PSU Magazine Winter 2004

"There are low-risk and high-risk offenders, and we have the technology to tell the di.ITerence. But the current sentencing structure doesn'L allow us to take in individual differences," he says. Signs that may indicate high-1isk offenders include drng or alcohol abuse and estrangement from their community and families. A first-time offender lacking those red flags stands a better chance of staying out of prison than a repeat offender who has them. nother way to make the system worse is Lo deprive prisoners of programs that help them change the way they think and point them in a more positive direction. Although deHaan avoids terms such as ·'rehabili– tation,'' he says prisons can set up pro– grams that teach inmates how to avoid alcohol and drugs and how Lo hve by socially acceptable standards. "There are people in prison who have never been straight and sober, never worked a job. To structure them in a pro-social way and reward them for it can be enom1ously powerful," he says. Powerful, that is, unless they stay in prison too long. The longer they're in, the less chance an inmate will change for the better, deHaan says. And under Measure 11 guidelines, even a first– time offender can be locked up for a minimum of almost six years. "Six years to a 25-year-old is a sig– mficam portion of his life. The ques– tion is, is he less dangerous when he gets out, or more so? If he's less dan– gerous, I'll beat the drum for longer sentencing." But deHaan says that's unlikely Prisoners stand a better chance of fitting back into society if they've spem their time in a highly structured envi– ronment that has rewards and increas– ing levels of responsibility, and then are slowly transitioned back into the out– side world under intense supervis10n, but the state simply doesn't have the money to do it, according to deHaan. Sue Acuff '74. assistant director for business and finance for the Oregon Department of Corrections, agrees. "We don't have any wiggle room any more," she says, adding that the system, with more than 12,000 prison– ers, is al ready crowded. Oregon also has slashed its construction program for new prisons even though state offi– cials project a 30 percent increase in the prison population-3,645 new prisoners-over the next 10 years. Double cells are full, single cells are being convened Lo doubles, and more bunks are being put in the prison dorms. "It's not an unsafe environment, but we're pushing capaclly," she said. n here's little the Stale can do LO II change the Measure 11 sentenc– ing guidelines, Acuff said, because it was a voter-initiated law. Voters would have to approve a change. A superrna– jority of the Oregon Legislature also can enact changes if it sees fit, she says. Legislatures in other states are doing just that, and are saving their states millions in the process. Michigan dropped its lengthy mandatory mini– mum sentences for drug offenders, which were among the toughest in the WINTER 2004 PSU MAGAZINE 7