[Winona Online Democracy] I would like to make a few comments concerning Judge Chaleen's guest editorial. I'm not sure where the Judge obtained his jail numbers from considering he said he got them from the "chief jailer", but I checked the jail roster dated 01-02-04 and found less than 25% of the entire jail population were driving under the influence offenders. I, too, would like to see the offenses of those that are in the county jail posted so that those that are members of WOD can see the entire picture of our current jail population. The majority that are in jail are being held on drug sales (not possession) and person's crimes. If one where to base their belief of whether we need a new jail off of the Judge's figures one could safely say we might not need a new jail and a Huber facility would do the trick, but that isn't the case.
Judge Chaleen also states that "nowhere in America is there any evidence that jails rehabilitate chemically dependent offenders". The purpose of the county jail is not to provide treatment options for the chemically dependent offender. It has never been the purpose of the county jail to provide treatment options. The jail is not a medical or a counseling facility. The purpose of the jail is to hold short-term sentenced offenders, new arrests waiting to make an initial appearance, and those that can't make bond or bail. The revolving doors of the county jail could in no way provide the needed treatment options for chemically dependent persons. There just isn't enough time nor resources. If I read Judge Chaleen's statement about the current .08 debate correctly he basically states that a change in the current .10 blood alcohol content to a .08 will only cause more "social drinkers" to get arrested. In 2003 the average blood alcohol content of all people arrested and those that provided a breath sample in the city of Winona was .16 ( I would imagine the number would be higher since a number of people refused a breath test). A 160 pound male would have to drink 6 alcoholic drinks in one hour to be a .16. Hardly a social drinker in my book. Will the .08 have an increase in the overall arrest of impaired drivers? Yes, but the increase will be in the impaired drivers that are at a .10 to a .12 level, which I would venture to believe most of the general public wouldn't have a problem with. Therefore the average of .16 will then be lower. It is sort of like speed limits. You want people to drive 30 mph so you make the speed limit 25 mph. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Web site, there is an offender in the state of Minnesota that has been arrested 23 times for drunk driving. I would also say that there is no way to keep a car away from the chronic offender short of locking him up. The health problem of alcoholism isn't a crime, it is the actions of the person (driving) that is a crime. There is a big difference here. If we could keep the cars away from the chronic drunk driver this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion. I would suggest stiffer penalties for the person that provides a vehicle to habitual traffic offender. The Judge also states that we need to use our existing commitment laws to address our chronic offenders. For the average person to get a family member committed to a treatment facility almost takes an act of God in this country. The person that is in need of involuntary commitment needs to be almost dead before that will happen. Trust me, I know from first hand experience. I would like to know what the success rate of involuntary commitments are? Would somebody in Human Services have an answer to this question? So what is the answer for the chronic drunk driving offender? I would start out with a good dose of jail time somewhere around 50% of their sentence behind bars. The next 45% of their sentence would be electronic home monitoring with numerous home visits by the sheriff department or police department to ensure sobriety and the fact they are home. The next step of their sentence would be treatment. The type of treatment that the offender has to pay for so that way they will value that treatment. I would then finish off their punishment with a weekend in jail so they remember not to come back again. I personally don't feel the jail in the basement is a good idea. We are applying a band-aid to band-aid since the LEC was a 20 year old band-aid to begin with. In my opinion the current jail design is horrible. Supervision of inmates is difficult to say the least. In the process of making the Huber annex the LEC's indoor range was removed. The range was far from perfect but it offered on duty officers the opportunity to practice their handgun shooting while on duty which can no longer be done. I would agree with the Judge that our current jail needs to be brought up to current standards, but can that be done in a cost effective way in the current building? Chris Nelson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Voegeli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 6:59 AM Subject: [Winona] Crime and Punishment > [Winona Online Democracy] > > Happy New Year Everyone, > > Below is a copy of a guest editorial by retired District Judge Dennis > Chaleen that appeared in the Tuesday, December 30th edition of the Winona > Daily News. > > I would be very interested to know what others thought of the points in > Judge Chaleen's letter. For instance: > > ---------- > > 1. Do you believe jails are "effective?" > > 2. Can we simply afford to continue down this "lock em up and throw away > the key" path? Cal Thomas also had an interesting piece about a month ago > in the Daily News about this same thing. > > 3. Are there different kinds of crimes and criminals? Does a > one-size-fit-all punishment work? > > 4. Are there more effective alternatives to straight