The Minority Leader in the state House of Delegates says substance abuse treatment cannot fully replace criminal punishment.
Kanawha County Delegate Tim Armstead says that is why he supports some of the proposals to address prison overcrowding in the report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center, but not all of them.
“I think you can address this issue by punishing the person who has committed the crime and take them out of society so they can’t reoffend during that time,” Delegate Armstead said.
“But, at the same time, you can still do drug treatment while they’re incarcerated or after they get out, under supervision.”
In general, the Justice Center report says the state’s prison overcrowding problems can be eased by better assessing those convicted of crimes at the beginning and improving the monitoring of people once they are released.
It calls for more investments in substance abuse treatment programs.
The Executive Director of West Virginia Behavioral Health Care Providers says he thinks such increased investments would help, especially when it comes to repeat offenders.
“We can really provide a great deal of those services for the people who are being incarcerated and reincarcerated just for dirty drug screens,” Mark Drennan said.
“Failure is part of recovery and you’re going to relapse and you’re going to have problems and you need to have a way to get back into treatment.”
Drennan says those in his group want to be part of the solution and, he says, they are “geographically and programmatically posed to take on the challenge” of substance abuse in convicted criminals.
He says access to such treatment has been limited, up to now, because of a lack of funding.
Now, his group is working on a proposal to provide the corrections system with statewide treatment resources, including detoxification, evaluation, residential treatment and intensive outpatient services with a single point of entry and contact.
“I think it’s proven that treatment works,” Drennan said.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has said he supports many of the recommendations in the report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
One of the recommendations in that report, released this month, would allow certain classes of criminals to be released from prison six months early to continue drug treatment.
Delegate Armstead says he would not support that measure and he expects it to run into additional opposition at the State House, as well, during this year’s Regular Legislative Session if it’s proposed.
“I think what we’re going to have to do is look at these recommendations one by one. There are some that I, certainly, would not support,” he said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.
You can see the full report at www.justicereinvestment.org.
Draft legislation based on the report’s findings is expected to be taken up during the 2013 Regular Legislative Session which begins on Wednesday, February 13th.