Kentucky’s high incarceration rates ‘unacceptable’

If Kentucky were a country, it would be the most incarcerated nation in the world. This would suggest that we are good at incarcerating people and running prisons. 

Instead, adult and juvenile prisons are plagued by overcrowding and understaffing, leading to a host of issues including deaths, rapes, riots and a lack of access to mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, who co-chairs the House & Senate Health Services Committee, said in a meeting last week that during her time as a drug policy director, a staggering 80% of inmates in Kentucky's prisons were incarcerated due to mental health or substance abuse issues, a situation she has rightly deemed “unacceptable."

The lack of access to substance abuse treatment in prison can have dire consequences for both inmates and society as a whole. Without proper treatment, inmates may experience dangerous withdrawal symptoms, increasing the risk of death.

Furthermore, those who are released without receiving treatment are at a much higher risk of returning to substance use, leading to increased rates of recidivism. This not only harms the individual but also puts a strain on resources and puts communities at risk.

Today, the Lexington Herald Leader highlighted a study showing that those imprisoned without substance abuse treatment are 12.7 times more likely to overdose than the general population. Clearly, providing such treatment is crucial to improving outcomes and promoting public safety.

Kentucky experiences similar issues with a lack of mental health care. Addressing underlying mental health issues that may have contributed to criminal behavior is key to promoting successful reintegration into society. Offenders often have no access to mental health treatment in the state’s overcrowded prisons.

The state of the juvenile justice system is even worse. Plagued by significant issues, including the housing of low-level offenders alongside violent criminals, inadequate staffing and poor facilities have led to an alarming amount of violence and riots, further compounding the trauma many of these young people have already experienced.

Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear announced his intention to increase the wages of employees at youth detention centers in order to attract a larger pool of qualified staff. This a positive step towards addressing staffing shortages and improving the overall quality of care for youth in detention.

Beshear also said that Kentucky will build more prisons. But, the commonwealth already spends $700 million a year just on adult prisons and jails and it costs the state $539/day to house a juvenile prisoner. 

If we know that over 80% of inmates have mental health and substance abuse issues, wouldn’t it follow that we use our resources on facilities that house and support those with mental health issues and addiction? Should we be focusing on nonviolent offending juveniles’ punishment over uncovering and addressing the underlying problems, such as trauma, so that those youth don’t end up back in the system? 

While there are numerous policies that would help with overcrowding, understaffing and improvement of facilities, the most obvious answer to our issues is to simply incarcerate fewer people. 

Kentucky needs to move from a failing model of incarceration to a less-costly rehabilitation model. Spend tax dollars helping people get on the right track towards a productive life instead of spending it over and over on re-incarceration. It’s a simple shift of resources.

The state should focus on alternatives to prisons and detention centers like community-based programs, direct intervention for troubled youth, restorative justice, and mental health and addiction facilities which can provide the support and guidance that people need to turn their lives around.

Make no mistake, violent criminals, whether juvenile or adult, need to be locked up away from society. But what about the woman who beats cancer only to have become addicted to opioids during her treatment? What about the truant kid from a broken home with an incarcerated parent who has never felt loved or seen responsibility modeled?

These are individuals who need help and support, not imprisonment. They will eventually be released back into society, but without proper rehabilitation and treatment during their incarceration, they are at a higher risk of reoffending. And those resources are often not available to them if they are sentenced to prison.

The legislature has made strides in the past few years improving the commonwealth’s prison systems but so much more needs to be done. Kentucky doesn’t have a higher incarceration rate than any country because its citizens are bad; rather, its policies and priorities are faulty.