Addicts for Incarceration

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Deseret News has this op-ed collectively written by The Other Side Academy.

We are a group of former longtime felons and drug addicts. Collectively we have been arrested over 400 times. Between us, we’ve been incarcerated for well over 150 years. And that was the best thing you could have done for us.

We plead with our legislators, judicial and police leadership to stop enabling criminals/addicts like us. You’re enabling us every time you look the other way when we break into homes, cars and businesses in order to feed our addictions. You’re enabling us when you hold us for a few days for crimes that used to bring sentences of a few years. You’re almost handing us a needle when you let us skate out on long sentences if we simply agree to attend another 60-day program that hasn’t worked for us before.

Furthermore, it terrifies us every time we hear a political candidate say, “We need to stop sending addicts to jail. We need to send them to rehab!” You aren’t helping us when you don’t hold us accountable for hurting other people. As evidence of this, as a result of your reforms of the past three years, recidivism is up almost 30%. And addiction prevalence has not declined a bit.

The softer you are on us, the more of us will die. We buried a beloved friend this week who had been committing crimes for over a year with no consequences. He was arrested again a week ago then released two days later. By the end of the week he died in a high-speed crash while high. Thank God, at least, that he took no innocents with him.

Another man who lives with us now at The Other Side Academy was on a crime spree for 18 months. During that time, he was arrested eight times, and released on his own recognizance without spending any real time in jail. What is it with people like you who trust us eight times in a row to return responsibly to court when we say we will? When you do things like this, we don’t see you as compassionate. We see you as marks.

5 Responses

  1. Douglas Berman says:
    Mar 8, 2021 7:05 pm at 7:05 pm

    Very interesting. In a recent thread, Bill Otis asked: “Do you think it’s mostly up to the convicted criminal to change his behavior towards others, or is it mostly up to the society (or government if you wish) that has convicted him to change ITS behavior?” Seems like here a bunch of convicted criminals are saying they need society to change its behavior toward them.

    • Kent Scheidegger says:
      Mar 8, 2021 7:34 pm at 7:34 pm

      Mostly.

    • Kent Scheidegger says:
      Mar 9, 2021 10:13 am at 10:13 am

      I will expand a bit on my initial reply. What part of “mostly” do you not understand?

      I do not think that the authors of this article would disagree in the slightest that changing their behavior is mostly up to them. That does not mean that government policy is irrelevant. It does not mean that they cannot suggest an improvement that will increase the frequency of good outcomes.

      You had to stretch further than Elastigirl could to find any inconsistency here.

      • Douglas Berman says:
        Mar 9, 2021 10:37 am at 10:37 am

        I am not suggesting any inconsistency, Kent, I am actually trying to highlight that most sensible folks would say, in one way or another, that changing problematic behavior is mostly up to the adult actor, but that improved government policy can increase the frequency of good outcomes. The rub always seems to be figuring out and applying “improved government policy” efficiently and effectively.