Mississippi prison chief Burl Cain is taking the right approach in trying several ways to ensure that those who leave prison after serving their sentence don’t return.
Cain’s emphasis has been a combination of the spiritual, the mental and the vocational.
On Friday, ground was broken on the first of seven chapels, all privately funded, that will be erected on prison grounds, where inmates can attend religious services of their choice in a spiritually uplifting setting.
Recently Cain started an alcohol and drug rehabilitation program at a state prison facility that had been closed. The 90-day addiction program, which presently can treat 32 inmates at a time, is designed to address one of the main drivers of crime: addiction.
Separately, Cain says he will be approaching the Legislature again to authorize the Mississippi Department of Corrections to use inmate labor for limited construction projects. He sees that not only as a way to save some money but also a way to teach inmates a skill that they will be able to use when they look for work after completing their prison sentence. The hands-on construction projects would complement other educational programs and vocational training within the prison system.
Cain is right when he says that the best way to reduce the recidivism rate is to do something about it while inmates are in state custody. When people have a job and a moral foundation, when they are not enslaved by addiction, they are much less likely to commit crimes. It’s only when they have no moral compass or they see no other way to make ends meet or feed their habit does trafficking in drugs or stealing from others become attractive.
Cain should be commended for his efforts to turn the state’s corrections system into what its name implies: a place where people are not just punished for their crimes but transformed in a socially beneficial way.
