Safety agencies are concerned that the court-ordered release of up to 1,000 offenders to Ventura County will increase local crime. The return rate of parolees to prison in California– “recidivism”–is between 66 and 70 percent.

Here’s why we have this problem: The initial imprisonment of offenders has the immediate benefit of public safety. But, because most offenders will eventually get out of prison, the later result is increased community crime.

Prisons do a poor job of rehabilitating prisoners. The prisoners live in an environment that’s both hostile and teaches them how to commit more crime when they’re released. Also, the longer they’re in prison, the more socially handicapped they become.

Legislators and others who propose long sentences are partially responsible for the safety problem we’re now facing.
Kirkland Gable
Thousand Oaks

Gable is an attorney and the former chair of the Crime and Delinquency Committee of the National Institute of Health.