by Kate Bieler

Created on: September 25, 2010   Last Updated: September 26, 2010

Should Prisoners have the right to Counseling.....

The answer to this question can go in several directions.  However, I am going to pursue it as 'Should Prisoners have the right to Counseling, if the goal is to overcome addiction and once again become a productive member of Society'..........I can answer this question in a more knowledgeable way.  The answer is a resounding, YES.  Now I will go into the reasons I think so.

One definition of insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.'  I believe this is true.  First of all, I must tell you that I talk from experience, in that I was a drug counselor in women's prisons for many years.  The following is what I know to be true:

Addiction is a disease in that it is incurable, chronic, progressive and has specific symptoms.  You can NOT cure an Addiction, you can abate it and it can be put into remission, but it is an entity that will always be inside you, that if you don't take specific steps to treat it throughout your life, it will come out of remission and rear it's ugly head again and again.  I can give you the example of diabetes.  This also meets all the criteria of a disease model, as does addiction.  Currently, diabetes is not curable, but it can be kept under control through different means such as medication, education, and vigilance.

I believe that addiction is not only a disease, but it is a disease that affects one fourfold.  It can destroy one's spirit, mind, body, and emotions.  Keeping in mind this disease concept of addiction (and I know that many disagree with this), then it follows to accept the fact that it warrants 'treatment'.  There are many forms of treatment for addiction and not all work for every addict, which makes it even more difficult. I believe that addiction has both genetic and environmental factors, usually a combination of the two.  Many people try to pigeon hole addiction into either nature or nurture, and as previously stated it is more often many variables involved in the process of 'addiction'.  It is much too complex of an issue to try and put it into one box or another and can in the long run, hamper the personalized treatment that is so necessary for addiction.

If jails don't have counseling/treatment for these addicts, it comparable to putting diabetics in a candy store and telling them to 'just say no.'   The addict as well as the diabetic

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