Monday, September 17, 2012

WE CAN DO BETTER – Part 14


WE CAN DO BETTER – Part 14

By Alan Miller, Candidate for Judge Superior Court II 

Community Corrections

Our Community Corrections department oversees such programs as In-Home Incarceration (commonly referred to as house arrest), Intensive In-Home Incarceration, and Work Release. With house arrest, an individual is confined to his or her home while being electronically monitored by the department. In the Intensive In-Home Incarceration program, the same basic principles apply. However, the individual is also required to participate in individual counseling and more frequent drug testing. In the Work Release program, individuals who can provide documentation of employment are permitted to be released from the jail to go to work, returning when their shifts are complete. All of these programs are funded in large part by the individuals who are participating in them. Thus far, funding from the county has been extremely limited.

In the appropriate circumstances, these programs could be excellent and cheaper alternatives to incarceration, especially for non-violent or first-time offenders. It is in the best interests of our community to allow individuals fortunate to have jobs the opportunity to maintain their employment, remain productive members of society, and continue to support their families.

When elected, I will be asking the county to directly fund Community Corrections. For just 10% of the total figure now being discussed for the jail expansion project, these programs could be expanded significantly. While this would require an initial commitment from our county council and taxpayers, with an increased number of individuals participating in these programs, this cost would be recovered through the payment of user’s costs and fees.
 
This is the fourteenth part of my platform statement; a detailed proposal for how to improve our current justice system. It will be released over the next several months through facebook.com/makeitmiller2012 and makeitmiller2012.com. PLEASE feel free to forward this to your friends and family.
Thanks for your continued support
!
Alan Miller

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Talk about cost effective!

I'm with Alan. Locking up low level offenders is a ridiculous waste of tax payer $'s. More importantly, when the USA is beating China with number of people incarcerated something is dead wrong.

Anonymous said...

What about setting someone up to be arrested, arresting that person for supposedly raising her voice to a police officer, taking her to to the county jail, not letting her make a phone call, and not letting her out on bond. I had never been in trouble in my life. This was done to me for intimidation purposes. Attorneys I talked with told me I should sue and the lady from The Justice Dept. told me my and my daughter's civil/federal rights had been broken. We moved. I refuse to live in a community where there is corruption and nobody does anything about it. Good luck sir with your endeavors in trying to make it a better place. Unfortunately, I don't think that is possible. Beverly Valentine

Anonymous said...

Would Mr. Miller be willing to take that 10 percent from the expanded JCAP programs? Just wondering.

While Mr. Miller's proposals seem to have required a great deal of thought on his part, I frankly believes this constant theme of saving money is a smokescreen. The job of a defense/trial lawyer is to keep people out of jail. Why not just be honest about it.

Besides, I can think of a lot of other things I would rather have the county coucil make an "initial commitment" for.