[Vision2020] Child Protective Services

[Ted Moffett]

On 3/7/11, Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm> wrote in post below:

"No one is
interested in my suggestions because I'm a bleeding heart liberal,..."
----------------
Actually, there are many "bleeding hearts," quite interested, as they
bang their "heart against some mad buggers wall," as written below:

"Outside the Wall" by Pink Floyd from the album "The Wall" written by
Roger Waters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0BE-gl_UI

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/2838/

All alone, or in twos
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall
Some hand in hand
Some gathering together in bands
The bleeding hearts and the artists
Make their stand
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall after all it's not easy
banging your heart against some mad buggers
Wall
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

> Well, the Idaho Department of Corrections budget has been cut:
>
> http://www.idoc.idaho.gov/facts/fact_sheets/YearEndBrief.July09.pdf
>
> "Idaho has cut $27 million dollars from its 2009 and 2010 corrections
> budget, a 14 percent reduction. As a result, the department laid off 44
> positions, and ordered 4 days of furloughs for prison security staff and 10
> days of furloughs for all other
>
> employees."
>
>
>
> See also:
>
> http://www.idoc.idaho.gov/press_releases/Feb2010version2.pdf
>
> "The Department has sustained millions of dollars in budget cuts since the
> recession began. Through November 2009, the Department lost 10.4% in general
> fund dollars for personnel and 8.7% in operating funds.
>
>
>
> The impacts are significant. The graphic to the right illustrates the 93
> positions either eliminated or unfilled. All staff are taking furlough hours
> for a total of 80,000 hours, equivalent to another 39 positions in lost
> productivity.
>
>
>
> The Department can't close a prison for a day, or stop checking on parolees;
> ours is a 24/7 public safety commitment.
>
>
>
> Staffing ratios in prisons were bare bones before the furloughs and budget
> cuts. Furloughs increase the problem. At the minimum security facility south
> of Boise there are an average of 17 officers responsible for 656 inmates on
> any given shift."
>
>
>
> This attitude of "cut prison costs" is upsetting to me because it leads to
> repugnant decisions like contracting out staffing to for-profit private
> companies like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).  As we've seen time
> & time & time again, costs always increase when private for-profit companies
> are brought in to save money (as has happened with the UI & its AlliedBarton
> contract), accountability suffers, and we wind up with situations like those
> at the Idaho Correctional Center (ICC) that have forced the ACLU to file
> suit to protect those in custody.
>
>
>
> It also leads to the insane situation around the state of opening up the
> jail doors to convicted sexual offenders to get themselves to "therapy" and
> back to jail again without supervision.
>
>
>
> I don't disagree that sentencing for some non-violent offenders is too
> harsh, but we also repeatedly see cases where the sentencing isn't harsh
> enough, a trend that's increased as the Idaho Department of Corrections has
> struggled to cope with budget cuts on top of public pressure to always cut
> costs on top of never being adequately funded to begin with (because people
> don't give a rip about convicts).
>
>
>
> And, I'm not saying that IDOC needs the money more than CPS or education!  I
> worked for the Department of Health & Welfare and am well aware of the
> impossible conditions our CPS & children's mental health workers face every
> single day.  I value education - and appropriate funding for education - as
> much as anyone else & obviously more than many in this state.
>
>
>
> However, it's simplistic and misguided to target IDOC, IMHO.  No one is
> interested in my suggestions because I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but there
> are ways to deal with what's going on with the budget in Idaho.  The problem
> is that the Republican controlled executive & legislative branches aren't
> interested in solutions that will gore their financial backers, pure &
> simple, IMO.
>
>
>
>
>
> JMHO,
>
> Saundra Lund
>
> Moscow, ID
>
>
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
>
> ~ Edmund Burke
>
>
>
> ***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2011 through life plus
> 70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
> the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
> author.*****
>
>
>
>
>
> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
> On Behalf Of Reggie Holmquist
> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 11:46 AM
> To: Art Deco
> Cc: Vision 2020
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
>
>
> I'm going to agree with Roger(!) here.  Cuts should come from prisons.
> Sentences can be shortened because most of them are currently too harsh.
> Harsher sentences came about as a result of lobbying (mostly by "concerned
> parents" groups) in the 80s.  Nowadays, the US holds a quarter of the
> world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's total population.  The
> fact that 35-40% of Idaho prison costs are unadjustable (because they are
> contracted out) is also unacceptable.  A private industry complex should not
> have been created to carry out what should be a state function (for myriad
> reasons).
>
> Idaho prisons should be receiving cuts, not increases (and CCA contracts
> should be eliminated ASAP).  CPS should not be receiving cuts.  Education
> should not be receiving cuts.  The school-to-prison pipeline needs to be
> destroyed.
>
> -Reggie
>
> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 11:34 AM, Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> Roger,
>
>
>
> What magic formula do you propose to determine the probability of
> reoffending of any given convicted pedophile?  Do you have any idea what the
> estimated recidivism rates are?  Or that the younger the victims and the
> more victims are fairly clear indices of potential reoffending?
>
>
>
> w.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: lfalen <mailto:lfalen at turbonet.com>
>
> To: ttrail at moscow.com
>
> Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
>
> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 10:42 AM
>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
>
>
> Tom
> I went to a 4-H training session in Lewiston Saturday.  One of the subjects
> was child protection. The amount of abuse that occurs in relation to
> children is shocking. I do not know where things stand on the budget, but I
> would encourage everyone to make sure that there are no cuts in Child
> Protective Services. This is a area that needs attention. There are  other
> areas that can be legitimately cut. One would be the prision budget. It
> costs a lot of money to keep people in prision. Except for those that are a
> danger to society and should never be released, it is questionable to keep
> people locked up for a long period of time. It may be fine for a short
> sentence as punishment, but there should be better ways to deal with those
> that are not a physical treat to society.
> Again Child Protective Services needs to stay fully funded.
>
> Roger
>
> >
> --
> There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what
> the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be
> replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another
> theory which states that this has already happened.
>
> Douglas Adams
>
>