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Restructuring the Criminal Justice System

Drug use and addiction is most often brought about when a person is suffering from mental illness. So, treating these people like criminals instead of like sick people doesn't make sense.

The criminal justice system, the only system we have, takes a kid who is addicted to heroin or crack or meth who was selling it because he needs access to it and gets busted with it, and they stick them in prison. Who is also in prison? Real criminals are there, those who have done property crimes, rapists and murderers; and what happens? Well I don't know for sure, but among the things we who have never been in prison can imagine happening the kid learns how to be a better criminal.

The people don't get counseling that is effective, they don't learn any coping skills or strategies to make a difference in their life outside the restricted atmosphere of the prison, and they have not received any real support from anyone to make up for what they consider weakness in their own persons. In short, they have not learned any thing about staying out of prison once they are given a second chance. In fact, they probably have only learned things and et people that will land them right back in prison, and maybe for something more destructive than the drugs.

I suppose that continuing calling it a crime is one way to get the most troubled individuals into the system to get help. However they get there, the system that they go into needs to be radically different than what is currently in place. It could be a sub-category, which might make sense due to the fact that prisons are referred to as corrections facilities. What would be more corrective than helping someone learn to cope with life, learn to recognize when they are having problems and what to do about the times that things are out of control? This would help them to correct their behavior and the way they process information which influences the decisions they make.

What I think the corrections people should do is determine to build new separate facilities, but they need to be completely cut-off from traditional prison facilities.

This facility should be fenced, and the individuals taken there should be made to remain inside for whatever length of time the system sees fit to sentence them to.

In this facility, the individuals would be housed in barracks or dormitory like facilities with two persons to a room, which will be monitored 24/7. This would be a first step in moving the person into a lifestyle

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