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posted by martyb on Saturday November 12 2016, @12:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the saving-more-than-just-money dept.

While the UK and much of the world struggles with overcrowded prisons, the Netherlands has the opposite problem. It is actually short of people to lock up. In the past few years 19 prisons have closed down and more are slated for closure next year. How has this happened - and why do some people think it's a problem?
...
"In the Dutch service we look at the individual," says Van der Spoel.

"If somebody has a drug problem we treat their addiction, if they are aggressive we provide anger management, if they have got money problems we give them debt counselling. So we try to remove whatever it was that caused the crime. The inmate himself or herself must be willing to change but our method has been very effective. Over the last 10 years, our work has improved more and more."

He adds that some persistent offenders - known in the trade as "revolving-door criminals" - are eventually given two-year sentences and tailor-made rehabilitation programmes. Fewer than 10% then return to prison after their release. In England and Wales, and in the United States, roughly half of those serving short sentences reoffend within two years, and the figure is often higher for young adults.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 12 2016, @04:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 12 2016, @04:11PM (#426065)

    i'm a mostly a libertarian/anarchist but if the government is going to be allowed to kidnap and imprison people it should also be responsible to do it right. putting people into super criminal(or just pure regression into a damaged animal) training programs (US prisons) is not OK. If the government is given a power it needs to come with serious limits/requirements with verifiable checks and balances. If i were in charge i'd immediately stop charging people for victimless crimes and temporarily increase the budget for improving the system for current prisoners and start rehabbing these non violent offenders to prepare them for release as soon as they are rehabbed from all the damage the prison system did. talk with the dutch to see what has worked well for them. then let them the hell out. rehab could involve working for wages. some could go in a savings account for when they get out and some could go to the prison system to offset costs. same thing with the legal system. if it's going to be allowed to impose serious penalties, it needs to be highly accurate. If it can't meet those requirements it loses it's power until it can. right now it's all just a huge human vacuum designed to get the middle class to pay the unpayable taxes/unbought goods of the poor by paying to lock them up and pay for their cost of living. It's just modern day slavery disguised as criminal justice.