My 25yo son is serving his second prison sentence for drug/paraphilia possession. He has never robbed, stolen, assaulted or even disrespected anyone, yet he is serving a sentence along-side very violent offenders. In your story you capture staggering numbers of non-violent substance abuse offenders yet the state prisons do a horrible job of drug rehab programming. In a 2015 news article, a value of $600K per day (https://thisistucson.com/news/local/study-arizona-spends-k-a-day-to-house-drug-offenders/article_80c84817-9a40-5f29-946a-dcf44fd1de01.html) on drug offenders in prison but cannot find funding to rehabilitate them and prepare them to re-enter society as healthy, sober, productive members of their communities.
Michelle Gomez
Vail
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
