Drug Treatment In Prisons

Many different states have begun sending nonviolent drug offenders to various kinds of drug treatment program the state offers. By doing this, it has significantly reduced the problems with overcrowding. If an individual is arrested and charged with simple possession of a drug and no other crime is being commented, then this person is doing no harm to anyone else. They should be given the opportunity to try and make a change in their life and beat the addiction. Instead, if this person is thrown into jail, they are still going to be an addict with a criminal record now and will not be able to be a contributing member of society. (Everett 1 ).

There has been debate over whether non-violent drug offenders belong in prison. Some believe all drug offenders should be put in prison, others believe that it depends on circumstances, and, still others believe only violent drug offenders should be incarcerated. Overcrowding is one point of contention. It seems as though the slightest infraction can land a person in prison. Violence is rampant, whether inmate versus inmate or inmate versus guard. Rehabilitation or education is practically non-existent, unless an inmate teaching another inmate how to commit the ‘perfect’ crime is counted. Evidence shows being in prison does little to rehabilitate an inmate. Clearly, the system does not work.

From the explanations given above, it is quite easy to see how incarceration is counterproductive to helping those with drug addictions. The next major question is how successful is treatment for drug offenders. The answer: very actually. In fact, with treatment, many benefits are found. Not only for addicts but everyone else as well. Improvements in crime rates, taxpayer spending, and overall well being of drug offenders are found where drug treatment is implemented for addicts.

To put drug users in prison rather than giving them help only creates an awful cycle of abuse and over- populated prisons in America.

With California jails and prisons still struggling with finding a reform for non-violent drug offenders the states recidivism rates continue to reach unprecedented numbers. Between 1983 and 1998, drug admissions to state and federal prisons increased sixteen-fold, from over 10,000 drug admissions in 1983 to almost 167,000 new prison entries for drug offenses in 1998 (Worrall et al, 2009). This has been a direct result of our legal system incarcerating offenders who have substance abuse related issues instead of providing a way for treatment or rehabilitation outside of incarceration. Through public policies regarding criminal justice interventions that address drug use and crime, an initiative was created to provide treatment services

Now times each other these by thirteen thousand, the number equals a high possibly of 40,729,000 dollars. Thats millions of dollars being wasted on local and federal forced drug rehabs. Many of the publics voices view remains that drugs addictions is an illness, not a crime. They are wrong. Illness is a disease or period of sickness affecting the body or mind over a period of time. Illness are something like being bipolar, depression, cancer, heart disease. Something that is uncontrollable. Yes, rehab should be available to those who so desire to truly break free from their addictions. But rehabs and drug courts should not be a get out of jail free card. Jail still needs to be a punishment, jail show consequence for actions that was taken upon

I believe the War on Drugs continues to be a major issue for this country for a while, but that doesn’t mean we should be seeing the same people in and out of prison. I believe we need to create programs within the criminal justice system to help individuals become successful and get drugs far away from them. Group therapy may be a start for some of these individuals. They can talk about why they became

The overdoses within prisons and failing treatment method, made it appear as if there was no hope of reducing recidivism. This negative material would benefit further research by digging further into prison-based drug treatment methods to find what is working. Surely, the correctional system is not doing more harm to people than providing treatment that could help them.

Instead of throwing the nonviolent offenders into prison, they should instead be transferred into a drug rehabilitation center. In prison, the drug convicts are not taught to stop selling drugs or getting cured from drugs, instead they just stay in a harsh environment. When they are released from their sentence, nothing is stopping them from going back out onto the streets and to start reselling or doing drugs. If placed into a rehabilitation center, they would be more likely to get the proper treatment and there will be a less chance for them to be released and to start getting involved in drugs yet

The United States Correctional System is often challenged as to whether it wants to rehabilitate drug offenders or punish them, and because of this it mostly does neither. Even though drug abuse and drug trafficking are widely spread national issues, the mental, social, and economic costs of "healing" through incarceration are only making the "disease" worse. Never before have more prisoners been locked up on drug offenses than today. Mixed with the extremely high risks of today's prison environment, the concept of incarceration as punishment for drug offenders cannot be successful. Without the correct form of rehabilitation through treatment within Michigan's Correctional System, drug

Those incarcerated today are not given the chance to change their behavior patterns, especially when it is in regard to drug addiction. The criminal justice system in general does not consider drug abuse as anything but a crime and does not think about treating the disease of addiction in order to reduce or eliminate the crimes that come as a

One of the most profound problems that plagues our society is drug addiction. With drug addiction comes those who offend and have run-ins with the law. Our country deals with these drug-addicted offenders by placing them in jails for a year or longer, only to have them come back out to society when their sentence is over. They are still drug-addicts and so they return to the street only to commit yet another crime. From here the cycle of crime, arrest, jail, and return to society continues, solving absolutely nothing. Therefore, placing drug-addicted offenders in jails fails to confront the major problem at hand which is that of the drug abuse. If drug-addicted offenders were placed in drug treatment centers instead of being incarcerated,

Gogek, Ed. "To Treat Drug Addiction, We'll Still Need Jail Time." News week. Accessed 15 Jan. 2017.

Drugs are a huge problem in the US there are hundreds of people currently addicted to drugs in some states alone and we are trying to solve this problem and whenever a drug addict is caught they are usually sent to prison, tons of people sent to prison when it's not even the best option. Currently, people are completely unaware that rehab is a much better option than prison for drug offenders because it is both economically superior and helps addicts reintegrate into society.

The use of criminal restrictions for drug related crimes is not always an entirely punitive tool, and that penalties, or even the threat of them, often urge individuals struggling with addiction or substance abuse to get the treatment they might never seek or receive on their own, therefore increasing their opportunities to become productive members of society. In fact, more than one-third of all treatment referrals in the U.S.