Missouri courts: We need more efforts to keep people out of jail

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Missouri needs “to continue looking at, and working toward, the diversionary courts” like drug courts and DWI courts in order “to have fewer people incarcerated in the state,” state Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, said Wednesday.

He’s the new chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, and he chaired the special Rebooting Government committee on the courts and public safety operations.

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To achieve that, state Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. told the special Senate committee: “The single most effective thing I would suggest to you for improvement of the criminal justice system is to spend more money breaking the cycle of addiction to drugs and alcohol — and less money incarcerating those people who then, when they come out, continue to be addicted and offend immediately again because we haven’t addressed their problem.”

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nuprofessor 2 years, 4 months ago

NO!!!!! What we need is to find a way to make jail less appealing. Jails / prison now have too much for the inmate to do. Jail / prison is a punishment for screwing up in everyday life. It is quite ironic that inmates get three meals a day, a roof over their head, heating / cooling, and their healthcare paid. There are law abiding people that sometimes do not have one of the above. What makes the inmate special!?!? Make the inmate work for his keep! NO WORK= NO EAT / SHELTER / HEATING / COOLING/ HEALTHCARE.

MK 2 years, 4 months ago

The first thing they can do is to quit charging people with felonies for drug crimes. Even if they don't go to prison they end up having felony records and have an even more difficult time getting jobs due to that. If you have adults out there who have no hope of employment, of course they are going to do whatever it takes to make a buck.

I have to say I am surprised and somewhat relieved to see a Republican take this stand. They have been big time supporters of increasing the law enforcement and prison industries and pumping more of our hard earned money into them. You never know though. They might be receiving campaign contributions from the private sector that has a stake in counseling but at least its a better route to go than prison for drug offenses.

Legalizing marijuana would be a great first step if anyone in politics had the courage and brains to do what's right and what's fiscally practical. Hopefully in my lifetime it will happen, but with the group of self serving dimwits we currently have holding our chains and manipulating our minds and bodies, I won't hold my breath.

asb 2 years, 4 months ago

No, wrong again Grace. Canabis is far less destructive than booze, whether legal or not. And our Nation is greater than ever, you just hate it.

bluesfan13 2 years, 4 months ago

If you make marijuana legal, then people have just stopped using illegal drugs...

Just sayin...

Just because you don't approve of an activity, doesn't mean it should be illegal.

Rison 2 years, 4 months ago

Do some research instead of just spouting talking points and you'll find the truth about Marijauna, from it's usage throughout history (before written record) all the way up to it usage by the founding fathers. Tobacco rules with their money and power, if it didn't, marijuana would be legal today, and our nation would be safer because of it.

bluesfan13 2 years, 4 months ago

Ok, I'll bite...

What is more dangerous and/or destructive about Marijuana than Tobacco or Alchohol?

bluesfan13 2 years, 4 months ago

And a diet of fast-food is even more dangerous to individual health. Should we outlaw unhealthy eateries?

JCLifer 2 years, 4 months ago

Not to mention he was homosexual...

asb 2 years, 4 months ago

I'm not comparing pot to a perfect life, I'm saying it's a lot less harmfull than booze. Almost every western adult drinks, legally. I like both personally.

asb 2 years, 4 months ago

That we're willing to feed, house, clothe and care for prisoners - while letting the poorest and homeless starve and die in the streets - says something about us, I'm just not sure what. Making prisoners work is a good idea, but the corporate shoe wars over the money being made with prison labor (look no further than Capitol ave) are a good example of how business views cheap confined labor. They'd rather recruit illegals and let them fend for themselves. Good on you for this push Mr. Goodman.

However, as suggested by MK, the biggest issue is that far too many in our prisons are there for selling and using drugs, while In-Bev makes legal billions selling the most destructive drug of all and most adults even let their children drink it. That is the real issue.

asb 2 years, 4 months ago

Graceful history 101, it was the left that closed down state institutions and stripped funding for the patients' care and halfway houses. Maybe in your world, but not this one.

Rison 2 years, 4 months ago

It's not worth the effort with "Graceful", whose handle is clearly a misnomer.

bluesfan13 2 years, 4 months ago

So in your mind all homeless people are mentally ill?

bndyvcky 2 years, 4 months ago

Treating the person and the symptoms is what needs to be done. This gentleman is on the right track.

mamaj01 2 years, 4 months ago

i feel they also need to look at, that prisoners SHOULD NOT be allowed to get FREE education while in prison. they can get their GED, or even a law degree...COME ON NOW! they are there because they committed a crime..for me to pay for that out of my taxes is bad enough...why should i pay for them to get an education that i would have to pay ALOT of money for??? you committ a crime, you do your time. if you wanted your education that bad, you shouldve thought about that before you did your crime!

