Rehabilitation -program, penal reform debated
By Deb Gray
Jake Jones (not his real
name) sounded tired but
on the phone.
Jones, a 24-year-old con
victed felon, was talking
about rehabilitation programs
at the Nebraska Penal
Complex. To him, it was a
joke. .
"All the penitentiary does is
to teach someone how to be a
better criminal," he said. "The
inmates learn the rules of the
game better so next time they
won't get caught."
According to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, Neb
raska's serious crime rate
rose 8.1 percent in 1973.
What should be society's
attitude toward these of
fenders? ,
"My belief is that of U.S.
Attorney General William
Saxbe," Lincoln Police Chief
Joe Carroll said. "Saxbe
stated in Cleveland that
society doesn't cause crime,
criminals do. The sooner we
start incarcerating criminals,
the sooner we'll see a decline
in the crime rate."
Carroll partially blamed the
rising crime rate on the
so-called trend to rehabilitate
the criminal.
"The move recently has
been to rehabilitate the
criminal. Consequently less
and less time is spent by the
criminal in jail and penal
institutions."
The fault doesn't rest with
the courts, he said. -
"The courts and judges
fulfill their obligation only to
have parole boards overrule
them after the defendants
were determined to have had
a fair trial," Carroll said.
State Sen. Roland Luedtke,
chairman of the Unicameral's
Judiciary Committee, con
tested Carroll's view.
"Carroll looks at the
problem from a chief of police
standpoint," he said. "He
believes if you put people in
jail and throw away the key
you're solving the problem
Out of sight, out of mind."
Luedtke said 95 percent of
prison inmates eventually
return to society.
"Depending upon their
prison experience, they'll
either come out rehabilitated
citizens or return to the
streets to commit another
crime," Luedke commented.
Both Luedtke and Carroll
opposed abolishing the death
penalty.
"I think it's very much a
deterrent," Carroll said. It has
not been used in Nebraska for
14 years, since Charles
Starkweather's death in the
electric chair in 1959.
Luedtke voiced qualified
support of the death penalty.
ytihr, )), ... 77
page 8
"I .have an ambivalent
attitude toward capital punish
ment," he said. "There are
enm jQ " i it i rr- m nnminolo wri i
never will be able to reach.
About 15 to 20' percent will
always remain in maximum
.security prisons. I don't
believe in knocking down
the walls and letting the
prisoners out."
Luedtke- said the key to
curbing crime is through
remolding the first-time of
fender. "The first time a. person is
picked up, he is not a
hardened criminal, ' Luedtke
said. "We need to -get these
persons diverted from criminal
punishment."
A stumbling block toward
rehabilitation, he said, is the
revolving door concept, a
vicious circle which breeds
more crime.
"After a prisoner gets out
into society, he's treated like
an ex-con," Luedtke com
mented. "Immediately, he is
searched, embarrassed and
scorned. It's hard W him to
find a job. Crime be .omes the
only thing he knows."
Carroll approved of pro
bation for first offenders. But
he said its role is overplayed
in what Saxbe called "career
criminals."
"I don't think probation
should be given to habitual
offenders," he said.
Luedtke said the penal
complex doesn't break crim
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daily nebraskan
inals, it makes them.
"The penitentiary has gen
erated highly sophisticated
Luedtke said there is a lack
, of rehabilitation programs at
the penitentiary. The most
progressive projects, he said,
are the work and educational
release programs. These pro
jects allow' the inmate time
outside the penitentiary to
work or attend school.
"It's difficult to say as yet
how well it's working since it
is a very experimental
program," Luedtke said.
Carroll was hesitant about
praising work release suc
cesses. "It looks better outlined on
paper than it actually does in
practice," he said.
He mentioned Lincoln's
rising number of rape cases.
"In many cases the perpe
trators of the crime were
individuals that should not
have been on the street," he
said. "They were sentenced to
prison and were on the street
through work release."
There are potentially suc
cessful rehabilitation pro
grams, Carroll said. But he
caution against going over
board. "If an inmate has a desire
to go to school, attention
should be given for him to
take correspondence courses
instead of letting him
intermingle on campus with
law-abiding citizens," Carroll
said.
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Carrol's work release alle
gations were "ridiculous,"
Luedtke said.
"in on ovnArimAntal pro-
gram, you're bound to have
some failures," Luedtke said.
"But there are many more
successes that no one finds
out about." -
The League of Women
Voters, concerned over Neb
raska's lack of rehabilitation
programs, will lobby during
the 1975 Unicameral session
for reform legislation, accord
ing to Elaine " Carpenter,
corrections chairman.'
"We hate to use the word
rehabilitation," she said.
"We'd rather call it resocial
ization. We try to rebuild
these people's lives."
The league is working in
two areas. They maintain
victimless crimes, such as
public intoxication or prosti
tution, shouldn't be labeled
as criminal offenses.
The league is also lobbying
for community-based rehab
ilitation programs, Carpenter
said. These include structured
residential settings for in
mates, improved treatment
facilities and halfway houses
that work with offenders
before imprisonment.
Carpenter said she believes
next year's legislative session
will be a good one for penal
reform.
She also criticized local
prison facilities, describing
Lincoln's jail as "a well-lit
dungeon."
"First off, it's in the
basement," she said. "The
lighting is bad. There isn't
even a clock," , - -
Back in the County-City
Building, Chief Carroll said
that criminals receive un
warranted publicity.
"I wish the people who are
advocating rehabilitation
would give equal time to the
case of the victim of crime,"
he said. "Some individuals,
like in rape cases, are
affected the rest of their
lives."
He mentioned Duane Pope,
who was convicted of
murdering three people in a
Big Springs bank robbery.
"So much emphasis was
placed on his life as a
well-educated man before the
robbery," Carroll said. "They
should give more consider
ation to the manner in which
he made the bank employees
lie on the floor while he shot
them."
One of the victims, Carroll
said, was a widowed cashier.
"Because of her death, she
left two orphaned children,"
Carroll said. "I think more
thought should be given to
taking care of these parent
jess tots Instead of the
perpetrator of the crime."
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