; you see the ones who don't want to get sober, and apply that to everyone. If not for some programs, I wouldn't be here. Rock bottom, as you call it, is maybe part of the story, but it's the tip of the iceberg. As for the Criminal Justice system, when the legislature cuts programs, the prisons fill up. When good programs are in place, population declines. Every time. Admittedly, prisons don't have good programs, even when they have them. But hard, empirical evidence bears out the fact that even the crap TDCJ calls treatment pays for itself many times over.
ReplyDeleteDon, with all due respect to you and your profession, the ONLY way ANY program works is for the INDIVIDUAL to make the conscious decision on their OWN to make the program work for them. The program will NOT work on ANYONE who does NOT make that decision for themselves.
ReplyDeleteFor most people, they will only make that decision when they've hit rock bottom, and there is nowhere to go but up.
I would challenge you to show otherwise.
I am not going to argue with you about this. Of course, the person has to do it himself. But programs can help. I am a recovering alcoholic, 26 years sobriety, 24 years working in the field. I know what I'm talking about. I do not know what YOU are talking about.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to argue Don. Programs are a tool, one of many in the corrections field. I've seen many so called rehab programs abused by inmates trying to beat the system. They are what they are.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time whatever statistics that are cited regarding a program are skewed to meet the writers needs, whatever they might be. And, most of the time they can be interpreted several different ways.
I congratulate anyone who's been incarcerated, gets released, and stays out of trouble. All too often they come back on additional charges, or parole violations. Recidivism is a huge problem for TDCJ. I haven't seen any programs which were actually proven to reduce the overall rate over the years either.
And that brings us to the drug users. Should drug abusers be locked up ? What are the alternatives?
ReplyDeleteLegalize- Let all the folks who want to screw themselves up go ahead and do it. They're going to do it anyway- who doesn't believe they will? Think they're afraid of the law? Really? But we keep funding a drug war, and all the law enforcement and corrections that tries in vain to stop it. And the cartels and gangs are living off the black market. People think since it's been illegal for so long that it should stay that way. Let's make alcohol illegal and legalize drugs :-) WTF would happen then, hunh?
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ReplyDeleteThis article is disturbing. If society considers DWI & Drug charges "victimless crimes" They have never got the call that their wife & kids are being flown to the hospital after being rammed off the road into a ditch.. by someone out smoking dope & drinking " just killing time..... What is a victimless crime.
ReplyDeleteBut there are also cases of accidents in which people dies and no has been drinking? Should the person at fault be incarcerated?
ReplyDeleteUHHM yeah, it's called vehicular manslaughter/vehicular assault.
DeleteThis problem is unique and not like any other crime. The biggest reason, because it was an acceptable form of behavior for the first 80 years of driving in this country, and no one wants to talk about how abruptly the laws changed. They changed faster than people could change their behavior. Having said that, their is an alcohol detection module and also those ignition blow devices that should be made mandatory. If you have a second dui they should to stay on your car for life .Its not against the law to be an alcoholic, and people are not going to prison for being one. So it should not be the states scope to try to rehabilitate them all. They should have to have those devices on their car. It would make the price of those devices cheaper and stop dui before it stops. If you get caught without it you should loose your license for at least ten years. Continue to drive after that, loose your license for life.. It's really not that hard of a solution.. It would cut dui in half, because you have so many repeat offenders.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I am an alcoholic with 3 DWIs. If someone had found I was an alcoholic after the 1st DWI and had a mandatory ignition device installed on my car, I'd be an exemplary citizen, working, without a felony on my record and the hardship, depression etc. that comes with that.
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