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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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 GLOSSIES 
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Recession to Unlock Wave of Ex-Cons

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(Newser) – Thousands of prisoners around the country will have the recession to thank for setting them free, Ken Steir writes in Time. With California planning to release nearly 160,000 prisoners from under-funded, overcrowded prisons, and other states transferring drug convicts to rehab, the US is likely to see a wave of ex-convicts walking the streets. The trick for government officials is rehabilitating them, and finding them a job.

Luckily, these options are far cheaper than keeping convicts in prison. But some politicians refuse to shut down prisons—"economic engines," Republicans in upstate New York call them—and freed ex-cons are facing grim employment prospects. "Our people are usually in the back of the line for jobs, but that line just got a lot longer" in today's economy, one advocate said.

The US is at a
The US is at a "historical moment" to give up its policy of "mass incarceration," a former New York corrections official said.   (Shutterstock)
A flood of more than 700,000 former inmates return to prison every year, Ken Steir writes in Time. Government officials and non-profit agencies face a major challenge slowing such a recidivism rate.
A flood of more than 700,000 former inmates return to prison every year, Ken Steir writes in Time. Government officials and non-profit agencies face a major challenge slowing such a recidivism rate.   (Shutterstock)
An unidentified death row inmate in his cell in the North Condemned Unit at Pontiac Correctional Institution in Pontiac, Ill.
An unidentified death row inmate in his cell in the North Condemned Unit at Pontiac Correctional Institution in Pontiac, Ill.   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
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14 comments
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gregconquest
Mar 7, 09 7:24 AM CST
I thought prisons were supposed to be for in part rehabilitation. It sounds like many productive citizens were *dehabilitated* by being put in prison for having too much fun with weed and coke and such. (And obviously "productive" has different meanings for different people.) And prisons as "economic engines"? Isn't that what the chain gangs were in the South in the early to mid-1900's? They were a literally captured audience that could be worked at lower wages than the regular workers. They were even used as strike breakers when feasible. Anyone who views prisons as "economic engines" needs to be publicly tarred and feathered by some of their captured workers. Reply
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NutsInNY
Mar 7, 09 8:23 AM CST
Just curious: where'd you get the idea that prisons were for rehab?... Seems counterintuitive to me; you might know something I don't... (Entirely possible.)
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PaleRider
Mar 7, 09 8:39 AM CST
@GC if someone sells "Coke" to a bunch of highschool kids and they overdose, that's just "Having a little Fun"? If the State of California would take it's head out of it's ultra-liberal azz long enough to see that if they just deported all of the illegal aliens in their State Prison System, they wouldn't have an overcrowding problem at all.
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Forderon
Mar 7, 09 10:28 AM CST
NutsInNY, there's a reason they're called "correctional facilities". Sure, some exist solely to lock up lost causes, but others try to fix people. That's why prisons have psychiatrists, libraries, etc.
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AClotfelter
Mar 7, 09 1:53 PM CST
Using prisons as a rehab point makes a lot of sense for society, unfortunately, it's very expensive and only moderately successful. "being put in prison for having too much fun with weed and coke" I smell an ex con!!
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