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

they should at least decriminalize Marijauna. pay a fine and/or make a misdemeanor. the last few presidents have used it. people have not learned from prohibition. Sen. Jack Goodman might be a small governement conservative or a Liberterian Republican. Jail/prison should be there for violent offenders and Bernie Maddoffs of the world, not someone that only puffs smoke.

mommyof2 2 years, 4 months ago

Just a thought but have any of you actually researched or gone to your local courthouse and talked to the people there regarinding just how a drug court works?

mommyof2 2 years, 4 months ago

Sorry, that was supposed to be "regarding"

TheRickster 2 years, 4 months ago

This new look should be focused on the "three strikes" law. Why would you have a mandatory jail sentence for a person? Each case is different. That is where the biggest trouble comes in. The court's hands are tied and have to jam them into an already crowded system. We have already turned the corner on paying private companies to house the prisoners. A business in itself. We have gone from being inhumane to inmates, to being too easy on them. The real purpose is to teach felons a real trade so they can make a life without crime. The biggie is we can't even do that for our law abiding people! Graceful, they do make them do some type of job inside and pay them! Now settle down,,most are paid around 7.50 a month. I would not want to be in prison at all, but to some of the poorest folks it is a set above their real world. Look back at Prohibition,,have we learned anything from then? We created a criminal's new job while creating the Mafia.Chew on that.

TheRickster 2 years, 4 months ago

Graceful,,you ceratinly have not read the real history on prohibition. Bootleggers made more moonshine than the Jim Beam distilleries. Fact. More alcohol was consumed and illness from it was worse. The government just paId for busting up stills and runners. They didn't even slow it down. Why do you think they repealed prohibition? If you would like to check my remarks, look them up on the History Channel.

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

well there was a time when booze was illegal, but pot was not. Reason.com has a good article on this subject. btw William F. Buckley, one of the most gifted conservatives of this time, is against the war on drugs, look it up. prohibition increased crime, many loopholes, allow the gov. to invade people's privacy, and made crime lords rich. h p://reason.com/archives/2011/01/13/when-booze-was-banned-but-pot just put the 2 t's between the h and the p to read the article.

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

don't forget, if you give a non-violent criminals or those who commit crimes against themselves long sentences, guess who will pay for their medical bills?? we really need to look at transforming the justice system.

JCLifer 2 years, 4 months ago

If jails/prisons were horrific, uncomfortable, terrifying places it would be seen as a deterrent to crime. However, incarceration in Missouri just means "three hots, a cot, a free health club, a free education, cable TV, etc." Often offenders can make new professional contacts and learn new tricks to expand their chosen vocations of crime for when they get out.

I have been inside several medium and maximum security prisons, and I can tell you that prisoners have nicer facilities than most of our school children have.

Prisons should be about hard work, punishment, and terrorizing places to be.

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

it should not be a hotel, however it should not be a house of horrors like some places in southeast asia and in the middle east. i have read an article somewhere where non-violent criminals will work with NG soldiers during natural disasters.

gofish 2 years, 4 months ago

" when they come out, continue to be addicted and offend immediately again because we haven’t addressed their problem.”

As if the poor inmates, after allegedly having several sober/clean years, are so vulnerable that THEY CHOOSE to use and CHOOSE to reoffend.

Some quality time working on a chain gang building roads and busting rocks would be a more efficient means than to leave the criminal in the street.

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

why don't we have a jail like this guy? Joe Arpaio at Maricopa county.

wcywing 2 years, 4 months ago

or at least decriminalize it. pay a fine or someother penalty other than jail time. i don't see Missouri legalizing weed anytime soon though, even Salvia Divinorum is illegal, even though its legal in most states.

TheRickster 2 years, 4 months ago

Just another morality law. Saving us from ourselves. If a grown-up chooses to relax with something then so be it. Oh, I do suppose we all can go the a shrink and get some meds that are soo much safer. I do understand that smoking isn't the healthy way to go,,so why not use the cookies, and other food sources with mary jane in them. You keep piling folks up in jails for what? Making a choice to unwind in their own homes? As far as testing while driving, there are already PH strips that slipped under a tongue can tell if a user has partaken within an hour or more.

gzc721 2 years, 4 months ago

I have to agree with Rickster and asb on this. There is too much that prisoners are given without earning it. They are entitled to a roof over their heads, 3 square meals a day, and the ability to get out in the sun at least once per day. Otherwise, they aren't entitled to too much by my standards.
What happened to the prisons making their prisoners grow their own food, sew their own clothes, and butcher their own meat?? When they did this and had to do hard labor - breaking rock in the middle of the quad, then it wasn't such a fun time and they actually paid for themselves. We need to get back to them becoming self-sustaining instead of the tax payers sustaining them. Making sure that the people who do the hard crimes serve the hard time will help. Prisons do need to be reformed.

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