NCJ Number
166164
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 4-7
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article presents an interview with Charlie and Pauline Sullivan, national directors of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), in which they discuss CURE's current projects and their views of out-of-State inmate transfers, the 1994 Crime Bill, and the future of corrections in America.
Abstract
The Sullivans affirm CURE's twin themes: that rehabilitation does work and that today's prisoners are tomorrow's neighbors. CURE's most effective effort since 1991 has been in the area of employment, as it has provided support for prison-based industries and a jobs program for released prisoners. Other issues of concern to CURE are efforts to obstruct inmate legal options, requiring inmates to make co-payments for medical services, and the impact on inmate morale of out-of-State transfers. Their concerns about the 1994 Crime Bill and recent efforts to design a new crime bill are to preserve a program that would provide community corrections programs for nonviolent female offenders who are the primary caretakers for their children and to give priority to Federal funding for offender rehabilitation programs. The Sullivans are pessimistic about the future for corrections in America. Political policymakers generally have a one-dimensional approach that involves "locking people up" when they violate laws. There is little effort to examine the socioeconomic conditions that spawn criminal behavior and analyze what governments at all levels can do to address these conditions.