WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

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We are looking for voices from the readers of this blog who have some type of experience with the abuse of prisoners. We would love to hear from former employees, friends and family members of prisoners, rehabilitation counselors or addiction program counselors, or any other member of society who has a story to tell about the abuse of a prisoner or a group of prisoners.

Please know that we do not need your names, we will totally respect confidentiality: no one knows better than the prisoner the very real existence of retaliation when dealing with the prison/guard culture. You can leave us anonymous comments. Of course, if you want to use your name, we would welcome that wholeheartedly. This is a call for action: we want to use the voices of others to help us tell the story of the failure of the current prison system and the criminal justice system with more of a focus placed on redemption and rehabilitation.

The current criminal justice system is not much more than a jobs program. Ever increasing law enforcement and restrictive laws are doing next to nothing to reduce crime and enhance the safety of the public. The current system ignores the root causes of crime. It negates the need to heal the individual, which will work to heal society as a whole. Our Massachusetts prison system currently draws a $520,000,000.00 budget: $362,000,000.00 of that goes to employee salaries. Even with all this money invested in the system it still reaps a mean average 47% recidivism rate. This means that 1 in 2 prisoners returns to prison within five (5) years. This is also means that 1 in 2 prisoners, released from the current system, visits another crime upon society. The prison funding must be reallocated: it must be refocused on education (with college level programs and wide reaching computer skills training), employment training (training for "real world" jobs - not the current impractical training currently undertaken), the use of many more lower security facilities (this not only promotes successful assimilation but these facilities require far less staff which = less salary costs), but as well as more pre-release involvement with the community in order to build a strong support system. The DOC also needs to honor its now hollow claim that they promote family reunification. Family reunification is a keystone element of successful rehabilitation and true enhancement of public safety. Please assist us in achieving our goals.

PLEASE JOIN "CURE-ARM"!!!

To find out more, please contact the CURE-ARM secretary Karen Schulman at;
klschulman@verizon.net

WE CAN MAKE DIFFERENCE!!!

Timothy J. Muise, W66927
MCI Shirley
P.O. Box 1218
Shirley, MA 01464-1218