jail time? > > 5. Would the public be willing to accept these alternatives? > > 6. Would the State Legislature be willing to change it's sentencing laws? > > 7. Should Winona County build a new jail? > > 8. What are people's thoughts in general about crime and punishment? > > > ---------- > > Dwayne Voegeli > > January 3, 2004 > > ---------- > > Tuesday, December 30, 2003 > > Winona Daily News > > Guest Editorial > > Title: Jail crowding due to bad DUI laws > > Dennis A. Challeen > > ---------- > > In the late 1980s and early 1990s our state legislators were being > pressured to pass mandatory 30-day jail sentences for repeat drunk > drivers. They ordered a study. The state planning agency returned > research over a three-year period that found: "no difference in repeat > rates between those that were sent to jail and those that were not sent > to jail, nor was there any difference between those who served long jail > sentences or short jail sentences." > > They also cautioned our legislators that if they passed this law, > county jail resources would be severely stressed. Ignoring this advice, > the law was passed anyway - apparently choosing politics over > rehabilitation. > > Now more than a decade later, these prophesies have come true. > About half the inmates, according to the chief jailor are repeat > driving-under-the-influence offenders. Our county commissioners are now > being forced into making a jail building decision they shouldn't have to > make. Don't blame the judges either; there is little discretion in > mandatory sentencing laws. > > To make matters even more clear, the National Institute of > Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice released research findings in > 2000 that indicate some people appear to be "resistant to punishment." > They are: > Psychopathic risk takers. > Those under the influence of a chemical substance. > Those with a history of being punished. > > So here we are about to build more jail cells to house more people > who are chemically dependent with a history of being punished. Research > warns us it hasn't worked and won't work. > > So where did we go wrong? In my opinion, the problem began when we > criminalized a public health problem and believed we could punish our > way to highway safety. We scare the hell out of normal responsible > people who are low risk and not the problem. And unintentionally, we > created an alcoholic subculture of undeterred outlaws without a valid > driver's license, who drive uninsured, un-titled, unsafe automobiles and > pose a deadly highway hazard. Locking up and increasing the penalties on > these outlaws doesn't change them - it seems to make them more desperate > to outrun the cops. The result: overkill on the social drinker while > missing the boat on hard-core alcoholics. Reducing the blood-alcohol > content to 0.08 percent only increases this problem. > > Our DUI laws are based upon interdiction (catch them before they > kill someone) and punish them so they won't do it again. But car crashes > are like bolts of lightning. We know a fatal accident will occur again > in this county, but we don't know where it will strike next, creating an > impossible task for law enforcement. > > There is a paradox with punishment: It works the best on those who > pose the least threat to society (that's why most of us believe in it so > strongly), and it is least effective on those who pose the greatest > threat to society. Those who have experienced chemical dependency > in the family understand the difficulty of dealing with the disease. > > Instead of building more jails and prisons, we should use the ones we have > more wisely. We need jails and prisons to contain the dangerous, but > nowhere in America is there any evidence that jails rehabilitate chemically > dependent offenders. We must use our existing commitment laws and spend our > tax dollars on successful treatment programs and use cognitive programs to > change the faulty belief systems of chronic offenders. > > The Justice Department study showed cognitive programs decreased criminal > behavior by 29 percent, treatment by 15 percent; while punishment - > jails - increased criminal behavior slightly - by .07 percent. > > We have trained cognitive facilitators in our community. The new > staggered sentencing concept of rewarding offenders who work towards > rehabilitation has shown promise with multiple DUI offenders. Drug > courts (alcohol is a drug) are appearing around the country where the > goal is rehabilitation; tight control; fail means jail; start over > again. Jail is used as a "jolt" not a cure. > > So what should our commissioners who inherited this problem do? We > have to bring our outdated jail up to today's standards and provide > minimum security cells in the basement or elsewhere. Then they should > pass a resolution for our local legislators to take to the state Capitol > and undo failed mandatory laws and return DUI sentencing discretion to > the judges, who deal with it every day on a case-by-case basis and who > can control the local jail population. > > > Dennis A. Challeen is a retired Winona District Court judge. He has > written widely on crime, criminals and punishment. > > ------------ > > Dwayne Voegeli > > Winona County Commissioner, District #2 > > (507) 453-9012 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > 359 Pleasant Hill Dr. > Winona, MN 55987 > > ------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy > All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. > No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. > To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit > http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona > Any problems or suggestions can be directed to > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
