There is a type of American citizen/taxpayer who has no time for the convicts in our criminal system. Put those criminals on an island and give them seeds! They broke the law, now they pay the price.
There is another type of American citizen/taxpayer who knows that putting a person in a box and poking them with a stick for two to five years isn't going to make them any better, and it certainly won't make the rest of us any safer once they get out.
And a majority of those who go to prison get out. It would make better economic sense/safety sense/moral sense to try to rehabilitate these folks, if not for their sakes, then for ours.
A part of that would seem to be "oversight" once they get out. That is, by using parole officers and such to keep track of those who've paid their debts to society and need what the state government calls an "intensive supervision program."
The governor of Arkansas has asked for legislative permission to use just over $1 million in one-time money from the state's rainy-day fund to expand the Corrections Department's supervision program for ex-cons.
Michael Wickline's news story this week said the governor wants to use the money to "ensure the high-risk parole population has adequate support from Community Corrections officers." A legislative panel agreed, and now the request moves to the next phase.
According to our story:
"On April 5, the governor announced his plan to expand supervision of high-risk parolees in central Arkansas in an effort to help curb the increase in violent crime. He said the proposed expansion would add 10 officers who will cover Lonoke, Jefferson, Pulaski, Faulkner and Saline counties. The current program has four officers."
The papers have been filled with stories about violent crime in Little Rock. And what the mayor/police chief plan in response. And how Little Rock and Pine Bluff officials are working together on the problem. And what their plans are to make the streets safer. One would think that part of that would be keeping those just released from prison out of prison--for good.
Solomon Graves, secretary of the Department of Corrections, said the "intensive supervision team" is assigned to high-risk offenders who have a history of violence or gang activity. And moving from four such parole officers to 14 sounds like money well spent.
We could go all liberal and say many of these convicts never had a firm path to the straight and narrow, and some of them will make contributing citizens with the right guidance, and we have our souls to think about. Or we could go all conservative and say if the government is going to spend money, it had better spend it to make good citizens safer. Or we could go all common sense and say these people walk among us, and our children, and can't be kept behind bars forever, so they must get the kind of help to pull them away from crime's grip--which would save the rest of us money and trouble in the long run.
Why not all three opinions? Judging by what we read in the papers, central Arkansas needs some new ideas when it comes to crime. More oversight of parolees might work. So let's give it a try.
Remember, it's called corrections. Not surrenders.