Longtime Lawman Calls For Prison Reform

By Jeff Hess @ July 9, 2009 1:37 AM Permalink | Comments (1)

A little bit of religion could help solve Florida's prison system crisis.

A group called smart justice wants to shake up our current prison system.

A longtime sheriff, prosecutor and judge Allison DeFoor leads the group. He said what we are doing is not working.

"After 30 years of being in the justice system I have seen everything that doesn't work and it is most of what we are doing," DeFoor said.

He says six things do work. First, teaching prisoners belief in something higher than themselves.

"Substance abuse training, literacy training, turning 28 years old, which is a statistical fluke, getting married and having a job," He said prison that focus on these goals have much low recidivism rates and keep the community safer.

He said these programs have proven results and lead to safer communities while keeping the prison system affordable.

"We will bankrupt the state of Florida if we stay on the road we are on. And it doesn't work," DeFoor said.

The state is planning nearly 20 new prisons with a 2-billion dollar price tag, and 500-million in operating costs. He said that cannot continue and we will be forced to implement major changes to stop wasting money on the current system.