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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1981)
Summer Nebraskae Number 5 University of Neb.-Lincoln July 9, 1981 fern n ' ' . J; - n , . , w :W Armatys: program gives alternative to prisons photo by Bill Graf The Cascade Fountain, 21st St and Capitol Parkway, was donated to Lin coln by the retired Teachers Association. Although the fountain's cool water was tempting on this hot day, Julie Forch, 22, of Lincoln did not know wading was prohibited the water is not chemically treated. BY LORI MERRYMAN The judge had a unique decision to make, a decision judges make in only a handful of United States cities whether to sen tence the man before him, convicted of manslaughter, to20 years in prison or to release him into a new alternative sen tencing program. The judge and the felon cited above are fictitious, but judges in several cities are now given this'same decision. A prison alternative program started for felons five years ago in Washington D.C. is the only one of its kind a pro gram to keep felons out of prisons, said Walt Armatys, a UN-L senior who in terned for the National Center on Insti tutions and Alternatives last spring. The program not only puts convicted felons into communities instead of prisons, but criminologists at the center believe it is the only program in the United States with potential in cutting crime and recidivism rates (number of re peat offenders), Armatys said. Co-founder of the center, Dr. Jerome Miller, a liberal criminologist responsible for closing all the Massachussettes re form schools in 1972, believes prison and jails only "warehouse criminals," creating an angry, dejected and bitter person who leaves prison as. -a worse threat to com munities than when he entered, Armatys said. While interning at the center in Wash ington D.C, Armatys, a 21 -year-old criminal justice, major from Nebraska City, helped develop Client-Specific Plans for felons' the whole thrust of the institute's alternative program. Miller has two theories, Armatys said, which are the . basis for the Client Specific Plans: 20-30 percent of people in prisons need to be there for public safety, but the other 70-80 percent constitute needless incarceration; secondly, victim less crime laws result in too many people unnecessarily "warehoused in prisons." Client-Specific Plans keep the felon out of prison, yet he pays his debt to soci ety and isn't "warehoused," Armatys said. Most of his debt is paid through com munity service work some cases in- Students should apply for loans before the rules change, Aripoli BY LORI MERRYMAN Students applying for Guaranteed Stu dent loans (GSL) and National Direct Student Loans (NDSL) may have to meet new government requirements but until Congress establishes it's new rules, UN-L's financial aids department is playing by the old ones, said Don Aripoli, director of financial aids. Students needing a GSL for the fall semester should apply as soon as possible to avoid any changes in eligibility or in terest rates to be decided by Congress this summer. Four thousand UN-L students who applied for GSL's between May 1 and June 30 should receive their loans under current rules, which require the student to be enrolled at UN-L for at least six hours or to be accepted for enrollment and in good standing, Aripoli said. Stu dents pay nine percent interest on GbL s starting six months after finishing school The students applying late, after June 30, will risk falling under new guidelines, he said, as both the House and Senate try to reach agreements on a new GSL plan. Although still on the drawing board, the House is proposing all students be re quired to pass a financial need test to be eligible to for a GSL. The House is also proposing a three and a half to five per cent initial fee for loans. These guidelines would be effective Oct. 1. The Senate has proposed student eligibility be limited to those students with a family income of $25,000 per year or less. The Senate plan would also be effective Oct. 1. Aripoli said he hopes applications received by June 30 will be processed and returned to students by July 20. Students would then have two rribnths to get the payment from their banks before the new provi sions a process which could take three to 10 weeks depending on the bank, he said. For students applying in July, the ap plications could take over five weeks to process. It could easily be past Oct. 1 be fore students receive money from their bank, which could mean meeting the new guidelines, Aripoli said. Students chances on getting a loan under current guidelines decrease every day they wait to apply, he said. Applications turned in after June 30 will be processed chronolog ically, after the May 1 to June 30 appli cation are finished. While Congress decides a new way to distribute $186 million dollars in Na tional Direct Student loan funds, UN-L financial aids department is going ahead with conservative estimates on how much national money they will receive. The UN-L finances NDSL's mainly through money and interest collected on these loans and partly through the fed eral government. Congress is deciding a new distribu tion plan for the $186 million dollars be cause they said the previous plan was un fair some states stayed at a base level, so when the budget was cut other states were cut. Consequently, UN-L's financial aids department is delayed in awarding money to students, but Aripoli said he hopes the financial award letters will be delivered by July 17. Because most of the money used for NDSL's is collected from existing loans, (last year $1.3 million on existing loans, from $1.7 million total), Aropoli said financial aids was able to make estimates on how much money they will have this year. . "We're putting the pieces together,' he said but the puzzle isn't finished yet. elude 1,500 to 2,000 hours of community service work per year for three to five years. The national center believes 1,500 to 2,000 hours per year of community serv ice work is a better way for both society and the felon in paying his debt, Armatys said. When making Client-Specific Plans, center consultants try to reinforce strengths or interests of the felons, Ar matys said. An athletic felon might do community service work helping kids at a YMCA or a musician might teach poor children free guitar lessons, he said. By releasing felons on Client-Specific Plans, the government also saves $10,000 to $12,000 per year in prison costs, he said. Along with eliminating the cost of imprisonment for felons on the plan, Ar matys said, the national center, a non profit organization, is alleviating over crowded prisons. Clients are charged on a sliding finan cial scale. Wealthier clients might pay as much as $2,500 for a Client-Specific Plan where an indigent client would get serv ices free. The plans, usually about 26 pages, de tail nearly all of the felon's activities. Be fore presenting the plan to the judge, consultants make provisions for psycho logical treatment (both in and out-patient); employment or assurance someone is helping them find employment; com munity service work; a place to live, and other details. To qualify for a Client-Specific-Plan the person must be convicted of a felony, such as embezzlement, murder or armed robbery. Armatys said the 20 percent Miller refers to as needing to be in prison to protect society are not given Client Specific Plans. Once the defendant is convicted, a de fense attorney contacts the center. If the center accepts the felon's case then a cen ter consultant presents an alternative tc sentencing plan to the judge. To be successful, consultants must hi careful of not offending judges when sug gesting alternative plans, Armatys said Judges still like to feel they're in control he said. As reassurance a felon won't commit another crime once released, Armatys said, the last lines of each plan say that should the felon not comply with ALL components of this plan, the alternative sentence is revoked and the original sen tence is issued. As an additional safe gaurd, when plans are accepted, judges almost always choose a sentence consid erably longer. For example, Armatys said, if a judge normally sentences 10 years for armed robbery, and he accepted an alternative plan then he might say "if you mess up you will be imprisoned for 20 years" As a check on the felons, employers, family and therapists are asked to send a bi-weekly or monthly report to the judge. Client Specific Plans are surprisingly accepted in 70 percent of the cases presented, Armatys said. Since 1976 about 500 felons have been released on Client-Specific-Plans, Armatys said. Statistics from the national center show of those 500 about two to four percent have broken the provisions and ended up in prison anyway. One judge in Washington D.C. is so sold on the program, he is referring four to five cases a week as potential alterna tive plan cases, he said. The national center is trying to imple ment the program in other areas of the country, including Lincoln. Centers now exist in South Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, and New York. Armatys said after working with Miller and center consultants for a semester he also feels Client-Specific Plans are the best way to cut crime and recidivism rates.