Bethany Russell

Composition II

MWF 8:00 a.m.

Why People Who Commit Drug Related Crimes Shouldnt Be in Prison

People who are arrested for drug related crimes shouldnt be thrown into prison. They

should be put into a rehabilitation facility, or some other drug program, thats designed to help

people with drug addictions. Forcing them into prisons doesnt help them get better; it only

makes things worse.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world (Exum). Because of this,

prisons have become overcrowded, which leads to people being out on probation who probably

shouldnt be. Lawmakers have thought of multiple ideas to fix this issue, whether its from

building more prisons to increase bed space or to giving nonviolent prisoners a shorter sentence.

However, neither of those options help the prisoners in the long run.

Putting inmates who are in prison for drug related crimes into a rehabilitation facility

would help fix a multitude of issues, one of which being the overcrowding one. In 2005, over

450,000 inmates were in prison because of drug related instances (Exum). If given the

opportunity, a majority of those inmates could make a better life for themselves through a

rehabilitation facility or other programs. For instance, a man named Jim Guerra used to do and

sell cocaine in Florida. However after being robbed and kidnapped, he decided that he didnt

want to be in that life anymore (Lacayo). After paying a $15,000 fine and going through years of

community service, hes a free man. He moved to Texas to start a new life, and he continued to
stay with the program he volunteered at for community service. Thousands of people would be

taken out of the already overpopulated prisons to have the opportunity to better themselves.

Another issue it would help resolve would be the issue of drug related crimes in general.

Those people would be receiving the actual help that they need rather than just sitting in a cell,

counting down the days on the calendar to when they could possibly be free. The rate of drug

usage in prison continues to go up as policy changes have criminalized it (Cooper). Therefore,

its safer for the people convicted of drug charges to not be in prison, where their addiction

would most likely grow stronger. They wouldnt be released back onto the streets as a drug

dealer or an addict; they would have had counseling and would have, hopefully, broken their

addictions.

A study based on convicted offenders in 1993, shows that drug offenders who were taken

out of prison and put on parole were less likely to be charged with a new offense than offenders

who were still incarcerated. Offenders who were still in prison were 2.3 times more likely to be

charged with an offense, 1.8 times more likely to be convicted, and 2.2 times more likely to put

in prison for said offense (Spohn and Holleran). So even putting ex-offenders on parole is a

better alternative than keeping them imprisoned.

Certain counties, such as Maricopa County in Arizona, have put into place different

programs, called drug courts, to put first-time drug offenders into an outpatient comprehensive

drug treatment program, while their progress is monitored by a judge. 639 offenders who were

sentenced in between 1992 and 1993 were put into this program. They were required to hold

themselves accountable through a reward and sanctions system. At the end of one year, 40

percent of the offenders had completed it successfully (Deschenes and Greenwood). While that

wasnt even close to a majority percentage, it still shows that it does work for a good portion of
offenders. Even though it may not work for every inmate it should still work for a good portion,

and getting that portion of people out of prisons is helping not only the offenders get better, but

its helping depopulate the already crowded prisons.

A study done by Columbia University found that drug courts provided closer supervision

and more frequent drug testing than other programs did (Belenko). Because of this, previous

offenders were probably less likely to mess up. Theyd get completely sober and stay that way.

When I was 14, my brother was shot and killed by an ex-inmate who was out on parole.

He wasnt supposed to be out on parole, but he was. And part of the reason was because of

overcrowding of the jail. The other part had to do with the Department of Community

Corrections pushing for his release, for whatever reason they deemed fit. If there hadnt been as

many prisoners or if the Department of Community Corrections hadnt messed up, my brother

would still be alive. If the Pulaski County jail system had established some sort of drug

rehabilitation program for offenders who were in jail at the time, there would have been room for

the man who murdered my brother. One of the issues would have resolved itself.

Even though this process of rehabilitation for first time offenders is becoming more

popular, there are still some people who are too focused on getting non-violent drug users off the

street, instead of getting them the help they need. In Michigan, there was a case against a man

who was found possessing 672 grams of cocaine. He was sentenced to life in prison without the

possibility of parole (Harmelin v. Michigan). Granted, having over 650 grams of cocaine on your

person isnt good by any means, but giving the defendant a life sentence with no chance of

parole is harsh. If he had the chance to be put through one of the many different rehabilitation

programs, or other related drug programs, he could have been getting help for his drug addiction

instead of sitting in a jail cell.

 Since the United States does have the highest incarceration rate in the world, we have to

take steps to solve the overcrowding that comes with it. A solution for this, which is already

coming into fruition, is releasing first-time drug offenders into rehabilitation programs, or other

drug related programs, so that they can actually focus on getting better and curing their addiction

rather than them just sitting in jail. This will not only help offenders better themselves, but it will

free up prison and jail space for offenders who need to be there.
 Works Cited

Belenko, Steven. Research of Drug Courts: A Critical Review. National Drug Court Institute

Review, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1998.

Cooper, D. T. 2017. Drug Use among Inmates. The Encyclopedia of Corrections. 17.

Deschenes, Elizabeth, and Peter Greenwood. Maricopa County's Drug Court: An Innovative

Program for First-Time Drug Offenders on Probation. Taylor & Francis, 11 Sept. 2014,

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23277556.1994.10871195.

Exum, Jelani Jefferson. "Sentencing, Drugs, and Prisons: A Lesson from Ohio." University of

Toledo Law Review, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer2011, pp. 881-889. EBSCOhost, 0-

search.ebscohost.com.iiiserver.ualr.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lgh&AN=67741644

&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Harmelin v. Michigan. 501 US 957. Supreme Court of the United States. 1991.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12618142537190502279&q=first+time+dr

ug+offenders+in+prison&hl=en&as_sdt=1003

Lacayo, Richard, et al. "Considering the Alternatives Crowded Prisons Spark Less Confining

Punishments." Time, vol. 129, no. 5, 02 Feb. 1987, p. 60. EBSCOhost, 0-

 search.ebscohost.com.iiiserver.ualr.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=57890427

&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Spohn, Cassia, and David Holleran. The Effect of Imprisonment on Recidivism Rates of Felony

Offenders: A Focus on Drug Offenders. Wiley Online Library, May 2002,

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00959.x/epdf.