Can interventions reduce criminal behaviors?

To the editor:
    Re: L.D. 481 (HPO 343) An Act to Allow the Department of Corrections (DOC) to Certify Community Intervention Program which means Department of Corrections would adopt rules for the certification of community intervention programs. Certification ensures that programs that provide intervention services, designed to intervene in the risk factors for re-offending, are based on best practices and proven to be effective in changing criminal behavior.  (www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/billtexts/HP34301.asp)
    This letter has been written to provide you with important information about why LD 481 is essential to the future of corrections in Aroostook County. First, there is a necessity for community interventions programs to assist the only County correctional facility, which is overcrowded, currently housing about 80 inmates.
    Second, the County jail has a recidivism rate of about 65 percent. This means that 65 percent of people who have been released on bail, or who have fulfilled their sentence eventually return to to be locked up yet again for committing a crime. The average age of an inmate is 23. Most inmates have committed addiction-related crimes. In fact, rampant abuse of prescription drugs and methamphetamines is the cause of many crimes including burglary, distribution, theft, and negotiating worthless instruments – just to name a few.
    The drug culture is intensifying and there seems to be no end in sight. State and National policies need to be changed because people are dying. How many commercials are aired that ask you to ask your doctor about this pill or suggest taking that pill because it will help you sleep or lose weight? What about unregulated access to prescriptions on the internet? How many drug related overdose deaths of young people in your area have there been?
    The number of individuals who have committed addiction related crimes in the County and are being monitored by a local non-profit agency is equivalent to York County and Cumberland County which have more addiction-related resources. A number of families and social service workers in the County have expressed a desire for a long term rehabilitation/treatment facility which would be significantly advantageous for people with addictions, family members and the communities here “In the County”
    On a personal note, I have known community members and relatives who were charged with an addiction related crime and served time in jail. The County jail system is not designed, due to lack of funding and staffing, to manage individuals with addictions. Some inmates have mental illness diagnoses and take medication to manage their symptoms. However, when a person is taken to jail, they often do not have (on their person) or think to take their medications with them, which many say is why they abruptly stop their medication(s). When people abruptly stop their mediations, causing withdrawal and uncontrolled symptoms, their behaviors become a problem.
    Although inmates have their basic needs met, they have few consequences or responsibilities, an excess of unstructured time and are acting out and being destructive.
    Aroostook County desperately needs FUNDS from the Department of Corrections to Certify Community Intervention Programs so that low-risk and eligible inmates can have an alternative to incarceration, be connected to needed mental health and/or substance abuse services, continue their prescription regime and be supported to become productive members of society.
    Why can’t we also begin the process of talking about how a treatment facility would benefit the community, the largest, yet most often disregarded county in Maine?
Ann Degenhardt Nelson
Orono — Graduate (MSW) student
Houlton