I oppose any further development in the Adirondack Park and feel that Pataki's decision to trade large grants of donated land for expanded access to developers was a complete sell out.
The issue that I would like to explain to you though, is the reintegration of felons into their communities. As you are probably aware recidivism is a major issue in criminal justice. Men return to their neighborhoods after long bits without any personal funds, no support and find themselves ignored and with very limited prospects. The volatile mix of personal indiscipline, temptation and social circumstances which set them into criminality originally reasserts itself and many men succumb, commit heinous new crimes, are apprehended, convicted and re-incarcerated.
The Department of Correction (DOC) could do much better. California has developed a plan in which prisoners nearing the end of their bits are required to begin release planning. This consists of a) describing the conditions that lead to their offense and how they will deal with them better; b) describing their social network and affirmatively planning their living situation upon release; c) detailing a plan for education or employment upon release and beginning the paper process necessary to implement the plan. These three simple measures are part of an in house disciplinary program. That is to say, only prisoners displaying exemplary behavior in prison may participate. The program has been successful in helping to improve prison discipline, in helping prisoners with the extremely difficult emotional adjustments to release, gives the prisoners and their families outside hope and since the program is operated by existing staff it costs very little money. One can also imagine that success stories of successful prisoner reintegration to society must also have a tremendous positive effect on prison staff morale.
I like this program because it is humane and innovative, effectively addresses a real need and does not require allocation of additional funds.
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